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.
As a series, Manifest Destiny started up and slowly traveled down. Though sometimes it has charged downhill in terms of plotting quality. But Roberts’s art has always been a draw. It’s always been something the series can lean on when Dingess’s writing isn’t cutting it. Until now. Roberts is either in a rush or as bored with the story as I am. He hurries through and it looks bad. Not all of it, but enough of it.
No way, Sacagawea gets something to do. Not a lot, but Dingess actually gives her something to do. Then he skips out on the leads of Manifest Destiny and heads into the past for the flashback. Lots and lots of flashback. The longer it goes on, the more fantastic Dingess is going to have to tie it into the present action. Something really lame with the journal from the flashback, perhaps. Though it makes no sense at this point how the guy could be journaling his adventures.
Has this arc always had the little year tags to toggle between the flashback and present action? Maybe it did, but I feel like it didn’t, because the transitions were confusing. They’re still confusing, what with the guy in the past having a journal and there’s supposed to be a journal in the present action from Lewis or Clark but Dingess has forgotten about it. But there’s an effort to be less confusing. The effort is nice. It’s a shame it’s still visually confusing; maybe it’s colorist Owen Gieni but the transition from flashback and back is still way too gentle.
I had assumed Manifest Destiny doing a story arc titled Sasquatch meant creators Dingess and Roberts were going for more visibility and media attention, but this issue might prove me wrong. Because the Big Feet turn out to be Cyclopses. Cyclopses humans enjoy consuming. It’s so weird, it doesn’t feel commercially minded. So I apologize for that cynical view of this story arc’s ambitions.