Terminator: Enemy of my Enemy #1 is a new series with an original story set in 1985 written by Dan Jolley and published by Dark Horse. The story takes place one year after a Terminator was sent back to the past to kill Sarah Connor and failed in its mission. However another threat to Skynet was identified with the name of Elise Fong, a scientist on the run for some unknown reason and is on the radar of bounty hunters with a high price on her head. One such bounty hunter is Farrow Greene, who has her own problems since she’s wanted as a former agent for completely different reasons. But Farrow is very cunning as a freelancer believes he got the drop on her at her brother’s grave site but it was a trap she laid out so she could get answers from the freelancer who wanted to collect the bounty on her head. She won’t be deterred from her goal by anyone chasing her but collecting $1.5 million will go a long way in helping her achieve that goal, which is being offered by Stockridge Pharmaceuticals to find and apprehend Elise. She accepts immediately so she can find Elise before one of the many competitors find her but even Farrow couldn’t have expected that a Terminator from the future would arrive and start the hunt for Elise as well with the former two on a collision course and the latter stuck in the middle. Considering no one has been sent back to protect Elise and Farrow is trying to capture her too, does Skynet finally have an advantage to eliminate a threat to it in the past? Or will Farrow become her protector in order to protect the bounty she aims to collect?

I became more interested in this series after seeing the preview pages, which I also posted on here. It was action-packed and I was very interested in the mysterious reason Skynet was after Elise Fong and what made her so important in the big scheme of things. And I was also curious as to why the resistance didn’t send anyone back, or at least it seems that way. This issue was off to a promising start with Farrow Greene and establishing her as an extremely capable former agent with her own past that was catching up to her. And I know the arrival of a naked Terminator(s) in the past who then proceed to take clothes and weapons from an unsuspecting person is an iconic sequence that is always shown but the number of pages dedicated to that simple sequence this issue is questionable considering the very intriguing storyline. And I say that because very little is given to Elise so there isn’t even a hint of why she’s so important or why she knew she needed to go on the run. Of course that can be addressed in future issues but I wonder how interesting that aspect of the story could be now since Farrow seems to be the star. There are however some really good action sequences that take place with the Terminator and Farrow going toe to toe and she holds her own very well, as she’s the only character that has any impact this issue and the focus on her pays off. The events do lead to some interesting developments at the end of the issue and the premise of the series becomes very interesting once again. I’m just hoping the execution follows suit and delivers more in terms of story development.

SUMMARY

Terminator: Enemy of my Enemy #1 is an ok start to the series although the potential in the premise remains intriguing due to the developments in the last few panels as opposed to the story development throughout the entire issue. Farrow Greene is an interesting character and her actions and current situation hold the story together in this issue since Elise Fong barely has a presence. The action was entertaining but I hope to see at the very least some hints to what makes Elise Fong so vital and such a huge threat to Skynet going forward.

Release Date: 2/19/14

Writer: Dan Jolley

Artist: Jamal Igle