This isn’t going quite as Art would hope for.
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Scott Kolins
What They Say:
As the grim realities of immortality become too much to bear, the team is called together to investigate a mysterious piece of monolithic technology that has fallen out of time! Plus, the Past Aways’ lives in the distant future are revealed!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of Past Aways definitely appealed to me as this seems to be like a mini golden age of time travel comics out there. Past Aways did the fun thing of stranding the cast in our present and having them split up because of their various interpersonal issues that made it difficult to be around each other. While a larger threat is coming into view, and is explored some here, it’s the characters themselves that really make this work. Particularly when you have one that wants to kill Art, but can’t because time abhors a paradox and these guys are essentially immortal – for the moment – because of where they’re stranded. Seeing how they’re kept alive through these kinds of actions of the “time force” can make for some interesting moments.
This installment works really well in establishing the tone of things even more and getting a handle on the characters. We got a good look at them separated in the present before, and now that they’re all back at the base it’s done as a great reconnect/introduction for readers as Art walks them through the whole place and all that he’s done recently since his discovery of the opening that’s letting a lot of things coming through. What we really get here is just how obsessive and intense Art can be, even with his enthusiasm and smiles, because he’s done a hell of a lot of work in bringing all these artifacts, creatures and fauna together into one place so as to not impact that present day as much as possible. He’s looking for praise to be sure, but rightly so considering he’s done the really hard work while others have largely just don’t nothing for the most part. So it’s not a surprise that they’re indifferent to it all in the end since they’re still holding the fact that they’re stranded here against him.
Similar to the first issue, we get some good catch-up time with each of the characters here as well. The group dynamic is touched upon decently enough, but the tensions keep them apart and even Ursula’s now keeping some new distance from Herbert even after they’ve spent most of the past year together in some form. The back story is filled in a bit for each of them as well as they get a couple of pages mixed in while taking over new rooms in the facility for themselves. Herbert’s is painful to watch with how people in the future deal with their dead while with Ursula we get some amusing bits about how discomfort with space but also how Art drew her into what he wanted to do by going into the past. The starkest one of them is probably Phil in understanding why he has such anger issues in general and you can see a full story to be told there. Margaret’s past is intriguing, but it’s vague enough overall that there’s not a strong enough hook to really be invested.
All of it works well to make us more invested in the cast and their struggles that got them to this point, though it’s just various starting points as opposed to truly key points. But each of them becomes more fleshed out here, more interesting, and more compelling as a whole. Which is what makes watching them in the present so much more fun as it goes on because you know they’ll mostly be professional about it, but things will seep in to make it more problematic. Which is certainly the case as the latest tear in time over Chicago has hit and we see them going to deal with it, and to see the potential of using such tears as a way to get home. Finding that there’s a massive giant armored mobile platform that’s far taller than anything else striding across the city is what provides a great hook to the next issue as you’re left wondering exactly what will be, both within the platform and what it represents and how the team deals with it.
In Summary:
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this series and while I liked the first issue, it was one that felt awkward just because of the whole team coming back together angle and the way we were introduced to it. But the concepts were solid and left me wanting more, especially with the artwork and the overall presentation. Kindt and Kollins build well on that first issue and we get a lot of useful exposition at the start, which helps to paint the character dynamics well, and then digging into each of them before things get really crazy. It’s the crazy that I’m hoping is really run with next time around, but just this dynamic and the situation has a whole lot of appeal that leaves me wanting a lot more – and hopes for a solid overall storyline to be had here.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 29th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
