Issue 9 continues the team up of the Terrifics with the Tom Strong family, with Swamp Thing playing a small role as well.
The story is pretty straightforward, bringing the heroes back together as they face off against Doc Dread. The art is really top drawer here, and has to harmonize a lot of different elements. Plastic Man gets to be chaotic and bizarre, Tom Strong is as clean cut as it gets, and Swamp Thing is moody and beautifully detailed.
Doc Dread himself is the weakest point in the story. Well, at least until the unmasking of the character at the end of the story. His use of Doc Dread robots is just soooo Dr Doom. I know the entire concept of The Terrifics is to play on The Fantastic Four, but for the most part that element is there, but not obtrusively.
Effectively, this and the previous couple of issues have been structured and paced like a classic team-up story. While that might be a weak point in another book, the use of Tom Strong sort of makes it almost mandatory, and I haven’t minded it at all.
On the other side, that leaves me without an awful lot to say about the tale. It plays out the formula, and the only real surprise comes at the very end.
Still, I completely enjoyed reading the issue, so that has to count for something.
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