Ivar, Timewalker 3

Ivar, the man called Timewalker, has been through ancient battlefields, political assassinations, the beginning of time, the invention of time travel, the great wars, and the distant future. (And that was only in the first two issues!) Now, he faces his greatest threat yet…himself! What secret does THE TIMEWALKER hold that will unlock his interest in Neela and flip our very definition of time travel on its head?

Can a man resigned to forever walk through time truly make up for the mistakes of his past? And just who is the mysterious sociopathic leader of Oblivi-1, and why does she have such an interest in Ivar and Neela’s time traveling team-up?

Writer:

Fred Van Lente

Artist:

Clayton Henry

Publisher:

Valiant

First up, a little warning; this review will contain spoilers.

Continuing on from the shock ending of last issue, Neela finds herself face to face with Ivar. Or so she thinks anyway, as the opening few pages reveal the scarred lookalike is anything but. From then onwards, it's the usual; explosions, Hitler, meme-based humans from the 41^st century and time travel. You know, that yawn inducing stuff.

I kid. The best aspects of Ivar, Timewalker are just how much variety is thrown into each issue, as Neela and Ivar stumble from problem to problem. This time, the story takes more time to focus on our companion, due to Ivar being mostly incapacitated. We find out just what she'll do when backed into a corner and when the chips are down. It turns out, pretty much anything, even if she later realises just what Ivar manipulated her into doing.

The B arc from the first issue that saw a future Neela trying to ensure her own existence comes to the fore here, as her promethium robots finally catch up with the duo and set Neela on the course to become her future self. It was nice to see that the writers have decided to deal with this dangling plot thread quickly rather than dragging it out for a few more issues. Though it could have been tempting to do such a thing, by dealing with it now it indicates that Van Lente may be attempting to subvert out expectations, especially as it was telegraphed so early on in issue one.

The artwork itself is probably the weakest aspect of this issue. Like past issues, it's something that is overall rather average, but the variety of scenarios and unique characters thrown into the mix mean I don't mind that as much, with the colouring keeping the various scenes popping, even if the linework is a little sloppy.

All in all, it's a solid continuation of past issues. Those who have enjoyed the series so far will want to keep reading, but I can't see this being the issue to jump on board for new readers. Start with issue one and enjoy a story that may bear just a passing familiarity to a certain Doctor, delivered with a smile and a knowing wink.

Cover image courtesy of Valiant.

You can buy Ivan, Timewalker from Comixology or your local comic book retailer.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.