Rory’s new life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Creative Staff:
Story: Peter Milligan
Art: Piotr Kowalski
What They Say:
Now in the United States, the nightmares keep coming for one-time terminal case Rory Fletcher. In desperation, he leaves Rory Fletcher behind and assumes a new identity, which comes with a ready-made beautiful wife and cute kids. All seems well until visitors from his past life – and a horrific reminder of his cancer – threaten to destroy this newfound happiness. Meanwhile back in England, nervous Minesh and beautiful damaged Mia get dangerously mixed up with the strange Treatment Q.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first two issues of Terminal Hero has really been interesting to go through with the kind of rough, bloody and violent story that we got. It is, admittedly, an expected kind of work when dealing with Peter Milligan, but it also has a kind of beyond the edge storyline to it that works well with his particular style, which Piotr Kowalski is quite ideally suited to bring to life. Watching as Rory Fletcher went through the process he did, the issues he experienced and being drawn into working wetworks as he did, it made for a wild and crazy ride that really drew you to the insanity that he was forced through. So when he took the opportunity after all that time to essentially swap himself out for someone else that had died, you can easily understand why he took the opportunity.
Now living as Chris Walker, having “survived” the incident that caused his other self’s death, he’s still not entirely in the right. His mind has created a projection of his old self that appears from time to time to messes with him, to make him remember who he truly is and what he did. Rory’s attempt to deal with himself isn’t something that goes well either, since it’s all in his head and he’s unable to “unmake” this other Rory no matter what he does. It’s a kind of insanity, potentially, and that uncertainty is really fun to watch. Listening to what’s going on in Rory’s mind while he also tries to play the role of Chris while in his body definitely has its moments. With his abilities to reach into the minds of others, there’s a certain ease to it and he at least has the cover of brain trauma going forward in dealing with family and others until he can get the information he needs. It’s the perfect escape from the life that he had. Or rather, the life that was ending pretty fast from what he was forced to do, never mind the cancer that he had.
While this life plays out, and we get some great moments in really seeing it unfold and how he manages to adapt into it, we also get a bit of what’s going on “back home” with Mia and Minesh. While Minesh wants to destroy the remainder of Treatment Q, Mia’s making sure he doesn’t do that as she wants to use it to treat herself, her “cancer of the mind” that he talks about getting fixed through more regular therapies. They don’t get a huge amount of time, but what we do get when we see them post-treatment makes it pretty clear that they’re fully unhinged at this point in a kind of nuts stoned out 60’s hippie imagery kind of way. Running that while seeing pages and pages of Rory trying to cope with his life and the recurring threat of the Cancer Rory showing up is a really good parallel since he’s trying to live a normal life, praying for it in fact, but having so many episodes over time that it feels like we’re waiting for the breaking point where he’ll just snap outright.
In Summary:
Terminal Hero once again has an issue where it really does require a couple of read throughs, which is good because you get your value and because we get a good bit of dialogue throughout it that really has to be delved into. Rory’s attempt at having a normal life is certainly worth watching since he’s trying to deal with a whole other body and existence while fitting in with all sorts of people. But it’s the inner storyline that really draws you in as he has to deal with the Cancer Rory that’s either a true part of him or a generated part of his subconscious. While I’m curious to see how things will unfold when it comes to Mia and Minesh, and those that will be hunting Rory as well as Davenport appears for a couple of panels, the real “fun” is in watching what Rory is attempting to do and seeing his successes and failures. You really do find yourself rooting for Rory while being afraid of what the reality of the Cancer Rory may be. With just a few issues, I still can’t believe how invested I am in this character and his chances at survival.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 8th, 2014
MSRP: $2.99
