Three issues in, and I’m still not attached to anyone. Is the mystery enough? I just read Terminal #3, out September 23, from Robert Kirkman and Joe Casey. It picks up the fight left hanging in issue #2, after the cutscene opening that issue #1 already trained you to expect.
Writers: Robert Kirkman and Joe Casey
Artist: Andy Kubert
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Publisher: Image
On-sale: September 23, 2026
What is Robert Kirkman’s new superhero series?
Terminal, from Image. Robert Kirkman and Joe Casey are writing it, Andy Kubert is drawing these first three, and Dave McCaig is coloring. David Finch is on the Cover Bs and starts interiors at #7. Arthur Adams is on interiors at #6. It is Kirkman’s first superhero series since Invincible. I covered the launch in Terminal #1 and the second issue in Terminal #2.
Is the Terminal comic good after three issues?
Good enough that I’m still in. The mystery is why, and the team is why I bought it. Three issues in, I’m not attached to anyone yet. That is the part that isn’t working. I talked through the three issues here.
The Setup
The issue opens on a man crawling into a cave and falling leading to what reads as the origin of the giant-heart, the same way the eyeball origin from Theed sits on the other. Then the book drops you back into the fight.
Neither side is settled for me. One still looks like the good guys, with a question mark on it. The other still looks like the bad guys, also with a question mark, and they seem devoted to a higher cause (perhaps more so). The actual point of the mission stays vague. There may be bad intel on either side, and the intentions remain unclear. Crusher, Alessandra Howell, is teetering on whether her side is even the “right” one.
Tyler is still working the edges. He has more footage, and he seems to want Crusher to defect. To what end, I can’t tell. Things point at Maculox, the eyeball, manipulating individual people on the good side, in a not so “good side” kinda way. Theed, on the Liberator side, has a scene with that eyeball he calls communion. The tech guy they were trying to keep from being assassinated, Benjamin Wright, is talking to the Risen Knights of the Coming Dawn. There is no real context for these zealots yet. They say they have their own Ten Commandments and their own periodic table. I can only guess this is a business deal that will not be good for the general public.
Someone dies. I’m not saying who. Issue #1 had two deaths, one of them a real surprise, and this is another. Clearly not afraid to take the Game of Thrones style swings in that department. We’re averaging about one (semi major death) an issue, which feels like a lot for a book this young. There is also a shock ending that ties back to the first issue. I’m leaving that alone too.
Why Did the Sides Change Names?
In #1 and #2 the inside cover called them Activators and The Awoken. Activators were Crusher, Blaster, Breaker, Thrasher, and Racer. The Awoken were Phantasm, Imp, Minotaur, Siren, and Goblin. On the #3 inside cover those names are gone. It says Liberators and Oppressors. I don’t know yet if that is a rename, a reveal, additional names, or the book telling you the first labels were wrong. However, it feels like it belongs with the rest of the mystery, not as a throwaway caption change.
Highlights
You get a clearer look at the powers. Siren, who sounds like her power should be voice or sound, moves earth. Racer is running. Breaker is losing more of the outer nano-skin. He calls his real skin near invulnerable and you get to see a lot more of what is underneath. Minotaur and Thrasher go at it, and then Minotaur goes at Breaker with Imp in that fight. Phantasm may be able to teleport. Imp asks how the Liberators got there first when the other side has the Phantasmal Express (I think he means Phantasm’s teleportation). Goblin fights, playing a significant role. I’m not sure that we learned any new abilities from her. She seems like the oppressors version of Thrasher in a way – animalistic/primal.
The fights have that ’90s feel: trash talk, a few lines that are almost dumb, big mashups. Andy Kubert is still on the art, and I’m still cool with it. The panels are good. I’m waiting on David Finch for the interiors, and I like his work enough that the wait is part of why I’m staying. Cover B, the Oppressors, is his.
Kirkman and Casey still feel like the right mashup, and I have confidence in that team long term. What I miss from Kirkman’s Invincible books is the humor. There isn’t much of it here, and what there is plays like bad ’90s humor. It isn’t really funny. This isn’t supposed to be a comedy, so that is fine. What the book is good at is the intrigue: what the two sides are actually doing, what people can do, what Tyler’s role is, and how the surprise panels tie together.
I enjoy the old school letter column at the end of the issue, an Image habit. Here Kirkman tells you to wait for issue #4, that it is a wild one. A lot of responses in this section are enough to hook and almost enough to call a real hint at what’s to come – don’t skip it.
Final Verdict
I’m still in because of the mystery, and because I trust this team enough to buy it and hang on. The art is already good, and that is with Finch still ahead of us.
The limit is the characters. Three issues in, I don’t feel attached to any of them. One of the deaths worked well – with one of the few characters that felt like I might could get attached to (maybe I still will?). The other two feel too early or perhaps three without more attachment is the part that is too much. It feels a little closer to shallow shock than a well earned twist you didn’t see coming at this point. I’m not turned off yet, I’m just surprised I’m not further in on anyone yet – that is the criticism. The mystery is what is keeping me here until that changes.
Previous issues: Terminal #1 and Terminal #2.
Are you attached to anyone yet, or is it the mystery for you too? Tag me on X @NostalgicNestEg.
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