Yes, that's right, Arnie and Danny Glover weren't the only poor souls to go up against everyone's favourite extraterrestrial hunter! Batman has, in fact, tangled with a number of different Predators throughout the years in three separate miniseries', published in 1991, 1995 and 1997. DC teamed up with Dark Horse Comics in these instances and even though the idea could easily have been botched horribly, all three stories were actually well received by fans. The notion of Batman having to use all of his smarts and gadgets to take on an alien killing machine that is hunting him relentlessly for sport is very cool and the creative teams on the three miniseries' found novel and intriguing ways to tell the stories. The first series, written by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) and drawn by Andy Kubert (Flashpoint), is an action-packed and intense ride featuring a Predator murdering members of two rival Gotham mob outfits. Batman has to try to avoid an all-out war between the two criminal sides and then engage in a battle to the death with the Predator. It's a really high quality comic book, made all the more awesome by the fact that Batman actually wins, besting the Predator in combat, who then commits honourable suicide with his own sword. The main selling point of the second miniseries is that it also stars The Huntress, but it is the third series that rivals the first in terms of quality. Written by Chuck Dixon, this story ups the ante by having a father-son Predator duo hunting Batman and Robin. It also heavily involves Mr Freeze in the plot and a nice touch is that Freeze is invisible to the Predator's infra-red vision due to his sub-zero body temperature. 'Cool', huh (see what we did there)?
