Welcome to the second column of Four Color History, Evolution of a Public Domain Super Hero. This column will provide an overview of how different companies reinterprets Superheroes in the public domain.
In my first installment, I will look at the most visually interesting Superman rip-off, the Black Terror.
The Black Terror was created for Nedor Comics, a comic imprint of Pines Publications, by Richard E. Hughes and Don Gabrielson for Exciting Comics issue number nine (January 1941).
The self-proclaimed Nemesis of Crime was a mild-mannered Pharmacist named Bob Benton, who sought to develop a tonic that could help people feeling “run down.” He, however, ran into trouble as the local mob sought to shake him down for protection money. At a loss, Benton finds a solution to his mob problem thanks to his young assistant Tim Rolland accidentally adding red ant formic acid into his tonic. The formic acid changed the tonic to allow whoever drinks it to gain enhanced strength and endurance.
Bob and Tim having drunk the tonic soon become the crime-fighting duo the Terror Twins and dealt with the local mobs. Afterwards they would face both regular criminals and various Axis-aligned super villains like the Nazi mad scientist Throg.
The Black Terror soon afterwards become Nedor’s most popular character ,with him not only headlining Exciting Comics, but also the anthology title America’s Best Comics and his quarterly solo title.
However, the good times could not last as Black Terror was one of the many Golden Age Superhero to see their sales decline in the years following World War Two. In 1949, Nedor canceled all of the comics featuring Black Terror. These cancelations were likely the result of Pines Publications consolidating Nedor Comics with fellow publisher mate Better Comics into a singular publishing imprint called Standard Comics. that year.
After having all of his comics canceled, the Black Terror entered Comic Book Limbo for nearly 35 years.
In 1983 AC comics, a publisher that got started reprinting public domain comic books, would make the first attempt in reviving the Black Terror.
In Americomics issue 2, the Black Terror was brought back as an older incarnation of the original Nedor incarnation called the Terror for copyright reason. In a story starting the Shade, a hero from AC comics predecessor Paragon Publishing, we meet an older Black Terror who has declare a one-man war on the mob after his wife was killed in a tragic reprise of his origin story.
By his second AC appearance, The Terror has become cynical in his never-ending struggle against crime and focus solely on avenging his dead wife. This lead to him teaming up with a Japanese crime lord and renaming himself as the Terrorist. Afterwards this version of the Black Terror would be a recurring antagonist in the AC superhero universe, having appeared as recently as 2012
Around the time that he broke bad in the AC universe, the Black Terror would also make a cameo in Roy Thomas’s homage to non-big two Golden Heroes Alter Ego.
Around this time, small indie publisher Darkline comic had their own revival of the Black Terror. In this revival, Bob Benton has lost the ability to to age thanks to the tonic that gave him his power. Now in the 1980s, Bob has come out of retirement as Terror Knight to start a new war on crime.
The last of the eighties revival of the Black Terror was by Eclipse Comics. This revival only lasted for only three issues and compared to the previous two revival was a complete reboot of the character. So much of a reboot that the Black Terror’s real name is no longer Bob Benton. This miniseries was a radical reinvention of the character, with him now being a masked FBI agent with no superpowers.
The 90s were a quiet decade for the Black Terror, beyond some appearances in the AC universe. The 2000s,however, would see some top talent in the industry take a crack of the character.
The first Black Terror revival of the 21st century was in Alan Moore’s Tom Strong series. In the series’ eleventh issue, we’re introduced to the world of Terra Obscura. Now Terra Osbcura is an alternate version of Earth inhabited by the Superheroes of Nedor Comic. The Black Terror has a slightly different origins from his original comic incarnation. The main different being that Bob Benton inhaled the Formic acid through a lab accident. Also his costume was stated to influenced by a book on pirates.
This incarnation of the Black Terror died shortly after his first appearance defending Earth from an alien invasion. Bob, however, had his mind digitized shortly after his death. This digitized copy of the Black Terror’s mind would serve as the basis for a computer program called Terror 2000.
As Terror 2000, he creates an army of robots to fight crime in Invertica City. However, like most revivals of the Black Terror, this one also turns evil. In this case, Terror 2000 murdered Tim Roland in a plot to gain time travel as a tool in his war on crime.
Around the same time, the Black Terror made some cameos in the works of Erik Larson. Most notable showing up in crowd shot in Next Issue no. 1. He also shows as a cameo up in Savage Dragon as one of the superheroes imprisoned by the rouge superhero Solarman.
A larger revival of the Black Terror occurred in Alex Ross’s Project Superpower. In this series, Black Terror has a similar history to his Golden Age incarnation. However, in 1945, the Black Terror, along with several other heroes, was imprisoned in Pandora’s Urn by the Fighting Yank to prevent the Nazis from unleashing the evil contained in it.
When he and fellow heroes were released in 2008, he initially wanted to kill Fighting Yank for tricking him into the urn. He, however, decided to bury the hatchet to deal with Dynamic Man and his Supremacy.
This incarnation of the Black Terror is also notable for being the star of the first comic to feature the Black Terror as the lead since the late 1980s. This incarnation has an ongoing series in 2009 and a five-issue miniseries in 2019.
This incarnation of the Black Terror is notable for going full-in on the pirate influences on the character. His ongoing notably feature him gaining a flying ship, and a new parrot inspired sidekick. He also uniquely utilizes a sword in his fighting style.
The Project Superpower incarnation of the Black Terror is not the only take that Dynamite Entertainment has done with the character, with a take closer to his original depiction being feature in the Pulp crossover series Masks .
This ends the first article of Evolution of a Public Domain Super Hero. Joins me in around a week as I cover the Dan Garret incarnation of the Blue Beetle.
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