The Good
If you read the first chapter (if not, what are you doing in here?!), then you know it was pure buildup and ended with the promise of some horror. This second chapter? It balances building and all of the frightening chaos you'd expect from this franchise! Right with the very first page, artist Juan Ferreyra (with color assistance from Eduardo Ferreyra) give us a frightening reminder of the world we're entering. Having the team walk into the shadowy location, slowly discovering traces of the alien life, and then having a Xenomorph tail slip into focus was the perfect way to kick things off. And the next page? The art team deserves some major praise for making the Xenomorphs look every bit as terrifying and nightmare-inducing as they need to be. The scene is just oozing the right tone and I especially love how we're only struck by vivid colors when the aliens attack. While the aliens lose a bit of their fearsomeness when they're out in the open, it's counted by how much detail this art team puts in each environment and the effective handling of the, well, I'll just call it "water reveal." Seeing as this is stemming from a movie franchise, it's only fitting the angles are used to make this feel as cinematic as possible.
Now that Paul Tobin doesn't have to worry about establishing who's who and setting the stage, he has the opportunity to start incorporating way more interesting plot elements. Dark Horse Comics brought back these franchises for one crossover and, with this chapter, you can really feel everything's beginning to come together. We're finally digging deep into this mythos and satisfying developments and teasers are happening. There's a good amount of payoff if you've been reading all of the books and it definitely has me wanting to see what'll happen next in the cave.
It's great to see the intensity didn't fade away after the opening scene and, just like the characters, we're left unnerved and wondering what can happen in every scene. Okay, technically we know which characters make it out of this situation alive (if you've read ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: FIRE AND STONE #1), but the fact we know where they end up makes it more fascinating to see how they get there. A big step has already been taken and I'm curious about the follow-up.
The Bad
When you have a cast this big, names get lost in the shuffle and it's tough to establish any kind of an emotional connection. Sure, we want to see the aliens unleash, but at the same time, there should be someone we really want to root for, too. None of the characters have really yet to earn that and it just feels like they're kind of along for the frightening and bloody ride.
The Verdict
PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE #2 feels like a proper return to LV-223. The visuals do a killer job with the atmosphere and the aliens as we continue to explore the moon and see how much it has changed since the movie. It's full of gripping encounters, reminders of why so many people had nightmares after seeing the alien movies, and there's plenty of intrigue being sprinkled into the story. This is finally starting to feel like a crossover instead of just different stories which happen to take place in the same area.