Time Before Time #0001

Time Before Time #0001

Image Comics 2021

Written by Declan Shalvey & Rory McConville

Illustrated by Joe Palmer

Coloured by Chris O’Halloran

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The year is 2140, and to escape a world with no future, many turn to the Syndicate, a criminal organization who, for the right price, will smuggle you back in time to a better life. After working for the Syndicate for years, Tatsuo and Oscar decide to steal one of their boss’s time machines—but soon find that the one thing you can’t run from is your past.

I was looking forward to this as I’m a huge fan of Declan’s work, though I am disappointed that he’s not illustrating this as well because he does some absolutely beautiful art. The story is pretty intriguing to me as the opening catches the readers attention and a lot of that has to do with the kids reaction to the fact that there’s no wifi. For me this just demonstrates that society is too reliant upon technology and if this kid did something that requires him and his mother travelling the past well he should be in a time period where there’s no internet or advanced technology like there is today.

I am enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented incredibly well. The character development is great and that we are getting to know Tatsuo the way that we are is really nice. From how we see him react to his trips to seeing how he interacts with his friend Oscar really does flesh him out extremely well. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing this world, the story and introducing the characters it does a wonderful job in garnering the interest and intrigue factors.

The way that we see this being structured with the layers within the story emerging and feeling as if some are continuing from before the issue is a great way to get the reader involved and engaged in we see. There’s this sense of being dropped into the series already in progress and it’s the right way to go about this because we don’t need to see Tatsuo starting the job just where he is now. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow and how this moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

I am not a fan of the interiors here. The faces and body proportions are completely off to me, they don’t make sense and where lines should be to define things they are there. I know this is what you call stylised art and it’s not for me. That isn’t to say that someone else won’t like it because I am sure some will, i’m just saying that this feels amateurish and unfinished to me. There are also way too many blank spaces where backgrounds should be and it loses depth perception, that sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book.

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The story is fantastic and how the issue ends with his idea being hijacked and him taken along for the ride works for me on so many levels. Granted it isn’t how Tatsuo saw this going down and he’s now going to be hunted since his new companion made him steal one of the jump ships but that’s okay because it changes the dynamic of the story in a great way. Now instead of running away from his problems cause more trouble he’s going to have the adventure of his lifetime. Whether he wants to or not is no longer relevant and I love that. I probably won’t continue to read this one, the art just ruins it for me but do give it a go and see if works for you because the story is well worth the read.