TERMINATOR COMIC BOOKS Part VI: 2019-2020
TERMINATOR: RESISTANCE (November 2019)
Terminator: Resistance is a tie-in to the excellent video game of the same name. It's a direct prequel to it, and so far it has been released at first on digital format only, with the video game, and then later as a physical hardcover copy with the deluxe edition of the game, published by Dark Horse Comics
Issue #1: Zero Day Exploit Part 01 Written by Arvid Nelson, Art by Andy MacDonald
Commander Baron is the main character of this two issue mini series, but many others are featured as well, Dr Edwin Mack being one of them, deep in his research on Skynet's technology.
Commander Perry is still alive and has a romance with Baron, but we know that from the game. Baron is shown here as a much softer, loving character which was a little off putting at first since it wasn't what she was in the game at all. However, once Perry is found dead in Dr Mack's lab, it is explained that with Perry, her humanity died as well.
Mack is banished from the division without a chance for explanation. The division's base is also located and ambushed by Skynet, so they move to a new shelter which is the one that we see in the game, and in the first movie. Reese is also shown as still being present with the tech-com group
Issue #2: Zero Day Exploit Part 02 Written by Arvid Nelson, Art by Pete Woods
In a flashback in Mack's mind, we see what happened in the lab the day Perry got killed. Mack was showing Perry the plasma rifle (like the ones from T2) adjusted for human use
See-through-walls goggles are also presented by Mack. He explains to Perry that he managed to access the original code designed by Dyson thanks to one of the CPUs they managed to capture, and that it may be a key to winning the war.
Perry, being hasty, accidentally activates the salvaged T-800 who literally bites his neck off. After the flashback, we get to see Mack reprogramming his spider and finding his hideout in the Hollywood Hills
Terminator: Resistance is a small little prequel, nothing outstanding and nothing bad really. It's very much in the style of the recent Dark Horse stories. Not much of a fan of the artwork (especially the first issue, which has the same artist from the god awful Terminator 1984 and 2029 series' which I so despise) although the endoskeletons look fine. The story is ok and it's fun to see many of the locations and machines from the game incorporated in the story.
It's also interesting to note that this is the first (and so far only) time that the Dark Horse Comics had an official license to the T2 material due to it being a joint venture with Reef Entertainment (the game's publisher), although they've used all this stuff (Connor's image, Plasma Rifles, the T-800 designation) despite not having it in the recent miniseries'
IDW with DARK HORSE COMICS
TRANSFORMERS VS THE TERMINATOR (March 2020)
IDW teamed up with Dark Horse Comics and their license for the original film only, to bring the two machines together in one series. As before, while Dark Horse only has a license for the first film, they have a lot of leeway in flirting with the T2 material, and in this instance, one other sequel.
Reading around, it looked like the fans were excited about this one, glad the two mechanical icons were being brought together, but I never found the idea appealing. The Terminator mythology does not fit the Transformers mythos in my opinion, and is more grounded should I say. While the poor mythology had its share of whacky stupidity in certain illegitimate sequels, such as motorcycles and fish robots and Transformers ripoffs, I don't think talking robots from another planet fit this world. Transformers' tone is just different, its approach is different. And this lighthearted approach is the tone of the series - its all wink/tongue in cheek action/comedy. I just hoped for some serious storytelling again with the Terminator title, and obviously this one isn't. Does it work as a lighthearted entertainment? Well, I guess it achieves what it tried to, which is being a silly, fun ride with a Terminator and Transformers. It's just not my thing at all.
Issue #1 Enemy of My Enemy Written by David Mariotte and John Barber, Art by Alex Milne
The issue sets up the story. In 2029, all humans are defeated but it's Skynet and its machines that are fighting back and hiding from oppressors, who are the Decepticons. One fleshed T-800 reaches their last stronghold and gets send back in time to stop the Decepticons. A very human-like conversation between him and a 800 endo is cringe worthy
The T-800 endoskeletons all carry the T2 plasma weapons, and surprisingly, the Time Chamber is the one from 2015's Terminator Genisys. Why is Genisys' TDE there? The fact that the endoskeletons, ground and flying HKs are of the original design, tells us that this is not the Genisys universe. Well, that and the fact the license is based off the first film after all. Most likely the artist was unaware of the original TDE design and just used the only one he saw in the films, which is the one from Genisys
The T-800 appears in front of Big Jeff restaurant in 1984 where Sarah Connor is having her shift and a bad day as usual.
She encounters him on the parking lot and he asks her to drive him to the volcano to stop the rise of the Decepticons. There's a joke/a reference to Dark Horse's past comic books, Secondary Objectives to be specific
While the reader may assume it means killing Sarah Connor, it's actually defeating the Decepticons, which is a task that the single T-800 takes on himself armed with a shotgun...yeah.
This T-800 is also dressed exactly like the Terminator from the second half of the original film (well, different pants), down to the gargoyles sunglasses
Issue #2 Enemy of My Enemy Written by David Mariotte and John Barber, Art by Alex Milne
The second issue is mostly action - the Terminator, quickly reduced to an endoskeleton, fights the Decepticons and hurts some of them, including Megatron. It is amazing that a single Terminator can hurt and fend off gigantic robots, yet in the future a whole army of them had lost the war. It's the same big issue I have with newer Terminator films, that a T-800 is just a dime a dozen infantry unit off an assembly line, not one of a kind superhero.
Anyway, while the Terminator plays Tom and Jerry with the Transformers, Sarah on the other hand throws around cartoon lines and reactivates Bumblebee to aid Megatron who had just recovered and is also fighting the Decepticons. The enemy retreats and the two autobots are about to be attacked by the endo, while in a comical moment (then again, everything is humorous here) Sarah rips on them like on misbehaving children, and like a schoolteacher to children she demands the two to behave and talk. They all actually stop and do what she says.
After the Terminator's future history lesson, Megatron explains to him that he and Bumblebee are good guys and proposes to join forces. The endoskeleton agrees. Soon after, the Decepticons sense a great source of power in a Cyberdyne Systems plant and decide to attack it
Issue #3 Written by David Mariotte and John Barber, Art by Alex Milne
After some more cartoony talk from Sarah,
Terminator explains that he's a T-800 model 101 which makes no sense since his depiction is clearly not Arnold at all, and I'm not talking about a bad likeness, everything from posture, lack of bodybuilder's body, to hair color, haircut, face is nothing like Arnold.
Most likely the creators of the series again did not know the 101 designation stands for this particular appearance, even though the covers illustrate Arnold, they also have very little connection to the actual story and events in the comics, so they're more like imagery harking back to the original film (talking about the standard A covers). It was the same thing with 2018's Sector War, in which the lead Terminator is also said to be 101 when it very clearly wasn't
Sarah and Bumblebee go out to look for Decepticons, Megatron takes most of the active autobots to do a search on their own, and those who stay in the spaceship help arm the Terminator.
Sarah and Bumblebee locate the Decepticons wreaking havoc on Cyberdyne power plant. They are soon joined by autobots and Terminator, and the fight ensues. Unbeknown to anyone yet, while the two groups fight, the mothership gets blown away by charges left by the Terminator who secretly tries to destroy both teams
Issue #4 Written by David Mariotte and John Barber, Art by Alex Milne
The fighting continues and even the waitress Sarah fights on her own, destroying a transformer with a handgun and a one liner
After fighting, fighting and more fighting, autobots win, and the Terminator manages to destroy Megatron from the inside.
The Autobots think he destroyed himself in the process, and uncover the truth about his true nature, finding out he blew up their spaceship. The Transformers go into hiding and Sarah gets a new job which helps her monitor any suspicious activity. They are all unaware that the Terminator is still active, and had built a secret base underneath Big Jeff restaurant in which he creates Skynet and his entire army
So that's the story of Transformers vs The Terminator. I can't say I enjoyed it much if at all. About the only aspect I liked is that a Terminator comic books are still being made. I tried to like it, knowing that obviously the angle they took is to have a light fun in a Ninja Turtles kind of a way, but it just wasn't very appealing to me. I don't belittle anyone who enjoyed it, and I think there are quite a few people who do, but it was too Ninja Turtles to me. I prefer the Terminator stories with character development and an unraveling story. If we don't count the Resistance comic, then the last time we had that was with 2014's Enemy Of My Enemy. 2018's Sector War wasn't really a story but a continuous action chase
The artwork isn't bad, but the coloring makes everything too crowded, there's no separation of foreground and background pieces which makes the frames too busy and the 'subject' of the panel is lost. The comic itself is mindless, light fun and I don't belittle it for it, it just isn't my preferred type of a Terminator story
Read about all the other Terminator Comic Books ever published here:
