Review: Ivar, Timewalker #2

Ivar, Timewalker #2
Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Clayton Henry and Robert Gill
Colored by Brian Reber
Published by Valiant Entertainment

I’m a sucker for time travel stories. I’m not sure what it is, but anytime you take a group of characters and throw them into a different time, I’m practically hooked from the get-go. Doctor Who, Age of Ultron, Star Trek’s “The City on the Edge of Forever” … I love them all.

But my favorites are the stories where they don’t take the concept too seriously. Nothing hurts a great time travel yarn than when someone gets all “but it will create a paradox that could destroy the universe.” Back to the Future is a great example of what I’m talking about. It’s not completely beholden to the rules of time travel (such as they are), and there is more than enough latitude to tell a fun story without getting bogged down by scientific minutia.

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Ivar, Timewalker, the latest new series from Valiant, is another.

Ivar, Timewalker is the story of Ivar Anni-Padda, part of a legendary clan of adventurers and an all around rapscallion. He tracks time arcs — portals used to travel through time — to witness Earth’s history throughout the ages. For unknown reasons, Ivar recently stopped physicist Neela Sethi from discovering time travel, and now the two are jumping through time, trying to avoid the Prometheans, who are set on killing Neela.

You can tell from page one that creators Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry have set out to tell a fun story first and foremost with this series. Ivar is an immediately likeable character, even if there is much at this point that remains a mystery about him and his motives. He’s charming, funny and just arrogant enough so that you never quite know what he may be thinking. Neela, his recent companion, is a great foil to Ivar, and the one through which we are learning about how time travel works in the Valiant Universe.

And that’s what I love the most about Ivar, Timewalker. When most comics do time travel, it’s either very serious and gritty, a la the aforementioned Age of Utlron, where the rules are very strict and set in stone, or it doesn’t make any sense at all, like in All-New X-Men, where to this day I can’t figure out what’s going on.

In Ivar, Timewalker, the rules are simple, make perfect sense and don’t get in the way of telling a great story. For example, issue #2 is titled “Let’s Not kill Hitler,” because apparently in a future where time travel is fairly commonplace, the first thing all temporal travelers want to do is go into the past and kill Adolf Hitler. Ivar explains to Neela (and us) why this just isn’t possible. It’s just scientific enough to sound plausible but not so much so that it would stop the comic from being entertaining and give you a headache.

That’s one thing Ivar, Timewalker is in spades: very entertaining. It’s a fun, enjoyable book that seems to pride itself on being the kind of comic anyone can pick up and enjoy no matter where you come in. Van Lente’s script and Henry’s art (with an assist this month from Robert Gill) work together perfectly to give the reader an experience unlike anything else on the stands.

The Bottom Line: Ivar, Timewalker is another fine example of everything Valiant Entertainment has been doing so well since the line returned to comic shops everywhere a few years ago. It’s funny, filled with action, a bit thought-provoking, and promises a great ride if you stick around long enough.

We’re only two issues in, but I know already I’m in for the long haul, no matter how much time that takes.

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