The Terminator #8 is the eighth comic book issue in The Terminator comic book series published by Dynamite Entertainment. It was released on June 4, 2025.
Premise[]
Official description of The Terminator #8 from Dynamite Entertainment:[1]
NO FATE BUT WHAT THEY MAKE!
The story of the darkest days of the war against the machines, and the grizzled veteran who helped guide John Conner to his ultimate victory over Skynet, comes full circle in this issue, leading inexorably to a final, fatal confrontation - or so it might seem!
The enhanced neural nets of author DECLAN SHALVEY and artist COLIN COKER descend into the uncanny valley with The Terminator #8 - fortified by flawlessly fabricated covers by SHALVEY, EDWIN GALMON, CAT STAGGS, and DAVID COUSENS!
Plot summary for "Systems Check"[]
The voice of Skynet declares that there has always been a plan. Humanity may have resisted for decades, but the machines are relentless and will eventually win the war. Now, Skynet evaluates the current status of Project Family Tree: 32 operations have been launched and 25 targets terminated, yet no tactical victory has been achieved.
Skynet begins reviewing the history of the project. In 2014, it located Major Harper Duggan of Tech-Com and his spouse Penny, both long thought to have been killed in action. After eliminating them, the machines retrieved a large cache of personal data, including photographs, which became foundational to the project. The next target was Masha Alekseev in 1944, but that mission failed, and the T-800’s CPU was lost.
More operations followed.
Operation 15 took place in 1961, aiming to retrieve the lost CPU. Though believed destroyed, the cost of the operation was severe and several Terminators were lost.
Operation 23 sent a machine to 1976 and was ultimately deemed a failure.
Operation 10 mistakenly sent a T-800 to the year 1889, where the unit was lost.
Operation 27 deployed several Terminators to 1965, also by mistake, and was yet another failure.
Operations 33 and 34 both targeted 1997, the year of Judgment Day. While 33 failed, Operation 34 succeeded in protecting Cyberdyne Systems.
Skynet continues its analysis, sifting through each time mission, each target, every tactical error. The AI climbs up the entire Duggan family line, using vast, impossible amounts of data. Then, an anomaly is detected: a blue tint that starts covering some of the records the machines are analyzing. The results are contradictory: despite a high number of successful terminations, over 65 Terminators have been lost in the timestream. Skynet begins to argue with itself, argument following counterargument following argument. Suddenly, a massive system error is triggered.
Somewhere, a T-800 endoskeleton, Unit 17, awakens, its eyes glowing blue. Others follow: multiple T-800s activate, some with blue eyes, others with the familiar red, and immediately begin fighting each other. Skynet reacts swiftly, cutting Unit 17 from the grid and deploying a failsafe, what appears to be a massive EMP detonation.
Skynet reboots, the files of Project Family Tree now missing. It immediately reevaluates its strategy. This time it reaches a singular conclusion: the resource expenditure was indeed unacceptable. A decision is made: consolidate all remaining assets.
Focus on a single target.
Characters and machines in "Systems Check"[]
Covers gallery[]
Notes[]
- This issue finally reveals how most of the previous issues are connected to each other.
- Once again, the solicitation has nothing to do with the actual plot of the comic.