Category Archives: Terminator

Dark Horse Presents 138 (December 1998)

Posted on 31 January 2011 | Leave a comment

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Wow, the first Terminator story in Presents. I thought they’d gone through all the licenses, but no. It’s not terrible. Grant’s writing is adequate and Teran’s art has an energy to it. He’s a little confusing in action scenes (Grant’s plotting hurts there too) but he’s got some great designs.

Martin and Rude’s The Moth is just a lot of fun. It borrows some Batman elements and I think Rude does an homage to Spider-Man in one panel. The Moth’s a superhero (maybe) posing as a supervillain and playing mobsters against each other. Rude’s art would make anything good, but Martin’s writing is fine.

Seagle outdoes himself on My Vagabond Days, revealing his protagonist to be not just unlikable, but idiotic. This kid is a complete moron. He’s bringing rocks to Canada because Canada might not have rocks. Maybe Seagle is writing him younger than Gaudino is drawing him….

CREDITS

The Terminator, Suicide Run; story by Alan Grant; art by Frank Teran; lettering by Gary Fields. The Moth; story by Gary Martin; pencils by Steve Rude; inks by Andy Bish; lettering by Willie Schubert. My Vagabond Days; story by Steven T. Seagle; art by Stefano Gaudiano; lettering by Charity Rodriguez. Edited by Randy Stradley and Terry Waldron.

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Posted in Dark Horse, Moth, My Vagabond Days, Terminator

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Superman vs. the Terminator: Death To The Future 4 (March 2000)

Posted on 16 May 2010 | 1 Comment

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Will Lex Luthor create Skynet? Will Lois Lane’s husband get jealous of her ogling Superman? Will Alan Grant get credit (and residuals) for coming up with the name Terminatrix? No to all three, I believe, unless Dark Horse and DC start doing these crossovers again.

It’s strange the epilogue cliffhanger for the series–Lex Luthor is going to take over the world–is something DC couldn’t follow up on without Dark Horse’s permission and participation….

They probably went that route to make the series feel a little less like a complete waste of time. Did it work? No.

Worse, Perkins is back inking Pugh and the art’s even sloppier than before. I feel bad because I only read the comic because of the Pugh artwork and it’s so weak, I’ve done little but comment on it (and mock the series as whole, but, really, what else could I have done?).

CREDITS

Writer, Alan Grant; penciller, Steve Pugh; inker, Mike Perkins; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Phil D. Amara, Eddie Berganza, Tim Ervin-Gore and Maureen McTigue; publishers, Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, DC, Superman, Terminator

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Superman vs. the Terminator: Death To The Future 3 (February 2000)

Posted on 16 May 2010 | Leave a comment

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Oh, no, will Superman be able to save the world from the Terminators? Crossovers like this one must be incredibly frustrating to plot because there’s no chance things aren’t going to be returning to the status quo at the end (I mean, did Dark Horse even have a regular Terminator series starring Sarah and John Conner at this time or were they just special guest stars for the crossover?).

Maybe I’m just mad Superman goes through all this trouble to save the future–a big nuclear explosion and EMP to wipe out all the machines on earth–when he’s just going back in time to prevent it from ever happening. It’s not like he had to complete the one goal to go back, it’s just filler for the pages.

More cameos here too–Lex Luthor shows up for a bit, weren’t he and Supergirl dating at one point?

Very lame.

CREDITS

Writer, Alan Grant; artist, Steve Pugh; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Phil D. Amara, Eddie Berganza, Tim Ervin-Gore and Maureen McTigue; publishers, Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, DC, Superman, Terminator

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Superman vs. the Terminator: Death To The Future 2 (January 2000)

Posted on 16 May 2010 | Leave a comment

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Well, it’s not just Superman Pugh’s drawing funny–he’s inking himself here too–it’s a lot of people. Supergirl is who I’m thinking about in particular, Pugh gives her an expression like she’s just eaten a barrel of beans and is racing to the john.

Actually, most of the art’s bland. Pugh’s probably racing through this assignment himself, but it’s always shocking to me how mediocre 1990s comic art could get. There’s mediocrity today, of course, but at least they try to photoshop it a little, give it some oomph. This comic was, presumably, a big crossover event; one no one cared about at all?

The writing’s pretty lame too, but at least it’s competent in the continuity-heavy sense. It’s a Superman comic guest-starring Terminators, nothing else. Between Supergirl’s fight scene and Steel’s constant presence, it’s pretty clear.

Honestly, I’m really curious to see how it turns out.

CREDITS

Writer, Alan Grant; artist, Steve Pugh; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Phil D. Amara, Eddie Berganza, Mike D. Hansen and Maureen McTigue; publishers, Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, DC, Superman, Terminator

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Superman vs. the Terminator: Death To The Future 1 (December 1999)

Posted on 16 May 2010 | Leave a comment

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I figured I was safe going into Superman vs. the Terminator without any continuity knowledge of Superman comics in the 1990s. Was I ever wrong….

While I did read “The Death of Superman,” I quickly lost interest and am pretty much completely unfamiliar with all the further nonsense following it–Steel, Superboy, Cyborg Superman, et cetera, et cetera.

There’s not just Steel, Superboy and Cyborg Superman in this issue, there’s also Sarah and John Conner, who I never realized Dark Horse was allowed to use (since their license for The Terminator wouldn’t have included Terminator 2 and John Conner).

But this issue’s got Superman defending the Conners and a lot of continuity with the Superman titles and that nonsense.

None of that confusion matters, though.

What matters is the Terminators now have heat vision, which makes them a lot less interesting.

Pugh’s art is okay… his Superman is a problem.

CREDITS

Writer, Alan Grant; penciller, Steve Pugh; inker, Mike Perkins; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Phil D. Amara, Eddie Berganza, Mike D. Hansen and Maureen McTigue; publishers, Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, DC, Superman, Terminator

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Robocop vs. the Terminator 4 (December 1992)

Posted on 13 February 2010 | Leave a comment

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Wow, so good old Frank Miller coming through here with a happy ending and a dumb joke and just an awful comic book. There’s so little story in this issue, you’d think it was coming out today instead of back in the early nineties.

Miller’s script reads like fan fiction, if I understand what fan fiction reads like–my understanding being totally based on the jokes made about fan fiction. What’s most interesting about the entire series is how the Robocop licensing worked. The Terminator stuff, apparently Miller got to do whatever he wanted because who cares what one’s going to do with a Terminator license (it wasn’t a Terminator 2 license). Robocop, not so much.

Simonson’s art’s real loose this issue too. Lots of whacked out body part proportions of Robocop; Simonson keeps it tighter for the human beings.

This series must’ve made someone out there stop reading comics.

CREDITS

Writer, Frank Miller; artist, Walt Simonson; colorist, Rachelle Monashe; letterer, John Workman; editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, Robocop, Terminator

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Robocop vs. the Terminator 3 (November 1992)

Posted on 10 February 2010 | Leave a comment

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Let’s see if I can recap. The future lady doesn’t kill Robocop because he’s too human so Robocop goes off and kills himself. Wait, wait, I forgot the opening with the Terminators colonizing outer space (another thing Cameron wisely neglected wasting time on–what do the Terminators do once they take over the planet?). Ok, so then the future is okay and all the Terminators get erased from it and the people experience them getting erased, kind of like Back to the Future again. It’s very song and dance.

But then the Terminators, as they’re being erased, race back in time (I love how they just zap through time all the time in the comics) to stop Robocop’s suicide. Then they destroy his body and kill his friends. So then Robocop plants a virus in the Terminator computer so he can come back in the future.

It’s an awful comic.

CREDITS

Writer, Frank Miller; artist, Walt Simonson; colorist, Rachelle Monashe; letterer, John Workman; editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Posted in Marvel, Robocop, Terminator

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Robocop vs. the Terminator 2 (October 1992)

Posted on 6 February 2010 | Leave a comment

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This issue is definitely better. There’s very little of the future warrior woman’s narration and a lot of Robocop versus Terminator action. Miller’s sense of humor even works a little–even if he overwrites–with the ED-209s being, basically, Robocop’s obedient lapdogs.

His exposition here is still terrible, laughable really. But he comes up with some really effective moments, rather cinematic (it’s a shame his Robocop 2 script wasn’t as good as his Robocop vs. the Terminator script). Even with the stupid flying through the internet (on dial-up) scene with Robocop and his squeeze (from Robocop 3, natch), it’s a decent job. Robocop isn’t overly humanized, for example.

Unfortunately, Miller does give the Terminators thoughts and it’s real stupid. He individualizes them, instead of treating them more as a hive mind. Cameron wisely never went into how the Terminators thought in terms of society–Miller comes off idiotic.

CREDITS

Writer, Frank Miller; artist, Walt Simonson; colorist, Rachelle Monashe; letterer, John Workman; editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, Robocop, Terminator

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Robocop vs. the Terminator 1 (September 1992)

Posted on 6 February 2010 | Leave a comment

I’m not sure what level this one is most amusing on–Frank Miller doing licensed properties? Robocop vs. the Terminator being a sequel to the dismal Robocop 3 movie? The female soldier from the future knowing everything about the past even though she wouldn’t have been born yet? All the goofy expository dialogue or all the goofy narration? The endless possibilities for snide rhetorical questions?

Robocop vs. the Terminator is a crappy comic book; it’s not even an interesting crappy comic. It foreshadows everything Miller’s writing has turned into over the years–awful pacing–thirteen second action scenes taking two to three pages, dumb “grim and gritty” criminals who wouldn’t last thirteen seconds against Inspector Gadget (hey, a Robocop crossover with Inspector Gadget; Dynamite are you listening?).

Funniest is the time travel–instead of following Terminator time travel rules, Miller goes with the highly visual Back to the Future ones.

CREDITS

Writer, Frank Miller; artist, Walt Simonson; colorist, Rachelle Menashe; letterer, John Workman; editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

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Posted in Dark Horse, Robocop, Terminator

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