Al Letson’s Vision for ‘Mister Terrific: Year One’ Was Originally a TV Show Pilot

This May, DC Comics is bringing back the origin story of one of its most brilliant heroes in Mr. Terrific: Year One. The six-issue limited series explores the life of Michael Holt, a genius inventor and Olympic champion whose life takes a dark turn after a personal tragedy.

Written by Peabody Award-winning journalist and TV writer Al Letson, the series marks his return to DC Comics since his debut in 2017. Letson teams up with acclaimed artist Valentine De Landro, colorist Marissa Louise, and letterer Lucas Gattoni to bring this story to life.

Plus, Edwin Galmon will add his unique touch to present-day scenes that play a key role in the narrative.

However, in a recent interview, Letson revealed that his limited series had a different origin in his mind. He originally pitched Mr. Terrific: Year One as a TV series pilot. However, due to the writers’ strikes at the time, he was unable to submit the pilot as planned. Instead, he decided to take his idea to DC Comics’ editorial team, who saw the potential and greenlit it as a comic book series.

“This was before James Gunn putting him [Mr. Terrific] in Superman, like I thought, you know, people know him but they don’t KNOW him. And I could take him and do something with it. But, my idea was that, because I write TV, I want to write DC and the Marvel Universes, and I haven’t had luck breaking it. A friend of mine was the showrunner on the new series with Ironheart.”

So I know a lot of people who have worked in those Universes, but I haven’t had the chance yet. So I thought, why not write a pilot for Mr. Terrific as TV as a TV show? I was under no illusion that anybody would ever turn this into a TV show, I just wanted to make a sample to show them that I could write superheroes in a grounded way. So I wrote this whole pilot. I loved it, I thought it was great, my team loved it, they thought it was great, and right when I finished it, the writer strike was going on so I couldn’t send it in to DC film and TV because I’m a member of the union I wouldn’t do that.

But, the comic book side, I could totally send it to them. Because I knew an editor there, Andrea, who worked with me on the writer’s workshop, I was like “Hey Andrea, I created a pilot, it would make a great comic boo,k do you want to read it?” And she was like, “Hell yeah, I’ll read it.” So I sent it to her, she read it, she wrote me back, and she was like “Oh my God, this would make a great comic book.” She said “Give me time because timing has to be right in order for us to put it out.”

Letson explained that this time turned into a year, and then James Gunn tweeted a picture of Mr. Terrific from the movie, and then he heard from Andrea again and gave her an official Year One origin story pitch that the two of them later shaped. DC loved the idea but he had to change it a bit.

Mr. Terrific: Year One will hit comic stores on Wednesday, May 28th.

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