Terror Inc. was an American comic-book horror series from Marvel Comics starring the antihero Terror, an eternal entity that absorbs the talents of others through their dismembered limbs. He was created by writers Dan Chichester and Margaret Clark and artist Klaus Janson and first appeared as the villain Shreck in St. George #2 (August 1988), from Marvel's Epic Comics imprint.
Publication history
Terror was created for Marvel's Epic Comics line as part of writer Chichester's Shadowline Saga of three interconnected titles. There were no superheroes in this world, but rather powerful, ageless beings known as "Shadows". In St. George #2 (August 1988), Chichester and co-writer Margaret Clark introduced a green-skinned killer who acted as the enforcer for the Ravenscore crime family, one of the books' recurring villains.
According to Chichester, Marvel contacted him about bringing Shreck from the Shadowline books into the mainstream Marvel Universe to serve as a platform for reinventing and reintroducing the company's 1970's horror characters, such as Werewolf by Night and Morbius, the Living Vampire, but subsequent publishing plans changed directions.
The series Terror, Inc. was set for 15 issues but only ran for 13 issues, cover-dated July 1992 to July 1993. After guest-starring in the "Dead Man's Hand" Daredevil/Punisher crossover, Terror next appeared in 2006's "League of Losers" storyline in Marvel Team-Up.
Terror, Inc. editor Marc McLaurin maintained that Shreck and Terror are two different characters. Writer Dan Chichester said: "Shreck was Terror and Terror was Shreck ... but for the fact that Terror got to develop more of a backstory as time went on".
The comic books themselves gave no confirmation either way. Eventually, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Horror 2005 confirmed that the two were in fact the same being.
Fictional character biography
At some point in the distant past, a tribe of early humans hunted and fought a demon that had been preying upon them. The demon resembled a green bear, with a series of long, thin spikes protruding from its face and along its spine. The man who killed the bear was cursed by victory to assume the demon's form - his skin took on its green, decaying form, and the spikes from its face appeared on his. He gained the beast's ability to merge the limbs of others with his own body, but was shunned by the tribe he had helped to protect. Over the years, he adopted names that reflected people's reaction to him, and by the Dark Ages he had adapted the Germanic "Schreck" (scare, fright) as his name.
At that point looking mostly human, Shreck was the squire to a powerful Shadow who was then calling himself Draghignazzo. Gravely injured in battle, Draghignazzo had Shreck bury him to create the illusion that he was actually dead, so he could heal in peace - a process that would take centuries. In the meantime, Shreck became a full knight, fighting side by side with a woman he loved and who, remarkably, loved him back. She soon died, however, and Shreck had her left hand encased in metal and hermetically sealed so that he might remember her touch forever, the one part of his amalgamated body that would never decay.
Shreck's activities from that time until the mid-1980s are unknown, but when he was next seen, he had been serving for several years as the enforcer for the Ravenscore crime family. During an argument, Eric Ravenscore blasted off one of Ripley Weaver's metal hands, which Shreck quietly collected for later use.
In Turkey, Shreck was found by two drug dealers who had been in a confrontation with the heroic Michael Devlin, knight in the order of St. George. Taking one of the dealers' eyes for his own, Shreck recognized Devlin, and sought to prevent him from leaving Turkey. He crashed an airplane on the runway at the Turkish airport, forcing Devlin to leave via train. The two fought and, with help from his traveling companions, Devlin won. Shreck's legs were chained to one car of the train, which was then uncoupled. Determined to follow Devlin, he grabbed the rail of the next car forward, but the mass and momentum of the separating cars eventually tore his legs off.
Shreck survived, of course, but now held a personal grudge against Devlin, rather than the cold, impersonal "just business" attitude he displayed toward most of his victims. Shreck informed the Ravenscores that he would be leaving their employ temporarily, until he had taken his revenge on Devlin. By this time, Draghignazzo had returned and was posing as the superhero Dr. Zero. Shreck sought Zero's permission to kill Devlin, but was denied; he could stalk Devlin, but only kill him if he told Zero first.