Terror Inc.

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Terror Inc.

Terror, Inc
Art by Paco Medina

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	St. George #2, Aug. 1988 (as Shreck) Daredevil #305, June 1992 (as Terror)
Created by	DG Chichester, Margaret Clark and Klaus Jansen

Characteristics
Alter ego	unknown
Notable aliases	Shreck
Abilities	Immortality Ability to incorporate the bodyparts of others into his own form

Terror Inc. was a Marvel Comics horror series featuring the anti-hero, Terror. Terror is an eternal entity who absorbs the talents of others through their dismembered limbs.

The series ran for thirteen issues beginning in 1992. In all, the mainstream Marvel version of Terror only appeared in 23 comics before his cancellation, all of which were published in 1992 and 1993. The Terror character was revived to take part in the "League of Losers" story arc of Marvel Team-Up.

1 Publication history
2 Fictional character biography
3 Alternate versions
- 3.1 Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
4 Powers and abilities
5 Is Terror Shreck?
6 Bibliography of Marvel comic books featuring special appearances of Terror

[edit] Publication history

Terror was originally created in the 1980s for Marvel's Epic line of comics. The line was faltering, so Dan G. Chichester was charged with creating new titles that would spark reader interest. In 1988, he created The "Shadowline Saga," an interconnected world that spanned four titles. There were no heroes or mutants in this world, just powerful, ageless beings known as "Shadows." In the second issue of St. George, Chichester introduced a green-skinned killer who acted as the enforcer for the Ravenscore crime family, one of the books' recurring villains.

According to Chichester [1], Marvel contacted him about bringing Shreck from the Shadowline books into the main Marvel Universe to serve as a platform for reinventing and reintroducing the old '70s Marvel horror characters, like Werewolf by Night and Morbius, the Living Vampire. However, during the book's prep time, the Midnight Sons crossover took shape, negating the need for Terror as the device by which the characters were brought back.

Five issues were scripted, and two drawn, when Chichester was told that the book wasn't appropriate for Marvel. There was talk of turning it into a miniseries for Epic, but then the decision was changed, and the book given the go-ahead. The first five-issue story arc was written when the book was going to be a launching pad for other horror titles, and so expounds upon the history of Daimon Hellstrom, introducing his half-brother Mikal Drakonmegas, who briefly operated under the name of Hellfire.

The premiere issue got good reviews, but there was no effort to capitalize on that. Sales continued to dip, and Chichester was told he had until #17 to get the numbers up, but the book was cancelled after issue #13. Terror then dropped out of sight, without even many guest appearances, until 2006's "League of Losers" storyline in Marvel Team-Up.

[edit] Fictional character biography

At some point in the distant past, a tribe of early humans hunted and fought a demon that had been preying upon them. The demon resembled a green bear, with a series of long, thin spikes protruding from its face and along its spine. The man who killed the bear was cursed by victory to assume the demon's form - his skin took on its green, decaying form, and the spikes from its face appeared on his. He gained the beast's ability to merge the limbs of others with his own body, but was shunned by the tribe he had helped to protect. Over the years, he adopted names that reflected people's reaction to him, and by the Dark Ages he had adapted the Germanic "schreck" (scare, fright) as his name.

At that point looking mostly human, Shreck was the squire to a powerful Shadow who was then calling himself Draghignazzo. Gravely injured in battle, Draghignazzo had Shreck bury him to create the illusion that he was actually dead, so he could heal in peace - a process that would take centuries. In the meantime, Shreck became a full knight, fighting side-by-side with a woman he loved and who, remarkably, loved him back. She soon died, however, and Shreck had her left hand encased in metal and hermetically sealed so that he might remember her touch forever, the one part of his amalgamated body that would never decay.

Shreck's activities from that time until the mid-1980s are unknown, but when he was next seen, he had been serving for several years as the enforcer for the Ravenscore crime family. During an argument, Eric Ravenscore blasted off one of Ripley Weaver's metal hands, which Shreck quietly collected for later use.

In Turkey, Shreck was found by two drug dealers who had been in a confrontation with the heroic Michael Devlin, knight in the order of St. George. Taking one of the dealers' eyes for his own, Shreck recognized Devlin, and sought to prevent him from leaving Turkey. He crashed a plane on the runway at the Turkish airport, forcing Devlin to leave via train. The two fought and, with help from his traveling companions, Devlin won. Shrek's legs were chained to one car of the train, which was then uncoupled. Determined to follow Devlin, he grabbed the rail of the next car forward, but the mass and momentum of the separating cars eventually tore his legs off.

Shreck survived, of course, but now held a personal grudge against Devlin, rather than the cold, impersonal "just business" attitude he displayed toward most of his victims. Shreck informed the Ravenscores that he would be leaving their employ temporarily, until he had taken his revenge on Devlin. By this time, Draghignazzo had returned and was posing as the superhero Dr. Zero. Shreck sought Zero's permission to kill Devlin, but was denied; he could stalk Devlin, but only kill him if he told Zero first.

Tracking Devlin to Nicaragua, Shrek managed to get the best of him after a protected brawl, then proceeded to crucify the man to a tree - he didn't have permission to kill Devlin, but he could certainly let him die. Devlin freed himself, however, and ambushed Shreck, continuing their fight. The pair tumbled over a waterfall, but the battle was only decided when Devlin dumped Shreck in a lake that was teeming with piranhas. He offered Shrek his hand, but when it became obvious the killer was taking that literally, he let go, and Shreck sank to the bottom.

Hours later, after the fish had departed, scavengers found Shreck's skeleton and prepared to remove the gold fillings in his teeth. Despite the massive damage he'd incurred, Shreck was still alive, and rebuilt his body from the men who had found him.

It was some time after this that Shreck journeyed through unknown means to Earth-616 and set himself up as the mercenary assassin Terror. He had an unspecified history with Wolverine, a "long-standing series of markers" between them.

Terror first appeared in the "modern" Marvel universe when he was contacted by Las Vegas mobster Deragon, looking for an advantage in the process of dividing the Kingpin's criminal empire. While in Las Vegas, he met Daredevil, and offered him information in exchange for helping to protect him from New York City's many superhumans, should the need arise. He next assisted Wolverine and Jubilee against a group of murderous eco-saboteurs.

Hired to perform a hit on crimelord Piranha Jones, Terror found himself at odds with the Punisher, who also wanted Jones dead. Getting in each other's way, the two lost Jones as they fought among themselves.

[edit] Alternate versions

[edit] Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers

Terror features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Terror, Gravity, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, X-23, and Sleepwalker (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.

It's revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. Terror utilizes Araña severed arm, giving him access to her armor. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisified with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine".

Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.

It should also be noted that in this arc Terror has apparently lost his precious left hand and since replaced it, though his appearances on the covers of the series clearly show the hand still preserved. This may be simply due to errors made on the part of the artists.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Terror has the ability to replace lost body parts with limbs and organs taken from others.

He secretes a natural acid that serves as both solvent and glue: the substance loosens the connective tissues in the target body, allowing him to more easily rend the parts he needs; Even if reduced to a head, torso and single arm, this allows Terror to gain enough leverage to remove the needed parts.

Once that is accomplished, the substance then helps bond the purloined limbs or organs to Terror's body.

Upon grafting the new pieces to his body, Terror becomes immediately aware of the previous owner's last memories and strongest emotions. In some cases this is a liability, and he must ignore this knowledge to complete his task.

In addition to memories, Terror gains the skills and abilities of the donor. A safecracker's ears, for instance, would allow him to hear extremely well, while a martial artist's legs would make him a superb fighter. Though he normally uses human parts, Terror has been known to use anything that he considers useful, such as large wings or a prehensile tail. The same holds true for parts taken from super-powered beings, though the power must be related to the body part claimed; if Terror took the legs from a superhuman who could fire energy blasts from his hands, he would not gain that skill.

Though the body parts bond permanently with Terror, they are still dead tissue and will begin to decay at their natural rate. This gives Terror a distinctive odor, and also forces him to seek a constant supply of replacements. Fortunately for him, his line of work brings him into contact with many people who he no qualms about crippling or dismembering. Since his entire body is already dead, many conventional attacks have no effect on Terror. He can survive being impaled, crushed or drowned, for instance - the only limit are injuries that incpacitate or restrict him physically. Presumably, if cut off from a useable supply of corpses (or victims), Terror's continual decay would eventually consume him.

It is unclear what, if anything, is the "controlling" section of Terror. The only thing not shown to be replaced over the course of his appearances has been his head, but there is also nothing saying that it couldn't be.

The spikes on his cheeks are the symbol of his power and his curse, inherited from the demon he slew to gain them. They can be removed and used as weapons, and if they are lost or damaged, they will regrow.

[edit] Is Terror Shreck?

Though the similarities seem numerous and obvious, Terror, Inc. editor Marc McLaurin maintained that the two characters were different. However, Chichester felt differently. "No matter what Marcus may or may not have said as a 'good soldier' in the Marvel Universe army, Shreck was Terror and Terror was Shreck...but for the fact that Terror got to develop more of a a back story as time went on."[2]

There was never any clear confirmation either way in the pages of the comics, though there were subtle references to the Shadowline comics in the Marvel issues. Finally, in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Horror 2005, a canonical source, it was confirmed that the two were in fact the same being, not dimensional counterparts.