Terminator--Metal #5 // Review
There’s something dangerous that’s stalking a research station in the antarctic. This isn’t 1982, though, so it’s not going to be populated by the likes of Kurt Russell, Keith David and Wilford Brimley. This certainly something, but it’s not THAT thing. This is 1997. Or maybe if it’s a different timeline it might be 2003 or 2004. The thing that’s stalking the base isn’t from outer space. It’s from the future. Welcome to The Terminator--Metal #5. The writing team of Declan Shalvey and Rory McConville deliver another well-aimed one-shot Terminator story...this one inspired quite heavily by John Carpenter’s classic 1982 horror film. The story comes to the page courtesy of artist Luke Sparrow and colorist Colin Craker.
Maggie isn’t exactly who they were expecting at the base. They were expecting someone with enough strength and fortitude to avoid complaining about the cold. She isn’t the iron lady they were expecting. There’s someone else they’re not expecting who has shown-up as well. THIS person shows-up next to a large crater in the snow. He’s a guy. Completely naked in the antarctic cold. So it’s more than a little disturbing. Naturally the first person to come across the individual in question is going to be aiming a gun at him. Something like that might be a threat. The one with the gun has no idea what he’s facing.
Shalvey and McConville are clearly paying homage to the specific format of Carpenter’s The Thing. The script that they’re delivering hits with the same kind of paranoia and follows a staggeringly similar story. It comes across quite clearly as a simple matter of abbreviated substitution. Rather than the mother of all vicious monsters, the base is visited by a terminator unit. Though it follows the overall rhythm of the 1982 film pretty closely, there ARE a few surprises here and there that keep the story fun.
Sparrow and Craker are given the opportunity to draw a Terminator unit into the backdrop of Carpenter’s The Thing. All of the basic elements pay homage to the production and lighting design of that film...with a few elements of The Terminator added-in around the edges of the visuals. It’s a fun issue for the end of winter that feels like a strong entry in the series of one-shot stories that Dynamite is bringing to the comics rack for the anthology series.
It’s a surprisingly simply premise: “what if John Carpenter’s The Thing was actually a Terminator unit?” Given that this was the basic premise...there’s really no reason why the story should be anywhere near as entertaining as it is for the full run of a full-length issue. A premise like this should have overstayed its welcome after the basic elements were delivered in the first couple of pages. To their credit, the creative team on the issue has done a really good job of really good job of making a full issue out of what is essentially a rip-off of John Carpenter’s work.
