Dynamite’s partnership with STUDIOCANAL S.A.S. is the perfect way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Terminator. The publisher has a new comic debuting in October with Declan Shalvey at the helm and Luke Sparrow on art.
The Beat chatted with Shalvey about his entry in popular the franchise.
DEANNA DESTITO: Where does this story fit in with the Terminator timeline?
DECLAN SHALVEY: This series works within the original premise, the original film. Pretty much each issue will take place in the decades leading up to, and in some cases after, Judgement Day. Our first issue starts after the War Against The Machines began.
DESTITO: What can fans old and new get from this series?
SHALVEY: A more anchored story based on the original premise. I’m not interested in time twists or corrupting timelines or paradoxes, etc. Much like the TIME BEFORE TIME series I wrote/co-created, time travel is a tool to create drama for the characters we’ll meet in each issue. A murder machine is coming to kill you in every issue, in a certain moment in time. Much like in the original film, the question is asked, how do you fight the inevitable?
DESTITO: How has it been working with Dynamite and this creative team?
SHALVEY: It’s been great. I’m working with Nate Cosby as editor. We already have a great working relationship on ThunderCats so this is just as creatively fulfilling. I’ve been wanting to work with Luke Sparrow for a while and The Terminator has offered me a great opportunity to do so. His sense of storytelling, how he composes his pages, his attention to detail, etc., I love seeing his pages come in. It’s exciting to see Colin Craker work with him as a colorist too. I think we have a beautiful book on our hands here.
DESTITO: Will we see familiar characters?
SHALVEY: Unlikely, though not impossible. I think the Connor/Reece angle has been tapped a bit too much, so I’m more interested in new characters and new locations. That murder robot is pretty familiar, though!
DESTITO: Which is your favorite installment of the Terminator and why?
SHALVEY: T2 to me, is a masterpiece, I think it holds up better than most movies made recently. Upon getting this assignment though, I went back and rewatched the original film, removing the context of later incarnations and realized what a fruitful vein the core concept was for more stories. I have a whole new appreciation for the original now.
DESTITO: Any teasers you can share?
SHALVEY: Hmmm… There’s a lot of cool stories and situations to come but soon: APOCALYPSE THEN.
