[If you wish to avoid spoilers about Terminal #2, 7, and 10, you may not want to read
this piece.]
I’ve been waiting on this comic for a long
time. In the spring of 2023, I got an email from Joe Casey asking if I would be
up for jumping on a Skype call with him at some point. I’ve been writing about
Joe Casey’s comics work for pretty much the entire time I’ve been online
writing about comics going back to the old Wildstorm message boards where I
discussed his Wildcats work with Sean
Phillips. Over time, his work became one of my focal points as a critic and, as
a result, I’ve had some encounters/dealings with him over the years: he
appeared on an episode of the Splash Page Podcast when Tim Callahan and I were
doing that; I did a weekly Q&A with him for my Random Thoughts! posts at
Comics Should be Good; and a piece I did on Gødland
Finale was reprinted in the third ‘Celestial Edition’ hardcover collection.
Beyond that, there were the odd email exchanges, so we’ve always been friendly
but not friends, making his email request both odd and not. This was around the
time of the teases for Junior Baker, The
Righteous Faker turning up online and it turns out that the call was to
discuss that book – and his general return to writing comics after a few years
of relative quiet.
The conversation was nice. He wanted the
opinion of someone who’s still paying attention to commercial superhero comics
on some projects he either had coming out or was considering. Some of these
have seen print since then (Dutch, Blood Squad Seven, Kneel Before Zod), some have not ([REDACTED]) with one or two teased in his newsletter, and some will
probably never happen. Funnily enough, most of the work he’s had come out since
that conversation (Weapon X-Men, Johnny Quest, Ben 10) is stuff that wasn’t even on the radar then. But, the one
book that he seemed particularly jazzed about was what’s now called Terminal. If he told me that title, I’ve
forgotten it – I just knew it as a book he was doing with Robert Kirkman, Andy
Kubert, David Finch, and Arthur Adams that he told me was meant to be
“Kirkman’s X-Men,” a line that he’s said in promotion of the title. Beyond
talking about how blown away he was to be working with that lineup of artists
and how much they’d already gotten in the can to ensure a monthly schedule, he
didn’t give me any real details. I was left anticipating this book that,
knowing Kirkman, could arrive at any time. (Actually, when there was that
secret Marvel promo for retailers for a new Moon Knight series, I emailed Casey
to ask if that was really going to be the surprise release of this title since
Kirkman had done that before.)
When Terminal
was announced, it was both a confirmation of what I was expecting and mostly
new information for me. I knew the broad details of the creative team and the
general tone/feeling that the book was going for and that’s it. Even the
promotion for the book didn’t give much more than I already knew. If details
were slim, the focus was basically “A new Robert Kirkman superhero comic drawn
by Andy Kubert, David Finch, and Art fucking Adams! (Oh, and Joe Casey is
there, too...),” which makes sense. What stood out for me was the reveal that
this would follow in the footsteps of numerous Skybound releases with the first
issue coming in a blind bag option and even Casey was hyping that aspect up.
His mentioning the blind bags as being something really cool and new made me
take notice. I didn’t quite expect what they wound up doing even though maybe I
should have knowing how many years have gone into prepping this book already...
Blind bags, for those unaware (and I mostly
was), is a format where the comic you’re buying comes in a sealed plastic or
foil bag. Initially, it was mostly marketed as a way to get a random chance for
a variant cover, some of which could be exceedingly rare, including even
one-of-one sketch covers. Skybound added a wrinkle to this by introducing two
other options: a copy of the title’s second issue instead of the first, and an
issue from an entirely different comic series. Personally, I didn’t quite see
the appeal of those options as it struck me as a bit of bait and switch, but
they proved quite popular and, generally, Skybound’s blind bags are a huge
success. The chance to get rare variant covers or other rare comics has lead to
high sales and sell outs.
For Terminal,
Skybound took advantage of the long lead time and trio of artists to not just
make the second issue an option, but also the seventh and tenth issues. This
meant that a Terminal #1 blind bag
could contain a copy of any of those four issues (though most likely it was the
first issue in some cover). The seventh and tenth issues were chosen to give a
look at David Finch and Arthur Adams’ art on the book (I initially thought it
was each’s first issue on the title, but the text piece in issue 10 explains
that it’s actually Adams’s second issue and the first was too revealing to
include), and that struck me as a clever way to hype up the artists involved.
It feeds into what Kirkman’s said about the book harkening back to the ‘90s
X-Men comics and his general effort to recapture the feeling of those titles.
That was a time of art-first, writing-a-distant-second superhero comics; making
a big effort to put the art first here, at least in terms of promotion, fits.
Conceptually, I really like the idea behind
releasing these future issues this way. I’m not sure that I would have loved
opening my blind bag for the first issue of the series and finding a copy of
the tenth, and, then, hoping my shop still had a copy of the first issue for me
to buy. Since I didn’t do that, it doesn’t bother me. On the release day of Terminal #1, I took a quick look on
eBay, found an auction selling a set of issues 2, 7, and 10 for a price that
seemed to match how much it cost to buy issues 7 and 10 by themselves, and
placed the order, picking up a regular non-blind bag copy of the first issue at
my local shop. The price of impatience, am I right?
As an idea, the ability to have copies of
the first two, seventh, and tenth issues of the series in hand reminds me of
buying up random issues from series from longboxes at comic shops and flea
markets. It’s probably a lot less common these days with the availability of
comics via collections or on publishers’ digital platforms, but it was
certainly something I did quite a bit of during the early ‘90s, the exact
period that Kirkman references as his main influence. You’d get these issues,
read them, and infer the details you missed in the ones you didn’t have. The
only difference is that, instead of these being comics from the past, we’re
getting that experience for comics from the future.
It also brings to mind the brief concept of
the flash-forward month, something that some Image titles did where, for a
month, a bunch of books released an issue a year(?) in the future. So, if a
title was currently on issue 12, they released issue 24 as if it were literally
that comic somehow sent back in time. No big explanations of what happened in
the missing year, just the issue with readers left to marvel at some changes or
try to keep up. Then, the books returned to their regular time period and issue
numbering, slowly making their way to that future with the creators hoping that
they could make good comics that would eventually match up with that future
issue. While I don’t know how many issues of Terminal are done (in whatever stages), I know that issues 3-6 and
8-9 are done, so what we get here are not so much teases that the creators hope
they can make work, but ‘back issues’ plucked out and given to us early. As far
as gimmicks go, it kinda works for me.
As for the comics themselves, the broad
concept of the series is still somewhat mysterious, even after reading all four
issues. This is where you can really see the influence of the ‘90s X-Men titles
on Kirkman and company; those comics always operated on a two-level style of
storytelling where immediate plots for issues would get resolved while there
were always background mysteries to keep readers engaged and wanting more. Now,
where the X-Men comics of that time went wrong is that mysteries were introduced
with no solution in mind. Characters would allude to past connections or
allegiances, and the creative team would have no idea what that was about.
Shadowy figures would be pulling the strings of the bad guys the heroes
defeated that issue and there would be no plans for who that mastermind
actually was. After a while, the lack of payoff for the various mysteries would
slowly erode at the readership for the titles as more and more readers realised
that there would be no satisfying reveals. In many cases, it wasn’t only that
there was no solution in mind, the goal was to keep teasing out the mystery for
as long as possible – sometimes never giving a proper conclusion. If that’s the
case here remains to be seen – and I hope it is not.
The central mystery at the heart of Terminal is also its concept. In the
first issue (and not really expanded upon on in the others) sets up two
opposing forces of superhumans engaging in a secret war, each at the behest of
some otherworldly creature that bestows on them their powers. If this reads
very much like an variation on the concept of the X-titles, that’s the other
way that Terminal clearly takes its
influence from those comics. It reads very much like another variation on the
broad idea in the same way that WildC.A.T.S.
and Cyberforce were when Image
launched. That’s the sort of unsaid element of this comic: while Kirkman
explicitly mentions the X-Men comics of the ‘90s, Terminal seems like it’s meant to sit alongside the Image founder
titles of that period. Almost like Kirkman thought about how, if he were part
of that group (and, in a way he is, having been given founder status), what
sort of superhero comic would he have done. In a way, that makes the ‘why’ at
the heart of the conflict left mysterious works; as the basic framework of the
series is familiar, the full explanation for why each side is doing what it is
doing isn’t essential. More than that, there are enough hints planted that it’s
not a simple good versus bad conflict, to make the ‘why’ of it all more
tantalizing.
The first issue seemingly sets up
‘Activators’ as the protagonists against ‘The Awoken’ as antagonists (those
names are only used in the cast lists on the inside cover credit page, not in
the comics themselves yet) with familiar indications of good/bad for each side.
Both sides have code names and powers, but the Activators look more
superhero-ish, while the Awoken all have red eyes, a willingness to kill, and
the general disposition of villains. Yet, the first issue ends with a character
from outside the binary relationship, Tyler (a Cable-esque character),
suggesting that the ‘good’ of the Activators isn’t all it seems and, as the
issues progress, one of the members of that group, Crusher, is increasingly
disenchanted. Part of that has to do with our perspective character from the
first issue, her sister Marilyn, who both sides try to recruit/claim until
Crusher is able to take her sister to her group’s island where he meets the
entire group, including the power source, a giant eyeball called Maculox. Speaking
in Casey’s trademark ‘cosmic’ speech, Maculox activates the inner innate power
in people, but that activation is either a blessing or a curse. In the case of
Marilyn, it’s a curse that leaves her dead, her body torn apart by the process,
and it begins Crusher’s questioning of exactly what her side’s doing.
The setup is familiar and the cast of
characters all falling within existing tropes. The ensuing issues don’t offer
up too many new details while progressing the stories. Issue 2 mostly deals
with the fallout of Marilyn’s death and a the next mission for the Activators
that puts them in direct conflict with the Awoken, the issue ending with the
reveal of the Awoken’s version of Maculox, a giant floating heart that they
call the Obelisk. Issue 7 picks up after the first storyarc has ended,
seemingly with the recruiting and activation of a new member of the team, a new
Blaster to replace the one that died at the beginning of the first issue, with
most of the issue focused on his integration into the team along with Crusher’s
continuing concerns, and ending with a completely mysterious scene involving
two new groups, Mapmakers (who map the unknown) and an unnamed group
represented by a trio in cloaks and beak-like masks that recall plague doctors
who need information to begin fighting back against unseen threats (the
Activators and Awoken?). Finally, issue 10 is a standalone issue focused on
twin sisters hunting a creature that turns out to be Goblin of the Awoken and
we get a bit of insight into her past. Only issue seven has explicitly censored
text, otherwise these appear to be unaltered peeks into the future.
What’s interesting is how revealing they
are in some specific details but also manage to keep the core mystery of the
series intact. More than that, there’s no suggestion that we actually learn the
‘why’ of the conflict about both sides in the missing issues. The two biggest
clues to that are Tyler, who shows up at the end of the first issue, and the
Mapmakers/‘plague doctors’ at the end of issue seven, but neither of those
provide much detail. Tyler shows up in issues two and seven, fighting against
armoured teams of some kind, with little context added. In the second issue, he
calls the group he defeats ‘Annihilators’ (another A-name) and, in the seventh,
it’s a motorcycle chase from flying armoured attackers that actually seem
cybernetic in nature and he reveals he has no idea about – all while he’s
watched by a woman who appears on the covers of the first and seventh issues
(called Slasher in Kirkman’s text piece for issue seven), who mentions that he
already has enough to deal with without her jumping in. All of this suggests a
much bigger picture than the simple ‘good guy mutant team’ fighting against
‘bad guy mutant team’ trying to recruit newbies to each side. Even if you look
at the interconnecting covers to the first issue by Andy Kubert, these characters
and some we haven’t seen yet appear. This is what gives me hope that these
mysteries are actually well thought-through and will have actual payoffs.
While I’m inclined to focus on the
story/writing of comics, the focus in Terminal
is decidedly on the art – particularly in this release method. The issues
picked to add into the blind bags weren’t random choices, they’re meant to give
a look at the full art team for Terminal
by both showing off an issue each line artist did but also by providing some
behind-the-scenes glimpses into their contributions overall. The three artists
on this series aren’t exactly accidental choices. Sure, there’s the element of
availability/willingness to work on this title – and Kirkman highlights their
connection to the X-titles – but I see them as revolving around the idea of
those early ‘90s X-Men comics and the Image launch titles. The main five
creatives of Terminal all connect to
that period and the Image founders in their own ways. Kirkman is the
retroactive founder; Casey has a similar love for the period as Kirkman as a
reader and has worked with pretty much every founder in some way, detailing his
experiences at Image in text pieces in the back of the singles of New Lieutenants of Metal, his creator-owned
work has almost all been exclusively at Image, and Blood Squad Seven is basically a love letter to the shared Image
universe idea; Andy Kubert is one of the main artists of X-Men in the ‘90s and is the successor on that title to Jim Lee;
David Finch is one of the big next generation of Top Cow artists coming up
under Marc Silvestri (second only to Michael Turner, arguably) with a run on Ultimate X-Men under his belt; and Arthur
Adams did various X-work in the ‘80s and is generally regarded as a big influence
on various Image founders. Everything about this book is centred around that
period and twin pillars of X-Men comics and the Image founders (most of whom
worked on X-titles).
The bonus features in the advance copy
issues all feature design work by each artist, showcasing how collaborative the
title is. The reveal that Goblin and Phantasm of the Awoken were designed by
Adams, for instance, makes total sense when you think about their looks – but
both characters show up in the first issue. If you look closely, you can see
that the designs were done by Adams in 2021 (there are no dates on the designs
or penciled pages by Kubert and Finch), a little detail left in to tell us how
long this book has been in the works. The mixture of designs from each artist
gives the book a visually more diverse look akin to something like the X-Men
comics where characters designed by dozens of artists all share the same pages.
It also dispels the idea of that, maybe, Kubert is the ‘main’ artist with Finch
and Adams doing fill-ins; this is very much a comic that comes from the
sensibilities of all five of its main creators. In the writing, I know I can’t
really spot where Kirkman ends and Casey begins (aside from Maculox – his
dialogue is all Casey). For the characters, both their natures and their looks,
there’s a sense of wanting the same thing. It’s cool to see a collective
sensibility being put forward like that.
At the same time, the sensibility of each
of the three artists is quite different. There’s no mistaking Kubert for Finch
for Adams. Setting their issues beside one another gives off a pretty stark
change in visual tone. Kubert is the most ‘superhero’ artist of the bunch,
delivering dynamic layouts and figures even when they’re standing around. He’s
all kinetic movement and high drama that excites. Finch, on the other hand,
only gives the Tyler action sequence; otherwise, it’s all low key character
scenes that are heavy in mood. He’s dramatic in a different way, more strong
emotions that seep from the characters than shout out like Kubert. It’s almost
the difference between an introvert and an extrovert, which sit alongside one
another a little awkwardly when it’s the same characters. Adams is Adams.
Impeccable line work that’s strong and forceful, delivering a mix of action and
emotion. He’s the most ‘cartoony’ of the bunch in sensibilities creating a
different sort of emotional drama that sits between the other two. Given the
jumps between each artist’s respective issues, it’s hard to completely gauge
how they’ll all sit next to one another in monthly singles. What I’m really
curious about is if we’ll ever get a jam issue featuring all three as that
seems like the logical thing to do – and how well that will work as a cohesive
whole.
As a gimmick, putting future issues in the
hands of readers is definitely new – and what makes it really work is that it’s
not done for the sake of it. Giving readers a look into the full creative team
along with behind the scenes details that both reinforce just how much of a
group effort it is and how long this book has been coming (making all
statements of longterm plans more plausible) is a strong selling point to
showcase what Terminal actually is.
It’s definitely a comic steeped in nostalgia for a certain time and place in
superhero comicbooks with every element of the title meant to recapture that
period from the creative team to the basic concept to the way the story is
told. And it does that well. This is book unapologetically meant to sit alongside/evoke
‘90s X-Men and Image founders comics... and it does that well without feeling
like a complete throwback. Unlike those titles, it looks to be done with more
planning and purpose, at least five years in the making. I mean, I was already
in since Joe Casey is co-writing, but the balance of character work, action,
and teasing out the broader world has caught my interest. I guess the gimmick
worked.
[As issues 2, 7, and 10 come out in real time, I may do pieces on them
comparing them to the blind bag copies to see if there are more changes than
the couple of bits of text censored in issue 7.]
