The Terminator (1988) #7

T47 Despite The Terminator not offering much (if anything) in the way of entertainment, much less artistry, I’m still intrigued by the series. Like, where’s the bottom? This issue has a guest penciler, Robin Ator, who’s probably the series worst (so far). The script’s from Jack Herman, who’s written more issues than anyone else at this point (pretty sure). Jim Brozman’s back inking, which is an inglorious task. But the comic’s even more of a mess than usual.

At one point, Herman’s narration is talking about someone shooting a pulse rifle–or whatever the laser guns are called in Terminator—and Ator's very obviously just drawing a machine gun. Then there’s a scene where someone talks about how the neutron bomb has dropped. Neutron bomb? What? One of the amusing things about the Terminator franchise, in general, is how it went from eighties nuclear war paranoia and became an excuse to keep Arnold Schwarzenegger employed regardless of age, but The Terminator’s supposed to be based on that first movie, on that eighties nuclear war paranoia.

And it’s not a nuclear bomb anymore. It’s a neutron bomb.

This issue doesn’t feature any of the “regular” cast, though the letters page threatens their return. Instead, the comic opens with a couple of ne’er-do-wells saving a dog from a Terminator. There’s also no use of the “gators” term, which I remain convinced was the letterer confused about “nators.” There’s no continuity in the future.

Anyway. They’re able to save the dog, but then a wolf attacks one of them. Is there anything suspicious about the wolf? Definitely. Are we going to ignore all that obvious fishy stuff, even when a dog lover meets the wolf, even when the comic’s got omniscient third-person narration? Of course, we are because The Terminator’s a terrible comic book. There’s also some stuff about the apocalypse still being sexist and garbage. Most of the action is spent with this squad of soldiers, specifically their medic and teen sidekick–not the same teen or tween sidekicks from before–searching for food.

Ator’s composition is so bad letterer Kurt Hathaway can’t keep track of who’s speaking from panel to panel—colorist Rich Powers also doesn’t keep characters’ clothes consistently colored between panels, so I do get it—keeping track of The Terminator’s unrewarding enough as a reader, it must’ve been more so as a creative.

The comic’s predictable but not so predictable better art and scripting wouldn’t have greatly improved things.

It’s another lousy, shockingly inept comic. It also doesn’t have much lore—neither from the movie nor the previous issues—which makes every issue a perfect jumping-on (or off) point. Mostly off. But not me. I’m staying here locked behind the door.

The Terminator (1988) #6

The Terminator 6 Truth be told, I have a hard time motivating myself with The Terminator. It’s not bad in peculiar ways related to the licensed property, and it doesn’t have some undiscovered talent doing fantastic work on it. But it’s had its moments. It’s also had irregular writers, with the original writer (and copyright holder on new characters in the indicia) Fred Schiller still not back and Jack Herman apparently the new series regular writer.

Herman had an interesting first couple of issues. He doesn’t have an interesting third. Instead, he’s got what appears to be an Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator—only with a rat ponytail—interjecting himself into the main story. Except this issue isn’t really about the main story—the main story from issues one through three, before Herman came on the book and made it—temporarily—not uninteresting—chuck all that now, now… well, now, NOW Comics’s The Terminator is about to flex that license.

But not completely. Like, the Arnold Terminator doesn’t talk like Arnold. Everyone else in the comic talks, like Herman just watched James Cameron’s Aliens again—solid move—which is how The Terminator comic kicked off. Like they decided they were doing Terminator with Aliens Marines. Sure, why not. But it’s a little late now. Instead of just doing an Arnold Terminator in the series to start, they’ve waited until it appears desperate.

Also, in addition to it not sounding like Arnold, the Terminator doesn’t look much like him, either. Artists Thomas Tennessean and Jim Brozman draw the same three guys over and over again. If they’re lucky, the guys have facial hair, which can distinguish them. Except they’re rarely lucky, and all of them look like white guy resistance fighters in Aliens Marine gear.

This issue has numerous guys who look identical, sometimes shooting at each other, sometimes dying in each other’s arms. The issue’s about a team of… humans or Terminators (can we really tell—yes, yes, we can; it’s a bad comic, no subtexts here). But it’s about one team of guys trying to rescue a civilian from another team of guys. We’re pretty sure we know who’s the Terminators and who’s the humans, but then Herman will occasionally toss a red herring on the deck.

Are any of them good? Nope, not at all. And Herman seems to get it because Arnold zooms into the comic like anyone cares. He’s just a badass Terminator against a bunch of humans until he starts shit-talking them. That’s right… The Terminator is now about an Arnold Terminator with a grudge. Will Terminator get meta and have Arnold go after the license holders and the comic book creators?

One can only hope. But, surprisingly, I found something to be enthusiastic about. Terminator’s nowhere near rock bottom yet.

The Terminator (1988) #5

The Terminator 5 The Terminator, at least with writer Jack Herman steering the series… okay, it’s not good, but it’s not terrible. It’s not bad. While Herman never resolves the culturally appropriating white male Terminator who goes to the South American jungle and puts tribal markings on his fake(?) flesh to terrorize the locals, it’s at times thoughtful-ish sci-fi.

Like, there aren’t any Terminator: The Movie references and none of the Terminator’s behavior this issue requires continuity with the movie. The Terminator’s mission in South America is to build a giant machine to kill the rainforest faster so the humans all die more quickly. I suppose there’s actually a continuity problem because it means this part of South America is doing just fine in the post-nuclear holocaust of The Terminator. Is SkyNet out of nukes? It can’t figure out how to make more?

So many questions. But only when you consider the issue as a licensed property. As a comic about some isolated South American tribesmen running afoul of an invading metal monster and having to quest—to a research outpost—to save their tribe? It’s solid. There’s a not great “Terminator history but through hallucinating indigenous people, but it’s just slightly problematic, not disastrous. Herman puts in the work on his story.

The ending’s pretty cool, too, introducing the idea of The Terminator as an anthology series, checking in on the destroyed world. Much better than when they were doing “The Adventures of Kyle Reese’s Potential Acquaintances but Definitely No One from the Movie.”

Thomas Tenney and Jim Brozman’s art is the issue’s most significant drawback. They both put in some work, but it just doesn’t add up to much. Odder still is when they do visual nods to other comics; only those nods have better art than when they’re not doing nods. They focused their energies poorly. But, again, it’s a late eighties licensed comic from an indie publisher… the bar is low.

And while The Terminator isn’t of interest as a curiosity (it might still be), it’s far from narratively incompetent.

The Terminator (1988) #4

Even with the inexplicable cultural appropriation thread (yes, really) for the Terminator, this issue’s easily the best Terminator so far. Sure, they’re only on issue four—and on their third writer (Jack Herman takes over)—but it’s nearly okay. Until they decide to do “Terminator Meets Predator” only with Arnold as the bad guy… it’s got some real possibilities.

The issue begins with the Yanomami of the Amazon rainforest. In the NOW Comics Terminator timeline, the world stopped chopping down the rainforest in 1995 because it was bad for the environment–much better timeline, even with the whole Skynet thing.

Anyway.

Skynet realizes there are still people in the rainforest, which reminds it to burn down the rainforest to accelerate the extinction of the human race (and all the other animals reliant on oxygen, presumably). So it sends a Terminator down to kill the Yanomami.

The story follows three young men tasked with hunting wild boar for a peace feast between their village and a rival. It’s not great writing, but it’s better than it ought to be. Then the Terminator shows up, and there’s an action sequence. The young men return home, where no one believes their warnings of the flying craft and its dangerous pilot.

So while the villages have their feast, the Terminator proceeds to learn their language and strip down to cover himself in body paint, like the Yanomami people. Why does the Terminator need to know their language? To taunt them before slaughtering them. There’s no excuse for the body paint. Just to have a shirtless white dude running around with the shirtless brown dudes, only the shirtless white dude is a killer android.

But it’s far more inventive than it needs to be; Herman’s got actual ideas. They don’t always execute well, but ideas are more than the book’s really had going for it before.

Thomas Tenney and Jim Brozman’s art is improving. Tenney’s got some decent composition, though he still doesn’t know what to do with it.

The most unfortunate thing—besides Terminator-gone-native—is it having a cliffhanger. A done-in-one would’ve been preferable.

The Terminator (1988) #3

The Terminator 3 Tony Caputo once again gets the guest writer credit—but he’s written two of the three Terminator comics, so how’s he a guest (maybe because, if you read the indicia, you see the original characters are copyright the first artist)? He also completely shuts down the story arc he started last issue. I mean, there’s still little Tim Reese, brother of Kyle (Michael Biehn from the movie), and they go to the brainwashed human town… but Caputo seems to be cleaning house otherwise.

He also reveals there’s no Sarah in “The Sarah Slammers,” the name of the outfit Tim meets up with. I don’t know why I assumed there had to be a Sarah, maybe because it seems like they have a female commander in the previous issues. However, this issue makes it clear the commander’s a dude. A tough dude named Leahy. So I guess they’re named after Sarah Conner? Like homage?

Ooof.

The issue doesn’t need any extra strikes against it, either, not with the art. Thomas Tenney and Jim Brozman are back from last issue, pencils and inks, respectively, but the art’s much, much worse. The most polite description of Terminator #3’s art is amateurish; colorist Rich Powers changes people’s hair colors between pages, even the good robot—synthetic (guess Caputo saw Aliens too)—who’s the only one with a giant eighties mullet in the comic so it’s not like you could confuse him.

Speaking of confusion—someone, either Caputo or lettered Ken Holewczynski, went back to calling the ‘Nators ‘Gators again. I think there are only a couple of times this issue and only one character doing it; there’s a chance it could be a regional nickname for the Terminators. Unlikely, but I wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt.

Because even though the art’s bad and the dialogue’s bad, Caputo’s got an okay plot and an incredible pace. While the story runs long—twenty-seven pages—and there’s some fluff at the beginning, it’s eventually compelling. Not with Tim and his little girlfriend, not with the humans’ inability to crack the Skynet computers, but when they’re on the run from the Terminators. All of a sudden Terminator clicks.

It’s not a good comic but it is effective by the end. If you make it through the art and the obnoxious kid.

Oh, right—it takes place three years after The Terminator. At least three years after the future part of Terminator (Reese going back in time). Will that detail be important? Doubt it.

The Terminator (1988) #2

The credits for this issue say Tony Caputo (also NOW Comics publisher) is the guest writer. Except we’re on Terminator #2; it’s not like there’s an established team. Plus, penciler Thomas Tenney is new too… but not a guest.

Tenney and inker Jim Brozman deliver possibly better art than the last issue, but it’s not more interesting. Instead, it’s all very blandly composed, with Tenney sure readers want to pour over the page to discover child soldiers early and so on.

The child soldiers belong to Johnnie-O and the Synth-Slashers. Johnnie-O doesn’t make it through the first action scene (he’s a grown-up leading child soldiers, boys and girls, but the boys are stronger). The rest of the issue is Tim trying to get his less capable comrade Ann away from the Terminators. Sometimes they’re called ‘Nators, sometimes they’re called ‘Gators. Whatever proofreading they had going at NOW wasn’t enough.

The issue juxtaposes Tim and Ann’s journey with last issue’s rag-tag unit, Sarah’s Slammers. Terminator needed a guest writer to come in and lean further into its worst details. Though when the characters discuss The Terminator: The Movie, the units just have numbers and don’t sound silly. Except they can only repeat the Kyle Reese line from the original. Apparently, no rights to anything else.

Reese just recently went back in time. Or at least, they thought he went back in time, but the place blew up. The resistance fighters are telling the moon humans about it. Also, in the need for proofreading department, one moon person tells them all the androids on the moon are cool and chill, then the android they brought with them immediately says he’s the only android on the moon.

The questionably action-packed finale brings Tim and Ann into the existing plot. The last line of dialogue reveals a “surprise” movie connection.

Hopefully next issue, they get some creative regularity on the book, but… there’s only so much anyone’s going to do with this comic.

The Terminator (1988) #1

If I knew there was a licensed Terminator monthly from the late eighties, I’d forgotten. I knew there was the Burning Earth limited (which concludes the NOW Comics license, with Terminator then headed to Dark Horse), but I didn’t remember there was a regular series. Though after one issue, it’s got squat to do with The Terminator. Outside the very obvious—the near future humans talk about Skynet all the time—the comic’s its own thing. I mean, its own thing meaning recycling other sci-fi bits, including moon colonists coming to Earth. But decently assembled.

However, just because writer Fred Schiller can fill a couple dozen pages and penciller Tony Akins can break out the scenes, it doesn’t mean it’s successful. With Jim Brozman inking, Akins has good comic timing, which doesn’t help for a Terminator comic. His action composition is confusing, and the characters rarely look the same from panel to panel; even the visual clues to identify someone change. Thank goodness the moon people wear special outfits.

They were on Earth in their spaceship, collecting kelp so they can feed themselves back on the moon. The moon people thing’s pretty neat. It offers an entirely new view into the seemingly rote future. Except, no, this future has humans working with the Terminators and, in turn, the Terminators trying to be nice to the humans.

There are also Terminator babies, which has potential.

Does the comic have potential, though?

It amuses as an oddity, but so far, there are way too many characters—Schiller seems inspired by Aliens for how he handles the team dynamics; there are fifteen people. Schiller skips establishing the human resistance soldiers and instead emphasizes the moon people’s origin. It’d be okay if the comic were the adventures of John Conner, but it’s original characters.

The Terminator could be a lot worse. There’s nothing to suggest it’s a hidden gem, but it could be much worse. And it’s not dull. Hopefully, Akins gets better at the action.

The Terminator (1988)

Term What a very strange adaptation of The Terminator. It was originally published as single panels, one a day (as a promotion in Hungary), which makes a lot of sense. The panels do look a little like trading card snapshots of the film.

Without all the text–or maybe with just less of it (adapter Attila Fazekas just took lengthy dialogue and squeezed it into half of his panels)–the comic would be better. It’s a curiosity, but it definitely makes one want to watch the film again. Fazekas does a fairly good job; he’s not doing anything sequential as much as the snapshots as I mentioned before.

He does rather well fitting a lot of information into one of these panels. For instance, when the Terminator is killing Linda Hamilton’s friend (or has just killed her), the boyfriend’s off in the background. Fazekas knows how to compress.

It’s definitely peculiar.

The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)

I remember The Terminator being a lot better. Even as it started–I think during the first chase sequence (Michael Biehn in the department store)–I thought about the great highway chase sequence at the end. Then, as things went sour during, I kept waiting for that sequence, sure it would bring things around.

But it doesn’t bring things around. It’s short and loud–maybe the only time in the movie Brad Fiedel’s score doesn’t work. The disappointment might also be because Linda Hamilton, during this sequence, goes from waitress who gets picked on by little kids (I guess her restaurant does not reserve the right to refuse service) to the full-on James Cameron super-woman. It’s an inexplicable character change, sort of like her romantic clinging to future stalker Biehn. Where Terminator has the most opportunity for real character development (does Hamilton cling to Biehn because of her previous and frequent rejections?), it doesn’t seem to notice them. It does try to show Biehn’s incapable of having a regular conversation, emotion scarring from the future, but Biehn’s terrible during these scenes. Actually, he’s terrible once he meets up with Hamilton. Before them meeting up, he’s fine… even if he only has two lines.

The first three-quarters (or half) of the movie–before the police station shoot out–is great. It’s some of Cameron’s finest work, just because it shows he can show people walking down the street or going to work. Even if Hamilton and Bess Motta give bad performances, them getting ready for their dates is a good scene. There’s a texture to the film, even if there isn’t one to the screenplay. Cameron’s become so enamored with the fantastic, he seems to have forgotten the effectiveness of the uncanny. It doesn’t take him five or ten years though, by the second half of The Terminator he’s made the transition.

The second part has all the stupid future stuff, the terrible romantic stuff and the unexciting ending (the movie’s really Biehn’s and the protagonist transition to Hamilton fails).

The movie starts so strong–down to Bill Paxton’s moron punk–and doesn’t let up for a long time. Most of the credit goes to Fiedel, the sound designer (The Terminator‘s most interesting, technically, for how Cameron uses sound and music to create mood) and Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield. Winfield and Henriksen’s bickering cops brings a human element to the film–and real characters, something sorely missing with Hamilton and Biehn–and once they’re out of the story, it’s just a bunch of sci-fi tripe. The reality is gone.

As for Schwarzenegger, he’s fine. Though he’s interchangeable with a model head and a stop motion robot, so I’m not sure the performance is particularly successful.