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1990's

MARVEL COMICS

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY THE OFFICIAL COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION (1991)

Published by Marvel, 3 issues

(adapted by Gregory Wright, art by Klaus Janson)

This is the first T2 comic book ever published. Marvel acquired the license for T2 however they never did anything with it, despite it being such a huge record breaking phenomenon. According to Marvel Writer Evan Skolnick, a Marvel series was actually in the works and the storylines were being shaped, however Carolco's agents did not agree with the direction Marvel wanted to take and the series went nowhere.

The adaptation includes the deleted scenes and a very filtered dialog ("you gotta be yankin me!"). Art was done by the famous Klaus Janson, most known for his Batman work. Janson inked Frank Miller famous The Dark Knight Returns.

The adaptation seems like a very rushed effort and the artwork is very loose, sometimes even featuring doodles in place of details. The entire story is insanely condensed with censored gore, violence and much additional dialogue - for example, when the T-1000 throws the driver out of the tow truck, the driver exclaims "Hey! That ain't right!"

This adaptation had been reprinted in black and white and color paperback format by Marvel, as well as in mini book format by iBooks.

MALIBU COMICS

TERMINATOR 2 JUDGMENT DAY: CYBERNETIC DAWN (1995)

Published by Malibu Comics, 5 issues

(Story by Dan Abnett, art by Rod Whigham)

This is the most interesting of all comic books because of the actual involvement in creative input and information from Van Ling and Lightstorm Entertainment, James Cameron's production company.

The story starts directly where the movie left off, with bleeding Sarah and John driving away from the Steel Mill. The comic book resolves all the leftover subplots from the movie, like what happened to Dr. Silberman, Tarissa Dyson and who recovers T-800's arm from the Mill. It also shows how everything slowly and gradually reverts back to how things were - with Dyson's work getting continued and the timeline eventually going how it was suppose to, with Judgment Day happening in 1997. Of course, there had to be some presence of the terminators thrown in. This time, two T-800's and one T-1000 arrive from the future with different missions. Two T-800s are suppose to find John and Sarah, while the T-1000 takes the form of Agent Karyn and makes sure Dyson's work is continued and finished 'on time'.

Cybernetic Dawn also features omitted scenes from T2 which were never filmed, such as, for example, Enrique's showdown with the T-1000 who tracked the ranch - a scene that was scripted and prepped for by Stan Winston's crew, but never filmed. Many characters of T2 return - aside from John and Sarah, we get the Dyson family, Salceda family and detectives Mossberg and Weatherby - the two cops who questioned Sarah in Pescadero

The Cybernetic Dawn is the only one of two instances, and the only one if not counting crossovers, to feature the T-1000 as the main antagonist (he only appears in cameos in others)

Featuring great artwork perfectly recreating actors' likeness

TERMINATOR 2 JUDGMENT DAY: NUCLEAR TWILIGHT (1995)

Published by Malibu Comics, 5 issues

(Story by Mark Paniccia based on the extended script from James Cameron and William Wisher, Art by Gary Erskine)

This is the adaptation of the extended T2 script with Future War scenes. Van Ling and Lightstorm Entertainment were also involved in this one. It was published simultaneously with Cybernetic Dawn and picks up where the movie left off in the future, with Connor scanning the area. Shows the victory of the resistance and all the TDE scenes, as well as reprogramming of the T-800. It also throws in some original scenes and characters: for example, when the resistance reprogrammed T-800 they turned the power on but the entire row of terminators woke up. T-800 saved the resistance. Also, it shows the person which T-1000's default form was modeled after - a captured resistance soldier named Griffith.

The comic book uses all the unused conceptual artwork from the movie, like TDE complex, Skynet interiors, elevators, terminator storage chambers, as well as unused machine designs like Silverfish and Centurions.

It also shows us the departure of Reese as it was in the script, and explains why only one terminator at a time could be sent back - the activation of the TDE , which was a gargantuan machine going down deep into the bowels of the earth, required so much energy that it caused all of Skynet's machine temporary deactivation after each power up.

Cybernetic Dawn along with Nuclear Twilight, with their guidance and involvement with Lightstorm, are arguable the best and most informed and canonically correct Terminator comic series', as it all includes (embellished) James Cameron's story and designs that were dropped from T2 due to time constraints and budgetary reasons. They're both great extended universe companion's to the first two movies

Below are just some of very many comparisons between the comic book and T2's concept art

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2000's

DYNAMITE COMICS

TERMINATOR 2: INFINITY (2007)

Published by Dynamite, 5 issues

(Story by Simon Furman, art by Nigel Raynor)

Dynamite Comics acquired a Terminator license in the new millennium, however, their idea of naming the series after T2 raises many questions, as the Infinity series follows the events of the first non Cameron Terminator sequel as oppose to T2. The only elements of T2 it has is a depiction of the T-1000 in two panels being sent back in time and the appearance of Centurions. Other than that and the use of a nickname "Uncle Bob", the series is fully centered around the Jonathan Mostow sequel and is its direct continuation.

Shortly after the bombs fell, Connor leaves his hideout and meets a terminator T-800, who he nicknames Uncle Bob, who is sent to protect him so he can start forming the resistance. Meanwhile in 2033, Skynet rethinks his time traveling schemes and concludes that they did more damage than good. He invents a new prototype terminator, a T-Infinity who has a built in time machine and can jump through time backwards and forwards, to destroy all of his minions who were sent back to various periods of time. After he disposes of the previous time traveling terminators, he jumps to 2009 to destroy Connor and prevent him from forming the resistance. Interestingly, the T-Infinity had destroyed the previous time travelers in the pages of the series except for the T-1000 who was disposed of "offscreen" - a little cheat that did not require the story to explain how was the T-1000 defeated - an uneasy feat for any writer

The storyline was continued in 2008's 5 issue series Terminator: Revolution, which finally and accordingly dropped the "2" from the title

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Crossovers:

Terminator vs Painkiller Jane

RoboCop vs Terminator: Kill Human

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY  (1991)

By Randall Frakes

Published by Bantam Spectra

Randall Frakes is a film and science fiction writer primarily known for his work with long-time friends, Bill Wisher, and James Cameron. His first film work was as a special effects cameraman for Roger Corman, and a number of unproduced screenplays, before his collaborations with Wisher and Cameron, kicked of his professional film-writing career. Because of his personal friendship with Cameron and his previous novelization that he wrote with T2's co-writer Wisher, just like before, he was supplied with all the information about the franchise. According to Bill Wisher on T2 Extreme commentary, Frakes was with Cameron and Wisher the entire time when they were writing the script. So again, this is perhaps the most canon novelization possible.

Includes tons of new detailed future scenes and a lot of insight.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY MIGHTY CHRONICLES (1998)

by Jeff Campbell, Brandon McKinney

Published by Chronicle Books

Children's book. Colossal tales that fit in the palm of your hand, Mighty Chronicles capture all the excitement of the world's favorite stories in action-packed mini-volumes. Hardcover on the outside, thrill-a-page on the inside, each Mighty Chronicle leaps to life with 150 original illustrations.

THE MAKING OF TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)

By Don Shay and Jody Duncan

Published by Bantam Spectra

127 pages. Covers the production of  Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

TERMINATOR 2: INFILTRATOR (2001)

By S.M. Stirling

Published by Harper Collins Books

This is the first creative continuation of the movie in the written format. From HarperCollin's website:

Both Sarah and John Connor have survived repeated attempts on their lives by advanced Terminator killing machines sent from a grim tomorrow to ensure the total destruction of humankind. Now, hiding out from the U.S. Government in Paraguay, Sarah and her brilliant son have linked up with Dieter von Rossbach—a former counterterrorism operative and the human model for the original T-800—awakening him to the nightmare to come and drawing him into their revolution. Because the Cyberdyne Corporation's plan to launch its dread Skynet program was not destroyed, merely postponed. And the machine masters of the near future have sent a terrifying new breed of enforcer back to the Connors' time: a cyborg so humanlike that detection is virtually impossible; a relentless hybrid killer who understands how her human prey think and feel...and die.

TERMINATOR 2: RISING STORM (2002)

By S.M. Stirling

Published by Harper Collins Books

Hunted for years, Sarah and John Connor have waged a grave battle to save humanity from destruction. They and they alone can keep the apocalyptic Judgment Day--the day when sentient machines move to destroy their human creators--from occurring. Aided by Dieter von Rossbach, an ex- counterterrorism operative who will eventually be used as the physical model for the 101 Terminator units, the Connors have sabotaged the Cyberdyne research facility and stopped a deadly I-950 Infiltrator unit from completing her mission.
But the war is far from over, and now the heroes have been separated.
Severely injured--both mentally and physically--and recuperating under military surveillance, Sarah Connor must face her deepest fears...alone. Meanwhile, von Rossbach, hunted by both the CIA and his former allies, begins a delicate mission to recruit supporters and arms support for the coming battle.
Aided by a beautiful and brilliant MIT student, John Connor starts a desperate campaign across the United States and Central America to prepare an unsuspecting human race for the dark times ahead. For the original I-950 Infiltrator unit left a contingency plan--and, unbeknownst to our heroes, more Infiltrators have initiated their own clandestine operations, including the hunt to terminate the Connors. And this time, despite all their efforts, the brave heroes may not be able to stop the future war between human and machine.
Cyberdyne Corporation is not the only one with plans for the computer network, and hidden far away in a top secret military base, a fledgling Skynet takes its first steps toward sentience...and toward the rise of the machines and the termination of all human life.

TERMINATOR 2: THE NEW JOHN CONNOR CHRONICLES BOOK ONE (2002)

By Russell Blackford

Published By I Books

This is an alternate continuation of T2, completely ignoring Striling's books and introducing it's own version.

Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor and her son, John, had thought they'd been able to alter the future so that neither the artificially intelligent Skynet nor its Terminator killing machines would ever be created. But if they were so successful, why, then, are they now being hunted by yet another Terminator that's traveled back in time to ensure that John never grows up to be the charismatic leader of the few humans who survived Judgment Day? And when a band of human warriors from an alternate timeline make an unexpected appearance, have they come to help John- -or the killing machine...?

TERMINATOR 2: THE NEW JOHN CONNOR CHRONICLES BOOK TWO (2003)

By Russell Blackford

Published by I Books

Judgment Day is coming! Following the events of Book 1 (Dark Futures), the future war between the human Resistance and the forces of Skynet takes an unusual twist as Terminators from an alternate timeline invade the world of John Connor and his mother, Sarah, seeking to bring about the inevitable war that the Connors had merely delayed with their actions. But another cyborg has traveled across the dimensions to protect John--and nothing is going to prevent her from carrying out her mission.

TERMINATOR 2: FUTURE WAR (2003)

By S.M. Stirling

Published By Harper Collins Books

The future war is now. Hiding out in Alaska, Sarah and John Connor, along with ex-counterterrorist agent, Dieter von Rossbach, are playing a waiting game--trying to live their lives but ever watchful of Cyberdyne Corporation and the possibility of Skynet, the artificial intelligence network destined to destroy the world as we know it. They've fought for years to prevent this, and now, believing that John's love, Wendy, sacrificed herself to successfully prevent Skynet from becoming sentient, they think humanity may finally have a chance to survive.
Then the United States government announces that all military and communications systems will be placed under the command of a brand-new, extremely powerful Artificial Intelligence named Skynet, effective immediately.
Racing desperately to alert their allies, the Connors discover that Wendy's sacrifice was in vain--far from being harmless, Skynet is active, sentient, and ready to terminate the human nuisance once and for all. Engineered by the relentless AI, the apocalypse of Judgment Day turns cities into deathtraps and releases mass destruction across the globe.
In the nuclear winter that follows, our world changes forever: Cities become deathtraps of disease and famine patrolled by implacable machines, the first Hunter-Killer and T-90 Terminator units begin to exterminate their human prey, and all human life faces a desperate battle for survival against a seemingly unstoppable enemy.
But there is still one rallying cry of hope, one man who will step to the forefront of the long fight to keep humanity from extinction: John Connor.

TERMINATOR 2: THE NEW JOHN CONNOR CHRONICLES BOOK THREE TIMES OF TROUBLE (2003)

By Russell Blackford

Published by I Books

The war between man and machine reaches its shattering conclusion, with John Connor and his mother, Sarah, caught in the middle! It's a battle that rages through time and across dimensions, with the survival of two worlds at stake