Issue(s): Terror Inc. #6, Terror Inc. #7
Cover Date: Dec 92 - Jan 93
Title: "A killing in the market" / "A piece of the action"
Credits:
D.G. Chichester - Writer
Mark Texeira & Jorge Zaffino / Jorge Zaffino - Penciler
Jorge Zaffino - Inker
Tom Daning - Assistant Editor
Marc McLaurin - Editor

Review/plot:
This story uses two old Power Man villains, Piranha Jones and his gun man, Cockroach Hamilton (the third guy, Rat, is new, and killed off early in the story).

The story is that Piranha Jones, a crime boss, has moved out of New York to the town of Stamford and has tried to buy his way into legitimacy. Jones' attempts were rejected by the town at first, but three women advocated on his behalf, pushing Christian values of forgiveness, and eventually Jones was accepted in town. But then the women turned on Jones, and it later comes out that they are criminals themselves. They call themselves the Mafia Princesses.

Terror has been hired by an anonymous client to assassinate Jones. But his job is complicated by the arrival of the Punisher, who has also decided to target Jones. Terror doesn't want someone else to take his kill, because it's bad for business. But he also doesn't want to kill the Punisher on the grounds that someday someone might hire him to kill the Punisher, and there's no point doing something for free.

So that's the basic plot, with some fights and twists and turns as the story unfolds.

It ends with the revelation that Jones is the one that hired Terror. He has information that will incriminate the Mafia Princesses, and he loves his new town so much that he'd rather die than let them have it. So Terror fulfills his contract.

The first six pages of issue #6 are supposedly penciled by Mark Texeira, but i would have never guessed it. The art looks entirely like Jorge Zaffino (who does ink everything).

Regarding the question of whether or not the character appearing in this series is the one that appeared in Shadowline, someone writes in with this:

Who are you trying to kid, Mr. Chichester? Although I must admit that pawning off this beauty as a new character is pretty brazen, even for Marvel! Those legions of Marvel Zombies may not be able to make the distinction, but I still know the difference between a new character and a recycled one!

Terror began his career as Shreck, over in your now-defunct Epic-Shadowline saga. Dr. Zero, Powerline, St. George, and Critical Mass! Why all the insistence that this is a new character in MARVEL AGE #113? You already has a crossover with the defunct New Universe in QUASAR #31. And the fanboys who salivate over your gatefold covers, pop-up centerfolds and hologram covers would really get off on a Marvel Universe/Shadowline crossover. Or are you planning revelations for a later issue? If so, forget I said anything! If not, why not? The truth will set you free!

Still, it is a sneaky way to bring a Shadowline character into the Marvel Universe. Can we expect more to pop up someday.

...Not sure if I'll continue to purchase this title. At $1.75 a pop, in the midst of a recession? I wasn't that enamored of the character when he was in SHADOWLINE, and I'm not all that certain he can carry his own title. "Nothing personal, gentlemen... just business!"

I think it's funny that like the one guy who recognized in realtime that Terror came from Shadowline still wasn't that interested in the book. But here's the response:

Terror is absolutely not the character who appeared in the now-defunct Shadowline saga. Although he does bear an uncanny resemblance to Shreck (and that is more than a little intentional) this is a character firmly rooted in the Marvel Universe. Don't be surprised if there's a counterpart for the type of creature Terror represents in every facet of the multiverse. More on that in the future - but for now, and until the full story on Terror's origin is revealed on these pages, rest assured that this is an entirely new character.

As Clyde notes in the comments (and has been noted before), Marvel eventually changes their position on this and says that Terror and Shrek are the same character, but i think the definitive denial of that at this time is worth showing.

Since i'm quoting letters, here's another one:

First, abandon this "anti-hero" business. Terror is a villain, pure and simple. An anti-hero, a term used in comics, must have admirable traits balanced by some tragic flaw or error. Characters as different as Nomad and Doctor Doom qualify according to this, but Terror does not. What's admirable about him? That he always completes a contract? Very nice coming from a plumber or an accountant, but from an assassin it leaves something to be desired.

The response seems to miss the point entirely:

You're probably correct when you say Terror is an anti-hero. Nomad also, can be loosely fit into that term. But Doctor Doom? You may be a little off base there. Sure, he has his monarchy's interests at heart, but his own best interests come before anything else. That makes him, what we in comics call, a bad guy. [Weird comma placement in original]

And Terror is at least arguably more of a villain than Dr. Doom. Terror kills innocent people indiscriminately in this story.

I've never seen Dr. Doom do that. Granted that's because Dr. Doom's MO was defined in an era where the Code wouldn't have allowed such things, and any collateral damage to civilians during super-villain battles is not shown and/or magically doesn't happen, but it's hard to accept Terror as even an anti-hero when he's causing electrical surges that cause injury or worse to everyone in the area, let alone killing a librarian so he can use her eyes to look up stuff in the microfiche. And that's fine. I don't need Terror to be a hero/anti-hero/whatever to read a book about him. I think there's room in the Marvel universe for books about immoral characters. They still have to be interesting, though. I think the basic concept of Terror is pretty cool, and the plotting isn't bad, but D.G. Chichester's writing is very dry. That's a very odd thing to say in a story where the main character is constantly stealing and wearing other people's body parts...

...but once the novelty of that wears off, i find things kind of boring. And Jorge Zaffino's stylized art is not to my liking.

Terror looks a lot more like an old man without his hat.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place on Halloween, so barring any more pressing considerations, i'll group it with other Halloween issues.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A