Though Al Letson is an experienced writer, I’m pretty sure Mr. Terrific: Year One is his first full DC Comics miniseries, and it’s an impressive debut.

The book hews well to Michael Holt’s pre-Flashpoint origins, while mixing and mashing to accommodate some more recent developments, including heavy ties to DC’s current All In storylines. If the story travels along predictable lines, the ties to modern continuity keep the present-set story hopping, while the past-set storyline is buffeted significantly by Valentine De Landro’s always-excellent linework. Just well done all around, embedding Mr. Terrific more fully in the DCU, and I’d be happy to see more from Letson on any of the characters who appear here.

[Review contains spoilers]

In the wonderful way that comics go, a lot of Letson’s Mr. Terrific rests on the Flash Vol. 20: Time Heist, the conclusion to Jeremy Adams' Flash run. That was a not-particularly standout volume except for the implications for Mr. Terrific, that the son he thought had died in utero was actually kidnapped and raised by Granny Goodness. Here, Letson expands that to suggest Darkseid had designs on a power source invented by Paula Holt, and that Darkseid arranged the car accident that killed her specifically so his proxies could get the “netherlight” engine and Granny could take PJ in the process.

That centers Darkseid an astounding amount in Terrific’s origins, to an extent that might not even be beneficial for the character, but it sure is of the moment! As such, when Darkseid appears on the Justice League Watchtower in the DC All In Special, Terrific’s immediately thinking of vengeance. I’m not sure if this explains the manic Terrific that Mark Waid’s been writing over in Justice League Unlimited, but it certainly gives the character a stake in the proceedings.

Kudos then to Letson for preserving at least some of the dialogue from John Ostrander’s Spectre #54 where Michael was introduced, even as really the character moves farther from that origin, counting Darkseid now as an arch-enemy. To wit, Bruce Wayne plays a sizable part here, establishing Bruce and Michael as knowing one another (when again, to think back, it took a bit for Batman and Mr. Terrific to appear in the same circles) and also that Michael and Black Lightning Jefferson Pierce are old friends who competed together in the Olympics. Those are a bunch of deep DCU ties that Terrific didn’t have before.

Letson writes Terrific well, as level-headed and analytical as he’s always been, again a nice contrast to Waid’s more uneven portrayal. Black Lightning isn’t on the page much, but equally Letson does well by him, and De Landro’s staid art lets Michael and Jefferson reconcile hurt feelings and then fight enemies together both without excessive melodrama. Letson includes at least one callout to the 1970s Black Lightning series, and if he’s a fan, I’d be interested to see Letson take on the character after the recent Black Lightning: The Standard didn’t impress.

Again, Terrific unfolds mostly along predictable lines; that Darkseid backs the mogul Athena Prescott in this story has shades of Darkseid being the power behind Morgan Edge — always a fun dynamic, but one we’ve seen before. Nor is it much of a surprise that Prescott turns out to be the threat Terrific is fighting at the end. But I didn’t expect Letson to take up Adams' Palace of Eternity, for instance, and Letson manages to get in a crackling encounter between Batman and Lex Luthor, quite aside from Terrific’s goings on. That’s another vote in favor of a sequel, as the teaser suggests another volume might involve less Apokoliptian mysticism and more Terrific matching wits with Luthor and Mercy Graves.

Also present here is Cormorant, a rarely used pre-Crisis villain who was reinvented as a mercenary in the past few years but also rarely seen, perhaps because he’s named after a relatively innocuous bird. I did appreciate how Letson layered the story, however, with Cormorant working for Athena against Terrific, but when Athena fires him, Cormorant seeks to kill both Terrific and Athena in the book’s finale. Silly name, but again, Letson plus De Landro do well in depicting some tense sniper scenes, enough even to make Cormorant one to watch.

I know we’ll see PJ “Fairplay” Holt in DC’s upcoming events; whether that translates to a big role for Mr. Terrific is less certain. Probably what we lack for now is synergy — any trace of Michael Holt’s personal grudge against Darkseid from Mr. Terrific: Year One showing up in what’s essentially his main title right now, Justice League Unlimited. We’ll see what DC K.O. has to say about it.

[Includes original and variant covers]