For the Adherent of Pop Culture
Adventures of Jack Burton ] Back to the Future ] Battlestar Galactica ] Buckaroo Banzai ] Cliffhangers! ] Earth 2 ] The Expendables ] Firefly/Serenity ] The Fly ] Galaxy Quest ] Indiana Jones ] Jurassic Park ] Land of the Lost ] Lost in Space ] The Matrix ] The Mummy/The Scorpion King ] The Prisoner ] Sapphire & Steel ] Snake Plissken Chronicles ] Star Trek ] Terminator ] The Thing ] Total Recall ] Tron ] Twin Peaks ] UFO ] V the series ] Valley of the Dinosaurs ] Waterworld ] PopApostle Home ] Links ] Privacy ]

Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138
at popapostle-dot-com
Robocop versus the Terminator (Part 1) "Robocop versus the Terminator" Part 1
Robocop versus the Terminator #1
Dark Horse
Story: Frank Miller
Art: Walt Simonson
Letters: John Workman
Colors: Rachelle Menashe
Cover: Walt Simonson
1992

 

Following John Connor's directive, Resistance soldier Flo Langer travels back in time to kill the human mind merged with software that is responsible for giving Skynet consciousness...RoboCop!

 

Read the complete issue summary at the Terminator Wiki

 

Notes from the Terminator chronology

 

This story takes place in an unidentified future year some time after the first RoboCop film, in an alternate universe from that seen in either the main RoboCop or Terminator franchises.

 

Didja Know?

 

Robocop versus the Terminator was a 4-issue mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics in 1992. A 1994 video game of the same name for the Sega and Nintendo gaming systems was loosely based on this mini-series.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue

 

Flo Langer

John Connor (mentioned only)

Alex Murphy/Robocop

Skynet (mentioned only)

Ellen Murphy

John

Mary (mentioned only)

Dr. Marie Lazarus

Nikko Halloran 

 

Didja Notice?

 

The first page of each issue of this 4-issue series shows only a large number (1-4) plus sound effects, perhaps meant to suggest each "round" of the fight of Robocop versus Terminator.

Round 1

Page 3 introduces some tripodal Hunter-Killer walkers not previously seen in the Terminator universe.

tripodal HK

 

On page 5, Flo Langer has a cybernetic interface helmet on her head and she seems to be sifting through Skynet's database to see how Skynet was created, finding a human mind merged with software, Alex Murphy. It seems that Flo is inside a Skynet facility, but why would a facility belonging to Skynet have a cybernetic interface helmet built into it that a human could use?

 

In this mini-series, it was the Robocop program, and the merging of the human mind of Alex Murphy with software to form the cyborg entity Robocop that led to the creation of Skynet. In Flo Langer's words, "...his mind held the secret that made the junk conscious..."

 

The gigantic HK that shoves its hand through the wall in an attempt to capture Flo is similar to the Harvester HK that later appeared in Salvation.
big HK Harvester

 

On page 7, Flo removes her clothing as she flees through the facility so she can make the jump through time in the time displacement chamber (only living tissue can be transported through the TD field). But later installments of the Terminator series have shown that the time displacement process will strip the clothing, etc. off a person without them having to remove it.

 

The narration on page 7 implies that Skynet had almost won the war against humanity at this point, with Flo being the last soldier to survive. Her journey through time on this page resets the possibilities.

 

The design of the gun the taxi driver pulls on Flo after her arrival in the "present" on page 10 suggests that it is sometime in the "future" from when this issue was published in 1992.

taxi driver pistol

 

On page 10, Flo realizes she has arrived in the past, in the city of Detroit, as intended. The 1987 film RoboCop takes place in Detroit at an unidentified time in the "near future".

 

Flo identifies Alex Murphy as living in the Detroit suburb of Livonia.

 

On page 12, a man named John tries to entice Ellen Murphy to dinner at a Greek family restaurant in Cadillac Heights. Cadillac Heights is an actual neighborhood in Detroit.

 

On page 14, Flo has a confrontation with what appears to be an ED-209 law enforcement unit (seen in the RoboCop film, as well as RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3).

 

On page 16, a cop at RoboCop's police station clocks off duty and tells his cohort he's got tickets to watch the Spartans that night. "Spartans" is the name used by the sports teams of Michigan State University.

 

Dr. Marie Lazarus appears for the first time here, as the primary technician for RoboCop. Also appearing for the first time is the young hacker, Nikko Halloran. Both later appear in the 1993 film RoboCop 3.

 

Page 18 takes the reader to Cass Corridor. This is an actual neighborhood of historical significance in Detroit.

 

What appear to be HK tanks are seen on page 27.

 

Page 28 takes the reader to the Palace at Auburn Hills. A basketball game is taking place there at the time, probably meant to be an NBA game of the Detroit Pistons, who played there at the time.

 

The gun wielded by the Terminator on page 29 appears to be an Uzi.

 

RoboCop appears to be wielding his usual Auto 9 machine pistol on page 31. This is a fictitious gun, used by RoboCop in all of his film appearances.

 

Back to Terminator Episode Studies