This book is fun, but kind of all over the place. Some plot threads get resolved for too easily, while others don't get resolved at all. Characters come and go seemingly at random, sometimes disappearing entirely, despite the fact that they are seemingly important to the central narrative. In other words, the story is a bit of a mess. However, the book manages to get by on a healthy dose of charm. The world Motter has created is detailed and fun, and the book is filled with great word play (part...

So this is kind of a mess. It's a beautiful mess, and one populated with some interesting characters, but nonetheless a mess. Like, I can't even think of a coherent plot to steer the narrative through its 350ish pages. Just specific scenes. Some could have given the story something to focus on, but which get matter-of-factly dropped as characters shift in and out of the narrative.The absence of any actual plot is pretty cumbersome for The Compleat Terminal City's success, but as a casual, on-the...

A sprawling epic of a retro, sci-fi comic, following the lives of several unique characters as they navigate the ups and downs of Terminal City. Daredevils, sentient robots, pale mobsters, a lady in red.. drama and humor abound as murder and intrigue befall the city.

Retro-futurist noir pastiche following high crime and low life in the city from every grand old imagining of the gleaming world of the year 2000. Terminal City has transport links to Metropolis, Alphaville and Opal City, but has fallen on hard times - the old daredevil Human Fly is washing windows, and litter blows between those sleek towers. There are people here, most with terrible puns for names, and robots too (the most significant of whom is essentially Basil Fawlty reimagined as the menaci...

A few months in the lives of the colorful folk of retro-futuristic** metropolis Terminal City. Criminals, cops, and crooked politicians; professional daredevils and entertainers; and the humble employees and wealthy guests of the extravagant Herculean Arms hotel.The huge cast is eccentric and kitschily or punnily named, including Cosmo the Human Fly; his one-time love interest Charity Ball (and her sisters Faith and Hope); crime boss Big Lil and her goons Knuckles, Shoebox, and Vito; aging heart...

A playful retro-futuristic noir that, quite refreshingly, refuses to take itself too seriously. The characters are colorful, likable and plenty; the plot is mcguffin driven and a bit ridiculous; the art is superb and evocative, and the humor involves ample sight-gags and puns.

A victim of its own cleverness. While I found the world and the design intriguing, the stories themselves left me unimpressed. I had to reread the endings of both of the included stories and I'm still not entirely clear as to what happened. There were many seemingly extraneous characters and tangents that took 'screen time' away from the central stories. But in the end I don't think that mattered. I'm not sure the stories were as important as the general atmosphere and the kinetic feeling of lif...

With the exception of the excellent pencils, I found everything about this pretty forgettable. Silly "pulp" or "noir" dialogue and the most uninspiring coloring I have seen for such great art. My dislike of the coloring surprised me. In Motte'rs other retro-futurist work, "Mister X" I am pretty much impressed, but in "Terminal City", I feel the coloring lacks nuance.

The Chicago Public Library recently established a partnership with online content sharing service Hoopla, which among other things means I suddenly have access to several thousand old comics I've never read before, including most of the back catalog of Dark Horse, Top Shelf and Boom! Studios. And among these was a title I had really been looking forward to -- the complete 15-issue run of Dean Motter's Terminal City, collected up into one oversized graphic novel, which I had spent years seeing as...

The Compleat Terminal City is a collection of Dean Motter and Michael Lark’s Terminal City series of the mid 1990s. The artwork is superb and it brings to mind the work of Chester Gould. Awesome art deco retro-futurism, I really enjoyed it. Having said that, a couple of the stories were a little weak, although the artwork more than makes up for some goobered stories.All in all, I think Dark Horse Comics cranked out a nice product; and I highly recommend it for the comic book fan or the retro-fut...

I don't feel like writing longer reviews about comic books.I like the retro-future aesthetic and the fairly relatable characters. I like the noir-style. All good choices.

When I picked this up from the library, I was hoping for a rich, inventive story that took advantage of the original and compelling world. Instead, I found a graphic novel overflowing with half-characters, none of whom I cared even the tiniest bit for, tied up in plots that were nearly impossible to follow.There were some redeeming factors, such as a handful of clever puns (both verbal and visual), but on the whole, it was an entirely unenjoyable read. I'm honestly surprised that I bothered to f...

This is a hard review to write. I absolutely loved the world building here--the noir feel, the retrofuturistic world, the playful word games, puns, and gags scattered throughout. The art is phenomenal, and the vibrant color palette makes every page pop. I even loved the weird menagerie of characters with all the strange plotlines randomly bumping into each other. But ultimately, all those interesting plotlines didn't get equally interesting endings. In fact, the end is rather a muddle, and I'm n...

Lovely to look at, and the world building is often absorbing. But it seems like the actual plotlines were, at best, secondary concerns for Motter. All too often, the intended story gets lost behind the scenery. And yet, it's still an enjoyable book, because the scenery is just that good. The art is vibrant, detailed where it needs to be and simple where it can get away with it. And Terminal City itself is an almost endlessly fascinating place. It would have been so much better if Motter hadn't f...

Maybe it's just that I've seen a lot of retro-futuristic comics over the years, but I really wasn't impressed by Terminal City. It's puns and references were partially interesting and partially distracting, and the overall story seems to place no importance on the climax. The first series is better about that, but the followup series (also contained in the book) manages to place no impact on the climactic moment of the book, and then takes five pages wrapping up plots that felt like they could h...

This graphic novel comprises two parts--"Terminal City" and "Aerial Graffiti". Together, they are art deco noir with its tongue firmly in its cheek. The art is exquisite--I'll never tire of looking at it. Cosmo and B.B. and Jezebel are characters to cheer for.That said, "Terminal City" is significantly better than "Aerial Graffiti", the former being a stronger, more complete story. The latter, suffers from an insufficient plot with barely fleshed out characters. It ended abruptly, with an out-of...

There are many striking visuals and fabulous setpieces. The characters are fun, with distinct personalities, a sense of backstory, well-depicted and brought to life. Unfortunately the plot is a mess, with many threads introduced and never resolved.

I sped through the first five issues in this collection firmly believing this book would be a 4 or 4.5: Retro-futurism with a heavy dabbling of punny names, an Art Deco cityscape, and a bold blood-red night sky. But after that, the story seemed to spin its wheels until issue nine when absolutely everything got wrapped up in 30 pages. Not to mention the black boxer coming back from retirement only to fight apes, a missing link, and a robot. Mother may have been just trying to throw in a John Henr...

I really wanted to like this more. I liked the characters, I liked the backstory, and the design of the city was phenomenal, but the actual stories in here left a lot to be desired. There was far too much coincidence, a lot of unexplained stuff, and the stories ended rather abruptly with nothing really changing except some characters were dead now. This could have been truly amazing, but instead it was just meh.

The retro future vibe combined with golden age of adventure plots prices a winning combination. Motter bravely resins done plots while leaving other mysteries. The end of Aerial Graffiti was rushed. Four stars.