Black Terror

Superherobox|

caption="Exciting Comics" #9
comic_color=background:#c0c0c0
character_name=Black Terror
real_name=Bob Benton
publisher=Nedor Comics
America's Best Comics
debut="Exciting Comics" #9 (Jan 1941)
creators=Richard E. Hughes
Don Gabrielson
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=SMASH
aliases=
powers=Superstrength, limited invulnerability|

The Black Terror is a fictional character who originally appeared in "Exciting Comics" #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. Some "Black Terror" stories were written by Patricia Highsmith before she became an acclaimed novelist.

The character has been revived by various publishers over the years, including Eclipse Comics, AC Comics, America's Best Comics and Dynamite Entertainment.

Character history

The character first appeared in the Golden Age of Comic Books in "Exciting Comics" #9, published in January 1941 by Nedor Comics. He was one of that publisher's most popular superhero characters, operating until at least 1949.

His secret identity was pharmacist Bob Benton who formulated a chemical he called 'formic ethers' which gave him various superpowers. He used these powers to fight crime with his sidekick Tim Roland, together known as the Terror Twins.

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics did a four-issue mini-series 'revival' of the Black Terror. In this issue, the character is an undercover FBI agent operating against organized crime, who would dress up like the Black Terror for certain operations. He had no superpowers or any connection to the original character.

AC Comics

AC Comics revised the Black Terror, starting in their Americomics title. In it, now retired Bob Benton returns to action after an attempt to shake him down for protection money leads to the death of his wife. He would operate as an over-the-top vigilante, now just called the "Terror".

Later, most likely due to trademark issues, he became a criminal enforcer known as the "Terrorist".

America's Best Comics

The Black Terror, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, were revived by Alan Moore in his series "Tom Strong", published by America's Best Comics. This revival set the characters on a parallel world called Terra Obscura, which was also the title of the resulting mini-series.

In "Tom Strong" #11, Moore and co-creator Chris Sprouse more fully introduce the idea of Terra Obscura being a parallel Earth, "but in our own dimension. In our own galaxy". In this issue, Tom Strange is revealed to have run across the Milky Way for 30 years to reach Strong for help in stopping an alien menace which killed or imprisoned most of the science heroes of Terra Obscura. Strong himself theorized that the duplicate Earth "must be due to some near-inconceivable fluke of mathematics, of statistical probability".

The parallel Earth, it is revealed by Strange, was formed much as our own, except that once Earth had completely formed, something large collided and combined with it - a vast spacecraft. The pilot of the spacecraft survived in the Moon, until awakened by astronauts on July 20, 1969. It apparently followed them back to Earth, where it began construction of a ship to return home - by converting the entire Earth into a spaceship. In the process, it was engaged in battle by the members of SMASH. It killed some members, and trapped others in suspended animation for 30 years, until freed by the combined efforts of Tom Strong and Tom Strange.

In "Tom Strong" #12 it is revealed that The Black Terror had been killed in battle with the alien. However, Benton, a polymath, had transferred his consciousness into a computer program called Terror 2000.

In the "Terra Obscura" series, The Terror 2000 program institutes a crime prevention program in Invertica City, wherein technologically produced versions of the Black Terror (referred to as The Terror) fight crime. A corporation running the program tries to sell it to other cities in the US.

Eventually, the Terror transfers its consciousness into the now deceased Tim and tries to acquire power from the returning Captain Future's spaceship. He is defeated by a time travelling version of his original self, the Black Terror.

Dynamite Entertainment

The publisher Dynamite Entertainment said in 2007 that Black Terror would be one of several public domain Golden Age characters that would appear in the comic-book series "Project Superpowers", by writer Jim Krueger and artist Alex Ross [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=121397 Newsarama.com (July 18, 2007): "Ross and Krueger on "Superpowers", by Matt Brady] ] He will also be the first to get a spin-off limited series, written by Krueger with art by Mike Lilly. [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080709-LilyBlackTerror.html Mike Lily: Black Terror, Exclusivity and More] , Newsarama, July 9, 2008] [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080730-BlackTerror.html Alex Ross & Jim Krueger on The Black Terror] , Newsarama, July 30, 2008]

Image Comics

The Black Terror is seen in the Mike Allred illustrated Stardust the Super Wizard story in Image Comics Next Issue Project #1, also known as, Fantastic Comics #24. He can be seen with many other notible Golden Age characters, including; Daredevil, Miss Masque, The Green Lama, The Face, The Phantom, the Fighting Yank, and Samson, who also headlines the book. Many of these same characters appear in the Project Superpowers comic published by Dynamite Entertainment. He is slated to appear in the most recently solicited issue of "Savage Dragon"

Wild Cat Books

In June 2008 pulp publisher Wild Cat Books released "Legends of the Golden Age", a prose anthology featuring new stories of the Black Terror and Lev Gleason's Daredevil. It featured works by Barry Reese, Wayne Skiver and others.Fact|date=June 2008

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/b_terror.htm Black Terror] at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/blackter.htm Black Terror] at the International Catalogue of Superheroes