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Kareem Ali 5

Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #1

 

  • The good

    Excellent story and set up for series. Artwork is top notch and intense action

  • The bad

    Helps to have seen Terminator Salvation or read up on it

  • The ugly

  • Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #1 is a new 12-issue series written by J. Michael Straczynski that will bring an end to the Machine Wars and decide the fate of John Connor and Skynet. It takes place in the same continuity as Terminator Salvation but it’s more complicated than that as events in this series will take place in the past and future with everything at stake. It is important to recall that in Terminator Salvation Dr. Serena Kogan, a Cyberdyne scientist, convinced death row inmate Marcus Wright to donate his body for medical research and he agreed the day of his execution in 2003. After she died from cancer and Cyberdyne was purchased by the military, Marcus Wright was turned into a hybrid Terminator almost 15 years after his execution to infiltrate the resistance and lead John Connor to his death. However Marcus Wright ultimately rejected this mission and ended up saving John Connor instead and reclaimed his humanity. This issue opens up in 2003 with two separate instances of time travel. One is a group of 3 Terminators and the other is a sole resistance fighter, and they have their set missions. Their objectives aren’t immediately clear but it involves someone named Thomas Parnell and by all indications it’s connected to the end game for both sides. Will the human resistance succeed in striking its final blows or does Skynet have a plan that will change everything?

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    I’ve always enjoyed the Terminator series from the movies to the Sarah Chronicles tv show, so when I saw a new comic book series was being released I was intrigued. When I found out that it would be written by J. Michael Straczynski, who was responsible for reviving one of my favorite characters (Thor), and the artist would be Pete Woods, I was excited for this series. So I’m glad that I can say that my initial excitement was rewarded when I finally read this issue. It starts with scenes we’re familiar with, Terminators and a human sent back in time, arriving naked and having to assimilate to carry out the mission. So it starts off with plenty of action and of course the Terminators mean business. But there’s just enough as the excellent writing (“real shoes”) starts laying out the story and what’s at stake. Things become a little more complicated because a death row killer is on the loose and so everyone is on alert for that. And even though the story is taking place over 2 time periods showing the perspective of 2 sides, it’s so well done that it’s very easy to follow. In the future, 2029, the machines are on the verge of completing the time door so Kyle Reese still hasn’t been sent back yet and the resistance is planning on taking over the facility once the time door is completed. This is laid out so well that even a cohesive explanation is given for why Skynet would still send Terminators back to the past and not know why they didn’t succeed considering it’s sending them from the future.

    I don’t want to give away anything more from the issue but the perspective of the machines (is that a slur?) is shown and we get to see some of their plan being put into motion. It gets extremely intriguing because there’s an aspect mentioned by one that adds some mystery to the intentions of the Terminators sent in the past and what could happen is not so black and white. And the ending of this issue confirms that much and I’m looking forward to the second issue in this series even more than I did the first.

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    SUMMARY

    Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #1 is an excellent start to the series and brings a fresh perspective to the franchise as well as providing a bridge to what came before with its explanation for the time-traveling missions in general. The artwork by Pete Woods is solid as always and the action is as intense as the story is engrossing. It’s a perfect set up to the series and handles the 4 perspectives over 2 time periods almost flawlessly. This issue is an excellent start to the series and if you’ve ever enjoyed the Terminator series to some extent then you definitely have to check out Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle.

     

    Release date: 12/4/13

  • Rating ( 9.5 )
  • Total score 9.5

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