The Terminator #10: A Simple Skirmish

The Terminator #10 draws a straight line through the series to this point, tying the assorted stories together. To this point the series has jumped about, tracking various Duggans over time and Skynet’s efforts to ensure Judgment Day occurs via assorted time travel events. Harper Duggan’s importance is still somewhat vague, but Shalvey does suggest his connection to John Connnor is the reason. Even so, it’s satisfying to gain a greater understanding of the series’ first nine issues and a good indication that Shalvey is building a coherent overarching narrative even if it’s being done in a roundabout, very non-linear fashion.

The simple insurgency type attack at the heart of The Terminator #10 is fine enough, but not as satisfying on its own as building on the Duggan connection and the John Connor thread. Indeed, the attack itself undermines Duggan’s value in a way by showing him to be inflexible and unimaginative in how he fights the machines, especially since it’s clear that Skynet is capable of adapting and improving.

Leaving the explicit John Connor connection to The Terminator #10’s final page overplays what is not really a mystery. There is an emotional payoff that accompanies the reveal, as well as an attempt to tie Duggan into the larger Connor mythology. But ultimately it’s underwhelming.

Sparrow is a good choice for The Terminator #10. The series cycles through artists, bringing different styles into the series every one or two issues. The nature of the story makes for characters who are not particularly emotive. Sparrow’s boxy, somewhat hard angled faces can limit their expressiveness. Here, with a somewhat limited range of emotions available to characters since the issue takes place on a desperate battlefield, Sparrow’s art is more effective. He captures the frequent combination of somber and angry.

The battlescarred landscape and overall military action is where Sparrow finds the most success, though. His depiction of the HK tanks with their very crisp, straight lines is a good contrast to their disordered surroundings. The tanks’ size is likewise well communicated. Sparrow’s art makes for a very good war oriented issue.

Ironically, Craker’s color choices make the HK tanks look livelier than the human protagonists. The ruins that make up the issue’s setting are almost a universal beige color. The human characters are dressed fully in outfits made up of shades of gray. There is a decided lack of bright colors anywhere except the HK tanks. The cameras atop the tank (or whatever serves as the tank’s “eyes”) are bright red as they look out on the surroundings. Their weapon blasts are neon pink. The tanks jump off the page better than anything else in The Terminator #10, and the result is both something that seems more visually alive, but also more powerful.

The Terminator #10 is not a text heavy comic overall, but it has several sequences that are. In many cases those sequences feature smaller panels. Eckleberry does a good job keeping dialogue bubbles organized and largely out of the way of Sparrow’s art.