Round Robin Review: Ivar, Timewalker #2

Every week we get together to discuss the latest books in our advanced round robin reviews. Here are our thoughts on Ivar, Timewalker #2. Check out our preview of what’s to come.

Amy’s take

Van Lente takes us a step further into his time travel romp, explaining how time travel works and how to properly be a time tourist. He tackles one of the most popular history-altering wishes and adds some spice, giving us a real life history lesson as well as mocking our current state of pop culture edification. We’re left with a bit of a cliff hanger and a surprise cameo from a welcome face. Clayton Henry provides solid work on the interior art, gracing the characters with an array of emotions.

Robert Gill contributed a segment that encompassed one of the time jumps. Whether this was done to help facilitate the creation process or was simply a method to visually clue the readers in to a change in the timeline is unknown, but it was effective in highlighting the different time period.

Paul’s take

I love that this issue quickly throws the “butterfly effect” out the window. Having to be afraid of affecting the future has always been a drag on time-travelling tales, in my opinion. It handicaps everything about the storytelling. What makes this issue extra-great is the approach to why the butterfly effect doesn’t happen. Although I loved this issue, the only criticism I have at all is that it felt a little too preachy at times. I could do with a little less explaining and a little more of revealing things through the story though that’s really only a minor issue for me. I LOVE the ending!!!

Scott’s take

For anyone who didn’t read the first issue, essentially Ivar, Timewalker is essentially Archer & Armstrong, except that Fred Van Lente has swapped history and conspiracy theories for time travel and physics. If nothing else, you certainly have to be impressed with the sheer amount of research that goes into Van Lente’s books. This particular issue is mostly used to catch the reader up to the “rules” of the world of Ivar (or other words, what one can and cannot due in time travel). That said, everyone knows that a Van Lente comic is always going to offer something far more than a physics explanation. While this isn’t quite as funny as his work on Archer & Armstrong, there’s some good lines throughout the issue, and Van Lente proves once again that giving a robot an unexpected personality type leads to some of the funniest humor.

Originally from ValiantCentral.com