I’ve been reading comics off and on for close to thirty-five years now; and as you get a little older, you become just a little more mean, jaded, and cynical–no matter how hard you try to keep it positive. I’d ask myself, how many times can Robin die?  How many times can the multiverse collapse on itself? And if this War is so Secret, how come I’m hearing about it twice?

Nowadays, I read many of these climactic tales with a resigned, “Ho Hum.” After all, with a little time travel pixie dust, everything will be as good as new; I’ve come to expect the same old story.

So what do those smug bastards @ValiantComics do?  They sell me a time traveling book with panache–‘Ivar, Timewalker’.  They get a great writer, like Fred Van Lente, to script the tales, supplement it with sublime art from Pere Perez, and the rest is … well … time traveling literary history.

When I first picked it up, from issue #1, I was like … oh no … here we go again on the time traveling merry go round–“Et Tu @ValiantComics,” I cried. I only picked it up because I’ve been buying all their books since the start of this recent iteration of @ValiantComics, and the #psychonerd in me directed me to buy it.

At the very first read it became apparent that this time traveling little tome was different. The story was fresh and inventive; it was a recursive dream come true.  If you missed it, run out and get the back issues or TPB. You’ll thank me later.

The other excellent Valiant title out this week is ‘X-O Manowar Exodus’. Here we see Aric broker a temporary peace between Humanity and the refugee Vine–if only he were real and could do the same for our current crisis in the Middle East–but now he must ready himself for the coming confrontation with Commander Trill.

Here are the quotes:

“Each second is its own precious jewel. To be studied and admired. Not polluted with regrets for the past or fears for the future.”

“We are all beautiful in our way. And each moment …is the same as an eternity of them.”

Fred Van Lente, with Art by Pere Perez, ‘Ivar, Timewalker’, @ValiantComics

“I prefer to handle one worst-case scenario at a time.”

Robert Venditti, with Art by Rafa Sandoval, ‘X-O Manowar Exodus’, @ValiantComics