CREDIT: Valiant
Rating: 5/5 – Van Lente & Valiant are Making Time Travel Fun!
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.
I came to this book because I liked the character and concept. I’m going to stay because of Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry’s excellent execution on bringing them to life in this story. Ivar Anni-Padda is the Timewalker, and he’s one of a trinity of brothers who are cornerstone characters in the Valiant Universe. The other two brothers are Armstrong (from Archer & Armstrong) and Gilad Anni-Padda aka The Eternal Warrior (from the Eternal Warrior series, as well as Unity and The Valiant).
This issue introduces a new character, physicist Neela Sithi, who is working on a project at CERN in Geneva and is about to accidentally invent time travel (not a spoiler really, this is set up from page #2 that’s been previewed all around the web). In fact, if you’re not familiar with the character and wondering if you’d like this book, click that link right now and read the preview of the 1st 7 pages of this issue. I’ll wait right here.
Are you back? Good, let’s continue. At this point we get into personal taste on whether you liked that setup as much as I did. I read the 1st 7 pages and loved them, that’s all I needed to know that I was “all in” for this series. Van Lente’s dialogue was charming, genuine, and really pulled me into Neela’s character. The setup we got right there by page 7 tells us everything we need to know and that blue portal in the last panel of the preview? That’s one of the timearcs that Ivar can locate with his tachyon compass and he uses them to travel through time. Follow Ivar and Neela through that timearc in the pages of #1 and you’ll spend some time at the Battle of Trafalgar as well as in Rai’s Japan of 4001AD, but going into more detail would be spoiling the fun.
Who are the Prometheans really? And why do they want Neela’s time travel discovery so bad? The secrets behind this are driving the story and the reveal on the last page of this issue hit me out of left field in a good way, I thought it was an extremely cool story twist that introduces a whole new level to the story that we’re experiencing.
Ivar, Timewalker is the second title in Valiant’s “Valiant Next” rebranding. Not any kind of a reboot, just moving their storytelling to the next level with new series, new concepts, and new characters. If what I’m seeing here is any indication we’re in for a hell of a ride. Maybe they should just call it “Valiant Best”. I have been a fan of Timewalker since the first go-round of Valiant back in the 1990s, and think this was the best Timewalker story I’ve ever read. But there is zero need to have any history with the character beyond what is presented right here in this issue. Read the preview, if you like it pick up #1 in stores now, and you’re ready to roll! I’m looking forward to more of Ivar and Neela’s adventures in issue 2!
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
https://comicspectrum.com/ Covering the full spectrum of comics culture
Follow ComicSpectrum: 
ComicSpectrum Comic Reviews 