Young Terrorists 1 & 2 Review

Young Terrorists 1 & 2

Writer: Matt Pizzolo
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colorist: Jean-Paul Csuka
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Black Mask Studios

Reviewed By: Gregory Brothers

Whenever you’re talking about comics and release dates there are lots of different things that can happen that end up pushing a book back, from personal issues such as illness, the writer or artist getting busy with other project or overextending themselves, or lawsuits. It seems as if Young Terrorists hit a few of these issues in trying to get out their second issue. Instead of putting number two out and then making the readers wait forever for the next few issues it was decided to wait and put issues two through five together into one book and instead call all of it issue number two. This week after an 18-month delay, we finally get that issue two.

The first thing to know about Young Terrorists is that it is not a family friendly book. If you are adverse to nudity, sex, and violence then you should steer clear of this book because it has all three and it has them in copious amounts. Beyond that, Young Terrorists focuses on Sera Solomon, who is the daughter of the leader of The Black Temple Gregor Solomon. After her father is murdered, Sera is kidnapped and taken to a top-secret camp where she is tortured for information. From there she is able to fight her way to freedom where she forms her own group of freedom fighters who have all been let down by the system in some way. This group then works together to help others that have been let down while also trying to advance their own personal agenda.

First some of the positives. When you boil down the basic plot of the story it is one that really makes you think about what goes on in the world in relation to secret societies and the influence that they have. It is written brilliantly without coming of as to preachy or as a conspiracy theory. The writer is also not afraid to take chances with the way he writes the book. As I said, violence and sex are used quite a bit in this book, while the sex at times seems over the top, the violent acts are done in a way that you would expect and that is dirty and without concern of the bystanders. He goes out of his way by adding mystical elements to the book, so that it’s obviously not true to real life while the actions of some are ones that conspiracy theorists have complained about for years. The art is overall very well done. It is gritty when it needs to be and then a bit more defined during the more calm parts of the book.

Unforgettably a few negatives did jump out at me. First of which is that I feel as if the writer introduces way to many plot points at the beginning that never get resolved of revisited throughout. To me, many of these points should be mentioned again or explained further. Without doing that the narratives leaves the reader feeling as if they may be missing large chunks of back-story and/or character development.

Some of the elements that are never explored again include the other two power player groups of The Red Shield and Gold Annapalis. Both of these groups are mentioned in a graph complete with character names and former members but we never see any of these groups show up. And while I am not a prude, I did feel that some of the nudity and sex was a bit over the top throughout, including one of the last panels in Issue #2. At times, it felt to me that some of that nudity and sex were added just for shock value.

The Verdict
Check it out. While at times the story feels a bit disjointed and is missing some satisfying answers, the core of Young Terrorists 1 & 2 is written very well with some characters that are truly interesting. I can not reiterate enough that this is not a book that is for everyone but those that do pick it up will find a story that is dangerous, entertaining, and so different than anything else they are picking up. The writers have promised an issue #3 that will wrap up the first story line, hopefully we will not have to wait another 18 months for it.