Oh, hey, this book!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Wood
Art: Jeff Stokley
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
What They Say:
The price for protection from the T-800 is to betray the uniform and destroy key evidence in a case against local crime boss Papa Oso. Were it just her, Officer Lucy Castro would never give in, but she’s fighting for two now and is determined to make it through to dawn.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It continues to baffle me just how many books ended up being delayed from the end of last year until recently, with a lot of series from a few publishers, Dark Horse included, that missed out on December and January for a monthly release. Terminator: Sector War is a book I forgot about entirely as the second issue came out at the end of September 2018, which is way too long and really unfortunate because it has some good energy behind it. It’s the kind of series that will read better in trade and delays like this reinforces the whole wait for trade mentality that a lot of people adopt when it comes to miniseries. Brian Wood is definitely having fun with this story and I’m loving Jeff Stokley’s artwork, but it was definitely a challenge at first to even remember the basics of this storyline.
Lucy’s struggles with the Terminator are really making things intense as she’s now trying to align, against all odds, with Papa Oso in order to survive. But it’s not just her survival that she’s angling for as she’s doing what she can to save the city before the morning comes and everyone becomes a much bigger target for this bizarre monstrosity chasing her. Oso is at least making a deal that works in both their favors, if he can pull it off with the arsenal that he has, but she knows what she’s sacrificing for it. This is an end of career kind of favor to destroy evidence from a massive crime and one that she’s willing to do, having faced the Terminator for a couple of hours now it seems. Oso’s totally on board since he gets to cause more trouble and fun with something unusual and get away with his bigger carnage at the same time.
Of course, the Terminator doesn’t get dealt with that easily as what they’re throwing at it isn’t exactly capable of getting through its shell. The progress it makes is fun to watch as it gets a handle on what’s going on and confronting Lucy after she attempts to blow it up. What’s very welcome is that it does reveal to her why it’s after her, to stop her daughter from being born that works with Connor in the future, and that ups the ante. Lucy’s fought well so far and survived but something like this, which is hard to believe if not coming from an oversized killing machine like this, gives her something extra in terms of motivation. She doesn’t really change in who she is here but there’s a kind of quiet certainty that hits quickly as she begins her drive forward into the final issue.
In Summary:
I like Terminator: Sector War. I don’t like the five-month gap between issues. That makes for a harder book to enjoy for reasons covered above. Looking at just the story itself, it’s a solid installment that sets up for the finale in a good way and Brian Wood has handled working smaller series well so that I can believe that it’ll wrap up in a solid way. The real draw at the moment is what Jeff Stokley brings to the table as I really like his character designs and the flow of the book as it hits a real sweet spot, from the oversized aspect of Oso to the kinds of expressions that Lucy has. The Terminator is a weak spot when it finally sheds its clothes and skin, but before that it had a really neat sense of power and decay about it that clicked well. I’m looking forward to the finale and hope that it finds an audience in trade form.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 20th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
