Terminator Omnibus Volume 1

The Terminator Omnibus #1

by James Robinson

They came from another time to ensure that the future would belong solely to the machines. They are Terminatorsindestructible killing engines hiding inside shells of flesh and blood. Tireless, fearless, merciless, unencumbered by human emotion, dedicated to the complete eradication of mankind. But despite the frailty of human flesh, nothing is as immortal as the human spirit, and even the strongest metal will bend by the will of a mother fighting for the future of her children.

Dark Horse Comics has long been regarded as the heavyweight champion of adapting film blockbusters to graphic fiction, and The Terminator is one of the finest examples of bringing top comics talents to the expansion of a premier action/adventure mythos. Featuring work by fanfavorite creators James Robinson, Matt Wagner, John Arcudi, Paul Gulacy, Ian Edginton, and more, The Terminator Omnibus Volume 1 features over three hundred story pages in a full color, highquality, valuepriced edition.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Adventure, Cyberpunk, Action

343 pages, ebook

First published February 20, 2008

About the author

James Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the early 90s no one did movie comics like Dark Horse. This series does show its age a little, but overall its a cool continuation of the Terminator franchise. (In most cases, these comics were much better than the movies that came after T2 to be honest.)

Good stories with really good art. If you are a Terminator fan, pick this up.

And for the record, I love the Dark Horse Omnibus editions, and the way comic companies are doing the large collections in general. It's nice to get a lot of reading in one book for a good price.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a fan of the Terminator movies but it seems not so much of the comic run. I liked the art of the second story and that's about it. The panels were generic. If someone was naked (this is the Terminator universe afterall, what with the timetravel running amok), then the muscles were exagerrated way too much. All undercover Terminator agents stuck out like sore thumbs instead of blending in since they appear as massively muscled body builders, even the females. That makes sense, right?

Dudley (am I remembering his character's name correctly?) was a nice addition, but otherwise I did not like anyone else and Dudley at the end stunk big time. More specifically, another character's reaction stunk. I liked some of the ideas introduced but there was zero depth to any of the writing. As in, Mary's boobs kept getting in the way of my reading. I really can not recommend this, though I have heard that Volume 2 is better than Volume 1.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very ok. Some arcs were much better than others. I’d read this as a curiosity if you’re a big fan of the first two movies, but I can’t imagine most people loving it. The art is serviceable with the biggest standout being Matt Wagner’s work on “One Shot.” All in all, I’d give this a soft recommend if you need some Terminator in your life and it’s a choice between this and all the dumb movies they made after T2.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is the typical heavy and unnuanced style of the period, but the stories are superior to every filmed sequel after T2.

[Dakota Shively · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Terminator series, and I really, REALLY wanted to like this series. Unfortunately, I was just extremely disconnected to it and couldn't find any way to get into it.

The characters are very bland, and we get almost no connection to them. The continuing plot line for Mary (had to go back and look her name up because it was so forgettable) and the gang doesn't really allow for character development.

The "going back in time to change the future" plot-line for the series has been rehashed so much in this series, and ultimately has a really bad payoff because nothing really changes in the end. I was hoping the series would be more "Post-Judgement Day" oriented.

The art work really frustrated me. Maybe it's late 80's-early 90's comic art in general, but it was full of super bright and neon colors and hardly any texture. It was like looking at a coloring book my younger brother drew in. I really enjoyed the artwork for the 2nd story, "One Shot," however. That entire volume was fantastic and the most captivating story of the whole series.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If all you have ever know about the Terminator storyline is the movies then read this. There is so much more to discover about the war with the machines. Fantastic storyline and characters. Highly recommended

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tempest, ☆☆☆
One Shot, ☆☆☆☆
Secondary Objectives, ☆☆☆☆
The Enemy Within, ☆☆☆

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way better than the movies post-T2: Judgement Day

This comics should have been a blast to read when originally published, opening a way of possibilities to the terminator universe not hindered by movie production budget.

We got more scenes set in the future, but this volume focus his main arcs in to a group of time displaced human rebels. It hast plenty of action and good storytelling of the time. I loved to see Matt Wagner and Paul Gulacy firing from all cilinders in the art department for this comic.

[Ben Guilfoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid stories here, even if it gets highly repetitive. But since the "Terminator" movies themselves seem content to just do the same thing over and over again every time, why not in the comics? The artwork is up and down in this collection, but a good chunk of it is, like the writing, solid. I was never bored reading it.

[ltcomdata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining stories set in the Terminator universe. None of them stand out significantly, but they are certainly entertaining, and after finishing them, I wanted to read more of them.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

There have been so many good iterations of the Terminator, so how does this one stand-up?

As it turns out, they're as a whole mediocre. Though any individual one could shine, you put them together, and it's obvious that we're seeing the same plots and the same plot twists again and again.

Tempest (1990). Freedom fighters return to the 20th century to try and stop the formation of Skynet. Terminators follow. Obviously this is a reversal of the first movie, and it's oddly prescient. Not only is Skynet technology being developed thanks to the first Terminator left in the past (maybe this already set up in the first movie? I don't remember), but we also get a blonde super-cop Terminator. In any case, it's a fun action ride with cool timey-wimeyness. [4/5]

One Shot (1991). This one was a little harder to love because it's the story of a Terminator sent back before Ahnold that goes after the wrong Sarah Connor in San Francisco, who also turns out to be an unlikeable character. But Robinson's writing slowly brings the comic up to par, and he introduces a bit of timey-wimeyness of his own which is pretty delightful and answers the question of why no one tried to kill Sarah earlier in her life. [4/5].

Secondary Objectives (1991). The cool thing about Robinson's second outing is that he directly continues on from "Tempest", in particular returning to our surviving freedom fighters. The uncool thing is that the plot goes absolutely nowhere. Two more Terminators return from the future, for reasons and in ways not entirely obvious, and so our fighters have to blow them up too. There's also a bit of a MacGuffin hunt going on for Sarah Connor. The only things that saves this arc are interesting characterization and exciting action [3/5].

The Enemy Within. The main thing this sequence of stories had going for it was the idea of the half-Terminator character, and he gets some good attention in this newest arc as he fights against his robot nature. But, that's surrounded by yet another Terminator from the future (with horns? why does he have horns?) and yet another militia team from the future (why?) and yet another run at Cyberdyne and yet another pyrrhic ending where it appears that the technology to start this up again is still there. It's all just a little repetitive [3/5].

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to start this by typing out the heavy-bass Terminator intro music, then realised I couldn't quite get it to sound right!

This is a collection of stories released early 90's, after Terminator 2 but before any of the newer entries in the franchise (T3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator: Salvation or Terminator: Genisys), so do show their age a bit.

They all also pretty much follow the same template - a group from the future sent back in time, with Terminator's following or already having been sent back, and then a protracted chase followed by a shoot-out - with the artwork varying between the differing authors/artists.

As a compilation, some of the stories are better than others: my pick for the best, probably, would be the story entitled 'One Shot', which seems to mirror the first film.

[Dragan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was something different. What made me not enjoy this graphic novel was, my expectations of this being amazing, it wasn’t. My issues stem from the lack of direction the stories had, the first story Tempest was very boring and hard to keep interest in. The colour scheme was a huge miss overall, the second story did the scheme well but the art style was too indie for me. I didn’t feel like I could or should care for any of the characters. Basically dark house got the rights and gave it to some authors for a quick buck. Not the worst thing I have read but really needed to force myself to finish this.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of stories from the 1990's set in the Terminator Universe back when it was still cool and something people grew excited about, rather than groaning. This collects several limited series of another set of the killer cyborgs traveling in the past to ensure Skynet's creation, rather than kill John Connor. Most of the stories tie in together so it is a decent narrative all the way through and may be looked on as chapters in a sprawling story. Very fast paced and engaging. Well worth a read for those who like the universe

[Brian Lakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for fans

I really enjoyed this book. If you're a fan of the franchise this is definitely required reading. It expands the universe and builds on the Sarah Connor/ John Connor timelines. The book is a collection of stories that build off each other for the most part. ( there might be a one shot here or there) I gave this 5 stars because the stories were just plain fun with lots of over the top action.

[Joanne]

quit, too many books so little time

[Duane B Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very fun read

Good story arcs, excellent illustrations, very easy to kill a couple of hours with this graphic novel. I really liked it.

[Jason Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and quality

I didn't know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this volume. I look forward to volume 2.

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, they could have made a third fourth fifth or sixth movie out of any number of these and it would have been okay. What an easy lay-up for Hollywood to miss.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection that expands on some themes of the original 2 movies. Also interesting that some of these ideas are explored in later movies. I love all things Terminator so this was great.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came out at just the right time - I finally watched T3 last year, and found out it wasn't half as bad as I'd feared, and then this year watched and adored the Terminator tv series, which finished all too soon as a result of the writers' strike. Luckily this collection of Terminator comics from the early nineties is available to step into the breach. The weird thing is, almost everything that's in the tv series turns up in here too, from human hit squads going after Cyberdyne people to cops slowly putting the pieces together to fleshless Terminators wearing motorcycle helmets. Whether that's a sign that story options are a bit limited in the Terminator universe, or whether it's just comics, in their usual way, acting as pathfinders for other media, I don't know. Either way, I had a terrible night of nightmares after starting to read this book. (You try protecting your family from a Terminator with nothing but a corkscrew...) It contains four lengthy stories. Tempest, Secondary Objectives and The Enemy Within form one continuous narrative, while One Shot is a side-story (with beautiful Matt Wagner artwork) of a Terminator going after a Sarah Connor who didn't get into the phone book quick enough for Arnold to find her in the first film.

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Dark Horse comes The Terminator: Omnibus – Volume 1, a collection of 4 graphic novels. Three of the books, Tempest, Secondary Objectives, and The Enemy Within, follow a human resistance group that’s sent back in time to 1990 to stop the head of Cyberdyne Systems, Bertram Hollister, from developing Skynet; but a team of Terminators follow suit and attempt to protect Hollister and assure his continued research. The last book, One Shot, is a companion to the first film, in which a second Terminator tracks down a fourth “Sarah Connor” that wasn’t in the phone book, and has gone to San Francisco on her honeymoon. Though the comics have a separate continuity from the films, it’s interesting to see how many ideas they share; as many elements from the comics would come to be incorporated into the film franchise. However, there are some problems with a couple of the story arcs and the artwork is rather unimpressive. Still, despite some rough edges The Terminator: Omnibus – Volume 1 provides an exciting look at the extended universe of the Terminator.

[Aravind Raamkumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark horse comics is literally the dark horse. The quality is quite good for a publication which extends popular sci-fi movies to the comics world. I didn't expect this volume to be as good as it was while reading. The writing in all the chapters is filled with suspense, action and a non-linear narration going back to past and future. The dread associated to the terminators is there in each page and it was a fun read.

[Lateef Amodu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories take place during the time of the first terminator film. It managed to be canon without impeding on the flim's main plot; they run parallel. It shows various events in the pre-Skynet world, involving different androids and their hunt for Sarah Connor. You get little insights here and there on the creation of the androids and Skynet, but nothing mind blowing. Overall, the omnibus was an okay read, with decent artwork.

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Dark Horse went on to do some great Star Wars Stories, the Terminator started out good and went down hill from there. Some of the stories ignore established continuity (I don't believe there were more than one time displacement unit), others are either poorly drawn or written. The first arc is the best. DH's Predator series was better.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are fine action stories and it's kind of interesting to see where writers thought the series could go before T2, but the problem here is the same with where the movies and novels eventually went - no one can think of anything to do other than sending more terminators back in time with more resistance soldiers coming back to stop them.

[Graham Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to read these comics

I used to read these comics

I used to go downtown to the comic shop and buy these.

it's what I remember from my childhood, so that's cool.

[Tyson Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this comic collection can best be described by the word MEH.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

skynet