3 out of 5

I find a lot of Alan Moore’s ABC Comics stuff terribly fun to read, but something you can stop and start, pick up and put down, generally not have to be too involved to get the story.  Which seems to sort of be the intention, to just have a fun set of characters who can grasp at some of the best elements from every comic era – Golden Age naievety, Silver Age science, even some Modern Age dunderheadism – funneled through Moore’s expansive world plotting and snappy sense of adventure and humor.  Terra Obscura slots right in with Tom Strong and Tomorrow Stories in that sense, leaning, as those books do, on a general Golden Age feel and finding, as those books do, a fun way to introduce heroes and villains.

Terra Obscura is really just a world-is-ending-oh-my adventure story featuring “SMASH,” a group of science heroes from the ‘alternate’ earth – Terra Obscura.  What is endlessly rewarding about ABC is the way Moore will introduce little nuggets of story that he has no problem fleshing out, all without it feeling over-planned or over-produced, which does sometimes happen with Grant Morrison’s world building, as that comes lumped with LSD awareness, whereas Moore just seems to have a need to write these stories.

Basically, if you enjoy Tom Strong, you’ll be right on board for Terra Obscura.  If you only dig modern comics (and feel no need to champion Alan Moore), Terra – and the ABC line – might not be action-oriented enough, though anyone should be able to subsist on Yanick Paquette’s fun character design and playful paneling.