There are two major reasons why Declan Shalvey’s The Terminator has worked where other attempts to expand the franchise have stumbled. The first is that the series mostly consists of standalone issues (with issues #3 and #4 being a two-parter set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.) The second is the concept: instead of just trying to end Sarah Connor’s life, Skynet has been targeting various figures who could play a major role in bringing it down. It’s smart, and if I’m being honest, it’s the approach I’d take if I was a cold, calculating artificial intelligence.
The Terminator #5, by Shalvey and Joe Mulvey, travels to 1965 at the height of the Space Race. But two American astronauts have gone missing after the Gemini X4 launched into space, with the satellite it was carrying receiving signals but not replying to them. Another pair of astronauts launches into the inky depths of space, and come face to face with the horrors of a Terminator.
As if the idea of “a Terminator in space” wasn’t cool enough, artist Joe Mulvey draws some truly stunning images that capture the wonder and the horror of space. One page features a Gemini rocket taking off, fire filling the panels as it ascends into the heavens. The next page features that rocket – once a mighty tower of steel and fire – as merely a speck in the heavens. It’s a wonder to behold, especially with Colin Cracker’s colors.
Dynamite
Two pages, however, stood out to me the most. The first features a panel depicting the Terminator’s signature glowing red eyes. But with each panel, it pushes further and further out and those glowing red specks turn into pillars of fire, revealing that the reader isn’t staring at a Terminator but a rocket lifting into space. A similar approach is taken to the last page as the Terminator falls to earth; each panel shows its metal chassis burning away until that glowing red eye remains.
Shalvey spins a web of mystery in between these pages, which is fitting given the franchise he’s working with and the time period. The Space Race was filled with a looming paranoia about the future, and who would make it to space first and what they’d send up there. It’s a paranoia that was reflected in the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and even remains to this day, and Shalvey definitely makes no bones about bringing it to the forefront. “In the end or at the beginning….who will win?” he writes in the closing paragraphs. It’s a question that will linger with you long after you close this book.
I wish that I could say that The Terminator #5 was a perfect comic, but I could not click with the backup story “Buried Alive.” Sal Crivelli and Craker make a great team, especially with Craker illustrating a short of two Terminators dueling in a sandstorm. I’m just a little lost as to what happened: why were there two Terminators? What made the person they were trying to kill so important? Cravelli’s script works more as a mood piece than a narrative.
The Terminator #5 is a story ripe with thematic depth, as its Space Race setting underlines the race, and the fight against the future this franchise often represents. It’s also cementing this comic as one of my favorite Terminator stories.
You must be logged in to post a comment.