52 Pickup: The DC Shuffle – Mister Terrific

 

This was a book I was genuinely excited to see be part of the New 52.  Mister Terrific has always been a very interesting character to me from the perspective of the way he had been written and his powers.

 

Greg Rucka probably captured the character best in Checkmate.  In that title Terrific was a pivotal player on the world stage and he helped guide that organization and indeed all of America.  Greg Rucka is a pretty fantastic writer.  Sadly, Eric Wallace is no Greg Rucka.

 

My counterpart in this excursion into the DCU, Brandon Williams, coined this first issue, “Mister Terrible” and I can hardly disagree.  Right from the beginning the writing is poor.  Wallace uses bad jokes, puns and there’s even a point where it seems like he just didn’t know what to say so he made up a new term for how someone obtains a grade in a class.

The action sequence that starts off the issue has nothing to do with the rest of the story and is over by page four.  If the writing wasn’t terrible, even during the action scene, it could have been a solid opening.  But it all falls apart, and goes downhill from there.

Now, I’m all for equality in comics and honestly it’s nice to see an African American character staring in a title.  Especially one who is touted as the 3rd smartest person on the planet.  But it seems, at certain points, that Wallace is making race an issue and a focal point when it’s completely unnecessary to do so.  And what I mean by that is, it distracts from the story and really serves no purpose.

 

 

I had high hopes for Mister Terrific but it disappointed me, terribly.  It’s a JOKER for you Mr. Wallace and you, Mister Terrific.

 

The best is yet to come so keep your eyes (and browsers) open on 8DaysAGeek all month long as we tackle the biggest story in comics!

 

For now,

 

This is your Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off.

 

p.s. Did you spot the hooded lady?  I’ve included a picture below.  She keeps showing up in the strangest places!  Who is she?  What’s her impact going to be on the new DCU?  Discuss below in comments!!!

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