Terror Inc. Apocalypse Soon #3 – Review

By David Lapham (Writer), Koi Turnbull & Xurxo G. Penalta (Art), Scott Hanna & Tom Palmer (Inks), and Sotocolor’s C. Garcia (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Thanks to David Lapham’s excellent character work, Terror Inc. Apocalypse Soon is one of the year’s best surprises.

The Story: Terror and Mrs. Primo meet up with a terrorist and learn the secret behind both the deadly plague and the child that carries it. Only one person has a cure, Zahhak, and Terror knows where to find him…

What’s Good: Terror Inc. Apocalypse Soon #3 is centered around a plot twist that proves to be quite effective. While I won’t spoil anything here, I will say that it gives the story just the jolt that it needs to build towards a conclusion that looks far more promising now than it did a few weeks ago. I’ve got to hand it to David Lapham for being able to turn things around so late in the game.

As expected, Lapham’s character work is the high point of the latest issue of Terror Inc. Apocalypse Soon. He handles Terror with just the right amount of humor and it keeps the plot from becoming too serious or controversial. Also worth noting is the solid artwork, though…

What’s Not So Good:…I’m not so sure about the decision to bring Xurxo G. Penalta on board. While Penalta’s style looks quite cool and proves to be a nice fit for the series, it leaves Terror Inc. #3 feeling a lot like the latest Ms. Marvel. Koi Turnbull and Xurxo G. Penalta have completely different styles and the change from Turnbull to Penalta is surprisingly jarring, especially considering that there’s no real break in the story that might have made the change feel a bit more natural/understandable. At least there was some sort of reason for the alternating styles in Ms. Marvel #40. In Terror Inc. #3, the change from one artist to the next just feels strange.

Conclusion: Art issues aside (though I wouldn’t say the art is bad in any way), Terror Inc. Apocalypse Soon #3 is well worth reading. David Lapham continues to do a great job with the Terror character and the plot twist that’s introduced gives the mini-series a nice bit of momentum as it heads towards a conclusion.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Terror Inc. – Apocalypse Soon #2

By David Lapham (Writer), Koi Turnbull (Pencils), Scott Hanna & Mark Pennington (Inks), and Sotocolor’s C. Garcia (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The character work in the first issue of Terror Inc. impressed me far more than the plots being developed.  I hope things get more exciting and less predictable in the second issue because it’d be a shame if such a fun character was held back by a weak story.

The Story: It turns out that the young kid rescued by Terror last issue is a “typhoid mary” capable of spreading the deadly virus Terror was sent to retrieve.  Now that very kid is back in the hands of the terrorists that planned on using him, it’s up to Terror to find and return the kid so that a cure can be found for those infected by whatever it is that “Kid A” is carrying.  The issue also advances Terror’s story about The Duque he dealt with quite some time ago and it seems that it has some times to the present situation….

What’s Good and  What’s Not So Good: Terror Inc. #2 is a solid step up from Terror Inc. #1 in almost every way.  The artwork is a bit more dynamic, the storylines become more exciting, Terror becomes even more interesting, and lastly, things come together in a more satisfying manner.

I’m particularly fond of the way that David Lapham weaves the story he’s telling into the story that Terror tells. It brings some interesting twists into a plot that initially felt pretty generic.  In addition, credit is due to Koi Turnbull and the rest of the art team for being able to keep up with a fairly wild story that is headlined by an even more wild character.  It calls for some challenging scenes and the art team pulls them off extremely well.  While a few panels are a bit cluttered and some things look a little rough, the book, as a whole, is quite nice looking considering the material.

Conclusion: Terror Inc. continues to impress.  In fact, I would go as far as to say the series is almost as awesome as the covers for the series.

Grade:  A-

-Kyle Posluszny