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I finally got around to reading Terminal #1, and I honestly should have gotten to this one sooner. There's a very specific feeling I get from this book that takes me back to discovering superhero comics in the 1990s. It doesn't feel like another series trying to follow the same formula. Instead, it feels like the beginning of a universe where I haven't figured out all the rules yet. 

The creative team alone caught my attention. Joe Casey and Robert Kirkman are writing, Andy Kubert handles the artwork, Dave McCaig is on colors, and Rus Wooton provides the lettering. That's a hell of a lineup for a new superhero series, and Kubert's artwork immediately gives the book a personality of its own. 

One of my favorite things about older superhero comics was finding the weird or forgotten books that didn't get talked about nearly as much as the big name titles. Strikeforce: Morituri, DNAgents, The Twelve, and even something like the Craptacular B-Sides come to mind. Terminal gave me some of that same feeling. I'm not saying it is copying any of those books, but it brought back that excitement of discovering something unfamiliar and wondering how much bigger the world is going to become. 

The opening also reminded me of The Terminator. You're thrown into a situation that is already going badly, and you're left to figure out the details as the story moves along. There isn't a giant explanation of every character and faction right away. Instead, the action gives you pieces of the puzzle while Marilyn Howe's search for her missing sister slowly becomes the part of the story that pulls everything together. 

I really liked that approach. Marilyn gives the reader someone to follow while all this strange stuff is happening around her. Her investigation leads into a much larger world of people with extraordinary abilities, conflicting agendas, and some pretty brutal consequences. 

Kubert's artwork is a major reason the book works. The action has weight to it, and McCaig's colors add plenty of atmosphere without drowning out the linework. Wooton's lettering fits right into the package and keeps the pages moving. 

Not every concept here felt completely unfamiliar to me, but I don't think a comic needs to reinvent superheroes from the ground up to be entertaining. Terminal #1 takes some familiar ingredients and puts them together in a way that made me curious about the next issue. 

By the time I finished it, I was left with plenty of questions, which is a good thing for a first issue. I want to know more about this world, the people involved, and where Marilyn's search is going to take her. 

Terminal #1 feels like the kind of comic that could become much more interesting as the mythology expands and I feel is a title that will be well worth the time spent reading it to keep up with and see where it goes. 

–Scott Schlazer