Written by Ethan Pettus

Art by Babisu Kourtis

Colors by Maja Opacic

Letters by Babisu Kourtis

War is hell and so is a jungle full of man-eating giant reptile birds. In the Vietnam war, many atrocities occurred. Whole villages murdered by US soldiers just to make sure the natives weren’t the enemy. These soldiers find out that they are not the only things to fear in the jungle…

Ethan Pettus gives us a dark tale which is set in the jungles of Vietnam during the Vietnam war. The story is dark and gritty which is on brand for the subject matter. It reminds me of the original predator movie. You get the same feelings. A jungle full of tension and terror. The locals know to stay out of the portion of the jungle where the savage creatures hunt, but the mission of the American soldiers will not be dissuaded. The writer does a good job of immersing you into the story and the pacing is slow but helps bring out the best in this story. Simple and short and to the point so we don’t get bogged down in details that don’t matter to the overall narrative. The story if good and everything is portrayed well so that you are immersed in the story and situation.

The artwork is good. The images are clear, and the panels are all easy to understand. The art in the beginning of the book is the highlight. You believe and feel the tension of the soldier running for his life in the jungle. The crack of the lighting is felt through the artwork. The colors are good, but after the initial scene the colors start to be too similar and run together at parts. There is a lot of good detail in the gory artwork, so you tend to linger on panels to take it all in.

The major complaint I have with the artwork, is it has parts that the shading is just overdone. Big black spaces that I just don’t like in my comic artwork.

Overall, I give Primal War 7 capes out of 10. The story is immersive, but short. The artwork is good, but not entirely consistent in my view. If you like gritty horror tales of war, you will like this book.