First off, you really need to read the blurb at the start of the comic to understand what the hell is going on. I know this because I didn’t and halfway through I was left thinking ‘wait what?’ before reaching the conclusion with the impression ‘huh?’ The blurb makes the story make a lot more sense and has stimulated my interest for future issues. 

Dark Horse’s latest Terminator tale takes place both during and after the events of the first film. The jumping around in the timeline can be a little unsettling to read as you struggle to get your bearings but the book should be a good addition to the Terminator cannon. It looks like it’s going to help fill in the years between Terminator and Terminator 2 which, done well, will give fans a great companion to the films but if done badly will ruin some of the mystique surrounding those years. So far I’m interested to know just how and why Ben, another human freedom fighter from the future, was sent back in time shortly after Kyle Reese and what affect he will have on Sarah Connor but I don’t really buy him as much of a savior as all he really did was cruise around on a motorbike and not really do anything.  

The main thing I noticed with this book was it looked like a Terminator book. I think the main reason for that was it played out some scenes from the original movie so I instantly felt like I was in a Terminator film seeing things from a different angle. While it had the look it didn’t have its own unique feel. Not much really happened that we aren’t already aware of and there really wasn’t a lot of action.  

The issue had some really nice dialogue when Ben first comes back to 1984. Listening to him comment on our society, with its abundance of everything from food to living breathing people was really interesting and nothing I’d ever considered with Kyle Reese in the films. It provided a bit of perspective on our modern, consumer culture without sounding too political or preachy. It was more just general amazement.  

For me the art was okay but not great. I got the sense that it was Sarah Connor and it was a Terminator but they weren’t picture perfect representations. It’s off-putting when the film’s are so popular and those images so ingrained in your memory. I’m also hoping that future issues will give the artist a chance to really wow the reader, especially with some things we haven’t seen before. Also the daylight scenes seemed a little bit too bright to me and at times it felt like the night and day parts of the book had been pieced together from two different stories as there is such a stark contrast. 

Overall, this issue has enough to get me interested in the series. Maybe it’s just playing on my love of the Terminator films and my curiosity at wanting to find out what happened between 1 and 2 but I’m prepared to stick with it, especially as future issues will allow Whedon to stamp his authority on the story and not just piggyback off the first film. Hopefully Whedon doesn’t disappoint as I don’t know how many more Terminator related disappointments I can handle.