Who was the first "Mister Terrific" (from DC) you ever read about?

[MajorHoy]

For the first "Mister Terrific" you ever read about, here are the possibilities to consider:

* Golden Age Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane) - 1st appeared in Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942) / death of character in Justice League of America #171 (October 1979)
* Michael Holt - 1st appeared in Spectre #54 (June 1997)
NOTE: not differentiating between pre-Flashpoint and New52 versions
* Kingdom Come / Earth-22 version of Mr. Terrific - 1st appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May, 1996)
* Liberty Files version of Terry Sloane - 1st appearance in JSA: The Liberty Files #2 (March 2000)

NOTE: Not including Earth 2's "Terry Sloan" (no "e" on end) of the New52 since he went by the name "Mr. 8" in that version.

[MajorHoy]

Golden Age Terry Sloane



Michael Holt

[MajorHoy]

Kingdom Come / Earth-22 version of Mr. Terrific


Liberty Files version of Terry Sloane - 1st appearance in JSA: The Liberty Files #2 (March 2000)

[Jim Kelly]

From DC, Terry Sloane. Probably in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA No. 101 (September '72), although I'd probably read something about him before then. And the JLA/JSA team-up in issues 55 & 56 was advertised in the Direct Currents columns back in 1967, showing the covers for each issue, and I know I was really interested in those comics, but I never bought them at the time (got them many years later)--but Mr. Terrific appears on both covers, so I had seen him back then.

Not DC, but also in 1967, I saw on TV the MISTER TERRIFIC sitcom.

[Frontier]

Michael Holt .

Though Terry Sloane was pretty snazzy from what I've read of him .

[The Darknight Detective]

First Mister Terrific I ever read about was Terry Sloane. Unfortunately for him, he also died in the same story.

[Jim Kelly]

In 1974, DC put out the tabloid-sized FAMOUS 1ST EDITION C-30 that reprinted SENSATION COMICS No. 1. This had a card stock outer-cover (with a slick cover under that--so some crooks took off the card-stock and palmed this comic off as the actual SENSATION COMICS No. 1, since it was an exact reproduction). The card stock cover was bronze, just as the reproduction of ACTION COMICS No. 1 had gold and the reproduction of DETECTIVE COMICS No. 27 had silver. This means they must have had the printer add a special pantone in addition to the regular four colours (CMYK) just for that cover. All for a dollar (plus shipping and handling when I sent away for my copy, using the order form cut out from a newsstand comic).

SENSATION COMICS No. 1 (January '42) featured the second appearance of Wonder Woman, who made her debut in ALL-STAR COMICS No. 8. But the comic also had the first appearances and origins for Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, the Gay Ghost and Wildcat. The Black Pirate (one of the greatest of DC's forgotten heroes) continued his adventures from ACTION COMICS. And, of course, the first issue of SENSATION also had the debut of Mr. Terrific.

Needless to say, this was all amazing stuff. To see these comics presented exactly as they had appeared thirty years before was truly mind-blowing. But Terry Sloane's origin story was the real shock to the system. Here was a guy who came very close to taking his own life.

Mike's Amazing World delivers a good synopsis for this story:

Terry Sloane was a boy genius at the age of 10 and graduated college at age 12. However, though he finds success at everything he tries, both physical and intellectual, Terry is bored with life because it presents no challenge for him.

While contemplating suicide, Terry saves the life of Wanda Wilson, who wants to kill herself because her brother has joined a gang. Terry offers to help and designs a costume for himself. He then confronts Wanda’s brother, Billie and his friends. He proves that Big Shot, the gang leader the boys idolize, is a coward and turns their lives around. In doing so, Terry finds a new purpose for his own life as the costumed, Mr. Terrific.

The origin story has always stayed with me. It's a real roller-coaster of emotion, because here's a guy who we would all like to be--accomplished in every way--and yet his depression is palpable. He doesn't care to live--life holds no interest for him. That he then finds a purpose and dresses up in a such an upbeat costume demonstrates the striking combination of darkness and light in his creation.

[Jon Clark]

First Mister Terrific I ever read about was Terry Sloane. Unfortunately for him, he also died in the same story.

Same thing here. I read the JLA/JSA crossover where Terry died and if I saw him before that he didn't register.

[CaptCleghorn]

First Mister Terrific I ever read about was Terry Sloane. Unfortunately for him, he also died in the same story.

I suspect our childhoods had a lot in common.

[M@Bowers2014]

First Mister Terrific I ever read about was Terry Sloane. Unfortunately for him, he also died in the same story.

Same for me. My first exposure to Mr Terrific was Terry's death in that JLA/JSA crossover. I think maybe I'd seen him in the background of a JSA flashback somewhere but I hadn't ever read a story with him in it.

[Doctor Bifrost]

Golden Age Terry Sloane, although I read about him in a Silver Age comic. (The JSA/JLAS crossover - is that still the Silver Age?)

I have trouble getting past the name, which seems to me like one of those corny, nonspecific, superlative names, common in the Golden Age, that just seems bland beyond words to me. (I'm sure Superman might seem like a bland name too, in the abstract, but it carries the weight of the character's success - it's a household word.) I didn't mind when Terry Sloane showed up with it, but I found it strange that a modern hero like Michael Holt would want to use it.

[MajorHoy]

Golden Age Terry Sloane, although I read about him in a Silver Age comic. (The JSA/JLAS crossover - is that still the Silver Age?)

Depends on which issue(s) it was you first read him in; the annual meetings started in the Silver Age, but in the early 1970s (between 1970 and maybe 1973 or so?) we transitioned to the Bronze Age.

It looks like Mr. Terrific was in

#37-38 (1965)
#55-56 (1967)
#64-65 (1968)
#82 (cameo appearance / 1970)
#101-102 (1972)
#171-172 (death; 1979)

I have trouble getting past the name, which seems to me like one of those corny, nonspecific, superlative names, common in the Golden Age, that just seems bland beyond words to me. (I'm sure Superman might seem like a bland name too, in the abstract, but it carries the weight of the character's success - it's a household word.) I didn't mind when Terry Sloane showed up with it, but I found it strange that a modern hero like Michael Holt would want to use it.

Did you read Holt's origin story in The Spectre #54 (1997)?
(That might help it make more sense.)

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Terry Sloane was the first Mr. Terrific I read about, although it was really in the context of "crowd scene member #3" in All-Star Squadron and his entry in the original Who's Who. The first story with him actually participating in it that I recall reading was National Comics #1, part of the Justice Society Returns series of one-shots leading up to the launch of JSA #1 in 1999, and written by Mark Waid....and I didn't really like his portrayal of Mr. Terrific. Terry Sloane is supposed to be this pinnacle of human physical and especially intellectual development, and Waid, instead of focusing on that, instead uses it as a justification for claiming that Sloane was actually also the peak of human emotional and moral development, with an unassailable moral clarity that Sloane just assumes is also obvious to everybody else, only to have an emotional breakdown when the Allies start the bombing of Dresden, Germany. It comes off as Mark Waid at his preachiest, and preachy Mark Waid is just the absolute worst Mark Waid.

[Doctor Bifrost]

Did you read Holt's origin story in The Spectre #54 (1997)?
(That might help it make more sense.)

Yes. And still...

[Riv86672]

Terry Sloane was my first Mr. T, back in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 171.