Ivar, Timewalker #2 Review

What will happen when our duo meet Hitler? Read on to find out.

The official description from Valiant:

From the award-winning team that brought you ARCHER & ARMSTRONG, New York Times best-selling creators Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry continue a centuries-spanning race against the clock!

At this very moment in Geneva, Switzerland, history is being made. A thousand meters underground inside the Large Hadron Collider, researcher Neela Sethi is about to discover time travel – and jeopardize her life in the process. But she doesn’t know that yet. Ten minutes from now, every deadbeat chrononaut, wannabe conqueror, and misguided protector of the time stream will be banging down her door. Good thing that the legendary Ivar, Timewalker, got there first…right? Now it’s down to history’s most jaded, most tempestuous time traveler to stop the worst of everything that is, was, and will be…before time runs out!

Let’s NOT Kill Hitler!… Seriously? What a wonderful title for this series’ second outing, as having time travel as it’s main concept, as well as comedy at it’s heart, there couldn’t be a better point in history to set this tale. Having thoroughly enjoyed the first issue, as well as other series’ from the Valiant Next line, I was eager to dive into this second issue, as though I still miss Archer & Armstrong, this new series has certainly been an awesome replacement.

Having subtly brought in various elements of the Valiant Universe, whilst at the same time creating something unique, writer Fred Van Lente continues to astound, with this series being the perfect place for new readers to jump into the world of Valiant. He also builds upon the fabulous plot he created in the last issue, with the strange antics of Ivar, and the comical use of time travel being amazing on every level. Despite this, it’s the character interaction between Ivar and Neela Sethi that impressed me the most, with the return of Eternal Warrior also being a fantastic addition.

Van Lente is once again joined by his Archer & Armstrong collaborator Clayton Henry, with his zany style bringing this wacky time travel series to life. Delivering detailed pencils, and bold ink work, Henry gives an eye catching look to this tale, with Harbinger artists Robert Gill also giving astonishing illustrations on the World War I sequences. The energetic layouts also generates some excitement, with the eccentric facial expressions of Neela adding a quirky depth. In addition to this, we’re also treated to some wonderful colours, as Brian Reber gives us a vibrant palette.

Ivar, Time Walker #2 continues the stellar work the creative team produced on the first issue, with the energy being electric throughout. The comical use of time travel also continues to appeal, with the rich character depth only adding yet another reason for giving this series a try.