By: Too many to list—or even to review. Just check out the issue.
The Story: Is a story told yesterday but read tomorrow still the same story published today?
The Review: My view towards these showcase titles tends to be the same as Forrest Gump’s view of life as a box of chocolates: “You never know what you’re gonna get.” I’d carry the analogy further to say that sometimes, you’ll get something you really like and there isn’t enough of it, and sometimes, you’ll get something you’d rather toss out and wish no one ever included it in the first place. A successful showcase is thus one where each offering satisfies in its own way.
In that respect, Vertigo’s latest anthology succeeds pretty well. Given the malleability of time as a springboard for ideas, the writers included here came up with a very interesting array of stories. Some chose to use the nature of time to muse upon deeper subjects. In Damon Lindeloff’s “R.I.P.,” Rip Hunter’s past and future selves work together to save themselves, ultimately to no avail. Despite his time-traveling abilities, he must eventually stare his irony-ridden fate in the eyes and give in.
Of course, you have a couple writers using their stories to grapple with questions of philosophy. In “It’s Full of Demons,” Tom King asks to look beyond the obvious butterfly effect doing so can have on the world at large, and see the effect on individual lives. Page by page, King masterfully reveals the ripple from one person’s untimely death spreading across first a family, then a nation, then the continent, soon the planet, all of it underscored by one woman’s devastation by the same act. King’s story is the perfect example and rationale for “The Principle” protected by the protagonists in Dan Abnett’s feature. Blane and Zalinger must defend all history, even the worst parts of it, from alteration, not only for philosophical reasons (the eponymous “principle” of the story), but practical as well (“Change history, you fuck up everything and always. The causal shitstorm would end us all.”).*
Some writers present creative applications of time technology. Ray Fawkes gives us the most practical, yet equally haunting, use of such tech in “00:00:03,” though he adds a fairly touching spin to give it some humanity beyond the concepts. Gail Simone does the opposite in “I Have What You Need,” which is really all about pulling heartstrings using a little bit of time warp magic—well, candy—to do it. Her big misstep is in portraying the time loop the evil Mr. Yanyo is trapped in as a kind of torture, without showing how it actually damages him; she gives a happy ending to his intended victims, but not necessarily a bad one to him. Simon Spurrier questions whether anyone would care about exploring time as a science unless it results in some kind of flashy effect. “The Grudge,” for all the juvenile pranks and humor between two rival scientists (“Doc-Z has wank blisters,” or “Sci*Rus yearns for anal carnage”), is really a piece that at once mocks and shames our need to turn the scientific into spectacle.*
We also have a few features which have only the barest connection to the time theme, or none at all. Matt Kindt’s is probably the most successful of these, as “Warning Danger” includes a massive number of just plain cool ideas (“A conscious bullet that is self-aware. Programmed with artificial intelligence that will never lose a chess game and could predict stock futures based solely on news headlines.”) that’s worth the price of admission alone, though he includes an equally interesting message about our race’s addition to violence, even without death. Peter Milligan’s “She’s Not There” only thematically relates to lost time, and while the story of a man so possessive that he can’t even let his wife rest in peace at death has its interest, he leaves the ending so wide open that it never achieves climax, much yet resolution. And honestly, I have no idea what Toby Litt’s latest chapter of the Dead Boy Detectives (first appearing in Ghosts #1) is doing here. Not only does it have nothing to do with time, it’s also mostly dull and bland, with little in the way of purpose or direction.
I must apologize to all the artists who worked on this anthology for not giving each of you the critique you deserve, but alas—those are the hazards of a page-limited review. I can, however, say with complete confidence that every artist here brings their A-game, telling each writer’s story both convincingly and to great effect, even if the style seems at first to be completely unexpected or inappropriate. Believe me when I say there’s a lot of top-class talent drawing in this book.
Conclusion: At eight bucks, this is a pricey collection indeed, but given the high quality level on most everything featured within, it’s much more worthwhile than not.
Grade: B+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * For anyone interested, the German spoken by Zalinger translates to, “We will be done in a moment.”
* I’m assuming I’d be just as thoroughly scolded for sniffing at lasers that can’t be set to stun.
Grade
Conclusion