The Classics - The Black Terror #1

Here's a golden age character who was a complete mystery to me.

His origins are long before I started reading comics, and practically every time he pops up in the modern era, he's a completely different character.

The reason The Black Terror shows up every now and then is thanks largely to the fact that the character is in public domain. He last resurfaced about four years ago in a not-so-great new series from Dynamite Entertainment, and he appreared in some of Alan Moore's ABC comics (with Tom Strong) - but his first reappearance (after his original Golden Age run) was in a Prestige mini-series from Eclipse Comics in 1989.

Written by Beau Smith and Chuck Dixon (in what must be the manliest writing team-up of the century) and painted by Dan Brereton (in what I believe was his first work in comics), the series brought the Black Terror back as a (more or less) normal man working undercover to bring down the mob.

The story begins with a nightmarish dream sequence that doesn't seem to have much in common with the rest of the story, but from there we get into the grim and grisly world of crime.

As Ryan Delvecchio, The Black Terror is working as a gunman for the mob. One mission gives him possession on a computer disc that links to a mysterious plot known as Romulus.

Using his insider information, the Terror is able to wreak havoc on the gang, but he has a tall order in front of him. Not only does he face a powerful and ruthless gang of criminals, he's also being pursued by the FBI, who don't appreciate his "freelance" crimefighting - and did I mention that the gang is being run by the state's governor?

So lots of wheels turning in this one, and lots a grim violence to go around.

Brereton's painted art for this issue is brilliant in places and very shaky in others - but you can definitely see the promise of the excellent artist that he would become.

As far as I know, this series hasn't been collected and reprinted, while at least three volumes of the most recent (and far less entertaining) stories are available.

Now that's a crime!

Grade: A-

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The Black Terror #1

Dynamite Entertainment has apparently decided to build its line of superhero comics around the characters resurrected in the Project: Superpowers comic.

The characters are all heroes from long ago, who share the distinction of having passed into public domain - which means pretty much anyone can create comics using them. Thus we see character such as The Green Lama, The Death-Defying 'Devil (the original Daredevil), Masquerade, The Fighting Yank and many, many more. (They spend most of this issue posing next to caption boxes with their names on display.)

I picked up the first two issues of the Superpowers series, but lost interest. I have no nostalgia for these characters, and the story just wasn't compelling, so I dropped it. Now Dynamite is spinning the individual heroes off into their own titles.

One of the first is The Black Terror, which stars a character who is a complete enigma. We have no idea how he got his powers, who he is or what he's trying to accomplish - apparently he and his fellow heroes managed to escape some kind of trap that's been holding them for decades, and they now find themselves fighting an army of... I don't know, super-powered zombies or something.

The Black Terror apparently has powers on a par with Superman - he flies into the sky, crashes to Earth and somehow lands in a Pirate museum, where he fights an army of bad guys, never gets a scratch and vows revenge.

It seems the President of the United States (his name is West) is the bad guy, and has imprisoned friends of The Black Terror.

So you have a first issue that's all set-up, virtually no explanation and, to someone who just walked in on the story, it makes no sense. Writer Jim Krueger doesn't give us much to go on here, and little reason to want to come back for more.

The art by Mike Lilly isn't bad at all, but it's very murky - does everyone (except for the Green Lama) have to dress all in black?

Maybe Dynamite makes its money by selling multiple covers to the same comic. But a nice cover doesn't cover up the smell of a poor comic - and that's this one all over.

Grade: D