Mild Mannered Reviews – DC’s Terrors Through Time #1

DC's Terrors Through Time #1

KindleDownload iBookBuy Now

DC’s Terrors Through Time #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 11, 2021
Cover date: December 2022

Cover: John McCrea
VHS Variant Cover: Steve Beach
1:25 Variant Cover: Karl Mostert

Reviewed by: JP Rocha


The Phantom Stranger in “The Longest Night”
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artist: Santi Arcas

Phantom Stranger travels through time to protect innocents, on Halloween night. From Stonehenge to Arlington National Cemetery.

The Super Sons in “Trick or Treat”
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artist: Luciano Veccino

The Super Sons have a Halloween adventure. After switching costumes to go trick-or-treating, they help the Justice League to defeat the Demons Three.

Gotham City Sirens in “The Pueo Promise”
Writer: Peter V. Nguyen
Artist: Peter V. Nguyen

Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman go to Hawaii to vacation from Gotham. They find themselves facing off against a Hawaiin god.

Swamp Thing in “Half-Life”
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Andy McDonald

Swamp Thing finds himself a protector in a far post apocalyptic future, year 21XX.

The Justice Society of America in “The Midnight Hour”
Writer: Charles Skaggs
Artist: Tom Mandrake

The Justice Society are teamed up against Nazi Agents in 1944 Phillidelphia. The team is searching for a relic, the Skull of Zosimos, before Nazi agents can capture it for their Führer.

The Green Lanterns in “A New Darkness”
Writer: Jeremy Haun
Artist: Juan Doe

Set in the far future 2447. Two Green Lantern’s are following the source of a distress beacon.

Etrigan in “Blood Lost and Found”
Writer: Matthew Levine
Artist: Jorge Cordona

Jason Blood goes to a medieval village, to find out that it is being haunted by a demon.

Damian and Deadman in “The Haunting of Wayne Manor”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Kelley Jones

Deadman goes to Wayne Manor as he has heard about a lost soul after the Wayne’s. Deadman and Damian team up to fight off the demon.

4Story – 4: Who does not like DC Holiday Specials? These anthologies are some of the only times we get to see some of DC’s less popular characters. This book goes away from the recent format of tying all the stories together though a narrative, and I believe it is stronger for that. The three best stories are The Phantom Stranger, Entigan, and Deadman and Damian. The Super Sons, Swamp Thing, and The Justice Society of America were good stories. Green Lanterns and Gotham City Sirens are okay stories.

Paul Levitz on Phantom Stranger what more can you ask for. This is a classic Phantom Stranger story, and my favorite in this volume.

This was a fun Super Son’s story. The plot could be seen as juvenile but it fits. Jon and Damian are in character matching Tomasi’s Super Son’s style.

Gotham City Sirens was not bad. The story was fine, but the plotting and dialogue made the story disjointed and hard to follow. As the story takes place in Hawaii in the 1990s Conner Kent makes a cameo.

The Swamp Thing story was good. The story focuses on the half life of a post apocalyptic world, reminding us that nature reclaims everything in the end.

The JSA story is a good Golden Agesque story. The plotting is ok but the dialogue is a little cliche at times.

This is a generic Green Lantern story. Two Green Lanterns respond to a distress beacon and they find a monster. The story has poor setup and poor execution. We are not shown why the only action is to destroy the monster and why the Lanterns are willing to risk everything to kill it.

Entigan, this could easily be the best story in this volume. Similar plot to the Swamp Thing story but executed better.

The Deadman story is strong. Tim Seeley knows the Bat Family well, and I feel that he has a good understanding of the voice of Deadman.

4Art – 4: The Phantom Stranger story, while stylized, fits the story well.

Luciano Vecchio does a good job matching the Rebirth Super Sons style, but there are parts that look a little too cartoony.

The art in the Gotham City Sirens story is not bad but seems rushed. The pencils look uninked, and in some places they seem to be unfinished.

The Swamp Thing art is good but it is loose making details sloppy in places.

The JSA, what can you say it is Tom Mandrake. Storytelling was good and the art strong.

The art for the Green Lantern is strong and fits the story well.

The art for the Entigan story is stylized but good. I really like Jorge Corona’s Jason Blood and Monster. I do like Entigan’s look as well.

Kelley Jones on Deadman!

3Cover Art – 3: Not a bad cover, just not ready for primetime. Phantom Stranger and Damian look good, Deadman and Swamp Thing look okay. Jon looks okay, and Poison Ivy just looks bad.

4VHS Variant Cover – 4: This is the cover I recommend. A cool variant that throws back to 1980s horror movie VHS covers. It will remind you of, or for some, for the first time, walking the aisles of your local VHS store in the late 80s and early 90s. Don’t forget to Be Kind, Rewind.

31:25 Variant Cover – 3: Good cover, good art. The hourglass fills the theme of DC’s Terrors Through Time but the purple alien just does not make sense. There was no such alien in any of the stories. Still a cool cover.

Check out the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.