Summary
- Dynamite Entertainment has announced its intention to reprint classic Terminator comics, following their acquisition of the publishing rights, as part of a wider celebration of the franchise's 40th anniversary.
- Though many fans might not realize it, comics have been crucial to Terminator lore, at times bridging the gaps between films, while also highlighting hidden stories and characters, and giving readers things they could never have gotten from the franchise on screen, even from its most ambitious filmmakers.
- Comic books offer unlimited narrative possibilities for Terminator stories, making it the perfect medium for the franchise – and making it exciting that Dynamite plans to bring many of the most iconic Terminator comics to a new generation of readers.
The Terminator franchise is set to return to comics, as many of its classic comic stories will receive a well-deserved reprint, courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment. James Cameron's sci-fi action-horror film arrived in theaters forty years ago, delivering a cinematic masterpiece that has gone on to have a sprawling legacy, spanning every medium of pop culture.
In epic Terminator comic stories were produced, and now fans will have access to many of them for the first time in a long time.
More details are set to be revealed when the BackerFit campaign officially starts, though the buzz among Terminator fans began immediately, and will only continue to grow more excited as Dynamite's project becomes a reality.
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While the exact scope of Dynamite's effort to return classic Terminator comics to print remains to be determined, it is an exciting development that serves as a perfect celebration of the franchise's four-decade milestone.
Dynamite Entertainment Will Return Classic Terminator Comics To Print
Via The Beat, Dynamite released the first details of their thrilling new Terminator imprint, starting with an explanation of why republishing old Terminator comics is just as vital as producing new stories in the medium:
Central to the experience for Terminator fans away from the cinema has been the range of comic books. The 1990s were full of action-packed Terminator comics that expanded the mythos, showed fans moments of characters and whole new stories that they could never catch on the screen. Some of the most critical pieces of the lore can only be found in comic books, akin to many other beloved franchises of the era.
As Dynamite notes, Terminator comics have played an underappreciated role in the enduring success of the franchise. Even before James Cameron's equally-iconic sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released in 1990, the world of the franchise had begun to be expanded in comic books. Now, Dynamite seeks to highlight these important pop culture artifacts, allowing a new generation of readers to engage with them.
While the exact scope of Dynamite's effort to return classic Terminator comics to print remains to be determined, it is an exciting development that serves as a perfect celebration of the franchise's four-decade milestone. The Beat also quoted Dynamite CEO Nick Barrucci as stating that the company's plans for Terminator include "bringing both new stories and collecting the library of existing comics" to readers in the near future. This adds an entire extra dimension of anticipation to the announcement, as it seems the future and the past of the time-travel series hold exciting things in store.
Comic books have long served as a medium in which the full potential of the Terminator franchise could be explored in detail...Much of that potential has already been fulfilled – by stories that Dynamite will help find a new audience.
Comics Are The Perfect Medium For The Terminator Franchise
As Dynamite Entertainment pointed out, comic books have long served as a medium in which the full potential of the Terminator franchise could be explored in detail not afforded by film, or even television. As spectacular as Terminator movies have been over the years, comics offer truly unlimited narrative opportunities. From going on an interstellar conquest, much of that potential has already been fulfilled – by stories that Dynamite will help find a new audience – while there is still so much more to be done with Terminator comics.
Dynamite previously held publishing rights to Terminator from 2007 to 2011; Terminator comics have also been put out by IDW, and even briefly by Marvel, as well as smaller companies, including Malibu Comics and and NOW Comics. However, by far the most prolific publisher of Terminator comic books was Dark Horse Comics, who produced content for the franchise from 1990 through 2019, resulting in the most memorable use of the medium to tell Terminator stories.
Source: The Beat; BackerFit (Dynamite)
