MISTER TERRIFIC I (Terrence "Terry" Sloane)
Created By: Charles Reizenstein & Everett E. Hibbard
First Appearance: Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942)
Role: Forgotten Golden Age Hero
Group Affiliations: The Justice Society of America, The All-Star Squadron
PL 8 (139)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 4
AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 6
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12)
Athletics 10 (+13)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+13)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Business) 6 (+12)
Expertise (Streetwise) 2 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+6)
Technology 2 (+8)
Vehicles 1 (+5)
Advantages:
Agile Feint, Beginner's Luck, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Jack-Of-All-Trades, Languages (A Few), Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Takedown
Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +9
Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +7
Complications:
Disabled (Colorblind)- Dear God I hope so...
Enemy (The Spirit King)- The King would possess Jay Garrick and be the end of Terry.
Relationship (Ned- Brother)- Terry has a brother who's a major F-up, and constantly needs to be bailed out of trouble. He later gives birth to a daughter who becomes the villainess Roulette, who considers Terry her father.
Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 23 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 13 (139)
-The Golden Age Mister Terrific is largely known for having what may be the single WORST costume in the history of superhero comics. Like, in the Golden Age they were still figuring things out about what worked and what didn't, and guys were throwing everything out there to earn paychecks, so I'm a bit more forgiving of suits from this era compared to later ones, but MY GOD. The red and green clash so horribly, and then there's the big "FAIR PLAY" boilerplate right on the front. It's like the 1950s version of Roulette says when she captures him. "I saw your costume- let me guess. You're colorblind".
-Renaissance Man and ultimate Fashion Victim Terry Sloane had accomplished so much by his early 20s that he felt he had nothing left to live for, and planned to commit suicide. However, he rescued a woman attempting suicide from a bridge, and solved her personal problems (her brother was mixed up in a gang)- he then found meaning to his empty life: he formed "The Fair Play Club", a group devoted to putting a stop to juvenile delinquency. Terry became Mister Terrific, a crimefighter, and THAT was the focus his life needed.
-However, despite this uplifting origins, Mr. Terrific was a pretty minor-league guy, and a big failure overall- he only appeared in ONE ISSUE of the JSA feature (replacing Starman & Spectre) before being turfed for better characters, and then went back to his own feature before having a pretty mediocre run (though he was in 60+ issues of Wonder Woman's
Sensation Comics, though spread out a bit longer than many of his JSA contemporaries, existing across five years). This may have something to do with the fact that he is wearing what is quite possibly the WORST superhero costume in the history of the universe. Seriously, even by the standards of crappy superhero costumes, this one looks bad.
-Mr. Terrific was so bad that he hardly ever showed up in the big JSA/JLA crossovers- after appearing every few years or so, he was unceremoniously killed off in 1979, seven years after his last appearance! Found strangled and floating in water, it was discovered that the villainous Spirit King had possessed Jay "Flash" Garrick and forced him to strangle Terry. Jay was guilt-ridden but immediately forgiven by his peers (including the Spectre), and Terry was thus gone for good. Back in 1979, it was still pretty rare to kill off rercurring super-heroes, much less ones from a major team, so clearly they felt they could just get rid of the guy. Terry took the longest to get a Legacy Character of any of his JSA contemporaries, too. And I mean, most of this team had featured little-seen Golden Agers that went on to much longer careers owing to being on the team for even a few issues... but not Terry.
-Despite his failure as a character, Terry Sloane is depicted as a super-genius Renaissance Man who's good at literally anything he tries, and includes an Eidetic Memory (something that's actually more common amongst these guys that you'd think). He's an expensive PL 8 with numerous skills and abilities.