The Good
I'm happy to see Karen Starr (Power Girl, to you and me) have a place in the New 52, but I'm not sure "casual hookup/arm candy" is the best fit for her. While she says she's "just friends" with Michael, she was lounging around in what looks like only a big t-shirt, while he just stands around shirtless - if they weren't implying a hookup, I'd like an explanation as to what it was.
The Bad
Michael just seems very... bland? I elaborate on this in The Verdict, but it's clear that his personality has taken the hit.
Having a seemingly random person attain a genius-level intellect just seems like lazy villain planning. I mean, it's the same answer to a fairly common question: "How can we make a villain that threatens someone who's the (blank)est Man in the World?"
The answer is, you make an evil version of him - it's worked for decades. It just doesn't seem like the start they needed.
What annoys me most about this book is the transition from Mister Terrific's relatively low-key (but still impressive) science mind to a Reed Richards-level of flashy super-science. It just doesn't seem like Terrific is the type of guy to concern himself with time travel, memetics, and time-travelling memetics; DC doesn't need a carbon-copy of another hero.
I just don't want to see Mister Terrific just pull solutions for problems out of his ass, because that will make him boring extremely quickly.
Also, throwing in racial issues between Karen and Michael's other interest ("It's because I'm a white girl, isn't it?") was very groan-inducing, especially in the first issue. I'm not saying this doesn't have a place in the book, but the first issue should be a good introduction into characters and concepts, instead of jumping into meatier subjects.
The Verdict
To be honest, I had the same reaction about Mister Terrific as I did about last week's Static: both seem to have filtered out the personality that made the character great. Instead, we're given more superficial gadgets and displays of power that really don't tell us much about the person behind the powers.
The New 52's Terrific isn't someone who I connect with, and that's a problem. Michael's atheism was an identifier that defined him as a person, especially when coupled with his scientific nature. Having the "new" Michael just ramble on about science and act like a playboy really just seemed to water him down; what's coming out of his mouth just seem like words with no meaning behind them.
The disturbing trend I'm noticing in the New 52 books I'm reading (besides Animal Man) is that in an effort to make characters inviting and approachable, they come across like people who wouldn't exist in real life. Babs lost her spunk, Virgil lost the ability to be a "real" teen, and Michael seems like a black Bruce Wayne.
The common excuse seems to be "give it time," but when DC takes this big a gamble, titles need to be great coming out of the gate.
[edit] I had confused the name of Michael Holt with Terry Sloane, the original Mister Terrific. I apologize, and have edited the review to reflect my mistake. Thank you, users who have pointed it out.
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