By J. Keith Haney
Chichester, D. G.; Zaffino, Jorge; Buccellato, Steve; and Felix, Phil. The Terror. Marvel Comics (1992).
This comic is a peculiar artifact of the early 1990s, one I first ran into when I saw its last, unlucky #13 issue. What I saw intrigued me enough to get the rest of the series. There is much to like about it, in spite of several missteps, which I will outline. First, a small history lesson is in order so that you may understand some of the mistakes.
In my last column, I briefly mentioned the Comics Code, which was established in the 1950s by the comics industry itself in response to William Wertham’s hysterical anti-comic screed, “Seduction of the Innocent“, and subsequent Congressional investigations into comics’ contributions to juvenile delinquency (Any resemblance to this moral panic and the one in recent years over video games is purely uncoincidental). As Frank Miller has pointed out, it wasn’t just bad press that drove the industry honchos to set the Code up. They also saw it as an excellent opportunity to off their most successful competitors at EC Comics, who just happened to be putting out horror comics that would be too extreme by the Code’s standards. Anyone who gets indignant about how comics of this period got so boring have these geniuses to thank.
The Code eventually loosened up by the early 70s, a process that eventually led to its complete irrelevance when Marvel Comics dropped it from its titles for in-house ratings by 2002. But back in the 1990s, writer D.G. Chichester, artist Margaret Clark and inker Klaus Jansen decided to do the impossible: create an original horror character within the bounds of the Code. The results were inventive, if a little mixed.
Terror Inc. follows the exploits of an arcane gun for hire. “Terror” is the name he currently works under, though, being an immortal, he has had several other names over the centuries. There are two things that keep him from being a Highlander clone. One, he has a severely decayed body, similar to a zombie, with three spikes on both sides of his head. His ugly appearance is a heavy contrast to his sophisticated manner of speaking: lots of Latin quotes, witticisms, and wryly cynical observations. Two, he has the unusual ability to take and graft on human body parts, thanks to a “molecular acid” he can secrete from his left, metal-encased hand (the preserved hand of his one and only love).
What makes this useful is that any skills or sense memories associated with the body part become accessible to Terror. He frequently uses it for offensive capabilities, such as a sniper’s eye for sighting a rifle or an Aikido master’s leg for landing a crippling kick. But there are other uses. Need to crack a computer keycode? Take the hand of the guy who programmed it. Need to know what was said and heard on a particular night? Get the eye and ear of someone who was there. Need to know a person’s route the day before? Take his legs and let them do the walking.
Of course, someone with his unique condition does need help. Alexis Primo serves as his aide de camp and financier. London occult expert Rekrab helps him with any demonology he may need to know. A midget tailor named ‘Brunhilda’ handles Terror’s wardrobe (considering how many different body parts he goes through, it’s a neverending challenge). Finally, there is Boneyard, a procurer in specialized body parts for Terror’s particular needs.
So far, so freaky…so, why did this title get cancelled? I could trace it back to three things, unique for a Marvel Comics title of this period:
- Too many better-known guest stars popping by. This was a common tactic that predated the period, the logic being that if collectors will follow their favourite character anywhere, maybe it will boost sales. But this title overdid it. All but three of its issues featured guest stars, the worst example being the “For Love Nor Money”, which was completely incoherent unless you also got the corresponding parts of the story in the Cage and Silver Sable titles. That may well have been asking too much for an audience that was pretty miniscule to begin with.
- The constant teasing about Terror’s past without giving out actual information. Even in the last issue, the most we learn about Terror is that he was some sort of caveman who killed a beast and got the horns of the beast grafted onto his head. He also had some warrior-woman lover from the Dark Ages whose death he was responsible for. He has a contentious relationship with Dr. Stephen Strange (That’s Marvel Comics’ Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko). Oh, and he refused to kill Alexis Primo in a contract set up by her husband. That’s it. The rest are just hints that could mean anything. This sort of thing can work, as both the manga and anime versions of Vampire Hunter D can readily attest to. But this mirrors the handling of flagship character Wolverine’s past during this same period, so purposely murky that there is no clear story and thus nothing of interest.
- The desire to be horrific but only within certain, Code-mandated bounds. The more I think of the Code these days, the more annoyed I get. By its dictates, certain language, actions, and scenes were cut out to the point of unreality. Now this is fine with most superheroes of the period, but you expect horror characters to not be so nice. Considering what a character like Terror is literally made of, there is a certain cowardice (Note the absence of the word “restraint”) behind the initial, Code-restrained decisions.
This is not even mentioning the very crude drawings of initial series artist, Jorge Zaffino. His drawings attempt to go for a gritty, textured style reminiscent of fan favourite Mark Texeira (who actually does draw some spectacular art for the six pages of issue #6), but the problem is that it makes the figures blocky, and makes the action unclear or incoherent due to blurred details. This is hardly a problem during the daylight scenes, but the night scenes will make you want to grab your night-vision goggles.
Okay, so, with all this in mind, what parts of the series are worth the read? Surprisingly, most of them, provided you’re willing to overlook the rough spots. The best stories in the series are as follows:
- Issues #1-5, which introduce Terror as he attempts to kill an arms dealer who won’t stay dead, thanks to a demonic pact in return for all the death his munitions cause. Breaking the pact makes him cross paths with Mikal Drakonmegas, a psychologically-imploding occult expert who happens to be the illegitimate heir to the demon who made the pact.
- Issues #6-7, which have Terror undertaking a hit in Stamford, CT on a supposedly retired mobster from NYC. He winds up getting mixed up in a blackmail plot that involves a trio of Mafia princesses, who are renowned for blowing things up.
- Issue #8, a special Christmas issue that has the best, all-time Christmas Carol parody ever written on its cover: “You better watch out/You better not cry/You better not pout/Get ready to die.” Cover aside, Terror is on a rare mission of mercy, here. A mob accountant railroaded on a murder charge is going to have his date with the electric chair just before Christmas. He arranges for Terror to get pieces of his body, so that parts of him can be with his family on Christmas. The problem? The mobsters who betrayed him, though they have no clue what the real problem is, are taking the family into custody for safekeeping. This may well have been the series’ peak.
Issues #9 and 10 suffer from needing a certain Wolverine graphic novel to understand what is going on. #11 and 12 are the aforementioned “For Love Nor Money” storyline and I’d advise skipping it. #13 is certainly decent enough, but far from the best story in this series.
One final note: the Marvel MAX line recently did a rebooted series with this character, but I’d advise anyone who finds the original series worthwhile to skip it. It fixes several things (a definite origin story, an emphasis on the horrific nature of Terror’s “acquisitions”), while basically throwing out everything else about the character that made him work the first time. This might actually work for some people, but I have absolutely no interest in any follow up on this.
Having reread this series for this review, I can honestly say that I still love it, warts and all. It’s just worth acknowledging certain caveats before going in.
Bio: J. Keith Haney was born in Misawa, Japan, but has lived most of his life in the state of Tennessee. His favourite all-time film is the original Clash of the Titans, mainly for the Ray Harryhausen monsters. Due to that film, he got a college-level book on World Mythology when he was nine, of which he memorized the Greek section by age 12. His first encounter with Lovecraft (though he didn’t know it at the time) was the original Ghostbusters, which he saw in its original theatrical release. In addition to all things Lovecraft, he is an old-school gamer, history buff and fierce advocate for the steampunk genre. He enjoyed his first professional sale and publication in 2010 with his steampunk short story, “Grand Guginol”, which can be found at Short Story Me!. His favourite all-time Lovecraft story is “The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath”, which he considers an important, forgotten forerunner to Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings saga.