Advance Review — ‘TerrorWar’ #7 Gets Preachy While Finally Revealing Background
by Tom Smithyman
It’s taken TerrorWar nearly all of its run before explaining why the inhabitants of Blue City are facing their worst fears turn into reality.
What should be a watershed moment in the limited series instead feels rushed and overly preachy. Without getting into spoilery details, readers learn early in issue #7 that these manifestations have been caused by humanity’s own greed and shortsightedness. Fair enough, but at this point, does anyone who has stuck with the book this long really want to be lectured to?
The series actually started out with a promising look at the haves and have nots in a would-be idyllic society. But writer Saladin Ahmed quickly got sidetracked and focused on less interesting aspects of the story – which is perhaps why this miniseries has grown from eight to nine issues. Forget the length – focusing on better storytelling.
The only reason readers even get that insight – such as it is – is because of a clumsy construct that gives the creatures the ability to speak through chief terrorfighter Muhammad Cho. He’s been fighting the things for years, so why is he only reaching them now?
Penciler Dave Acosta and inker Jay Leisten continue their inconsistent streak through this issue. Some of the imagery is top-notch, including the futuristic city as well as Safehaven, an unlikely self-contained community that comes out of nowhere. The humans, though, are far less successful. Sometimes they look fine, but all too often they are undefined. Not every panel can be a work of art, but too many faces feel rushed and sloppy. Colorist Walter Pereyra does a good job of mixing his palette to bring out the best of the good pages.
What started out as a promising series has gotten sidetracked and now seemingly confused by the story it’s trying to tell. With two issue left, there’s still time to remind readers what made the title interesting in the first place.
TerrorWar #7 will be available for purchase on November 15, 2023.
Overview
This issue finally reveals the origin of the terrors that have been plaguing Blue City – but the revelation arrives awfully late in the story and comes off as too preachy. The artwork is equally inconsistent, teetering between cool sci-fi backgrounds and awkwardly rendered faces.
