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"Amahiri"
Terminator #4
NOW Comics
Written by Jack Herman
Illustrated by Thomas Tenney
Inked by Jim Brozman
Cover by Ken Call
December 1988 |
Skynet has a plan to cut down the oxygen supply on Earth by
eradicating the Amazon rainforest.
Story Summary
Skynet develops a plan to cut down the oxygen supply on
Earth by eradicating the Amazon rainforest. As part of this
plan, it sends an HK piloted by a Terminator to the
rainforest. The HK is spotted by Shaki, Kao, and Dawa, three
young members of the
primitive Yanomami people of the region, who follow it, to
witness the Terminator pilot making a clearing in the jungle
with a machete. When the Terminator sets the machete down to
perform other tasks, Shaki tries to steal it, but is spotted
by the Terminator, who tries to shoot all three men. They
all just manage to escape through the thick jungle.
The three are not believed when they tell their tale back at
their village. The village commences its feast that night in
honor of the guests from a rival tribe with whom they hope
to make peace. But the Terminator arrives in the village and
kills many of the inhabitants and guests, burning its huts
to the ground. Shaki and Kao escape again, but are
pursued. Before long, they are cut off by the relentless
machine.
CONTINUED IN TERMINATOR #5
Didja Know?
The title of this issue is borrowed from the name of the
Ama̧hiri-teri village of the mythology of the Yanomami
people of the Amazon rainforest.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue
Teke (Yanomami shaman)
Skynet
Kao
Shaki
Dawa
Didja Notice?
The Yanomami are described fairly accurately in this issue.
They are known as the Fierce People and the mythological
references made by the shaman here match their actual
mythology handed down for generations-upon-generations.
On page 2, the shaman says that it is not known what the
topmost layer of the cosmos, duku ka misi, exists
for. But in established
Yanomami culture, duku ka misi is said to be where everything in
the cosmos originated, now lying fallow.
Page 2 introduces Halo KH-1300, formerly a spy satellite of
the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, codenamed Hi-Tom, now
controlled by Skynet. The
Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), is one of the major
intelligence agencies of the United States government.
On page 3, the Hi-Tom satellite sends data to a tracking
station in Peru. This is probably the Lima, Peru station of
NASA's Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network.
Page 3 states that the South American rainforests around the
Amazon River basin create the majority of Earth's oxygen and
for this reason, Skynet has targeted the Amazon rainforest for
destruction to deprive humanity of much of its needed
oxygen. While it's true that the Amazon rainforest is the
largest single source of oxygen, the rest of the plant life
on Earth (including plankton in the oceans) together
produces much more oxygen, so destroying the rainforest
would have a relatively small effect on breathing
conditions.
In Kao's flashback image in panel 3 of page 6, what appear
to be the Holy Bible and a
National Geographic magazine are seen. They seem to
be illustrative of Kao's statement that their grandfathers
were visited by strange people with strange tools, some of
whom "wanted to live like us" (from
National Geographic) and others who "wanted
to make us live like them" (Christian missionaries).
Kao and Shaki's father is disbelieving of the boys' tale (of
an HK and Terminator) and asks if they have been sniffing
ebene powder. Ebene is an extract from the beans of
Anadenanthera peregrina, a tree native to South America
and the Caribbean, usually used for healing rituals by
native tribes. It is known to be hallucinogenic.
Kao and Shaki's father says it is vital that their village
of Serigama-teri have peace with the village of Tukini-teri.
As far as I can tell, these are both fictitious villages of
the Yanomami.
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