The Terrifics…or is it?
In keeping up with DC’s ongoing barrage of new titles this year, the latest arrival in our hands is issue #1 of The Terrifics. This compact super team is led by Mr. Terrific himself while joined by Metamorpho, Plastic Man and newcomer Linnya Wazzo. I really can’t wait to just dive in and start talking about this, but I’m wasting time and space to fill up enough dialogue so I there’s a big enough paragraph in place before you click on the title to read more. I know, cheap journalistic move, right? Yeah, guilty as charged.
Okay, off the springboard we go. The Terrifics is written by Jeff Lemire and penciled by Ivan Reis, but even the combined artistic strength of these two couldn’t save the four peeps they’re filling these pages with. This book was top to bottom boring. From the opening panel, I wasn’t attracted to anything and by the final page, I was glad to be done with it. Too harsh? I paid for the book and I call it like I see it. Honestly, the saving grace in this is Plastic Man, who I’ve never followed before, but he’s the only interesting thing about the book.
I don’t really know what Mr. Terrific is capable of super power-wise, but I can tell you that there’s nothing pressing here to make me want to find out. Now if you check out issue #1 of The Silencer, there’s some content that has you curious about where this woman came from, what her backstory is. That does not exist in The Terrifics. Metamorpho has a really emotional moment at the beginning, but somehow calms down really quickly. I say ‘somehow’ because we’re introduced to him as being in some painful state for an extended period, yet he’s soon fine. Linnya, well, who knows what her story is but I’m not sticking around to find out.
In short, this is very much a rip-off of the Fantastic Four, and for that DC should get a ruler-wielding nun to give them a slap on the knuckles for not being a little more innovative. What really ticked me off right from the beginning is flipping through a few early pages before the story begins and seeing a villain that bears a striking similarity in appearance to Dr. Doom. Doom of course is the Fantastic Four’s arch nemesis. Since these characters already looked like F4 wannabes, I was not enthused when seeing this mystery villain doing a Dr. Doom impression. Whoever gave the clearance at DC to go ahead with this book, shame on your attempt at a money grab and the inability to get creative. The Terrifics was anything but.
*
*
