Review: The Terrifics #1
Meet the Terrifics
“You know, you have a real attitude problem, Metamorpho.”
Published by DC Comics
Storytelling by Ivan Reis and Jeff Lemire
Inked by Joe Prado
Coloured by Marcelo Maiolo
The Plot
The story begins with Java waiting for Mr. Terrific to arrive as he has a meeting with Stagg. Terrific finds them in the middle of some major trouble with an experiment gone awry. Mr. Terrific also finds Metamorpho in a fair amount of trouble in the middle of the experiment, so he attempts to bring in Plastic Egg to help out. Stagg is unable to stabilize or close it and then Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, and the now awake Plastic Man find themselves trapped in the Dark Multiverse. As it turns out, Plastic Man has no recollection of the events of Dark Nights: Metal and is pretty sour about his role in everything. They make a landing on a “planetoid” and are confronted by a number of creatures. Soon afterwards they meet up with a woman named Linnya Wazzo. Together they track down an old ship and inside is a holographic message from Tom Strong.
The Breakdown
I came into the New Age of Heroes thing with very little expectations. I didn’t necessarily think it wasn’t going to be any good, I just wasn’t really anticipating anything. I ended up enjoying Sideways more than I expected, BUT the whole cliffhanger for that issue was given away for free as a preview in other comics. When I started to realize that while reading it, my enjoyment level started to go down a bit. The Silencer was a surprise and now it’s in my pull-list. The Terrifics ended up being a decent first issue. It was interesting how Mr. Terrific’s company suffered from his involvement in Dark Nights: Metal and we’ll see how he addresses that later on. I liked how Plastic Man and Metamorpho are at odds in this issue, just because they are all heroes it doesn’t mean that they all see eye to eye. Also, the issues they had with one another seemed to fit, it didn’t come across like the writers making conflict just for the sake of having conflict. I enjoyed seeing Stagg a bit humbled by the repercussions of his actions. He’s usually a pretty smug character so seeing him panic was an alright development in the story. I enjoyed Plastic Man in this story, he was kind of silly (like how he often is) but it wasn’t over the top. Also, I was bit surprised at how well he was visually portrayed by Reis as I wasn’t sure how his style would mesh with the character. I also liked Metamorpho’s facial appearance as well, it actually worked well for the character. Prado’s inks in this issue were very solid and added a lot to the story. Phantom Girl didn’t get a lot of screen time because she didn’t appear until the end of the book, but I look forward to what happens with the questions about her backstory. It was surprising that she was able to survive in the Dark Multiverse as long as she did. Mr. Terrific was portrayed well in this issue, he came in (as expected) as the glue that will hold this team together and throughout the issue he acted in the best interest of others. He didn’t show up at the beginning to spar with Stagg, but rather he sought to help. I admit that I’m interested in seeing Tom Strong next issue. I enjoyed how the team interacted with one another and overall I enjoyed this comic.
BUT…
This issue made me anticipate the Metal finale even less. One of the things I was looking forward to in that series was Plastic Man re-emerging, but it seems like he’ll remain an egg in Metal after reading this issue. Also, his reaction to being an egg for so long seemed kind of off. Over in Metal it seemed like he chose to be an egg in order to fight off the dark influences or something. I don’t know, maybe it’ll become more clear and this isn’t necessarily a strike against the creative team for this title because with the timing of the other series…maybe something got lost somewhere. Kind of an odd complaint on my part, but I hope that Metamorpho isn’t going to continue to be such a hulking figure in this series. It just seems unnecessary and if anything he reminds me more of Shift (from the Outsiders). Overall though, there really wasn’t really much to dislike in this issue.
The Verdict
I’d say this issue is worth a Buy It. A number rating for this issue…I’d go with a 7/10. The team dynamic seems strong enough so far to be able to sustain a series. It was a fun read and it’s good to see something like this come from the Metal series. So far the New Age of Heroes has been decent and this is one of the best titles from that line so far (well I’d say second best with The Silencer being the best one so far). There was definitely enough in this issue to make me come back for the second one. The creative team did a solid job with this comic and although it was just the first issue, I was satisfied with the amount of development that occurred. The pacing and storytelling was well done and I’m looking forward to the next one.
