Mister Terrific #3 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty (inker), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: Downgrade this Braintsorm into a Braindrizzle—Mister Terrific’s here!

The Review: I’ve tried to avoid focusing on the subject of race in reviewing this title because it doesn’t seem like a very post-Norman Lear thing to do, and I don’t plan on going too deep into it now.  But I think it’s fair to say this title, because it had a minority character who isn’t an icon for its star, had a higher burden to prove itself.  Unlike other breakout titles, Mister Terrific couldn’t afford the luxury of a slow burn; it needed to hit the ground running with A-writing.

This it does not do.  Unfortunately, Wallace is just too given to some incredibly cloying bits of dialogue, which would have dragged down any character, not just Mr. Terrific.  Take this line, delivered by our hero without the slightest bit of camp or irony: “It’s Brainstorm that needs a lesson in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Why he felt the need to insert this already oft-misused reference here, especially with so tenuous a context, we don’t know.

Even if the dialogue was working we’d still have problems with the lack of imagination in the plot—or plots, since there are several and none of them go against what’s already been done.  Brainstorm, of course, turns out just as vapid and flat as you suspected.  His only ambition is to achieve a vague desire to become “the All-Mind,” the benefits of which he never really explains.  His plan to “fertilize” random minds and then reap their genius when he’s ready also makes little sense.  Seems rather counterproductive, if you ask me.

Mister Terrific #2 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (penciller), Wayne Faucher (inker), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: I’m a comic book reviewer, not a quantum physicist!

The Review: In real life, a super-genius of the first degree would have no problems finding admirers and adulation anywhere he or she chooses to practice his or her intellect.  In comics, a hyper-advanced intelligence is appreciable in theory, but by itself doesn’t always translate to the most entertaining stories.  After all, the characters can only be as smart as their writers, and let’s face facts: fiction writers are hardly paragons of scholarship.

So what you ultimately end up having is a lot of nifty-sounding but improbable science, which this issue has in plenty.  Don’t get me wrong; as a fan of Air Gear, I enjoy the frequent physics lessons mangaka, “Oh! Great” illustrates.  But while he goes through the trouble of actually explaining the principles behind his fictional science, Wallace just has them blurted out, with little context, forcing you to do some frantic online research to grasp what he’s talking about.

Either that, or he simply expects everyone to have a working knowledge of “Bose-Einstein condensates” or “density inversion”.  But it hardly matters.  You can’t really feel suspense if you don’t know what the stakes are, and you can’t know what the stakes are if you don’t understand the physical limitations of the conflict.  By making up science as he goes along to solve problems of made-up science in the first place, the writer fails to establish tension, which is the case here.

You have other fundamental problems with the script.  The biggie is the number of clichés at work.  Anyone with a smidgeon of sense knew, from the moment Michael went all Shining on a senator, that he would have to face the fallout from his fellow company men afterward.  And of course you have some dirty dealing behind the scenes, involving rivals from Michael’s past and present.  So far, none of these plotlines go beyond your usual corporate drama tropes.

Mr. Terrific #1 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (penciller), Wayne Faucher (inker), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)

The Story: If you’re such a hot-shot, how come you don’t have your own reality show?

The Review: By a show of hands, who else has ever wondered at the premise behind the modern Mr. Terrific?  You can instantly grasp the appeal of being the smartest man in the world.  But to be third smartest—one step below second banana—well, it’s just an odd premise.

This issue incontrovertibly shows that even a rank three genius is capable of some heady accomplishments: dimensional portals, something called infinite fractal mechanics (allowing him to bridge folds in space), an impressive machine that uses electromagnetism to deflect the effects of earthquakes.  Yet fancy as these all sound, they all ultimately boil down to your usual pseudo-science, conceived as easily as the writer’s imagination can idly wander.

When you really examine Mr. T’s (yup—I went for it) “genius,” there’s actually little in the way of advanced intelligence.  In his opening battle with a Brit in a battle suit, he dismisses his foe using one of the oldest gags in the book: essentially, a giant magnet.  Compare that to the clever applications of physics Static (about twenty years Mr. T’s junior) uses in his opener, and you can see Wallace doesn’t really go as far as he must to convince us of the first-rate mind at work here, though he puts in a good try.

In fact, Wallace tries a little too hard to highlight Michael’s most appealing features: an Olympic athlete with money out the wazoo and brains to die for—and he’s black!  Wallace spends far too much time mentioning them than putting them in action: “You’re not the only one who took a first in physics.”  “I had…more degrees than half the faculties of Harvard and Yale combined…”  “These are differential equations.  The kind that would give Stephen Hawking a headache.”

Shazam #1 – Review

By: Eric Wallace (writer), Cliff Richards (artist), Hi-Fi (colorist)

The Story: Mary Batson, did no one ever tell you making deals with demons is never a good idea?

The Review: Captain Marvel and the rest of his ilk have always seemed a little out of place in the DCU.  Besides the gimmick of their magic word, there’s not much setting them apart from their superhero peers.  It’s even difficult seeing the Big Red Cheese himself as anything other than Superman—with magic (an idea Grant Morrison played with in Final Crisis).  Most writers have difficulty selling the Marvels’ natural goody-goodiness in a world that requires some attitude to succeed.

This is the problem Eric Wallace runs into in his one-shot of the Marvel family.  On the one hand, he deserves a bit of a break; the characters were left in shambles the last time they were written.  Billy and Mary lost their powers, which their underdeveloped civilian personas couldn’t possibly make up for.  Freddy Freeman’s promotion to the red outfit lost the Jr. from his name and added some long hair, but has otherwise done nothing to invigorate the character.  Wallace is working an uphill battle here.

But from another perspective, Wallace had a great opportunity to breathe some new life into the characters, and he mostly squanders it.  The tension between the Batsons and Freddy introduced at the start of the issue turns out to be a blind, which means they never lost trust in each other at all, which also means they avoid any character-building personal conflicts.  This is a big miss, since after all these years, their camaraderie seems based on tradition more than any signs of genuine friendship.

Wallace’s choice to have the Batsons bemoan the loss of their powers and how it’s holding them back comes across shallow and even a little insulting.  After all, when you consider the number of heroes in the DCU alone who play it no-powers style, wistfully regretting your former gods-given abilities seems a trifle narrow-minded, don’t you think?  It feels as if since the Marvels really have no identity beyond their powers, the only stories you can give them have to involve the loss of/earning of/quest for their powers.  Frankly, that’s all getting pretty old.

Titans #14 – Review

By Eric Wallace (writer), Michael Shoyket (artist), Edgar Delgado and Jo Smith (colorists)

Some Thoughts Before the Review: I have to say that I’ve never been a Cyborg fan and after the continuing train wreck that has been the last few months of Titans, I came to this book with very low expectations.

The Story: Vic Stone, the Cyborg, is tense. His friend Gar tells him that he needs to get out, outside in the real world, away from metahumans and away from labs. He even offers Vic the card of a dating service. Vic doesn’t buy what Gar is selling at first, but when he almost clocks a purse-snatcher, he realizes that Gar is right. He just doesn’t know what to do about being lonely.

What’s Good: Wallace told a really good story by sticking to some pretty time-tested principles: take a likable character, make him want something, watch him try to get it. Wallace showed us Vic’s loneliness in obvious and subtle ways: in his lab by himself, and in the avatar he chooses to use while he’s in the cyber-network, fixing something. Wallace drew a very human Vic in a situation where he’s just got to meet some new people. All readers will identify with Vic, because we’ve all been there at least once.

Wallace also played the cyborg angles really well. He gave us a better look at Vic’s insecurities without ever having to tell them to us outright. He does this effectively in a scene were Vic first sees some kids with prosthetics, and when he runs into an old friend who had rejected high-tech prosthetics and stands preaching about it with two hooks instead of hands. It’s really great to see a writer who takes not only the reader seriously, but the subject matter too. This is a story about emotions, insecurities, and self; and Wallace brings it to a perfect ending.

What’s Not So Good: The art was competently done, especially the facial expressions which were so important to the story, but everything else seemed a bit crude and stylized. The art was enough to tell the story, but I wouldn’t open the book again for the art.

Conclusion: I wish there were more writers out there who could write a solid, single-issue story with so much in it. Even if you’re not a Titans or Cyborg fan, it’s worth checking out.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault