If you like sci-fi futures with brand new concepts applied, you might love Terrorwar, a new series from Saladin Ahmed and Dave Acosta where groups of mercenaries are deployed to destroy threats that sprout seemingly from nothing. These threats are our worst nightmares, literally. The first issue is out today with shocks, surprises, and plenty of action.
As a sci-fi horror, Terrorwar establishes a few familiar tropes of future sci-fi cities. There’s plenty of squalor, a rough-and-tumble main hero, and a dog-eat-dog capitalist society at work. Our main character, Muhammad Cho lives in a not-so-nice neighborhood with good people but is seemingly left to rot by the richer class. The social aspects are introduced early on and fairly efficiently. It’s never more obvious than with an attack dog concept that’s pretty smart and terrifying.
That is, until one of the first terrors appears, and Muhammad has to get to work, even if it’s during duty hours. As we see with Muhammad’s actions and motivations, he’s willing to help others by going above and beyond. That includes rushing to action before anyone gets hurt, even if it means making less dough.
The terror introducing us to the concept of monsters is a riff off something from Disney. You can see it in the shadow, though it’s more like a frog plushie that’s 30 feet tall.
Acosta’s art, with inks by Jay Leisten and colors by Walter Pereyra, do well to juxtapose the cartoonish monster with the dark, realistic, and grungy backgrounds. It sticks out and is almost comical, yet it burns a man to goo and is taken out in a flourish of gunk. Another monster later in the issue shows us they’re not all cute, but can look like they’re straight out of a horror movie.
Run, it might be Mickey!
Credit: Image
Environments are well rendered as well, with a city that’s futuristic but also feels a bit piecemeal with different shapes and sizes of skyscrapers stacked on top of each other. This isn’t a futuristic city planned out and perfect, but it’s also not a familiar place as you’d see in Robocop. My only gripe is that the art can look a bit muddy and too dark, with backgrounds and foreground characters blending a bit too much. More could be done to distinguish them.
A strength of this issue is how Acosta and Ahmed establish a team for Muhammad to interact with. It’s an eclectic crew with different personalities and looks, visualized well with clearly different voices seen through the dialogue. In their differences, it’s established that they’re tight-knit. It’ll be interesting to unpack their nuances as the series progresses.
You’ll want to explore the world of Terrorwar once you start reading. It blends sci-fi horror and social commentary with an eclectic mix of characters. Throw in the concept of nightmares coming alive, and it’s bound to find a place in your pull list.
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