THE TERMINATOR VOLUME 1, ISSUE #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
STORY: Declan Shalvey; Sal Crivelli
ART: Luke Sparrow with Colin Craker; Colin Craker
COLORS: Colin Craker
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: Declan Shalvey
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Edwin Galmon; Sway; David Cousens; Alex Ross; Declan Shalvey
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (October 2024)
Rated “Teen”
The Terminator created by James Cameron
“Out of Time” and “Buried Alive”
The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film. It would be the beginning of a media and merchandising franchise that yielded several films, a live-action television series, an anime streaming series, and video games, to name a few.
Co-written by the film's director, James Cameron, and producer, Gale Anne Hurd, The Terminator focuses on three characters. The first is a cyborg, called a “Terminator,” that is sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill a young woman. Her name is “Sarah Connor,” and she is destined to give birth to “John Connor.” John will grow up to be the savior of mankind when he successful leads human military forces against the Terminators creator, “Skynet,” a AI super-intelligence determined to destroy humankind. The third character is “Kyle Reese,” a soldier from 2029 sent to the past by an adult John Connor to protect his mother.
One aspect of the Terminator franchise is comic book publishing. Beginning in 1988, numerous publishers, including the defunct NOW Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing, and Dynamite Entertainment, among others, have published Terminator comic books. Dynamite has the license again and is kicking it off with The Terminator Volume 1. It is written by Declan Shalvey; drawn by Luke Sparrow and Colin Craker; colored by Craker; and lettered by Jeff Eckleberry. The Terminator Volume 1 takes place post-original film and finds Skynet sending Terminators throughout time in a bid to destroy all the people they see as threats and also their ancestors.
The Terminator Volume 1 #1 (“Out of Time”) opens in Alaska in the year 2018. Harper and Penny have been on the run for almost 40 years. In the beginning, they thought they were running from the man who showed up and destroyed their lives. He wouldn't stop hunting them, and he killed both their parents and killed Penny's brother. But they are about to discover that this man is not what he seems, and perhaps, is more than he seems.
After failing to kill either Sarah Connor or her son, John, Skynet has another plan. There is a new front in the “War Against the Machines.” Terminators are dispatched across the globe and throughout time to target current resistance fighters, their ancestors, and anyone else unlucky enough to be in Skynet's strike zones. These secondary assignments are as straightforward as the primary missions of the T-800 and T-1000 Terminators of the first two films, and time is literally on the machines' side. When all of history becomes a war zone, nowhere and no time are safe.
THE LOWDOWN: Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles. The Terminator Volume 1, Issue #1 is the latest, but it is not the first Terminator comic book that I have read.
The spirit and creativity of James Cameron and his creation, the Terminator franchise, hang over this first issue of The Terminator Volume 1, and that will certainly be the case throughout this particular series run. This new comic book launches itself off the events depicted in the original film, The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), both co-written and directed by Cameron. I have to give writer Declan Shalvey credit; this first issue is a page-turning read that introduces this series central conceit. Judging by the first issue, I think Shalvey will offer some fun issues.
The art team of Luke Sparrow and Colin Craker present a small press aesthetic with a simplicity that deftly conveys the sense of fear and dread that hangs over any narrative about Terminators hunting people. The violent action is straightforward and brutal and is effective without any illustrative theatrics. Harper and Penny's plight seems genuine and consequential. Colin Craker's colors even give the story a dark future mode and mood, while Jeff Eckleberry's clean lettering effectively delivers the sparse dialogue and exposition that Shalvey efficiently offers in this opening issue.
In addition to the main story, there is a back-up story, entitled “Buried Alive,” that introduces itself with a two-page opener. It is not as if “Out of Time” is not good enough, but this first issue offers an exciting teaser for a second serial. I gotta say, dear readers, that my initial skepticism, though light, was a thing. After this first issue, it's no longer a thing, so you should read this first issue... at least.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of The Terminator franchise will want to read The Terminator Volume 1.
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Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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