Alien Loves Predator

Infobox webcomic|
title = Alien Loves Predator


caption = Roommates Abe and Preston
author = Bernie Hou
url = http://www.alienlovespredator.com/
began = 2004
ended = 2008-07-31
genre = Comedy, New York City
ratings =

"Alien Loves Predator" (ALP to fans) is a webcomic written by Bernie Hou. It spoofs the Alien Vs. Predator franchise. Reversing the adversarial relationship depicted in the comics, games, books and movies, ALP presents an Alien (named Abe) and a Predator (named Preston) as friends and roommates in current-day New York City.

The first issue [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=1] of ALP was released in 2004. The author of the strip annouced that Alien loves Predator has now concluded as of 07/31/2008

Characters

Abe

Short for Abraham, Abe the Alien is normally the impulsive member of the duo. He is socially inept, rarely thinks anything through, and is far more concerned with his libido and how to get a date than with the reality of the world around him. His family includes his mother, an Alien Queen and two younger brothers, Boris and Zeev. As a Xenomorph he, of course, has a huge assortment of siblings, but only Boris and Zeev are identified by name.

Preston

Preston the Predator usually plays the straight man in the comedic duo. He is normally rational and a calming influence, though is prone to the occasional outburst. Preston is the more introverted of the pair, described by Abe as "book-gay". Oddly for a member of a race bred to hunt and kill, Preston is nearsighted [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=100] , and now wears glasses. However, in December 2006, Abe gave him contact lenses after his glasses were stolen shortly after a fire (that Abe started).

Jesus

In the world of ALP, Jesus Christ is a pitcher for baseball's New York Yankees. Needless to say, he is the best player in the game and unlike most American League pitchers, no designated hitter bats for Jesus [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=127] . For a time he lived with Preston and Abe as a summer subletter [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=85] .

Corinna

Corinna is a medium with blurry second vision. Preston met her at the optometrist [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=106] , which led to a date. However, after she admitted to being a Mets fan their relationship came to an end. She later applied for the sublet left open by Jesus [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=154] , and much to Preston's chagrin, Abe let her move in [http://www.alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=156] . Even though she is a Republican, Corinna went on a date with Bill Clinton [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=173] , who had popped up earlier [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=163] in the middle of a debate over who gets to "hit it" with Corinna. She is also known to adore children, even the shockingly perverted Zeev and Boris.

Abe's Mother and Theo

An Alien Queen with dangling earrings and lipstick, Abe's mother wanted a daughter, but ended up having Abe, making him a disappointment for her. Nevertheless, she still supports him with living expenses. She appeared in issues [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=43 #43] , [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=44 #44] [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=145 #145] . When she threatened to cut him off, Abe convinced his friend Theo to pose as Russell Crowe and go out on a date with her. Much to Abe's surprise and disgust, however, the date went too well and now his mother and Theo are an item (according to Abe, his mother had been known to devour and rip apart previous dates who offended her).

Boris and Zeev

Boris and Zeev are Abe's even worse-behaved younger brothers. They debuted in issue [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=46 #46] . They were color-coded red and blue respectively by their mother: Zeev is colored blue because she thinks he is well-behaved, while Boris is red because he is not. Well-behaved or not, Zeev's recent antics have involved putting Preston in jail ( [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=186 #186] ) and tricking Abe into granting power of attorney ( [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=187 #187] ).

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton is the former president of the United States. He made his first appearance in the comic when he barged into a taxi Abe and Preston were getting (Eliciting the response, "Holy shit, it's Bill Clinton!"). Since then, he has had a short relationship with Corinna and helped get Preston out of jail.

Dark-Skinned Girl

A girl that Abe always gets stuck with (or the other way around), while speed-dating. She absolutely hates him, to the point of trying to scare him off by claiming to be a hermaphrodite (to which Abe replies, "OK, now you're just showing off) .

B.O

The body odor of Corinna became tangible after she didn't take a shower for days. He befriended Abe and Preston and went speed dating with Abe. He died when the marines took Corinna to shower her, much to Abe's sadness.

tyle

The artwork of ALP is composed by juxtaposing photos of real-life action figures into backgrounds also primarily generated from photos. This style has alternately been called photocollage, photocomics or fumetti. A reviewer has stated that ALP "sets the bar for this art style." [http://korsil.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=153]

ALP's humor is often based on absurdism and non sequiturs. After all, although the New York City of the strip seems virtually identical to the one we knew in real life, the humans are not concerned by the fact that an Alien and a Predator lives among them. Abe and Preston speak English and treat each other just as human friends do, and in fact, the mythology of the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises has been mentioned only once.

However, along with the surrealist humor of seeing alien races act just like people, the strip simultaneously presents an observational brand of humor. Abe and Preston often are depicted going through the same frustrations that real-life modern-day New Yorkers encounter as they try to do such things as rent apartments, eat out at restaurants and ride the subway. One prominent writer has compared ALP to Seinfeld in this respect. [http://alienlovespredator.com/mailbag.php]

The forum

The ALP forum is rather small, numbering little more than two thousand members. Less than a couple of hundred of those can be considered regular posters. Bernie Hou runs contests and events in the forums (see below). The forum covers a wide range of subject matters, but generally acts more like an online lounge than anything else. Hou is forum administrator. Members Dean, Blaster, and Munan function as moderators.

Contests

Bernie Hou has often hosted contests in his forums. These range over diverse subjects and methods, and small prizes have sometimes been awarded to their winners.

*The Eliza Contest: Members were asked to provide discussions between them and the therapeutic program ELIZA (Inspired by an episode [http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=148] in which a poster of Eliza Dushku talks like the ELIZA computer program. The contest had generated more than 100 entries in its first twenty four hours. JackSpicer won the contests narrowly over Rikimaru, with a rendition depicting ELIZA as the patient a real therapist is trying to help [http://alienlovespredator.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=981] .

*Guess Their Names: Members were allowed to post their guess for the names of Bernie Hou's new children. There were no winners.

*ALP Art Contest: Members submitted their own fan comics based around a set dialogue made by Bernie Hou. The winner was a member aliased Summer.

*ALP Haiku Contest: Members were to submit any haiku of their creation. The winner was one of the forum regulars Holly with:::"I will volunteer"::"as Abe's girlfriend for the week"::"and Preston can watch."

*ALP Dialogue Contest: A reverse of the ALP Art Contest, members would submit dialogue for a preset comic. The winner was Lando, and Bernie released the comic as an official addition to the archives.

Trivia

Abe and Preston appeared in a few comics of Twisted Kaiju Theater as super-deformed versions of themselves. Bernie Hou also appeared, as a larger Predator.

External links

* [http://www.alienlovespredator.com The Official Site]
* [http://www.alienlovespredator.com ALP Forums]
* [http://www.4colorreview.com/index.php?p=411&c=1 ALP review at Kung Fu Rodeo]
* [http://www.sequentialtart.com/reports.php?ID=3718&issue=2005-01-01 ALP review at Sequential Tart]