DC's Terrors Through Time #1 [Part Three] - DC Comics

DC'S TERROR THROUGH TIME No. 1, December 2022

For those readers who enjoy good old-fashioned Nazi-bashing by some of America’s most memorable super-heroes from the Golden Age of Comic Books, Charles Skaggs’ “The Midnight Hour” will definitely deliver a few minutes of vintage entertainment with its carousel of no-nonsense punches, kicks and ‘in the nick of time’ rescues. But for those bibliophiles who actually like an adventure’s narrative to actually make some sense, the notion of the JSA suddenly disappearing whilst scouring the University of Pennsylvania in 1944 for German agents probably isn’t going to flow all that well; “No, hang back for now. There’s no telling what we might find here or where they’re keeping the Skull of Zosimos.”

To begin with, the entire team are captured ‘off-screen’ by a gaggle of undead goose-stepping goons because Hawkman bemusingly decides that having the Flash “scout ahead” isn’t apparently a good idea. This bizarre evaluation then leads to artist Tom Mandrake having to pencil Carter Hall’s alter-ego suddenly being tied to a sacrificial altar without any explanation being given as to just how the winged protagonist was imprisoned in the first place. To make matters worse, similar befuddling incidents occur for all the other Justice Society’s members, and appear to have been simply manufactured so as to allow Doctor Fate to be the hero of the hour by mind-blasting a luminescent ancient cranium. 

Much more straightforward in its storytelling is “A New Darkness” by Jeremy Haun, which arguably does a first-rate job in depicting the genuinely touching demise of Kar-Von as the Red Lantern attempts to rescue a group of hapless aliens in the Ethow Sector. Crammed with some intriguing characterisation, such as “the legendary wielder of both green and red rings” having to mentor a female member of the Corps who has previously lost her temper, this ten-pager initially seems to have been penned as a foretaster for a future publication focusing upon the two intergalactic law enforcement officers.

However, this notion is shockingly thrown aside when Juan Doe surprisingly sketches Kar-Von stoically battling a giant tentacled extra-terrestrial to a standstill, so his aghast partner can close a dimensional portal behind him and keep the universe safe. So unexpected an ending proves particularly unsettling, and definitely elicits the desire within the audience to learn more about Jan and her new mission to shut the remaining six monster-infested gateways which her ring detects at the tale’s end.

The regular cover art to "DC'S TERRORS THROUGH TIME" #1 by John McCrea & Mike Spicer