''Alien Loves Predator'' (sometimes shortened as ''ALP'') is a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

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 Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

(named Preston) as friends and

roommate A roommate is a person with whom one shares a living facility such as a room or dormitory ''except'' when being family or romantically involved. Similar terms include dorm-mate, suite-mate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in Brit ...

s in modern-day New York City.Robert Taylor
Mingling Species: Bernie Hou Q&A
''Wizard'' magazine, July 10, 2006 The first issue of ''ALP'' was released in 2004. On August 28, 2008, the author of the strip announced that ''Alien Loves Predator'' would be updated sporadically, abandoning its regular weekly format. After a short run of a different webcomic, ''If You See Something'', Bernie Hou announced that he would once again be running the strip and updating it weekly. It stopped updating in June 2011 and as of June 2024 appears to be offline.

Style

The artwork of ''ALP'' is composed by juxtaposing photos of real-life

action figures An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These fig ...

into backgrounds also primarily generated from photos. This style has alternately been called photocollage, photocomics or

fumetti Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling using photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to in ...

. A reviewer has stated that ''ALP'' "sets the bar for this art style." ''ALP''s humor is often based on

absurdism Absurdism is the philosophical theory that the universe is irrationality, irrational and meaningless. It states that trying to find meaning leads people into conflict with a seemingly meaningless world. This conflict can be between Rationality ...

and non-sequiturs. Abe and Preston speak English and treat each other just as human friends do, and the specific mythology of the '' Alien'' and ''

'' franchises is not a primary focus. Although the New York City of the strip seems virtually identical to the one we know in real life, the humans we see are generally unconcerned by the fact that an Alien and a Predator are living among them. (An alternate universe storyline tha
began in July 2009
has challenged this notion.) Along with the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

humor of seeing alien races act just like humans, 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. ''Transformers'' screenwriter John Rogers has compared ALP to ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' in this respect.

Recognition

''ALP'' was a finalist for a Web Cartoonists' Choice Award for outstanding photographic comic in 2008. Bernie Hou has been a featured guest at the MoCCA, ICON and UberCon comic conventions and has been interviewed by ''Wizard'' magazine. ''ALP'' received favorable mention in the March/April 2005 issue of ''Creative Screenwriting'' magazine, the February 2006 issue of ''Stuff'' magazine, and the April 2010 issue of ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The publ ...

'' magazine.

References

External links

Official site

ALP review at Sequential Tart

Mind Pollution interview with Bernie Hou about ALP and his other works

Fleen essay about ALP
{{Alien vs. Predator (franchise) Alien vs. Predator (franchise) 2004 webcomic debuts Comics based on films Comics set in New York City American comedy websites Parody webcomics Photocomics