I wish more comics were written with such balls-to-the-wall verve and joy.
Creative Staff:
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art: Francis Portela
What They Say:
Dr. Neela Sethi, the inventor of time travel is captured by her evil future-self (because…time travel) and tempted to give into her rage and become the woman who may destroy history! As the BIG CRUNCH rapidly unmakes the universe around her, Neela faces a choice that may give her her life’s dreams…at the cost of the very universe itself. But take heart, inhabitants of the very universe itself, because all of our hopes lie the hands of IVAR, TIMEWALKER! But even he can’t save us alone – what happens when history’s most jaded time traveler puts together the best team he can find to save time itself? A combination of his estranged family, like his immortal brothers ARMSTRONG and THE ETERNAL WARRIOR, his inter-dimensional enemies like history’s most re-tweeted prankster THE LURKER, and a BLOODSHOT NANITE with one heck of an attitude problem are just the start of history’s most unexpected saviors. The plot to save history begins here, so don’t worry! …Well, maybe you should worry a little.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
How much plotting does Fred Van Lente do before writing these issues? I can’t help but imagine a Beautiful Mind-esque wall full of notecards linked together by various colored strings. I don’t know how else he keeps from getting confused on who is where and in what time.
This issue is a perfect example. It begins with a group of insurgents flying to invade the living city Oblivi-1 in order to exact revenge for evil Neela’s screwing with history. It then moves to Earth in C.E. 9999, where one of Ivar’s brothers, Gilad, fights against a horde of bad guys called the Nergal. Ivar meets with his brother, offering a Five Guys double cheeseburger and a proposal: invade the uninvadeable city and rescue past Neela before future Neela can bring her plans to fruition.
Time travel sometimes makes my head hurt, but thankfully not when Fred Van Lente is writing it. This issue jumps back and forth through in time, but the order of events never gets confusing. Basically, Ivar plays the Danny Ocean role, putting the gang back together for one more job. In this case, this is a job for immortals, and Ivar must work from a rather limited talent pool—namely his two brothers Gilad and Aram (Armstrong of Archer & Armstrong). Not surprisingly, neither want to work with the other, and they only barely tolerate Ivar. I have no idea how Ivar will convince them, but I can’t wait to see them working together.
To go into more detail would really ruin the fun of reading this issue, as it’s full of great character moments, fun action, and plenty of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey goodness. Van Lente and Portela are firing on all cylinders with this comic, creating a title that’s incredibly fun and bombastic with solid character work. I wish more comics were written with such bravura.
In Summary:
“Preapocalyptic” is another homerun from Van Lente, Portela, Dalhouse, and Sharpe. There are few comics on the shelf right now that can match Ivar in terms of bravado, character, action, and sheer sense of fun. Professor Josh gives this one an…
Grade: A+
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: May 27th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
