CGC Registry

terminatorlogoNOW


Set Type: Terminator: The Burning Earth (1990) Now Comics
Owner: Parabellum
Last Modified: 10/17/2022
Views: 140

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Set Description:

terminatorlogoNOW
burningearth



NOW Comics: Mar 1990-Jul 1990


The NOW Comics Terminator series wasn’t very poplar amongst not only Terminator fans but general comic readers as well. They took a completely different approach to the future war that was presented in the first movie. What I mean by “completely different” is a literal 180. Granted none of the Terminators were “good guys” that cracked jokes but they did appear to have emotions; anger, blood lust, and most of all fear? Why would a Terminator have any emotions? But, I have to give credit were credit is due, NOW did try to expand on the 2029 universe working with the only canon that was established in the 1984 film. Even though it was pretty bare bones I still to this day don’t know how they thought their idea of the future war meshed well to what we saw in the movie. It was the 80’s and from what I heard, “Cocaine’s a helluva drug”.

At this point NOW had wrapped up the 17 issue series I am sure due to poor sales and complete lack of interest save a few readers but this publisher did not give up. I believe they learned their lesson and decided to listen to the fans and create something with the feel of the first movie. So the following month after issue #17 NOW releases Terminator: The Burning Earth. Good Lord was this story amazing!!! I can’t say enough good things about it! It’s dark, gritty, dirty and the Terminators act like Terminators (99% of the time, hahaha). The cover and interior art are absolutely gorgeous. Alex Ross really knocked this one out of the park. He really captured the essence of the further war. It felt as though I was looking at story boards for a future Terminator movie. This is what salvation should have been instead we got modern Hollywood future war, epic fail.

As amazing as the art was it wouldn’t have captured me if it wasn’t for the fantastic storyline. It was completely action packed. The tension never let at up any point and you never knew who was going to be taken out next. There are some really graphic scenes that kind of make you wince as your eyes gaze upon the pages within. They introduced a couple new Terminator models which haven’t been seen before and they were actually pretty cool. The main Terminator was a little out of place but it didn’t take away from the story in my opinion. If I were asked how I would rate this comic from one to ten; ten being the highest I would have given it a solid NINE.


rsb80
Browning M2 water cooled .50 cal HMG; basis for the “General Dynamics RSB-80”


I did not read this book initially when it first came out. It was kind of under my radar as I didn’t like the initial series so I guess I really wasn’t scanning the racks for it. It wasn’t until I started reading the Dark Horse series and mentioned how much I liked it to my local comic shop owner. He had asked if I had read The Burning Earth and highly recommended it. If I remember correctly he didn’t have any copies left but my local library had a copy of the trade paperback so I read it there. Generally the library didn’t carry comics but for some reason they had it. Later in life when I started collecting again I made it a point to purchase all 5 issues. I have read this story multiple times and it never gets old for me.

Acquisition time my fellow collectors. So in 2015 I started collecting certain mini series’ in 9.8. At the time the only issue of this run with a significant presence on the census was issue #1. I could see this being the case for the fact that it is Alex Ross’ first published art and he’s kind of become a big deal since his days working for NOW. If you’re a die hard Ross fan this is probably a staple in your collection. The rest of the issues had maybe one or two graded 9.8 but issue #2 didn’t have a book higher than a 9.6. I never gave collecting this series any thought other than the raw books I had purchased years earlier. On a bright summers day I am doing one of my many daily checks on ebay and what do I see? A 9.8 copy of issue #2 and at fairly decent price!!! I put it in my cart and go check the census; yep, only one 9.8. So I slide back on over to ebay and snatch it up. Now at this point I am committed to completely this run but I had also noticed a slight uptick in available 9.8’s for the rest of the series. In due time I was going to have them all, MWAHAHA.

As per usual I take a photo of the book and send it to my brother. I always keep him abreast of my latest purchases, he is a collector himself. He sends the usual “that’s cool” response and then asks me what I would like for my birthday. Prior to this conversation I had noticed a seller had the remaining issues for sale in 9.8. “Share links” and sent that off to my generous sibling. I do not know what he paid cause he had worked out a deal, his business not mine. Thats how this set came to be. It was really off the cuff and not how I normally operate in regards to collecting but it just felt right so I went with it. What you are looking at is the first issue #2 and first graded set in 9.8.

When creating this set description I wanted to make it themed around the Terminator from the dream sequence post police station assault. This was and still is one of my favorite scenes in the first film. It really showed how bleak and possibly hopeless the war with the machines was. People living underground, filthy, starving, diseased and just mentally broken. Then they have Skynet to contend with. As I’ve stated above this story captures all those things I just mentioned. I just couldn’t think of a better way to present the comic book counter part of that amazing sequence.

t800arrives
”TERMINATOR! TERMINATOR!”; Franco Columbu “T-808” infiltrates a resistance bunker.
(Terminator 1984)
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