I love the "group of misfits" approach to the superhero team, but this one was too strained in assembly. It's much too reminiscent of the Fantastic Four, given the impression that the cast was selected just to copy/mock a competitor's property. I'm also disappointed that a first volume launch of a new concept was so handicapped by too many references to previous events and storylines. What happened to the idea of a real starting point?

ARC from Netgalley.
After the events of Dark Nights: Metal, several new titles debuted for DC, listing as "The New Age of Heroes". The Terrifics is one of these titles, starring Mr. Terrific, Plastic Man, Metamorpho, and Phantom Girl. Stuck together (can't separate more than 1 mile from each other or they die) and trapped in the Dark Multiverse.
This title seems very random and chaotic to me. There's a character they keep searching for named Tom Strong, but they never explain why they are looking for him. They are trying to escape the Dark Multiverse, but I'm not sure if they ever do. Phantom Girl's home planet, a cure for Metamorpho, Algon the ancient Elemental Man, the orb of Ra, and a last page reveal of huge villain Dr. Dread.... What? I'm lost...
Putting a bunch of minor characters together does not make a new title, at least not for me. It wasn't horrible, but not great either.
Recommend, only if you really like any of the main characters. Otherwise, skip this one.

In typical DC fashion four unrelated characters are brought together and have to form a team. In the case of The Terrifics! (thanks Plastic Man for the name), Mr. Terrific is summoned to his old lab where the new owner (who always obtains things within the law) has opened a door into the Dark Multiverse. Mr. Terrific (3rd smartest man in the world) uses Plastic Man to help him rescue Metamorpho and then they find Phantom Girl who has been trapped there longer than she realizes. The kicker, if they get too far apart, they start to explode, so naturally a team is formed. And they have a mission - Find out who Tom Strong is before he dies and the Terrifics have to save the world! The fun is in the details. Mind, you having Plastic Man on the team is a plus in regard to the banter, but Phantom Girl helps out especially after she gets a dog. And the book ends with a nice cliffhanger to lure you into the next volume!

That was kinda cool. I'm not behind all of the changes happening at DC (*sigh* Bendis), but, after reading two of the 'New Age of Heroes' titles, well, I'm half and half. This one is the 'I most definitely liked it' half. It's an interesting new team. They're thrown together in the Dark Multiverse, and then when they get back to our world they find that they cannot be more than about a mile apart from each other. Mr. Terrific goes about fixing this (and so many other things), but, even as he does that, the team bounces from place to place trying to put out fires in each of the team member's lives.

There's an interesting new character of Linnya, and they go to her home planet. There was also Metamorpho, and his story is intense. We haven't seen them go and try to fix Plastic Man's problems yet, but, hey, I didn't totally hate Eel here, so, that's a plus. And, of course, there's Michael Holt aka Mr. Terrific. And he was the reason (and will be) I wanted to read this in the first place.

I definitely look forward to whatever happens next in the story. It was a fun TPB.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment.

While I enjoyed the idea of a superhero team made up of lesser-known or even unknown characters, The Terrifics is not the way to go. I normally adore Jeff Lemire's work, but The Terrifics is incredibly disjointed and just doesn't flow well. I think most of the problem is that the series spins out of the Dark Knights Metal event and I hadn't read that, but I feel that a good spin-off doesn't necessitate knowledge of the origin and this just doesn't do that.

The aspect of “Guardians Of The Galaxy” has made way for more interesting superhero mash ups. DC has always had some great potential with this but it is a matter of finding the best balance. In “The Terrifics Vol 1: Meet The Terrifics (New Age Of Heroes)” [Jeff Lemire/DC Comics/144pgs], that balance is mostly found but it is the lunacy in a great way of Plastic Man that really makes this volume sing. Unlike some self referential superheroes, Plastic Man works because he is ripping not necessarily on modern pop culture but on human behavior. Metamorpho, who has a bit of a self esteem problem seems the perfect foil since he is trying to balance both worlds (to a more benign end than say Two Face) including a girlfriend who is stubborn but doesn’t want to change him and his own nature which is fueled in this specific story where his twin or mirror reflection of himself (as it might be) is stuck in a dark universe of sorts. Mr. Terrific, as a character, is the least interesting. He may carry a tragic past but his constant almost whining nature about the state of what needs to be and his ability to save it can become a little grating. This makes him the weaker link in the chain per se. Phantom Girl, whom they find on the dark side through the portal, is a lost girl who was taken by her parents and lived in this inter =dimensional arena where she was neither real nor imaginary. This idea leads to a texture of existentialism and the state of being within her character. A good construct is that when they leave the universe to battle in the real world (which is not as interesting per se), they are all bound together physically. The finale speaks to a new member or at least can break their curse or friendship whichever way you want to look at it. “The Terrifics Vol. 1: Meet The Terrifics (New Age Of Heroes)” is a fun romp but with some uneven edges to be sure.

B-

By Tim Wassberg

There's a fine amount of smart and zany in Terrifics Vol. 1: Meet the Terrifics against an anything-can-happen backdrop, and that's more than enough to bring me back next time. Doc Shaner's art deco work -- complete with Ben-Day dots on Mr. Terrific's mask -- reveals this book as an affectionate send-up, operating more under Silver Age rules than the sensibilities of modern times. Jeff Lemire fleshes out Plastic Man and Metamorpho especially, delving into long-standing contradictions among the characters and promising strong character studies to come. What comics need is unpredictability, and this is another "New Age" title that offers just that.

The Story: This comic picks up after the events of Dark Nights: Metal (I did not read that series), with the Dark Universe having crept into the DC Universe via the means specific elemental metals (there – you’re all caught up!) Metahumans who make use of those metals are starting to feel the effects of the Dark Universe, and this is where the story in The Terrifics kicks off. Mister Terrific has been called in to consult on a project that isn’t going the way it was intended. From there we meet the rest of the team: Metamorpho, Plastic Man, and Phantom Girl. Through a series of dramatic events this disparate group of individuals become forced to become a team and work together, and their goal becomes working together to solve the mystery that forced them together, and figuring out a way to be a team.

The Verdict: I am barely acquainted with any of these superheroes – there is a version of Mr. Terrific on the TV show Arrow, and I love Plastic Man on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I think that unfamiliarity with the characters, combined with this story picking up from Dark Nights made for a steep reading curve. However, I am big fan of team-up comics, and I will read anything that Jeff Lemire puts out. The heroes leap off the page thanks to Ivan Reis, making their amazing powers look, well, terrific! the team start to come together just as the graphic novel ends, so I am definitely excited to see where The Terrifics end up as they spend more time together and get further into their story.

Ugly humanoids that want to be made to look like routine humans again (but always get the girl anyway), brainboxes, people that stretch, and people that fly around in a semi-tangible state… I don't think anyone would ever expect to find them in a supergroup of superheroes, but lo and behold, it's been done. Meanwhile, there is also this comic, which actually features all of the above, too. I hated Mr Elastoplastic or whatever the heck he is, from way back when, and I really didn't want so much of this book to be him, and him bickering. I'm not a huge fan of Mr T, either, but we're stuck with him – and the shtick of this book is going to be that all four of them are stuck with each other, until they leave Mr T alone enough to sit and ponder things enough so he can unsplit them, mend their awkward ways and make them average people again. Before then they're going to have the average side of things to a, er, well to a T. This isn't horrendous, but it's pretty vacuous stuff, with Mr Elementodog, or whatever the heck it was, and a hark back to someone we really didn't want or need resurrected. Annoyingly disposable. One and a half stars.

While Lemire's interest in the silver age overpowers what is powerful in this story, this is still an entertaining read. Recommended.