Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artwork: Dave Acosta, Jay Leisten
Colours: Walter Pereyra
Release Date: 23rd August 2023

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Far more focused on Muhammad Cho’s traumatic captivity by the mysterious Terrors than it is depicting a direct confrontation between the man’s crew and the deadly phantasmagorical nightmares, Saladin Ahmed’s penmanship still manages to imbue this comic with a pulse-pounding sense of pace. In fact, only the most indifferent of readers won’t find their heart rate skyrocketing once Representative Ronali declares a mass evacuation and her defenceless people are forced to flee their ramshackle houses from a horde of multi-tentacled, gestalt entities.

Likewise, Ahmed also appears able to permeate a decidedly dark flashback sequence showing the grisly death of Cho’s mother with some truly disconcerting sounds. Of course, the noise of the credit hounds’ metal claws scrapping against the walls of the twelve-year old’s failing home-turned-fooderie can only be implied through the text. But so convincing is the stark terror on the faces of the small building’s occupants that the high-pitched screeching of the robot canines’ attack clearly resonates within the audience’s ears; “Ma always had trouble making her payments. I pulled lots of little kid hustles to help…”

Regrettably, such high praise can’t be heaped upon this twenty-page periodical’s opening, which deals with “Mae and the rest of the crew” unsuccessfully attempting to rescue their boss and suddenly finding themselves allied with the inharmonious Doctora Z. To be fair, it’s difficult to see how Ahmed could have the Terrorfighters lose all contact with Muhammad without having their state-of-the-art technology suddenly become unable to detect either the Terror’s energy signature or their leader’s biometrics. However, having the government’s top scientist abruptly spring out of the shadows with the “right equipment” for the job is debatably a contrivance too far.

Probably this publication’s most problematic component however, is Dave Acosta’s disappointingly inconsistent pencilling. Don’t get me wrong, Acosta does a proficient job illustrating Cho’s aforementioned memory of his parent’s death as his “mind and body are stretched to the breaking point.” Unfortunately, the same simply cannot be said when it comes to the panels portraying events in Central Command or the Lower Wards, where the artist’s numerous figures appear rather roughly hewn and frustratingly rushed.

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[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]

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The writer of this piece was: Simon Moore
Simon Tweets from @Blaxkleric ‏
You can read more of his reviews at The Brown Bag

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