Book Review: Mister Terrific Vol 1: Mind Games (New 52)

Book: Mister Terrific volume 1: Mind Games (issues: #1-8) by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson

Edition: Read single print issues

Description:

The world's third-smartest man - and one of its most eligible bachelors - uses his brains and fists against science gone mad in this new series from Eric Wallace ("Titans") and Roger Robinson. Michael Holt is the head of a successful high-tech corporation and an institute that recruits and encourages the finest minds of the next generation to excel. As Mister Terrific he inhabits a world of amazement few others know exists, let alone can comprehend.



Rating: 4 stars

My Review:

I read the single issues instead of the trade edition. These were the only eight issues published before the series was cancelled.

Similar to Hawk & Dove, this also received bad reviews. Again, I don't go along with those reviews. I liked this, it was definitely more sci-fi than just the standard hero punching villains typical format. I thought this was easy to understand even if you're not a science geek and it was also well written. The artwork was also really good. I wonder why this was cancelled?

I thought Mister Terrific (Michael Holt) was a great character. He was super smart but that didn't stop him from being relatable to the reader and to the other characters in the book. As Michael, he had to deal with corporate espionage but as Mister Terrific he had to deal with various villains using mainly his intelligence. 

As much as I like Mister Terrific, I have to say that Aleeka Dkafur was one of my favorite characters, she was an executive of Holt Industries and was smart, interesting, loyal and a great friend. She also had a little crush on Michael despite him not noticing.

But what made her really cool was what happened in the last issues. Instead of waiting around for Michael to get a clue that Aleeka liked him, she decided to move on and see what else life had in store for her. I think that's pretty cool. It reminds me of the third season finale of Doctor Who, where Martha Jones decided not to waste anymore time with her crush on the Doctor, she figured he would never see her so she declined his offer to continue on as a companion.

Although I really liked this series, there were a couple of things that did annoy me:

1) The last issue of the series ends with a cross-over with Earth 2 issue #2 comic, which is too bad since I'm not reading that series. At least with Static Shock and Hawk & Dove, the reader got a stand alone as well as a hopeful ending to the series without having to purchase an additional issue.

2) What was the point of having Karen Starr a.k.a. Power Girl in this series. She did nothing to add to it, her only purpose was to connect her to the two Earth 2 comics. They didn't need her in the series to do that.

Even though, this wasn't a fan favorite, I really enjoyed reading it. Again, too bad the series was cancelled. I would have loved to see what would happen in future issues.