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?
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.
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.
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.]
