Though the script a little too reflective in tone when dealing with the cold, robotic title character, I remain impressed with the creators' inventive addition to the Terminator legend. I'm also pleased to see that a brief bit of text in the inside front cover makes for an accessible issue as well. The art tells the story clearly, and the investment in coloring guru Paul Mounts really pays off here. Though a bit pricy, Before the Rise offers a better story than Arnold Schwarzenegger and the T3 crew do in cinemas at the moment.
Jonah is a member of the resistance, and his skill with computers is unequalled. As a result, the tedious and complicated task of reprogramming the captured Terminator cyborg, turning it into a bodyguard to be sent into the past, has fallen to him. Unfortunately, he is distracted from his mission. His wife lies comatose in an infirmary, and the skulls of friends grow in number at the bottom of the Venice waterway that's become the Resistance's new burial ground.
Paul Mounts's bring an eerie energy to the book with the colors, especially in those scenes he bathes in reds to reflect the Terminator's point of view. His work stands out as the strongest visual element in the book. Parlov's simple style -- which reminds me of the style of Ron (Uncanny X-Men) Garney -- is straightforward and boasts an appropriately stark quality, and he manages to convey the notion that Jonah is something of a broken man. The backgrounds are unfortunately lacking throughout the book, though.
Brandon's script depicts the Terminator's reprogramming as something of a psychological experience rather than a binary one. It brings an oddly reflective and even philosophical tone to the character, and I don't know that it works for me. The Terminator is always described as cold and caluclating, and this element of emotion -- while consistent with some of the movies that inspired this story -- doesn't sit that well with me.
Terminator 3 was a decent enough action movie, but it lacked the newness that set the first two films apart. T3 followed the T2 formula pretty closely, but Brandon proves here that there are new and different angles from which writers can approach the world of the Terminators. I just hope that the filmmakers pay attention to the potential being mined here when they plan the inevitable Terminator 4 flick.
