Terrorwar #9 - Image Comics

TERRORWAR No. 9, February 2024

Arguably ending well before its allotted twenty-one-page count, Saladin Ahmed’s narrative for Issue Nine of “Terrorwar” seemingly smacks of a storyteller who simply has nothing more to give despite desperately needing to pen something for his (suddenly relabelled) mini-series’ “jaw-dropping conclusion!” Admittedly, that still doesn’t stop the American author from depicting a rather satisfying smackdown of Blue City’s selfish military elite, courtesy of a colourfully-coordinated action sequence which is disconcertingly reminiscent of something from Saban Entertainment’s “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” television show. But this pulse-pounding bout of pugilism is over before it's really started, and once obnoxious Representative Ronali is far too easily killed, any notion of the central protagonists losing is swiftly put to bed - leaving everything which follows debatably devoid of any real importance.

Indeed, even the subsequent death of Dmitry, who nobly sacrifices himself to prevent a pulse charge which would “blow everyone here to bits”, disappointingly lacks any lasting impact on account of how contrived his martyrdom appears. Just prior to this manufactured moment, the Terrorfighters have been shown to be absolutely imperious to even the most formidable of their opponent’s death-dealing weapons, such as when Muhammad Cho personally dispatches the monstrous mechanical Dissuader with just a punch. Yet suddenly, the Detroit-born writer would have his audience believe a single blast from a explosive device would terminally shatter one of their Terror-fuelled energy shields..?

To make matters worse though, even after this “brain-bending sci-fi horror saga” has come to a close, there doesn’t seem to be any real light at the end of the tunnel for this comic’s central cast. Despite quite literally saving the planet’s civilisation none of Cho’s team are better off. In fact, Muhammad himself is all the poorer for his heroic exploits, now being “a man with no prospects” in addition to being penniless, and can apparently only resort to expletive-laden soliloquies to help pad out Ahmed’s plot to its depressingly lack-lustre conclusion.

Equally as unconvincing, at least in places, are Dave Acosta’s layouts, which primarily appear to have designed to simply eke out enough sketches so as to finally finish the book. The artist does a good job of illustrating just how overpowered the ex-government contractors’ super-suits are when compared to their foes’ arsenal of man-made weapons. However, almost a quarter of the book is dedicated to splash pages, strongly suggesting there simply wasn’t enough script to keep his pencil all that busy.

Written by: Saladin Ahmed, Pencils by: Dave Acosta, Inks by: Jay Leisten, and Colors by: Walter Pereyra