Black Terror #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

BLACK TERROR No. 3, December 2019

Readers expecting Max Bemis to continue adding to the mythology of this series' “semi-tortured brutal vigilante” were probably a bit surprised with his narrative for Issue Three of “Black Terror”, considering it almost exclusively focuses upon the titular character’s “trusted sidekick Tim” rather than Bob Benton's alter-ego. But having gotten over that initial surprise, and the somewhat ludicrous premise that owing to a magical urn, the boy was “born with the memories of a life” he hadn’t actually lived yet, many bibliophiles probably gleaned a fair amount of enjoyment from the gratuitous violence on show within its twenty-one pages.

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a more grisly-looking series of set-pieces than those pencilled by Ruairi Coleman in this book, thanks to the Northern Irishman’s ability to depict a group of non-powered kids being horribly mutilated by the Young Deadlies, and a pride of flesh-hungry lions later being let loose upon the villain’s secret hideout in an “exotic, creepy locale!” Such scenes really do ‘spell out’ the sheer sadism of the “original” sidekick’s ultra-violent surroundings, where the former “Nazi scum” basher now seemingly spends his time betting on illegal dice games in dingy alleyways or supplying informants with a “big bag of marijuana” in exchange for them “supplying us with information.”

Sadly however, what the “primary lyricist of the band Say Anything” also depicts with his writing is how unlikeable Tim Roland can be, especially once he lives beyond the point where “Pandora’s Urn should have shown up… and rebooted everything.” Now aged thirty-five, “but still looks like a Nineties-era Culkin”, the younger half of the “Terror Twins” genuinely seems to enjoy the decadent savagery of the world around him, and could arguably even be held indirectly responsible for Moonboy having his throat slit and Ms. Mystery being disembowelled by the likes of Princess Murder, Hollow Tip, Spell Slinger, Sapling and the weird-smelling Kid Tricklin’.

Mercifully, Bemis has been “blessed” to have the aforementioned Coleman illustrate this periodical, and as a result the vast majority of its macabre contents are a treat for the eyes of the non-squeamish. In fact, in many ways it is a pity that the comic’s narrative doesn’t feature more flashbacks to Tim’s origin and subsequent battles with the Third Reich, as its clear the artist has a real penchant for panels populated with jaw-breaking punches; “I love it! Powers! Again! Finally!”

The regular cover art of "BLACK TERROR" No. 3 by Rahzzah