I’m not entirely sure why the upcoming sequel to Alien Vs. Predator is called Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem.   

I think the title Alien Vs. Predator 2, while a bit blah perhaps, certainly gets the point across. 

I suppose it’ll all make sense opening day. 

(Which I might add is now the day after Christmas; I guess the studio decided the previously announced December 25th release date was an unwise decision.  You can check out this earlier post for a link to the R-Rated “redband” trailer)

I mean, there must be a good reason why they chose to title it “Requiem” instead of, say, some other cool-sounding, seemingly nonsensical name, right?

But I digress. 

The real reason for this post:

Alien Loves Predator, (yes, you read that right), a hilariously entertaining webcomic produced by Bernie Hou that depicts the day-to-day life and wacky adventures of Abe, the Alien, and Preston, the Predator, who – instead of being at each other’s throats (as one might expect after having seen the aforementioned Alien Vs. Predator movie) - are actually best friends and roommates sharing a Manhattan apartment.

Here’s a link to the very first strip.

There are plenty of reasons why the strip is as successful as it is. 

For me, Alien Loves Predator works because of the premise.  The absurdity of the whole thing – seeing these two lovably flawed beings behaving like characters in some half-hour television sitcom, their wacky hijinks that take place in ”the real world” and their bitingly funny observations on life’s routine frustrations – all great stuff.

That, and I love the look - the entire strip is put together by cutting and pasting images of actual Alien and Predator action figures onto photo-realistic backgrounds.

Enjoy!

Utter hilarity.

For those of you unfamiliar with the strip, “Pooch Cafe” chronicles the adventures of Poncho, a cat-hating, squirrel-fearing, dumpster-diving, toilet water-drinking, talking dog (who speaks Human just fine, but doesn’t understand a lick of Cat) and his best friend and owner Chazz whose new-wife Carmen is, of all things, a Cat Person! 

Poncho and his buddies Boomer and Hudson frequent the cozy, little establishment for which the strip is named, where they spend their down time sharing their thoughts on life as “man’s best friend” (“What a gyp.”) and figuring out ways to rid the world of its pesky, little ”cat problem” (Usually, this involves a giant catapult, and hurling the cats into space, or the sun.)

I first stumbled onto ”Pooch Cafe” maybe a year or so ago in the Sunday edition of the newspaper.  Paul Gilligan’s quirky and oh-so-distinctive illustrations immediately drew my attention; the smart, subtle, offbeat humor keeps me coming back for more. 

If your newspaper doesn’t carry the strip, you can always pester them until they do, or go check out “Pooch Cafe” on the web, here.