Chapter 410: Terminator Genesis
With that... the long-promised Terminator comic book did come.
Granted, it was late to the party. Very much so.
It was more than a year late, in fact.
Who in the world would tease it so much at Christmas season last last year... never doing anything about it even during Christmas season of last year... and only until a month or so after that to finally live up to it?
Then again, this was Creed Comics under the broader Creed Entertainment, with another familiar company... Creed Animations.
This wasn't the first time they did this.
It wasn't like they didn't tease two whole animation projects at some Comic-Con before... only for the official broadcast to be available after a month of the next Comic-Con.
Clearly, even with their understandable complaints and discontent, they should have expected such a wait.
After all, now that it was finally here... it was oh-so worth the wait!
Some of them weren't even fans of the Terminator movie... and even the fans of that didn't expect much.
That whole film felt like a one-and-done story already and anything after that would be an action romp at best. Even the sequel that they've been clamoring James Cameron for.
That whole hypothetical Doc and Marty stint did present some interesting possibilities though.
And to think that it actually is far more expansive than that.
It goes deeper than what was theatrically presented and the extent of what it can offer hit really hard.
Sarah Connor now changed...
There's the promised child in John Connor...
There's the creator and creation of Skynet spurned by that defeated Terminator of the past...
There's the suspiciously human and Arnold Schwarzenneger-looking general among the military heads that lauded the AI...
There's even the true big bad... the callous artificial that went rogue and outright decided to erase humanity in a matter of days.
Each has serendipitous meanings and is foreshadowed in the film, making for quite the mind-blowing callbacks for those that noticed and remembered.
When it came to this supposedly-simple comic book, it really has quite the cohesive storytelling that elevated the reading experience.
Especially the 5th issue... Judgement Day!
Gosh! Those nuclear panels were so stunning at the same time so devastating, with implications so chilling.
The comic book community weren't trusty connoisseurs but they wondered, could true art be explosions? Nuclear explosions?
If so... then the art team responsible for Judgement Day really went hard with it.
From the looks of it, they were the same team responsible for the acclaimed Watchmen and that explosive end from that story's Chapter XII was no joke as well.
With all those in play, this might be another masterpiece in the making.
A chef's kiss, perhaps!
Which is why it is also a courtesy to extend compliments to the chefs.
For this was Creed Comics presents 'Terminator Genesis'. Created by James Cameron and Alexander Creed.
Either of them celebrated in their own right but whenever they both work together, they work wonders.
Even though their previous collaboration was only a single project called Top Gun. That is already saying a lot.
1986 box office champion and 300 million plus dollars were really nothing to scoff at.
Setting aside that movie and the director half of the equation, comic book fans were really just drawn towards a fact that should be celebrated.
The fact that Alexander Creed was now back at it again!
Although he didn't really leave, it sure felt like he did. His streak of originals did stall, after all.
Maybe Terminator Genesis is a sign of what's to come.
This could be his T-800 "I'll be back" promise of sorts and a new start to a streak of comic book titles that many want to get their hands on.
Sure... Terminator wasn't exactly original. It was an expansion to an existing property but so what?
Who wouldn't want Mr. Creed's comic book take on another Schwarzenneger-led film? Take Conan the Barbarian for example? Or in-universe Red Sonja?
What about Battlestar Galactica? What about Star Trek? Better yet, what about Star Wars?!
Keep in mind that those are just the Marvel stories that they've worked on and are still working with, however, they aren't exclusively Marvel's.
And even though it's a circulating rumor that the man is suppressing them in favor of his own...
What about the superheroes and characters that are truly their properties, which in turn is also his property in the end?
Just imagining what Alexander Creed could do with all of it... it should be quite Marvel-ous and aplenty!
From the likes of Fanboy... his fellow fanboys... a growing number of fangirls...
Mr. Counterboy... his fellow comic counter clerks... comic book store owners... and basically the comic book community, overall.
They were looking forward to what's going to happen next.
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Of course, it wasn't just them that were wondering what was going to happen next.
For the implications of Terminator Genesis actually reached the industry of films.
Despite the established fact that compared to movies and shows... comic book stories are a paltry penny at best.
It's just that there's something different about this one... for it bothered and intrigued quite a few that heard of its existence.
Orion Pictures and a number of production companies, for example.
They figured that they still had some stake in that 1984 movie, and how rousing the home video performance was coming along.
Essentially, they'd prefer if the story kept it up.
It really makes others wonder about their old properties and where a good and popular comic book could potentially take them.
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Even George Lucas found this little tidbit interesting, along with the idea of working with that peculiar kid.
Other than wondering about how he made use of the old Graphics Group, this was a wonder as well.
Unfortunately, the Marvel-Star Wars partnership dried down not too long ago and that pitch about 3-D comic books from a so-called Blackthorne Publishing was worth considering.
George had to choose and it's his choice to make.
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Contrary to that, James Cameron was now unburdened by his decision.
After a good day of editing a whole lot of aliens... he always flips the pages of this collaborative passion project of his.
Whenever he looked at it, he found that comic books are really freeing in a way.
Unrestrained by filming technology and can explore the wildest of concepts as long as one can draw them.
The result is even so graphic and he meant that in a good way.
It's just the 5 issues that are available and in spite of knowing the plot until the end... he was still looking forward to it.
That all the more made him inspired.
For how grand and impressive this story is, it's actually just a closed loop that starts over to the events of the movie.
He needed another movie to break that loop in time... all the while holding onto the 5th issue... maybe he should call it somewhere along the lines of Terminator: Judgement Day!
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Perhaps it was only someone like James Cameron that gets away with slacking a bit during a Fox production.
Then again, Fox was also quite interested in the whole Terminator comic book gimmick.
There's a chance that it will become another animation project for that broadcast programming partner of theirs, after all.
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If Fox was piqued, there's a high chance that Disney was as well.
And sure enough... Eisner wasn't too far off. With Terminator Genesis copies on his table, weighing about the implications of flimsy prints.
"It's really a shame that we missed out on Marvel. All the more making Creed even stronger."
"There's nothing you can do about it." Frank Wells said. "They won the bid and Disney hardliners aren't too enthusiastic with the clashing branding that those superheroes will bring."
"Says the champion of the hardliners." Eisner voiced.
Frank didn't confirm nor deny, he just moved on. "If you're so worried about this Creed though, why don't you ask all those Creed competitors that you previously egged on."
Eisner just scoffed because he would. That is if he could.
After Creed's acquisition of Marvel, the whole Anti-Creed Alliance just wasn't what it used to be.
Especially the major players... well... with one obviously getting folded or maybe make that two.
Since even the proud Hasbro didn't want to peep... when there's very awkward and conflicting toylines that they had to reluctantly sell.
As for DC... they did air their discontent... albeit in a pointless and embarrassing way.
Claiming early that Terminator was infringing on Metallo and that just screams petty, didn't it?
Even the minor players got quiet as if they never even bothered or want to deal with anything Creed anymore.
Not even a clamor for SEC regulations for some reason, going to show that that kid and his companies may have become too influential...
And that's worrying for Eisner's, for so many reasons.
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In conclusion, a lot were really riled.
Of course, despite their many perspectives and reactions with regard to Terminator Genesis... only a few have the enviable position to really discuss it with Alexander.
Old Sullivan was one of them, who straight up just commented. "The story is shocking and all but why the apocalypse, Alex? There's not even a trace of any Terminator despite the title."
Regarding the impatience, Alexander simply said. "It's a process, grandpa. And as a spoiler, J-Day will only wipe about 3 billion of the population and Skynet has got to do something about killing off the survivors."
"As for the Terminators... all I can say is that there's a reason why the Arnold-faced version was called T-800 or Model 101."
Obviously, Skynet's battalion wasn't the humanoid assassins right away. It's got to be a progression from many peculiar killing robots from T-1 and so on.
Aside from expanding the mythos, the story from there on is basically just Mad Max or the Walking Dead but with an array of robots.
Of course, there's also John's growth, Sarah's death, the formation of the resistance, meeting Kyle Reese, and the big question...
Between Skynet and the desperate humans, who will adapt better, survive in the end, and win?
"Regardless..." Old Sullivan was really just clueless to it all but he mused. "It's really weird that you got into this at this point in time, Alex."
"What's weird?" Alexander asked but he had the feeling that this was one of those parallels again.
"You know... a 12-year-old John Connor... going against something that has the name Skynet." The old man muttered. "Meanwhile, there's you, nearing 12 and playing with a lot of nets."
"Nets?" Since when has he played with those?
"What I meant are ArpaNet, NSFNet, and you're very own ChaosNet." The old man added. "It's as if Skynet is a commentary on the danger of those and what you can do with it."
"You're overthinking, grandpa. If anything, the whole thing is simply a commentary on progressive technology, that's all."
Of course, as Alexander said so... his eyes imperceptibly flashed red and green.
The same could be said for his father's computer in his room... its monitor flickering... with a glimpse of the Chaos within.