The Terrifics #22 – Gene Luen Yang, Writer; Stephen Segovia, Artist; Protobunker, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 7/10
Ray: Bizarro-speak is one of my least favorite elements of DC Comics, and it’s all over The Terrifics #22 as Bizarro and his army of Terrific-wannabes continue their war on time and progress. This storyline has never been to my taste exactly, but Gene Luen Yang is a talented enough writer that he always manages to keep things fresh.
While Boyzarro tries to win his father’s approval on a mission to Phantom Girl’s home planet to steal their crystal, the heroes find themselves in an unusual fix due to the villains’ mucking around with time. It starts with Metamorpho waking up alone in his childhood bedroom – as a tiny version of himself, complete with Metamorpho’s features but without his powers. Before he can spend too much time nostalgizing his favorite dinosaur toy, he’s rudely interrupted by a masked killer who chases him into the hall – and into a reunion with his teammates.
There’s a Scooby-Doo vibe to the chase scene as the Kid Terrifics are pursued by the killer, who turns out to be a familiar face. This leads into a much bigger battle as figures from the heroes’ pasts come after them, but The Terrifics #22 seems to have something bigger to say about the dangers of nostalgia.
That’s a topic that has been haunting our society for a while, and Bizarro’s distaste for progress is an intriguing motivation for a villain that leads to him making an even more dangerous escalation at the end of the issue. Next issue seems to be a Groundhog Day-like scenario, an intriguing twist that could be a fascinating twist on the issue’s normal format – if it doesn’t spend too much time on the irksome villains and instead lets us continue to explore the characters’ inner struggles. This is still a strong book with a great team of leads, but it needs better villains and maybe shorter arcs.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
