CSN @ NRAMA: TALKING T2: INFINITY

[MattBrady]

by Cliff Biggers, Comic Shop News

Darn Skynet and those pesky Terminators of theirs. Just when you think they’re all gone away and the future is safe, here comes the evil corporate master and its high-tech killing machines to make the world unsafe for all things organic!

A few months ago, fans learned that Fox had given the green light to a pilot for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a series set between the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Well, it appears that Skynet is going multimedia, because they’re also making a return in comic book form with the launch of Dynamite Entertainment’s Terminator 2: Infinity, an ongoing series.

Publisher Nick Barrucci explained what the focus of the series will be. “Our focus is on the characters and histories as they were introduced in T2: Judgment Day. Since the whole franchise deals with time travel, however, we're able to bounce around in the timeline a bit. So, we have an older John Connor, who’s dealing with the after-effects of the Skynet-initiated nuclear holocaust, and a few other familiar faces—along with some new ones.”

How did Dynamite land the high-profile Terminator license, previously held by Dark Horse? “We've worked with the licensor previously on some projects and started talking about doing the comics,” Barrucci said. “From there it was just a matter of putting the deal together and coming up with a story and team to make it work—which we think we've done.”

While the comic book series and The Sarah Connor Chronicles both build from events featured in T2, readers shouldn’t expect to see the two series cross over. “That would be a separate deal,” Barrucci said, “although again, much of this groundwork for the timeline and the history was laid in T2 itself.”

Writer Simon Furman explained how extensively Terminator continuity is integrated into the series. “In a word, fully,” Furman said. “Though the core license is T2, the essential elements are all the same and I'm drawing on elements from all the movies, and rolling things out in a way that works with almost everything that's already been established. Though we are taking one or two creative liberties along the way—hey, the future's not set!— this is very much the next chapter in the life (and ordeals) of John Connor. Also, there's a key story thread in T2: Infinity that very much places the three movies in context.”

The fact that time travel is crucial to the storyline, as Barrucci indicated previously, offers all sorts of creative possibilities. “If anything, I used that constant balancing act of time travel versus time paradoxes to initiate the action in T2: Infinity. Let's just say that, due to its tampering in this and that era, Skynet has to do some urgent 'housekeeping.' That then plays into the post-Judgment Day/Crystal Peak John Connor arc.”

So which Skynet future is Furman using in Infinity? “We're pretty much in two eras of Skynet—the first being after the so-called victory over Skynet (circa 2030 or so), and the second post-Crystal Peak, circa 2009, at which point Skynet is just getting into its mankind-eradicating stride.”

The protagonist of the new series is “John Connor, of course,” Furman said. “I pretty much regard the whole Terminator saga as his story, with Terminators in it. He's key to the whole thing, and I felt it would have been very difficult to do an in-continuity Terminator story without him. Oh, and there's a pair of Terminators, one very much along the lines of something we've seen before, the other very much something we've not seen before.”

The first storyline is “essentially John Connor's first stumbling steps, post-Judgment Day, on the road to becoming the resistance leader who brings Skynet to its (virtual) knees,” Furman explained. “Imagine stepping out into a post-nuclear holocaust world and just thinking, ‘yeah, I'll have it tidied up in no time.’ It was never going to be that easy, and it's not. Especially when further-into-the-future-Skynet's efforts to avert an even greater catastrophe collide spectacularly with John's own more personal crisis of confidence. I played around with titles like 'Trial by Fire' and 'Cauldron,' so you get the idea.”

Terminator 2: Infinity is illustrated by Nigel Raynor, who explained how he landed the assignment. “I was just coming off my run on Battlestar Galactica (13 issues, counting the #0) and the goodly folk at Dynamite called me up and offered me Terminator. A big, fat ‘yes, please!’ later and bish-bosh, I was on the book. I'm cornering the market in homicidal cyborgs!

“I've loved Terminator since the original came out and this is chance to draw all the stuff I like best. Post apocalyptic cities, killer robots, military mech, double-hard tough guys and guns...lots
of guns!”

Will Raynor be utilizing any cinematic likenesses in the series? “Well, John Connor’s there, but it’s a while after we left him at Crystal Peak and the poor fella’s been through the wringer, and that can change a man’s appearance, so I wouldn't call it a likeness as such. Other than that, it's a whole new cast set into the existing continuity—which is obviously great fun to play with.”

Is Raynor working with the familiar Terminators from the films, or is getting a chance to create some new models? “No, they're all new designs. There's a new T-800 who's every inch the complete badass, and then there's a new model Terminator that I can't say too much about other than that its totally unlike anything Skynet’s rolled off the assembly line before... and did I mention the guns?”

Terminator 2: Infinity, a $3.50 comic, is scheduled for June release; the first issue will ship with multiple covers featuring the art of Pat Lee, Stjepan Sejic, and Nigel Raynor.

[Blackbeard]

This looks pretty cool. I'll definitely pick up the first issue and check it out.

[Predabot1]

I'll probably give it a go, since I'm a bit of a Fumanite, and like them Terminators too.

Also, I've been wanting to colour some Terminator mech-art for some time, and sadly the design of the T-infinity isn't quite to my liking, so do any of you guys have any links to a good lookin' T-series up to X, Terminator-pic?

I'd love to colour something like this, since I adore the movie, the pinball-game and the Arcade Game. ^^

[MisterClock]

I wish them the best. Dark Horse comics has set the bar high when it comes to Terminator titles for both quality, of story and art, and releasing more than one story arc.

[jonmason1977]

As they only have the T2 licence, does anyone know if they have the rights to T3 characters - after all, Katharine Brewster is supposed to become his wife and lieutenant, would be tricky to work around her absence (no matter what you think of T3...)

[Regicidal]

Originally Posted by MisterClock

I wish them the best. Dark Horse comics has set the bar high when it comes to Terminator titles for both quality, of story and art, and releasing more than one story arc.

The Dark Horse comics were great, initially, but they circled the drain for a while before disappearing. The NOW series had a few notable exceptions like Burning Earth but ultimately didn't live up to the concept. Whereas Beckett's T3, like that film, is best forgotten.

The short-lived Malibu series Nuclear Twilight 1-4+0 and Cybernetic Dawn 1-4+0 were so good they were worthy of Cameron himself, partly because much of the material was culled from various Lightstorm sources.

I eagerly anticipate this series as they appear to be headed in the right direction.

[creatorman]

Sounds really awesome. Love it when they keep building on the Terminator Franchise. The art looks excellent! I'm also looking forward to the Sarah Conner Chronicles. So when are the producers going to do another Terminator film? There's clearly a huge fan base. I'm on board.

[Del Gorky]

I'm really torn here. I would love to have good Terminator comics and Simon Furman should do a good job. But Nigel Raynor is a big turn off. His shaky ability to draw likenesses and sometimes confusing panel to panel transitions really made Battlestar Galactica barely acceptable despite good scripting from Pak. I will probably pass despite having read all of the Dark Horse Terminator comics. The good news is I might not drop Battlestar with Raynor leaving.

[User Name]

Originally Posted by creatorman

So when are the producers going to do another Terminator film? There's clearly a huge fan base. I'm on board.

The star of the movie is a bit busy right now with his other job.

[kitty_tc]

Originally Posted by User Name

The star of the movie is a bit busy right now with his other job.

You mean Micheal Biehn? He died in the first one, and they still made two more movies without him.

Seriously, as good as Schwarzenegger was in the first two films, his is the most expendable of any of the characters in the story. Really, does it make any sense at all for Skynet to make an entire series of infiltration units that all look exactly alike, and keep using them against people who can already visually identify them? Please.

They should have passed the torch to a newer action star before the third movie, but then again they should have done a lot of things different in the third movie rather than try to rehash T2. I've long thought Vin Diesel would make a damned good Terminator, for example, and since he's not quite as trendy anymore his price tag might actually be reasonable. If not, there are no shortage of tough, charismaless men (or women for that matter) who can play an emotionless cyborg pretty well. After all, it was Arnold's inability to act or emote that made him so convincing in the first place. He surely can't be the only bad actor out there.

[Predabot1]

The day I see Vin Diesel as Terminator is the day I will incarcerate the mad-person that made it happen.

In fact, having to see Diesel anywhere anytime, is pure suffering.