GoC Comic Review: The Terrifics #2
THE TERRIFICS #2
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art By Joe Prado and Ivan Reis
Published by DC Comics
Released March 28, 2018
The second issue of The Terrifics kicks off right where the first issue left off, with our heroes discovering a message from the mysterious Tom Strong. Lemire perfectly uses Strong’s hologram as a means to drive right into Linnya’s backstory and how she came to be trapped in the Dark Multiverse.
We learn that Linnya and her parents were on vacation when their spaceship ran into a rift in space or as Linnya described it “a hole in space or a rift or something”. In an all too familiar attempt to save their child from the dark rift that the Wazzos were being pulled towards, Linnya’s parents placed her in the only escape pod on the craft and launched her out into space. However, we find out that Linnya’s father miscalculated which resulted in her pod being dragged down into the void while her parent’s spacecraft broke free. We learn of Linnya’s loneliness inside of the Dark multiverse which most definitely has had some yet to be seen effects on her. The way Reis and Prado illustrate the scenes detailing how Phantom Girl came to be in the Dark Multiverse are absolutely stunning. The scene detailing the Wazzo’s spacecraft being pulled into the void is quite possibly my favorite page of the entire book. The colors are bold, bright, and rich and the way they are executed give a clear “flashback” feel. Something about the page felt classic and like an homage to the older art styles of comics.
The story takes yet another turn when in an attempt to take the antenna containing Strong’s message the group ends up triggering a massive energy surge. This surge apparently wakes the large celestial being that was once thought to be nothing more than a corpse floating through space. As one would expect the gang quickly makes their way off the galactic corpse and head back towards the portal that started this whole mess and drew them all together in the first place. I’ve got to say that over the course of both of these issue’s Mr. Terrific has absolutely shined through as a natural leader to a team that is full of dysfunction, but they work like a well-oiled machine in battle. At any given moment Mr. Terrific knows exactly what needs to be done and how to convey that to the others and they are perfect at executing his commands.
The team makes it back to the portal with the decaying celestial hot on their tails and inevitably coming through unless they can shut it. Mr. Terrific is quickly able to slam the portal shut, slicing off the celestial’s fingers, just as its hand begins to pass through. The team is relieved to have made it back home with Linnya now capable of turning off her intangible form, Plastic Man no longer in an egg-shaped state, Metamorpho reunited with Sapphire Stagg and Mr. Terrific in search of the answers to the questions being asked.
The book closes with two mysteries that will definitely make for some interesting answers in the coming issues. What happened to Linnya while she was lost in the Dark Multiverse? What mysterious force is literally binding the Terrifics together?
Overall The Terrifics remains one of my new comic book favorites, it reminds me of everything I absolutely love about comics. It feels like a new take on old elements and it seems like an homage to the greats like Jack Kirby. Each page is full of so much detail and so much energy that you can feel it when reading. The way Lemire handles this interesting cast of characters that no one would have thought to put together, while simultaneously making this choice of characters feel like a no-brainer. The writing for each character is solid and everyone gets their moment in the sun and chance to shine in the issue. There isn’t a single character that seems to overshadow any of the others.
The Terrifics is a 9/10 celestial zombies
