X-Terminators 3 - Inferno

The X-Terminators journey to the mausoleum where Taki has agreed to create a spell casting computer for N'astirh.

X-Terminators #3

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: John Wellington
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

There's not a great deal of plot to this issue beyond the introductory sentence above. Instead the focus is on how the X-Terminators use their skills and powers on the journey whilst Taki and N'astirh engage in a battle of wills to get the special computer built in time to hold open the portal to bring the demons to Earth.

The issue opens with the four free kids in a library consulting maps to find the cemetery in Artie's image, a reminder of the very different information age compared to now. It's also a bit reminiscent of a scene in the original Ghostbusters film and one of the panicking readers even mentions the film. The journey to the cemetery then involves tackling a possessed subway train followed by a run in with a biker gang who don't like how close the kids are standing to their bikes - and get them "borrowed" for their troubles. Once again we get to see all four demonstrating their powers and also the constraints such as Rusty being unable to use flame powers in a library or Boom Boom's timebombs being unable to free Rictor's hands from the train doors without blowing up his hands. Skids's powers feel the weakest but she gets to show off other skills such as knowing how to stop the train, a trick all the Morlocks learned. This side of the issue is a lot of fun even though it takes up more pages than it needs, a side effect perhaps of each issue having 28 pages of story.

Meanwhile at the cemetery things are not so good. Taki opts to enter into a game of stalling with N'astirh by insisting on lots of supplies and repeatedly threatening to be too upset to deliver the promised technology. The problem is that this brings out all the worst characteristics of the now code-named "Wiz Kid" (could the character get any more stereotypical?) as he smugly tells the demon what he needs as though he's untouchable. However others are not so safe with two policemen who investigate the cemetery getting captured, one turned into a demon and the other eaten to force Taki to speed up. It's a relief when the X-Terminators arrive and try to save them but by this point the computer is complete and N'astirh is able to use it.

This issue feels overlong for all that happens in it and really suffers from the focus on Taki. Although there are moments where he shows concern for others it's also hard not to see his self-centred attitude being genuine, especially given some of the poses he's drawn in, that shifts his delaying tactics from a genuine strategy into a deliberate strop. Four parts is sometimes too much for a limited series especially when the issues are longer than the normal and this is a series that could have done better in three.