Reviewed by Brady Steele. “Breaking History” really sums it up, doesn’t it? The new and ominously titled arc begins this month in Ivar, Timewalker #5. This creative team gives a refreshing approach to the tried and true time travel story month in and month out. They could give Doctor Who a genuine run for his money when it comes to creating blurring time loops, causing paradoxes and averting potential future timelines.
WRITTEN BY: Fred Van Lente
ART BY: Francis Portela
PUBLISHER: Valiant Entertainment
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: 27 May 2015
I cannot deny that I love a good time travel story. This series has been downright pitch perfect since its debut. I have thoroughly enjoyed the inventive ways writer Fred Van Lente has spun out a very different attitude to time travel storytelling. Van Lente’s storytelling skills really make the reader pay attention to each panel. It’s fascinating and fun to see how everything gets more and more connected in the universe. He also manages to keep the intrigue moving by introducing doubt as to if destiny and things being set in stone time-wise are immovable.
Ivar is one of the three immortal brothers running around the Valiant Universe. He uses his Tachyon Compass to navigate time travel. Not only does he try to save the girl / inventor of time travel Neela Sethi, from the scary villain, he needs to save her from her cybernetic, dictator at the end of time future self. Readers get to see how truly powerful and universe ending future Neela and her city ship, OBLIV-1. Kudos to the art team of Francis Portela, Andrew Dalhouse and Dave Sharpe for pulling off the epic scale of the action going on in this chapter.
Ivar is a compelling character worth following. He seems to be doing things for noble reasons. He appears to have good intentions to saving all of creation. The fun part is seeing how manipulative he is going about it. Doing something good but going about it deviously is a great hook for any story. Add to it the layering of different eras, straight face lying to hero siblings and bribery with burgers and you have a tale that warrants your undivided attention.
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Mr. Steele enjoys all things comics and imagination-based. Using his lifetime of comic-fu-dom for good, he imparts his knowledge for the universe to enjoy and for you, dear readers, to pass it on.
Twitter: @mrbradysteele