Wednesday, February 28, 2018

The Terrifics #1 Review and **SPOILERS**

-->

Dark Meddle

Storytellers: Ivan Reis & Jeff Lemire 
Inker: Joe Prado 
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo 
Letterer: Tom Napolitano 
Cover: Reis with Miaolo 
Cover Price: $2.99 
On Sale Date: February 28, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

The moment we’ve all been waiting for! Seeking to fill a Fantastic void left over in Marvel’s publishing schedule, this book was announced, ohh…July 2017? Maybe in August. And I’ve been chomping at the bit ever since to check it out. So let’s delay no longer! Have a look at my review of The Terrifics #1, just below!


Explain It!

It is no secret that I love wacky superhero teams. The Doom Patrol, Batman and the Outsiders, Secret Six, various iterations of the Suicide Squad, I love ‘em all. I think I like strange heroes making the unlikely decision to band together, and perhaps overcoming their poor self-esteem to do good deeds. Or maybe I just like it when stretchy folks hang out with people made of chalk. Whatever it is, that has been the real draw to this comic book for me, and not the obvious allusion to Marvel’s Fantastic Four. That dig is just a little icing on this cake, for me.
Spinning out of the Dark Knights: Metal event that has yet to actually conclude, this issue gives away a little of the ending that is due out in March (I think.) Seems Simon Stagg is trying to access the Dark Multiverse for some greedy reason, and using Metamorpho’s ability to convert into Nth Metal to do it. Things have gone tits up, and Mr. Terrific shows up on the scene in an awesome expanding T-sphere that perked my S.H.A.D.E. sense…Jeff Lemire did write a great series featuring the group during the New 52, after all. Mr. Terrific’s brought Plastic Man in his dormant egg form, explaining later that he’s got some molecular wibbly-wobbly that makes him resistant to the Dark Multiversal something-or-other—this gets more fleshed-out in the final issue to Dark Nights: Metal, I presume. Whatever the case, Metamorpho goes bonkers and breaks free of his bonds, releasing Multiversal goo everywhere that subsumes our heroes and tosses ‘em into Green Hell.
After this, it’s just the three fellas getting to know each other through gags and a dire situation while tracking down a signal that turns out to be Linnya, better known as Phantom Girl. How she wound up standing in some giant’s corpse in the Dark Multiverse is unknown, but she turns out to be pretty helpful in warding off some huge chiggers that beset Mr. Terrific, Plastic Man, and Metamorpho upon landing. Turns out the signal followed, however, wasn’t to Phantom Girl, but to some kind of a beacon stashed elsewhere in the gross corpse—and it’s a distress message from none other than Tom Strong! Yes, the Alan Moore one!
And it almost doesn’t bear saying that the art team of Reis, Prado and Miaolo has, once again, put out something visually incredible. I enjoyed seeing how Plas was rendered best, still “cartoonish” against the more realistic forms of Mr. Terrific and the others, but quite tangible and present. The story is just a lot of fun, and while it’s a little disappointing to get this issue before the conclusion of the event that was supposed to create it, I can’t rightly blame this series for that. How’s this for a tagline, put this on your trade collection cover: “Jeff Lemire and Ivan Reis’ The Terrifics is…pretty keen!”

Bits and Pieces:

A great introduction issue, even for people unfamiliar with any of the characters. This book stands very well on its own merits, and not just as a tweak to the Marvelous Competition. There's some spoilers for Dark Nights: Metal, that I presume can't be helped, but screw it: we've waited for a team book like this for long enough.

8.5/10

9 comments:

  1. I had a blast reading this issue! Engaging characters, intriguing mysteries and gorgeous art make this a strong contender for the book of the week, and it ain't even Green Lantern Kyle Rayner volume 1!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a great issue and definitely my book of the week, I love the fact that Tom Strong is connected to this story, he's one of the first library comic reads besides The Runaways, Sandman and Starman that I ever picked up. My only question is since Metamorpho can turn into Nth Metal does that mean he could essentially give Meta Powers to anyone in the dc universe?
    9/10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't tell ya! Maybe we'll find out in Dark Nights: Metal #6...though I also got the impression that the rift to the Dark Multiverse fed his ability to turn into Nth Metal...

      Delete
    2. I think they need to be predisposed to it still...but who knows!!

      Delete
  3. I'm glad a lot of people are enjoying this book but for me it's just a lot of stuff that I don't give 2 shits about mix together into an average story. It probably doesn't help that I don't like/care about Mr. Terrific, metamorpho, plastic man, the fantastic 4, legion, or metal

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought it was a weak intro story made weaker by the information missing from Metal6 delays. The only thing I get or enjoyed in this story is Plastic Man’s dialogue.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I enjoyed The Terrifics. It is good to have Plastic man around in DC Comics again. Of the couple "New DC" comics that are a result of the events in Metal that have come out so far, I thought this was the best one.

    I do feel, because it happens fairly frequently at Marvel and DC, that their event books REALLY need to be released before the books that spawn from the event. It makes the event vert anti-climatic no matter how good or bad it has been when they are released out of order.

    Sure, I could wait to read them but that's not the point. DC has been hyping these new books for weeks and taking away pages from every other DC comic to print the preview pages so I was looking forward to them when they came out. The conclusion to Metal, a series I have enjoyed quite a bit, suffers now because the creators and editors cannot stick to a publishing schedule.

    Good review of the issue!

    ReplyDelete