Some thoughts about The Terrifics Annual #1

The past, present and future are getting revealed.

A Halloween party was the perfect time for the team to relax but what they don't know is that the costumes hide strange people.

I honestly wasn't expecting this series to get an Annual but I'm glad it did since, despite that Jeff Lemire is not present here, this still ended-up as a pretty good read.

Gene Luen Yang arrives with a story about Halloween appropriately enough and shows how The Terrifics are trying to do their best to regain their own humanity. Is a simple premise that consists of dopplegangers taking form of people familiar to the team but this allows for really emotional moments for all the characters, key members like Mister Terrific and Plastic Man get especially strong scenes that put their roles in new perspectives and gives a bigger value to the whole concept. Joe Bennett's pencils are strong as always.

Then comes Mark Russell with a story focusing strangely enough on Java. Considering the success that Russell had in other cavemen, The Flintstones, I guess he was the right choice for this and this tale just cements that idea. Russell explores the origin of Java and what brought him to the present, the writer gives the character an amount of complexity that I feel was lacking before and gives his role in the main story a more interesting and understandable context. Doc Shaner's clean and beautiful style makes the script even better.

Finally comes James Asmus with a section about Tom Strong that serves as a prologue to this series. It explains a few loose threads that were present at the beginning although is not necessarily complex in its execution. Jose Luis' pencils are really good at depicting sci-fi elements.

Overall, a pretty solid Annual. Can't wait to continue with this story.