Time Before Time #1 Review

“Kid...WiFi isn’t going to be invented for another ten years.”--Tatsuo

Declan Shalvey/Roy McConville--Writers

Joe Palmer--Artist

Chris O’Halloran--Colorist

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou--Letter

Declan Shalvey--Cover

Image--Publisher

Shalvey and McConville along with the rest of the team have made a really fun time jumping book! This one has drama and action. It fits together so well and is consistent with  what they are trying to accomplish. This story is just so much fun and I love it. 

Shalvey and McConville introduce us to Tatsuo in the year 1987. He brought back a teenager and his mother to that year. Not sure 100% why and Tatsuo doesn’t ask questions. He just does his job jumping through time. The funny part of this is the WiFi quote above. As a teacher by day, I know how important WiFi is to our teenagers these days. They can't  seem to live without it. Aas part of that generation that was the last before the Internet and WiFi I’m not sure that I would be able to live without it either to be honest. This issue sets up the story and explains the danger of the 2140s and even further into the future. I don’t want to give too much away but this is the best time travel book on the market right now. 

I am not as familiar with Joe Palmer on art but this was certainly a very pleasant surprise! His pencils worked phenomenally well for the story that Shalvey and McConville are telling. His art really fits the timeline. Tatsuo and the rest of the characters that you are introduced to have the art style that you could imagine that a time travel book would have. That character design is just amazing. Then, you add in Chris O’Halloran on colors and you have a superbly drawn and colored book. O’Halloran chooses a dark and gritty tone for this story because, spoiler alert, this is a dark and gritty time travel story. Things are not going so well in the future for many people and the art style complements the written word. 

I’m highly intrigued by where Time Before Time goes. This story ends off with a fascinating cliffhanger that is going to drive this story and what time that it ends up in. I think it is about time that you go to your local comic book shop and pick this up today, while there is still time. Okay, enough with the horrible time puns. But, seriously, you should check this book out.