Read This! - Prometheus: Life and Death

Read This! is made possible by The Gauntlet Comics and Games

I was unaware when I picked it up, but Prometheus: Life and Death is part of a larger collection of crossover stories by Dark Horse Comics.  Together, the Life and Death minis bridge the gap between the Alien and Predator universes, and judging by the Prometheus entry of this series, it's done fairly well.
The story, set near the time of the film Aliens, as opposed to Prometheus itself, concerns a team of Colonial Marines who have commandeered an alien ship (a Predator ship, to be exact, though they don't know this), but are faced with unexpected dangers when a member of the near-invincible race known as the Engineers is awakened on board.  The Engineer takes control of the ship and brings it to the planet known as LV-233, home of the Engineers.  While on the planet, the Marines band together with a small band of survivalists (and one very unlikely ally) who are defending their xenomorph infested outpost.  From this point, they devise a dangerous, all-or-nothing plan to get a ship and escape the planet.
Visually, the art of Andrea Mutti and Rain Beredo matches well with the concept art H.R. Giger provided for Prometheus and the original Alien films.  My only complaint is there are a few panels where the xenomorphs have been depicted as having eyes.  It's clear that writer Dan Abnett has a feel for what these films represent.  There is a definite feeling of dread as you read through the story's events, and the moments of violence and horror punctuate scenes very well.  There is some amount of character shown, though much of it takes a backseat to the action.  As in the films, Abnett reinforces the idea that we're following the journey of a few regular military grunts who just want to get out alive and go home.
Prometheus: Life and Death is a short, but entertaining adventure in the Alien/Predator universe.  The surprising amount of backstory leaves me wanting to check out the other pieces of this series, as well as past comics material Dark Horse has put out over the years.