Warning! Spoilers ahead forTerminator#9!
The latest issue of the innovative ongoingTerminatorcomic series is setting up a radical reorientation of the franchise’s familiar moral framework, seeminglyturning one of Skynet’s T800s into the story’s protagonist and pitting it against human antagonists.This daring creative move could be make or break for the franchise, but precedent suggests the book’s creators can pull it off.
Terminator#9, by the creative team of Declan Shalvey and Colin Craker, features a guerrilla squad of human resistance fighters from the future mounting a direct attack on Cyberdyne Systems in the past.
Their only opposition is a T800, in the guise of a security guard. Curiously, though, the previewmakes it seem readers are meant to root for the robot.
The Latest Issue Of “Terminator” Asks Readers To Root For The T800, In A Wild Move For The Franchise
Terminator#9, By The Creative Team Of Declan Shalvey And Colin Craker; Main Cover By Declan Shalvey
The currentTerminatorcomic series has quickly carved out a special place for itself in franchise lore, thanks to itsemphasis on approaching familiarTerminatorlore from a unique perspective: Skynet’s.Repeatedly throughout the early issues, the machines have been used as POV characters. A recent issue even memorably depicted a"civil war" within Skynet itself.
What is surprising, and potentially gamechanging for the franchise, is the fact that this T800 appears to be the main character of the story.
That said, there have still been plenty of"traditional"Terminatormoments, in which readers have rooted for human charactersto triumph against their terrifying inhuman foes. Now, the preview pages forTerminator#9 suggest that the series is going totake another creative gamble, by reframing a machine vs. humans battle from the Terminator’s perspective.
In the advanced pages, a group of future human soldiers travel back in time to attack Cyberdyne, and through dialogue, theyquickly establish that they are ready and willing to kill any humans they encounter, on the off chance there might be a Terminator in their midst.Both things are quickly proven true when they open fire on two security guards.
One of the guards is shot to a bloody pulp, but another, who curiously requested this specific shift, doesn’t react the same way when shot.It is clear that this character is a T800, but what is surprising, and potentially gamechanging for the franchise, is the fact that this T800 appears to be the main character of the story.
Making The Terminator The “Good Guy” Is A Risky Move, But If It Works, It Will Change Terminator Forever
Terminator#9, Variant Cover By Cat Staggs
The preview forTerminator#9 begins, once more, with narration that seems to be from a machine POV; it can be inferred it is the internal monologue of the T800 model shown emerging, guns blazing, from a raging inferno, which, in turn, is implied to be a glimpse of the climax of the story.
Making the human characters the “bad guys” turns a sci-fi “good vs. evil” story into a morally complex war drama.
Coupled with the moral complications of the humans' mission,this positions the Terminator as the protagonist of the issue.It is a fascinating reversal of the usualdynamic ofTerminatorstories. If this pays off, it could have major implications for the franchise. That is, it opens up a whole newavenue of potentialTerminatorstorytelling.
By making the T800 a security guard, and giving it the mission to preserve a human institution, and perhaps even save human lives in the process,Terminator#9 totally upends the machines' usual role in the franchise.At the same time, making the human characters the “bad guys” turns a sci-fi “good vs. evil” story into a morally complex war drama.
The franchise has dabbled in this territory before, most notably with Sarah Connor’s attempted assassination of Miles Dyson inT2: Judgment Day, but even then, she was eventually talked out of it, and the movie went on to show that protecting human lives was a priority at all costs. The future humans inTerminator#9 decidedly do not feel the same.
The Latest Issue Of “Terminator” Continues The Series' Bold Reinvention Of Franchise Lore
Terminator#9, Variant Cover By Edwin Galom
From the preview forTerminator#9, it appears as though the issue isgoing to be akin to the franchise’s version of aDie Hard-type story:a lone individual fighting to stop a group of terrorists.Except the individual is a Terminator, and the terrorists are trying to avert the end of civilization.
In the contemporary world of A.I., there are more potent stories to be told when Skynet and the Terminators are not just reduced to a simple, malevolent machine enemy.
This complicates the expectations readers bring intoTerminatorstories, and for many readers, that is exactly what makes it so refreshing. Within the greater framework of the franchise, fans might understand that they should still want the humans to succeed, but if the issue can make readers root for the T800, it will be a major achievement.
The most remarkable aspect of thisTerminatorrun so far has been how it updates the franchise’s core concept in a way that makes it feel especially relevantin an era of increasingly pervasive artificial intelligence. For James Cameron in 1984, A.I. might have been a looming fear, but now it is an everyday part of people’s lives.
In the contemporary world of A.I., there are more potent stories to be told when Skynet and the Terminators are not just reduced to a simple, malevolent machine enemy. So far, that has been thesuccess of Dynamite’sTerminator;it has brought Skynet and its killer robots to life more than any iteration of the series before.
