MALIBU COMICS
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY - CYBERNETIC DAWN (November 1995)
Read Part III HERE. Terminator disappeared from the comic book world for three years after Dark Horse's license has expired, and the plate has been wiped clean. An outdated plate, since Dark Horse's comics were "what if's" ever since its inception due to the fact they started out pretty much when T2 came out and their story directly and completely contradicted the movie. The Dark Horse series was based on the license off of just the first film of course, and they chose to have their own story nevertheless, making their series noncanonical from the start. So they were always a non canon, what if's scenario.
Three years after Dark Horse's license expired, in late 1995 (ironically, at the time when the events of T2 are taking place in the film), a company called Malibu Comics not only acquired an unrestricted license to T2, but they did the best anyone ever could - they went straight to the source and asked for assistance in the best place possible - they went to Lightstorm Entertainment, James Cameron's production company that still exists today.
The two mini series' they did was overseen by Lightstorm Entertainment's Van Ling, Cameron's assistant on The Abyss and T2 (He also produced documentaries on the making of both Cameron Terminator films, and numerous The Terminator and T2 DVDs and blurays, winning awards for his work on some of them). He became Malibu series' consultant, and he was, and perhaps still is (if you count Cameron's two films only as canon and a complete story) to Jim's Terminator world what Pablo Hidalgo is to Star Wars universe. Thanks to that they had access to storyboards of deleted scenes and could see all the unused ideas from the film. They had access to everything T2. Jim himself has watched the project over as well:
It was then the closest to the most legitimate and authorized T2 continuation. And the best Terminator comic series along Burning Earth. What Burning Earth was to the first film, Cybernetic Dawn, and Nuclear Twilight are to the second. Those two are by far the definitive and best comic book series' on Terminator, well representing both The Terminator and T2. Amazingly, to this day, as of writing this in early 2020 (updated in 2022), this is only actual comic book series based on T2. There is the comic adaptation, a second crossover with Robocop, and a series that is T2 in name only. So astonishingly its the only T2 original series.
The 5 issue series takes places exactly where T2 leaves off, starting with an image of a dark highway at night. It continues the story directly, and many characters from the movie make a comeback: Sarah and John naturally, Dr Silberman, Enrique's family, Tarissa Dyson with Danny and Blythe, and Detectives Wetherby and Mossberg, the two that interrogated Sarah at Pescadero and Enrique Salceda's family. This is just T2 treat
In this series, Cyberdyne continues its development despite the loss of the valuable research, thanks to another T-1000 that is there to make sure Skynet gets invented as planned, while two other T-800s are after John. In flashbacks, it incorporated scripted, storyboarded but never filmed scenes from T2, such as the T-1000 finding Salceda's place and Enrique sacrificing himself trying to destroy the polyalloy killer. It also incorporates a lot of T2 imagery from the design boards that couldn't make it into the film for either budgetary or time constraining reasons.
Now, as far as more Terminators coming back through time: I would usually be against it, but how can you have a T2 universe to play with, and not use a T-1000? You just have to cheat that there was just one more. There are also two T-800s, not looking like Arnold this time, and I think the way it was done does not defy anything that has been established.
Issue #1 Lost & Found Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham
As I mentioned, the story begins with the last shot in T2 and picks up exactly from the same spot. Sarah and John are coming back from the Steel Mill, John asleep, Sarah deep in her thoughts. They go back to Enrique's place only to find out he had been killed by the T-1000 (which actually happened in the script, was storyboarded and Stan Winston created a new T-1000 head for those scenes) for which his son Franco, (who was also in the movie), blamed Sarah
Sarah, still hurt of course and bleeding, collapses. John gets filled in on what happened, and we get to see the omitted T2 scene as scripted and storyboarded. Some examples
Meanwhile, the Steel Mill is crawling with FBI and the two detectives that interviewed Sarah at Pescadero, Mossberg and Weatherby (and another kudos to the creators of the series, because those are their actual names in the T2 script), arrive at the scene only to be chased away, but not before Weatherby sneaks in and sees the T-800's arm pinned under the gear.
Two leading FBI agents, Agent Sparsky and female Agent Stern also work for Network Developments company, and fill the investors in on their discovery and how crucial it is to find Sarah Connor.
Sarah (who's still having nightmares) and John contemplate on whether they really won and ultimately decided the humane thing to do would be to see how Tarissa Dyson and kids are doing.
This night, three Terminators arrive from 2029, sent at the same time as the first T-800 and the first T-1000. The three terminators are two T-800 models and one T-1000. Sure, the T-1000 is a prototype but it's mildly cheated that there were two made - I mean, I can forgive that, becuase again, how can you not have a T-1000 in a T2 comic series. To this day, it's the only other T-1000 other than that from T2 in comic books.
It feels great to reconnect with these character and this particular T2 world with so many characters from it and the characters being there literally at the same places same day. Also, Sarah's voiceover, or in this instance, narration, is also present throughout the issue keeping the tone and style consistent with T2. Again, great stuff. And I really dig the artwork too on this one, for the most part its really good and the coloring's great as well. Really good likenesses of the actors
Issue #2 Search Mode Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Gordon Purcell
Detectives Weatherby and Mossberg go back to Pescadero to interrogate Silberman. Silberman is now in a straitjacket as he is now a believer of Sarah's story. This bit is also loyal to the T2 story - in T2 script, Silberman shouts like crazy and they put in in a straitjacket.
Weatherby is now also a believer, although Mossberg still isn't. Agent Stern goes back to the Mill to see if they missed anything, and it's there that the new T-1000 awaits, kills and copies her. The T-1000's mission is to make sure Skynet gets developed, while the two T-800s are trying to locate Sarah and John.
Sarah and John rescue Tarissa Dyson and her kids from the hands of feds and a police chase ensues. They run into Weatherby and Mossberg but suddenly Wheaterby gets shot down by one of the T-800s who listened to police radio and found them that way
Issue #3 Judgment Impaired Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham
Our team, John, Sarah and Mossberg make a run to a construction site for better control of the situation. There Sarah impales one of the T-800s with a forklift. It was a nice touch to have the tesla coil effect back when the Terminator was impaled.
Mossberg is now part of the group. Sarah tells him everything and they're trying to figure out why is the war still happening. Mossberg tells them that the Feds who were at the Mill are stationed in the Network Developments company. The team splits up. Sarah and Tarissa volunteer to go there with a plan, while Mossberg is taking John, Danny and Blythe to a hideout in the mountains.
The T-1000 as Agent Stern arrives at the Network Developments facility
Issue #4 Genesis & Revelations Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Jack Snider
Sarah appears in the Network Developments lobby giving herself in with a plan, after which she is immediately apprehended by Spasky and other agents. Sarah meets Detective Stern (yes, the T-1000 in disguise) and demands their knowledge on the subject. She also explains that if she won't exit the building by 4 pm, Tarissa will mail police files and all the information on terminators to every media outlet and to internet websites. Reluctant Spasky and Stern show Sarah lab in which they have nearly 30 heavily damaged endoskeletons, which all come from the future, and are all failed subjects of Skynet's testing of the Time Equipment Device. Skynet did not develop the machine perfectly right away and worked a long time on it, and many of its subjects didn't survive. None survived operational. Once Spasky exited, Stern reveals herself as a T-1000 and turns into Sarah explaining that a Sarah Connor will walk out at 4pm.
Meanwhile, the other T-800 finds Mossberg, John and Dyson kids who are making their escape in a mini bus. Upon some road fight, both crash down the hill
Issue #0 No Fate Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Jack Snider
Sarah is running around the facility trying to escape the T-1000 which kills Agent Spasky and few agents roaming the halls. Sarah escapes to the chemical lab and throws everything off the shelves at the T-1000 hoping she'll grab something that has an affect on it. One of the vials does and she throws a can of this stuff at the T-1000 which causes it to shatter like glass and scream in agony. Defeating another T-1000 wasn't a small task for the writers. It has been quite an issue for Jim Cameron and William Wisher when writing T2. Cameron explains on the T2 audio commentary that they created something unstoppable, now they were posed with the question on how to kill it. Melting it was one way, and here it was a creative thinking to defeat it with chemicals.
At the same time, John and Mossberg defeat their own stalker and manage to obliterate the 800 that followed them. Sarah and John meet up and decide its safer to assume that the Judgment Day will still come despite their victory. It is also revealed that John had saved the head/chip from the T-800 they just defeated, whose source code they want to study to someday create a virus that could infect Skynet
Malibu Comics, responsible for the terrific T2 Cybernetic Dawn with the help of Lightstorm Entertainment, James Cameron's production company, also brought us T2 Nuclear Twilight, a 5 issue mini series that adapts the original, scripted but not shot (or rather, very trimmed) opening of T2 with some embellishments and extra subplot that ties it to Cybernetic Dawn. Since Jim Cameron's company and Van Ling were overseeing it, it's full of scenery and designs which were made for T2 but didn't make it because of budget and time constraints. It follows the designs and the screenplay closely. Here is a comparison of concept designs from T2 and panels from this comic series
Nuclear Twilight follows the story during the Future War, beginning right after John Connor puts the binoculars away as seen in the opening of T2. We get to see the defeat of Skynet, sending Reese, reprogramming T-800 and much more, all from the excised Portion of the T2 script
It also underlines some concepts never spoken in the film but thought up originally for the film, such as Cameron's concept behind sending just one, or rather, two or more terminators at a time. Before the mini series, the explanation behind it was only given by the T2 concept designer Steve Burg in 1991's The Making of T2 book: "Jim always said that it [Time Displacement Equipment] should look like it took all of the energy of the planet just to send one person back in this thing, so it had to be a very big deal"
Naturally with Lightstorm involved, this is made rather clear in the series
Some ideas were added, such as resistance soldier named Griffith, whose physical appearance (the Robert Patrick look) was copied by the T-1000 and assumed as default (or rather by two T-1000s, as one extra appears in Cybernetic Dawn). However, the idea of a character of Griffith has roots in the actual movie. The resistance soldier that runs into frame and finishes off a damaged endoskeleton with a rifle in the opening scenes of the film was played by Robert Patrick's stunt double - so there you go.
As I mentioned, the story begins with the last shot in T2 and picks up exactly from the same spot. Sarah and John are coming back from the Steel Mill, John asleep, Sarah deep in her thoughts. They go back to Enrique's place only to find out he had been killed by the T-1000 (which actually happened in the script, was storyboarded and Stan Winston created a new T-1000 head for those scenes) for which his son Franco, (who was also in the movie), blamed Sarah
Sarah, still hurt of course and bleeding, collapses. John gets filled in on what happened, and we get to see the omitted T2 scene as scripted and storyboarded. Some examples
Two leading FBI agents, Agent Sparsky and female Agent Stern also work for Network Developments company, and fill the investors in on their discovery and how crucial it is to find Sarah Connor.
Sarah (who's still having nightmares) and John contemplate on whether they really won and ultimately decided the humane thing to do would be to see how Tarissa Dyson and kids are doing.
This night, three Terminators arrive from 2029, sent at the same time as the first T-800 and the first T-1000. The three terminators are two T-800 models and one T-1000. Sure, the T-1000 is a prototype but it's mildly cheated that there were two made - I mean, I can forgive that, becuase again, how can you not have a T-1000 in a T2 comic series. To this day, it's the only other T-1000 other than that from T2 in comic books.
It feels great to reconnect with these character and this particular T2 world with so many characters from it and the characters being there literally at the same places same day. Also, Sarah's voiceover, or in this instance, narration, is also present throughout the issue keeping the tone and style consistent with T2. Again, great stuff. And I really dig the artwork too on this one, for the most part its really good and the coloring's great as well. Really good likenesses of the actors
Issue #2 Search Mode Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Gordon Purcell
Detectives Weatherby and Mossberg go back to Pescadero to interrogate Silberman. Silberman is now in a straitjacket as he is now a believer of Sarah's story. This bit is also loyal to the T2 story - in T2 script, Silberman shouts like crazy and they put in in a straitjacket.
Weatherby is now also a believer, although Mossberg still isn't. Agent Stern goes back to the Mill to see if they missed anything, and it's there that the new T-1000 awaits, kills and copies her. The T-1000's mission is to make sure Skynet gets developed, while the two T-800s are trying to locate Sarah and John.
Sarah and John rescue Tarissa Dyson and her kids from the hands of feds and a police chase ensues. They run into Weatherby and Mossberg but suddenly Wheaterby gets shot down by one of the T-800s who listened to police radio and found them that way
Issue #3 Judgment Impaired Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham
Our team, John, Sarah and Mossberg make a run to a construction site for better control of the situation. There Sarah impales one of the T-800s with a forklift. It was a nice touch to have the tesla coil effect back when the Terminator was impaled.
Mossberg is now part of the group. Sarah tells him everything and they're trying to figure out why is the war still happening. Mossberg tells them that the Feds who were at the Mill are stationed in the Network Developments company. The team splits up. Sarah and Tarissa volunteer to go there with a plan, while Mossberg is taking John, Danny and Blythe to a hideout in the mountains.
The T-1000 as Agent Stern arrives at the Network Developments facility
Issue #4 Genesis & Revelations Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Jack Snider
Sarah appears in the Network Developments lobby giving herself in with a plan, after which she is immediately apprehended by Spasky and other agents. Sarah meets Detective Stern (yes, the T-1000 in disguise) and demands their knowledge on the subject. She also explains that if she won't exit the building by 4 pm, Tarissa will mail police files and all the information on terminators to every media outlet and to internet websites. Reluctant Spasky and Stern show Sarah lab in which they have nearly 30 heavily damaged endoskeletons, which all come from the future, and are all failed subjects of Skynet's testing of the Time Equipment Device. Skynet did not develop the machine perfectly right away and worked a long time on it, and many of its subjects didn't survive. None survived operational. Once Spasky exited, Stern reveals herself as a T-1000 and turns into Sarah explaining that a Sarah Connor will walk out at 4pm.
Meanwhile, the other T-800 finds Mossberg, John and Dyson kids who are making their escape in a mini bus. Upon some road fight, both crash down the hill
Issue #0 No Fate Written by Dan Abnett Art by Rod Whigham and Jack Snider
Sarah is running around the facility trying to escape the T-1000 which kills Agent Spasky and few agents roaming the halls. Sarah escapes to the chemical lab and throws everything off the shelves at the T-1000 hoping she'll grab something that has an affect on it. One of the vials does and she throws a can of this stuff at the T-1000 which causes it to shatter like glass and scream in agony. Defeating another T-1000 wasn't a small task for the writers. It has been quite an issue for Jim Cameron and William Wisher when writing T2. Cameron explains on the T2 audio commentary that they created something unstoppable, now they were posed with the question on how to kill it. Melting it was one way, and here it was a creative thinking to defeat it with chemicals.
At the same time, John and Mossberg defeat their own stalker and manage to obliterate the 800 that followed them. Sarah and John meet up and decide its safer to assume that the Judgment Day will still come despite their victory. It is also revealed that John had saved the head/chip from the T-800 they just defeated, whose source code they want to study to someday create a virus that could infect Skynet
T2 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY - NUCLEAR TWILIGHT (November 1995)
Malibu Comics, responsible for the terrific T2 Cybernetic Dawn with the help of Lightstorm Entertainment, James Cameron's production company, also brought us T2 Nuclear Twilight, a 5 issue mini series that adapts the original, scripted but not shot (or rather, very trimmed) opening of T2 with some embellishments and extra subplot that ties it to Cybernetic Dawn. Since Jim Cameron's company and Van Ling were overseeing it, it's full of scenery and designs which were made for T2 but didn't make it because of budget and time constraints. It follows the designs and the screenplay closely. Here is a comparison of concept designs from T2 and panels from this comic series
Nuclear Twilight follows the story during the Future War, beginning right after John Connor puts the binoculars away as seen in the opening of T2. We get to see the defeat of Skynet, sending Reese, reprogramming T-800 and much more, all from the excised Portion of the T2 script
It also underlines some concepts never spoken in the film but thought up originally for the film, such as Cameron's concept behind sending just one, or rather, two or more terminators at a time. Before the mini series, the explanation behind it was only given by the T2 concept designer Steve Burg in 1991's The Making of T2 book: "Jim always said that it [Time Displacement Equipment] should look like it took all of the energy of the planet just to send one person back in this thing, so it had to be a very big deal"
Naturally with Lightstorm involved, this is made rather clear in the series
Some ideas were added, such as resistance soldier named Griffith, whose physical appearance (the Robert Patrick look) was copied by the T-1000 and assumed as default (or rather by two T-1000s, as one extra appears in Cybernetic Dawn). However, the idea of a character of Griffith has roots in the actual movie. The resistance soldier that runs into frame and finishes off a damaged endoskeleton with a rifle in the opening scenes of the film was played by Robert Patrick's stunt double - so there you go.
Even the HUD (Termovision) of a T-800 is very accurate to the one we've seen in T2 (although without the contrasting whiteouts), and the uniforms, hardware and sets naturally are taken directly from T2
While the artwork is not nearly as good as in Cybernetic Dawn, and the lack of young John and warrior Sarah and all the other T2 characters makes this one seem less T2 in feel, it's still a great mini series and a very interesting adaptation of the deleted part of James Cameron's script
Issue #1 Warchild Written by Mark Paniccia, Art by Gary Erskine
The first issue isn't very strong. After a few page introduction, showing young John with Sarah emerging from hideout after Judgement Day and fighting 800 Terminators (which shouldn't be there so early), we then pick up where T2 left off in the future battle - Connor scanning the battle area. Connor is notified about power outages, which affect almost all Skynet machines and bases. It means Skynet is testing the TDE. A small resistance team has a mission to capture an 800 with CPU intact, and at first it seems like they're lucky - the T-800 endo freezes in place after the power outage at Skynet, but unfortunately for them, it wakes up before they could disarm and dismantle him and the entire Bravo team dies. The adult Danny Dyson is shown to be part of the resistance and a man close to Connor. Two resistance fighters, one of which is Griffith, lurk into Danny's cabin to snoop around and discover the endoskull (from the Cybernetic Dawn's T-800) and assume he's secretly working for Skynet
Issue #2 Suicide Mission Written by Mark Paniccia, Art by Gary Erskine
Another power dip, which this time was a result of the first successful time travel - the first T-800 is being overseen by two endos going back in time to 1984.
Another squad is tasked with catching a functional but disabled T-800, only in this one a couple of resistance fighters we got introduced to in the first issue, Samuel and Griffith, are in the team, as well as Kyle Reese. After hearing about Reese being in the group, Connor orders to pull him out. Reese, not knowing why he's pulled off the mission, goes anyway sneaking into the driver seat. Unfortunately the team gets ambushed by T-800s
Issue #3 Dead Men Walking Written by Mark Paniccia, Art by Gary Erskine
The entire team gets blasted to shreds except for Reese who's playing dead and Griffith who gets abducted by endos and taken to their complex. There, under the influence of some drugs, Griffith is interrogated, then "visited" by two T-1000s, who both copy his appearance. One is preparing to go back to 1995, so it's Griffith's appearance that the T-1000 from T2 has.
Meanwhile, Reese gets a hold of an endo and gets picked up by the Resistance search party. Dyson and Connor replace the CPU in the endo with a computer virus for Skynet. A new mission is given to the troops. Ensure the endo gets inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex, even if it means killing their own if a squad appears somewhere ready to hit it. Unfortunately, this is what happens and what the team has to deal with emotionally as well.
Issue #4 Fathers Day Written by Mark Paniccia, Art by Gary Erskine
The team, which is making sure that the endo reaches its destination, gets ambushed by an army of T-800 endoskeletons. They all get killed but the endo does reach its destination as planned.
Just after the second T-1000 and two T-800s had been sent back through time (the ones from the Cybernetic Dawn series), the reprogrammed endoskeleton uploads the virus. Machines fall, terminators freeze and Connor's army move in.
Reese gets sent back through time. Interesting thing to note is, the comic book even mentions Reese being smeared with a conductive gel, something that has only been mentioned in the novelizations and the script
Issue #0 The Programming of Fate Written by Mark Paniccia, Art by Gary Erskine
Connor and his team of technicians and soldiers enter the dark and cold bowels of Skynet's complex, looking for a T-800 to reprogram to send back to 1995. They replace the chip in one, but have to activate power in the cryochamber for all of them, hoping the other ones aren't programmed yet. They were wrong. As a row of Arnold's attacks and murders the team, the reprogrammed one saves the day and gets sent back to protect young John.
Unbeknown to anyone, there still is the T-1000 with the appearance of Griffith walking around, who just stole the Skynet code from Danny's cabin. An oversight: this second T-1000 had been sent back to the Cybernetic Dawn events, so he can't be left walking around, and the series shows and implies two existed
DARK HORSE COMICS
TERMINATOR: DEATH VALLEY (August 1998)
Nearly 6 years after their last Terminator series, Dark Horse Comics reached for the Terminator license again. Only this time there was no Hemdale, and by 1998 there was no Carolco Pictures either. All the Terminator rights now sat with Canal +, a well known European company (it used to be like what HBO was in US). Malibu Comics decided to built upon what is established. For some who knows what reason, Dark Horse chose to go the same path as before, creating stories which aren't canon the moment they come out. For some reason, they only got the license for the first film which of course limits them tremendously unless they just want to set stories in the future, and before 2029, and without involvement of John or Sarah. But they never did set stories just in the future, and in their second stint with the Terminator universe, they, like the first time, just created their own continuity which directly contradicted everything in the second film. They also went back to revolving time doors. The previous continuity they made and characters from the 90-92 years are wiped out. This is a new continuity. Also, it's the first time a Terminator lettering appears in the Dark Horse Comics title.
Having said that, I must admit they started out really strong the second time around, and their first tale, Death Valley, is in my opinion Dark Horse's best Terminator series. It's written by Alan Grant and penciled by few different artists, but Grant brings his tremendous writing talent here. While he's not going to do as well with the future series', here he shines, and the story reads like a good novel.
Issue #0 Special Written by Alan Grant, Art by Guy Davis
In 2029, a small team of Resistance soldiers attack an HK tank and try to scavenge its ammo, when an endo emerges and shoots them all except one which he takes for torture/interrogation. After who knows how long of being tortured to reveal where John Connor grew up, the soldier manages to commit suicide.
Based on pain-filled and half conscious mumbling of his during torture, in which he most likely prayed, Skynet could decipher that he mentioned something about Valley and Death and assumed he was talking about California's Death Valley. Two Terminators, a male middle aged in appearance D800-L, and a female D810-X are being sent to 1998 to find young John.
And here's the issue of model designation again. Sure, they couldn't use the T-800 "name" since it's from T2, but what's with the random letters? They could go with CSM which stood for Cyberdyne Systems Model, and since they're all 800s, just with different human appearance, it would be perfectly fitting to call them, let's say, CSM-810 or CSM-870. It all just underlines how non canonical all this is.
Anyway. Something happens upon their arrival which to my liking is never explained, and it's left for thoughts after the series is done. The male, D800-L, for unexplained reasons appears a moment after the female, as oppose to simultaneous arrival. Something did happen however, and from this moment on, the male Terminator becomes gradually different. He immediately shows signs of curiosity - he looks back upon a lizard he accidentally stomped.
Not that far away, an action is taking place - a gang of Satan worshipping bikers has a hideout, which has just been discovered by a private detective hired to bring back a young girl who joined them. In the midst of their altercation, the two naked terminators walk in and start to murder everyone, asking if anyone knows where John Connor is. Mocking them, the leader of the gang, a man calling himself Killerman, says he knows but they won't be able to meet them, referring to the fact that he was just about to stab them. Stabbing the female in the forehead did nothing though, but the Terminators now think he has information they need. The young girl that the detective was after is tragically killed by mistake amongst the chaos by the detective himself, and the whole place blows up after Killerman throws a grenade. The gangleader makes an escape and the Terminators climb out of the ruble and prioritize catching him for further questioning. The detective also survives.
The artwork is of very certain style in this issue and some weren't really fond of its sketchy, rough look, but I think its fine and works for the issue.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Killerman hides in the crowd, sipping coffee in a crowded visitor center full of tourists and rangers, but that doesn't help him at all. The two Terminators locate him and shoot every ranger there to eliminate threat. Killerman manages to escape and the Terminators acquire police car. The male one shows more signs of curiosity.
We get introduced to more characters: some of the key characters are a family of three, living in a Mobile Home in the ruins of a very old town out in the desert. It's a young family where the father, Michael, is doing a environmental research and took his family, young Sarah Norden and her son Jon, to stay with him. You can tell how their names will get them in real trouble. Unfortunately for them, Killerman finds their camper car and takes the little 7 year old Jon hostage.
Another character is an old man and his mule, Jezebel, wandering the deserts for decades looking for gold. He's a good man who befriended his animal. The old man helped the detective when his car hit moving sands
Not that far away, an action is taking place - a gang of Satan worshipping bikers has a hideout, which has just been discovered by a private detective hired to bring back a young girl who joined them. In the midst of their altercation, the two naked terminators walk in and start to murder everyone, asking if anyone knows where John Connor is. Mocking them, the leader of the gang, a man calling himself Killerman, says he knows but they won't be able to meet them, referring to the fact that he was just about to stab them. Stabbing the female in the forehead did nothing though, but the Terminators now think he has information they need. The young girl that the detective was after is tragically killed by mistake amongst the chaos by the detective himself, and the whole place blows up after Killerman throws a grenade. The gangleader makes an escape and the Terminators climb out of the ruble and prioritize catching him for further questioning. The detective also survives.
The artwork is of very certain style in this issue and some weren't really fond of its sketchy, rough look, but I think its fine and works for the issue.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Killerman hides in the crowd, sipping coffee in a crowded visitor center full of tourists and rangers, but that doesn't help him at all. The two Terminators locate him and shoot every ranger there to eliminate threat. Killerman manages to escape and the Terminators acquire police car. The male one shows more signs of curiosity.
We get introduced to more characters: some of the key characters are a family of three, living in a Mobile Home in the ruins of a very old town out in the desert. It's a young family where the father, Michael, is doing a environmental research and took his family, young Sarah Norden and her son Jon, to stay with him. You can tell how their names will get them in real trouble. Unfortunately for them, Killerman finds their camper car and takes the little 7 year old Jon hostage.
Another character is an old man and his mule, Jezebel, wandering the deserts for decades looking for gold. He's a good man who befriended his animal. The old man helped the detective when his car hit moving sands
The new artist for the series, Steve Pugh, does a really nice job and fits the series well. He will do great endoskeletons
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Police organizes a manhunt for the two Terminators for the massacre at the visitor center, but when a Police chopper finds them, they take it down as well. The pilot survives and just before the female Terminator shoots him in the head, the male one tells her not to do it saying he doesn't pose a threat. She doesn't listen though. The male one also takes time to look at nature and begins to ask existential questions. They find the hideout of Killerman and the family, but Killerman has set up a trap, and releases a loaded wagon on the two. He and the family escape on quads. The old gold digger and the detective overlook everything from far away and the detective rushes to help.
Also, a real Sarah Connor and John are shown. Sarah seems to be actually living near the Valley cleaning motels under a fake name, and John is neither trained nor very mature. He chases rabbits and gets told by his mother that the bad men from her past are close and they need to run (she saw TV news). John does resemble Eddie Furlong though, but seems way too young for 1998 - here he is just a child but the action is said to be taking place in 1998. This is yet another date goof on Dark Horse part. Sarah is also not a hardened, edgy warrior, but a caring, level headed redhead working for a living. Again, the series does not try to hide the fact that this is a different universe and continuity from what we see in the movies
More characters introduced - a shady businessman whose company created a killer automaton (primitive robot) , trying to sell it to the military out on the desert, but once it's clear they just want to take the project as theirs, the business guy orders the robot to shoot them all which he does.
Issue #3 Desert Storm Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
The storm arrives upon the desert and a flood almost destroys the female Terminator which the male rescues despite its order to leave it and continue with the mission. The male one also admires the sky and wonders about life
Meanwhile, the Norden family and Killerman hide in the old town ruins near train tracks. The old gold digger with his mule friend and the detective hijack a tourist train and head where the family went. The two terminators catch up with the runaways and Killerman orders the father to go out and negotiate. Unfortunately, he is of no use and surprisingly gets shot to death. Moments later the train with the detective and his friends drives straight into the two terminators
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
All the characters board the train and escape. The male Terminator stays behind to fix its leg while the female one continues the pursuit and gets inside the train. Poor mule of the old man gets killed, as does Killerman. The old man takes Jon to a hideout and the detective stays with his mother who broke her leg jumping off the train. The train crashed damaging the female cyborg even further. The male joins the action and they encounter the suit guy with his military robot. They destroy the robot but get heavily damaged in a fight with it. The male has a chance to kill the detective per female's orders, but doesn't and lies to her that he did to save his life. Both then explode from a bundle of dynamite the detective planted.
It's a good story, reads very well and creates certain pace and characters we really care about, and makes us feel terrible when they die. So it's an engaging read but again, is it a good Terminator story? Well, after a series such as Malibu with Cameron and his Production company involved, and a license encompassing both films, it's hard to go back to the fanfiction route which for some reason Dark Horse chose. Perhaps the T2 license was harder to get or had some issues because of Carolco's demise, or they just wanted a half clean slate for more freedom? I don't know, I can't understand why they would limit themselves to one film, therefore forcing their series into non-canonical continuity.
A short Terminator story was featured at the time in a comic book called Dark Horse Presents #138, titled "Suicide Run"
Suicide Run Written by Alan Grant, Art by Frank Teran
A short story set in 2029, tells a story of a small group of resistance fighters who are trying to destroy a newly built Skynet Observation Tower which became a big thorn for the resistance. All the soldiers die and the last survivor is a girl with a cancer who manages to get inside the tower, rigged with explosives. When a Terminator gets her, she detonates.
A very sad and drastic war story, well written and with a certain feel. Another great example of Grant's terrific writing.
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Police organizes a manhunt for the two Terminators for the massacre at the visitor center, but when a Police chopper finds them, they take it down as well. The pilot survives and just before the female Terminator shoots him in the head, the male one tells her not to do it saying he doesn't pose a threat. She doesn't listen though. The male one also takes time to look at nature and begins to ask existential questions. They find the hideout of Killerman and the family, but Killerman has set up a trap, and releases a loaded wagon on the two. He and the family escape on quads. The old gold digger and the detective overlook everything from far away and the detective rushes to help.
Also, a real Sarah Connor and John are shown. Sarah seems to be actually living near the Valley cleaning motels under a fake name, and John is neither trained nor very mature. He chases rabbits and gets told by his mother that the bad men from her past are close and they need to run (she saw TV news). John does resemble Eddie Furlong though, but seems way too young for 1998 - here he is just a child but the action is said to be taking place in 1998. This is yet another date goof on Dark Horse part. Sarah is also not a hardened, edgy warrior, but a caring, level headed redhead working for a living. Again, the series does not try to hide the fact that this is a different universe and continuity from what we see in the movies
More characters introduced - a shady businessman whose company created a killer automaton (primitive robot) , trying to sell it to the military out on the desert, but once it's clear they just want to take the project as theirs, the business guy orders the robot to shoot them all which he does.
Issue #3 Desert Storm Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
The storm arrives upon the desert and a flood almost destroys the female Terminator which the male rescues despite its order to leave it and continue with the mission. The male one also admires the sky and wonders about life
Meanwhile, the Norden family and Killerman hide in the old town ruins near train tracks. The old gold digger with his mule friend and the detective hijack a tourist train and head where the family went. The two terminators catch up with the runaways and Killerman orders the father to go out and negotiate. Unfortunately, he is of no use and surprisingly gets shot to death. Moments later the train with the detective and his friends drives straight into the two terminators
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
All the characters board the train and escape. The male Terminator stays behind to fix its leg while the female one continues the pursuit and gets inside the train. Poor mule of the old man gets killed, as does Killerman. The old man takes Jon to a hideout and the detective stays with his mother who broke her leg jumping off the train. The train crashed damaging the female cyborg even further. The male joins the action and they encounter the suit guy with his military robot. They destroy the robot but get heavily damaged in a fight with it. The male has a chance to kill the detective per female's orders, but doesn't and lies to her that he did to save his life. Both then explode from a bundle of dynamite the detective planted.
It's a good story, reads very well and creates certain pace and characters we really care about, and makes us feel terrible when they die. So it's an engaging read but again, is it a good Terminator story? Well, after a series such as Malibu with Cameron and his Production company involved, and a license encompassing both films, it's hard to go back to the fanfiction route which for some reason Dark Horse chose. Perhaps the T2 license was harder to get or had some issues because of Carolco's demise, or they just wanted a half clean slate for more freedom? I don't know, I can't understand why they would limit themselves to one film, therefore forcing their series into non-canonical continuity.
SUICIDE RUN (December 1998)
A short Terminator story was featured at the time in a comic book called Dark Horse Presents #138, titled "Suicide Run"
Suicide Run Written by Alan Grant, Art by Frank Teran
A short story set in 2029, tells a story of a small group of resistance fighters who are trying to destroy a newly built Skynet Observation Tower which became a big thorn for the resistance. All the soldiers die and the last survivor is a girl with a cancer who manages to get inside the tower, rigged with explosives. When a Terminator gets her, she detonates.
A very sad and drastic war story, well written and with a certain feel. Another great example of Grant's terrific writing.
It was printed in black and white, which I don't usually like but in here it really works well. The story got reprinted in Omnibus in color which looks awful this way.
The Dark Years is another mini series from Dark Horse with of course more Terminators coming from the future, but this time the mini series follows two stories - one in the present one in the past. It's ironic that the series is titled The Dark Years when it's a straight up action story with artwork close to the Disney style, and I'm not saying it in a derogatory way, just noting it. And it is interesting at least to see a Terminator story in that style, if not a little weird.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
The future part of the story takes place in 2030 and the war is still on for some reason. The endoskeletons are drawn pretty accurately, but the tech design is very sleek, very 50's scifi. Pretty soon we're made sure that Dark Horse is keeping continuity in its own world as it did before (although it's a brand new continuity that discards the first Dark Horse one, as I mentioned before) because in the future war scenario we see the adult Jon Norden, known to us from the previous mini series Death Valley, and he even recounts its events. His dog is named after the poor mule.
Like his late father, he's an ecologist and refuses to be a fighter. It's hard for him to hide his hatred for John Connor, as he blames him for what happened to his family.
Anyway, what happens in the future part is that a hideout of a small human group gets ambushed by the machines and the group, including Norden, discovers a robot rat in the sewers. They want to inform Connor personally of this and head to his base. On the way there they save a young woman named Selina from, well, a flying machine (not sure if it's an HK since there is no recognizable tech outside the endos). Once they meet Connor, Norden hits him. It is also the first time in Dark Horse's continuity that we get to see John Connor, who looks just like the original comic book Connor of the 80s, just with dark hair - a bearded bear of a man
"Meanwhile", the "modern" part of the story takes place on New Year's Eve of 1999/2000 in New York City. Sarah Connor, a redhead like in the previous miniseries, enjoys their anonymity and for some reason is out with her son during the NY festivities. Of course, like with every Dark Horse mini series, another Terminator arrives in the form of a blonde strongman, and dresses like a cop. I guess to make sure they won't get sued and that this is a different, contradicting continuity than that of T2, the issue underlines the fact that it's the first time young John encounters a Terminator.
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
In 2030 Connor's team discovers the location of Skynet's lab where animal spies were created, and they blow it up. Before they do, they find out that Skynet is doing some kind of experiments on humans and they plan to raid the place where it takes place
In 1999, Sarah is wounded and unconscious and John brings her to hospital. The Terminator arrives also and encounters John who's trying to lure him away from his mom. He lures him into a field of fireworks but that barely leaves a mark on him.
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
In the future, Connor joins with another group to hit the human lab. The group...well, looks like characters from Batman & Robin movie
Norden is starting to get along with Selina really well but this hidden base is also discovered and ambushed by terminators (flying terminators, wearing some sort of rotors on the back), strengthening the suspicion that a traitor is among them.
The resistance escapes and attacks the Skynet lab. Meanwhile, the teen John is escaping through the city trying all kinds of Home Alone tricks on the Terminator, including wheeling him off the stairs in a wheelchair and electrocution which burns his flesh of course.
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
Connor and his gang discovers that in this secret lab people are being brainwashed into hating him, so it's basically a factory of traitors. It appears that Selina is the traitor but Norden saves Connor from her, and everyone escapes before the place is blown up by the attacking machines.
In 1999 John causes the Terminator to drop from the top of the Empire State Building but it still comes to the hospital after him. He finally gets chopped to pieces by surgical laser
So there it is, one of the most whacky mini series by Dark Horse, and it's quite a contrast to the dark and depressing story of its predecessor "Death Valley". It is however, a tone and version of the Terminator world that would stay with Dark Horse until the end of their second stint with the Terminator license
Now of all the crossovers ever made, who thought of this one...I don't see how those two match each other on any possible level, unless it's the "The Dark Years" aka "The Adventures of John: Animated Series" version. It's like pairing Blade Runner World with X-Men. It's really hard to believe the same team of Grant and Pughs did such a mature and grim story as Death Valley. This is one of the most stupid Terminator mini series ever made, and a first one that had completely nothing going for it
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
The series follows the second Dark Horse continuity established in Death Valley. A redhead Sarah and her little son John now hide in Metropolis and of course, you guessed it, another Terminator comes back and materializes right in front of them. They are helped by Superman and explain everything to him. Naturally Superman crushes the machine. Superman's villain Cyborg steals the remnants of the skull and from its data finds out what's going on. He supplies the skull with information on how to defeat Superman and leaves it hidden for the future. Two more (!) Terminators arrive, after a brief fight both are also defeated by Superman. Suddenly Superman gets sucked into 2032 and meets the resistance and his old friend Steel.
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Sarah and John meet up with Lois Lane per Superman's request before he disappeared. We have another double story, one taking place in 2032, one in 2000 (although for some reason John seems much younger than in the previous series and has no recollection of the events of The Dark Years. Utter mess). While talking, Sarah and Lois get attacked by, you guessed it, yet another terminator. This one gets destroyed by Supergirl. Before they even have time to explain to her the whole story other than basic premise, another Terminator arrives, attacks them and gets destroyed by Supergirl.
Cyborg meets up with a new type of Terminator sent to him to exchange data. Her name is Terminatrix and they form a plan
In '32, Superman meets John Connor and he and the resistance attack Skynet's base. Skynet makes himself into a robot and thanks to Cyborg's information, is resistant to Superman's powers and shoots kryptonite
This issue shows another slip into T2 territory: John Connor has his signature T2 scar and looks really nothing like The Dark Years John.
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
in 2032 Steel and Superman are held prisoners by Skynet, but break free thanks to Steel's voice activated hammer (Oh boy). They then activate a mega EMP bomb and Superman and Steel fight and wipe out every machine in the world. Afterwards, Superman goes back to 2000
In 2000, four more (...) Terminators appear and fight with Supergirl, and Superboy comes to her aid. Several more terminators appear instantly. Cyborg and Terminatrix are after John who's separated from Sarah and escaping on his own
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Luthor, fearing for his own existence, helps to fight the group of terminators. Superman comes back and also helps Supergirl and Superboy wipe them out. Superman manages to find John and saves him just in time from Cyborg and Terminatrix. Both merge into one machine but with the help of Lexcorp special antiterminator weapons along with Supergirl and Superboy, they get wiped out.
This is the last mini series from Dark Horse's second round with the Terminator license, continuing the silliness of The Dark Years and an even worse Superman vs Terminator. Now, nothing will ever top the ridiculousness of Superman vs Terminator, but this comes awfully close. The series is also penciled by the same artist who did Dark Years, so back to Disney look. It takes place after Alien: Resurrection and features Ripley 8 and Call.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
Pretty quickly we realize this is a direct continuation of Alien: Resurrection. Call finds Ripley 8 and tells her that the military is at it again and all she knows is that some Dr named Trollenberg (I kid you not) is working on a secret bioweapon on a space station called Typhoon. She also knows they're working with the Alien DNA. Soon after, they break into the station and encounter Dr Trollenberg who happens to be a Terminator. During a fight with him, a Predator appears and cuts his head off, after which he's attacked by a super solider created by Trollenberg
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
The supersoldier appears to be, in the words of Ripley 8, an alien-android hybrid. He's doing well with the Predator and seems to be able to assimilate anything it wants (what the hell?).
After the supersoldier creates a hole in the hull, Ripley 8, Call and their gang make an escape and take the Terminator/Trollenberg skull with them. Call connects to it and finds out about the "past" from virtual John Connor who looks like his The Dark Years version now (it's the same artist after all). Soon after, their ship is boarded by Predators who take Ripley 8
The Superguy steals alien embryos from the lab and arrives with another of his kind to another military space base
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
Ripley 8 is held on Predator ship and they read her genetic memory to find out where Aliens are being held. It appears they're being held on a secret asteroid lab and that's where the Predators are heading. The two supersoldiers get there first with a brute force and Call's team is on their way as well
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
The supersoldiers managed to quickly create a large squad of Alien-Terminator hybrids (oh boy) which Ripley 8 and Predators fight with. Since Predators don't stand chances with the hybrids, Ripley 8 releases adult Aliens from the labs. Chaos ensues, and the aliens attack the Alien-Terminator hybrids as well
Naturally, the whole place is about the blow so Call and her team escape while Ripley 8 hides in Supersoldier's ship to face him.
So that is that, this is the end of 90's and the end of the second team-up of Dark Horse and Terminator, and a very, very weird one. This is Batman & Robin of the Terminator comic books. What started out as a strong, adult tale with Death Valley, quickly progressed into this weird comic book fad of the 1999 of those very Teen Titan-Cartoon Network style animation and stories.
TERMINATOR: THE DARK YEARS (August 1999)
The Dark Years is another mini series from Dark Horse with of course more Terminators coming from the future, but this time the mini series follows two stories - one in the present one in the past. It's ironic that the series is titled The Dark Years when it's a straight up action story with artwork close to the Disney style, and I'm not saying it in a derogatory way, just noting it. And it is interesting at least to see a Terminator story in that style, if not a little weird.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
The future part of the story takes place in 2030 and the war is still on for some reason. The endoskeletons are drawn pretty accurately, but the tech design is very sleek, very 50's scifi. Pretty soon we're made sure that Dark Horse is keeping continuity in its own world as it did before (although it's a brand new continuity that discards the first Dark Horse one, as I mentioned before) because in the future war scenario we see the adult Jon Norden, known to us from the previous mini series Death Valley, and he even recounts its events. His dog is named after the poor mule.
Like his late father, he's an ecologist and refuses to be a fighter. It's hard for him to hide his hatred for John Connor, as he blames him for what happened to his family.
Anyway, what happens in the future part is that a hideout of a small human group gets ambushed by the machines and the group, including Norden, discovers a robot rat in the sewers. They want to inform Connor personally of this and head to his base. On the way there they save a young woman named Selina from, well, a flying machine (not sure if it's an HK since there is no recognizable tech outside the endos). Once they meet Connor, Norden hits him. It is also the first time in Dark Horse's continuity that we get to see John Connor, who looks just like the original comic book Connor of the 80s, just with dark hair - a bearded bear of a man
"Meanwhile", the "modern" part of the story takes place on New Year's Eve of 1999/2000 in New York City. Sarah Connor, a redhead like in the previous miniseries, enjoys their anonymity and for some reason is out with her son during the NY festivities. Of course, like with every Dark Horse mini series, another Terminator arrives in the form of a blonde strongman, and dresses like a cop. I guess to make sure they won't get sued and that this is a different, contradicting continuity than that of T2, the issue underlines the fact that it's the first time young John encounters a Terminator.
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
In 2030 Connor's team discovers the location of Skynet's lab where animal spies were created, and they blow it up. Before they do, they find out that Skynet is doing some kind of experiments on humans and they plan to raid the place where it takes place
In 1999, Sarah is wounded and unconscious and John brings her to hospital. The Terminator arrives also and encounters John who's trying to lure him away from his mom. He lures him into a field of fireworks but that barely leaves a mark on him.
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
In the future, Connor joins with another group to hit the human lab. The group...well, looks like characters from Batman & Robin movie
Norden is starting to get along with Selina really well but this hidden base is also discovered and ambushed by terminators (flying terminators, wearing some sort of rotors on the back), strengthening the suspicion that a traitor is among them.
The resistance escapes and attacks the Skynet lab. Meanwhile, the teen John is escaping through the city trying all kinds of Home Alone tricks on the Terminator, including wheeling him off the stairs in a wheelchair and electrocution which burns his flesh of course.
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Mel Rubi
Connor and his gang discovers that in this secret lab people are being brainwashed into hating him, so it's basically a factory of traitors. It appears that Selina is the traitor but Norden saves Connor from her, and everyone escapes before the place is blown up by the attacking machines.
In 1999 John causes the Terminator to drop from the top of the Empire State Building but it still comes to the hospital after him. He finally gets chopped to pieces by surgical laser
So there it is, one of the most whacky mini series by Dark Horse, and it's quite a contrast to the dark and depressing story of its predecessor "Death Valley". It is however, a tone and version of the Terminator world that would stay with Dark Horse until the end of their second stint with the Terminator license
SUPERMAN VS TERMINATOR: DEATH TO THE FUTURE (December 1999)
Now of all the crossovers ever made, who thought of this one...I don't see how those two match each other on any possible level, unless it's the "The Dark Years" aka "The Adventures of John: Animated Series" version. It's like pairing Blade Runner World with X-Men. It's really hard to believe the same team of Grant and Pughs did such a mature and grim story as Death Valley. This is one of the most stupid Terminator mini series ever made, and a first one that had completely nothing going for it
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
The series follows the second Dark Horse continuity established in Death Valley. A redhead Sarah and her little son John now hide in Metropolis and of course, you guessed it, another Terminator comes back and materializes right in front of them. They are helped by Superman and explain everything to him. Naturally Superman crushes the machine. Superman's villain Cyborg steals the remnants of the skull and from its data finds out what's going on. He supplies the skull with information on how to defeat Superman and leaves it hidden for the future. Two more (!) Terminators arrive, after a brief fight both are also defeated by Superman. Suddenly Superman gets sucked into 2032 and meets the resistance and his old friend Steel.
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Sarah and John meet up with Lois Lane per Superman's request before he disappeared. We have another double story, one taking place in 2032, one in 2000 (although for some reason John seems much younger than in the previous series and has no recollection of the events of The Dark Years. Utter mess). While talking, Sarah and Lois get attacked by, you guessed it, yet another terminator. This one gets destroyed by Supergirl. Before they even have time to explain to her the whole story other than basic premise, another Terminator arrives, attacks them and gets destroyed by Supergirl.
Cyborg meets up with a new type of Terminator sent to him to exchange data. Her name is Terminatrix and they form a plan
In '32, Superman meets John Connor and he and the resistance attack Skynet's base. Skynet makes himself into a robot and thanks to Cyborg's information, is resistant to Superman's powers and shoots kryptonite
This issue shows another slip into T2 territory: John Connor has his signature T2 scar and looks really nothing like The Dark Years John.
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
in 2032 Steel and Superman are held prisoners by Skynet, but break free thanks to Steel's voice activated hammer (Oh boy). They then activate a mega EMP bomb and Superman and Steel fight and wipe out every machine in the world. Afterwards, Superman goes back to 2000
In 2000, four more (...) Terminators appear and fight with Supergirl, and Superboy comes to her aid. Several more terminators appear instantly. Cyborg and Terminatrix are after John who's separated from Sarah and escaping on his own
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Alan Grant, Art by Steve Pugh
Luthor, fearing for his own existence, helps to fight the group of terminators. Superman comes back and also helps Supergirl and Superboy wipe them out. Superman manages to find John and saves him just in time from Cyborg and Terminatrix. Both merge into one machine but with the help of Lexcorp special antiterminator weapons along with Supergirl and Superboy, they get wiped out.
ALIENS VS PREDATOR VS THE TERMINATOR (April 2000)
This is the last mini series from Dark Horse's second round with the Terminator license, continuing the silliness of The Dark Years and an even worse Superman vs Terminator. Now, nothing will ever top the ridiculousness of Superman vs Terminator, but this comes awfully close. The series is also penciled by the same artist who did Dark Years, so back to Disney look. It takes place after Alien: Resurrection and features Ripley 8 and Call.
Issue #1 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
Pretty quickly we realize this is a direct continuation of Alien: Resurrection. Call finds Ripley 8 and tells her that the military is at it again and all she knows is that some Dr named Trollenberg (I kid you not) is working on a secret bioweapon on a space station called Typhoon. She also knows they're working with the Alien DNA. Soon after, they break into the station and encounter Dr Trollenberg who happens to be a Terminator. During a fight with him, a Predator appears and cuts his head off, after which he's attacked by a super solider created by Trollenberg
Issue #2 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
The supersoldier appears to be, in the words of Ripley 8, an alien-android hybrid. He's doing well with the Predator and seems to be able to assimilate anything it wants (what the hell?).
After the supersoldier creates a hole in the hull, Ripley 8, Call and their gang make an escape and take the Terminator/Trollenberg skull with them. Call connects to it and finds out about the "past" from virtual John Connor who looks like his The Dark Years version now (it's the same artist after all). Soon after, their ship is boarded by Predators who take Ripley 8
The Superguy steals alien embryos from the lab and arrives with another of his kind to another military space base
Issue #3 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
Ripley 8 is held on Predator ship and they read her genetic memory to find out where Aliens are being held. It appears they're being held on a secret asteroid lab and that's where the Predators are heading. The two supersoldiers get there first with a brute force and Call's team is on their way as well
Issue #4 Untitled Written by Mark Schultz, Art by Mel Rubi
The supersoldiers managed to quickly create a large squad of Alien-Terminator hybrids (oh boy) which Ripley 8 and Predators fight with. Since Predators don't stand chances with the hybrids, Ripley 8 releases adult Aliens from the labs. Chaos ensues, and the aliens attack the Alien-Terminator hybrids as well
Naturally, the whole place is about the blow so Call and her team escape while Ripley 8 hides in Supersoldier's ship to face him.
So that is that, this is the end of 90's and the end of the second team-up of Dark Horse and Terminator, and a very, very weird one. This is Batman & Robin of the Terminator comic books. What started out as a strong, adult tale with Death Valley, quickly progressed into this weird comic book fad of the 1999 of those very Teen Titan-Cartoon Network style animation and stories.
