Advance Review: ‘TerrorWar’ #6 Takes A Long Time To Tell A Short Story
by Tom Smithyman
To say that things aren’t quite right in Blue City would be something of an understatement.
After all, for years, the city has been plagued by terrors – physical manifestations of people’s worst nightmares. These creatures have ravaged the city and can only be fought by terrorfighters, specially gifted troops who can vanquish the foes. Once a terror has you, you’re as good as dead.
That’s why it’s so surprising when terrorfighter Muhammad Cho is found safe after being kidnapped by the nasties. It’s a cause for celebration from his team, but the true reason may not end up being for the best.
The main problem with this issue of TerrorWar is that not much else happens. Muhammad get rescued, his team members talk and argue a lot and they get some more bad news. It’s not compelling enough to carry a whole issue by itself – particularly when this issue has a limited run. Sure there’s a really cool pterodactyl terror that attacks them at one point, but it’s dispatched so quickly it can’t even be considered a battle. If writer Saladin Ahmed is going to spend a whole issue on something so straightforward, at least let it be a cool battle.
Penciler Dave Acosta and inker Jay Leisten make do with what they have from a story perspective. They present an awesome cover, and several other pages are eye popping – in some cases, literally. They also make use of larger panels and splash pages to give the story a bit more weight than it deserves.
Colorist Walter Pereyra’s bright yellow-greens and reds are attention grabbing as they show Muhammad under the terrors’ spell. And he really brings the terrors – particularly the pterodactyl – to life with his palette.
This series has been a mixed bag from the beginning. With only three more issues left, the creative team needs to focus on sticking the landing so blips like this issue will be overlooked in the larger story.
TerrorWar #6 will be available for purchase on September 20, 2023.
Overview
The story in the issue can be summed very quickly. Yet it takes more than 20 pages to convey it to readers. While there are a few cool visuals, there’s not much more to sustain this chapter.
