PAST AWAYS #1 Review

Past Aways – Team building since 2015! Trapped in a past they never knew!

The official description from Dark Horse:

From the brain of MIND MGMT’s Matt Kindt! 2015: the distant past. A crash landing strands five deep-time explorers in a primitive world of internal-combustion engines and Internet 1.0 and tears a rift in space-time that spouts dinosaurs, giant robots, and other strange phenomena! Only the marooned “Past Aways” can defend the twenty-first century, unless the tensions of their unexpectedly prolonged mission tear them apart! * Career-best art from fan favorite Scott Kolins (The Flash)! * Don’t miss the prologue in Dark Horse Presents #6! TRAPPED IN PREHISTORY—A.K.A. OUR PRESENT!

We are no strangers to Matt Kindt‘s genius. But this book takes elevated thinking to an entirely new level. If you thought it took brains to read Mind MGMT, Past Aways will get your mind twisted in 6D! That said, I was a fan of this before I knew it. I guess that is how you will say it. Someday. Or previously. Okay, yeah. I definitely do not want to mix my reviews up in Past-Future-Present Tense word jumbles, so I am just going to get all my past tension jokes out later, err. Now. Whatever. You get the idea. And for my last (and first) tense trick, here is what I said about Past Aways back after / when the prologue debuted in Dark Horse Presents #6:

PASTAWAYS from @DarkHorseComics by @mattkindt @ScottKolins was…is…err..willan on-be a hit! I knew I will love it! – @thanosrules

As is clear from the primary cover art, this is not a Kindt-solo (not to be confused with Star Wars) book. For this new ongoing series, Matt’s magnificent writing is teamed up with the amazing art of Scott Kolins! How exciting, right? So, I mentioned “primary cover art”, which implies “variant cover art”. Let’s take a look:

Ah yes, my day is complete – some Matt Kindt art on the variant cover! Okay, enough about covers and how amazing the creators are – time to get down to business… From the first acidic volley from a miniature futuristic dragon, to the item by item analysis on various pages seen throughout story, this issue all boils down to: Perspective.

The perspectives of 5 marooned time travelers; of the world they are trying to survive; of the world that needs to be saved.

I have always wanted a playful but serious look at time travel, and I cannot think of a better person to tell that story than multi-publisher fan favorite Matt Kindt! In this single issue (and a bit from the prologue) we get a perfect idea of each of the characters, how they fit (or not) in the overall team, and their specific motivations for survival (or not).

How interesting would it be to get a script with some of this imagery explained? Whether it be “miniature dragon spewing green slimy spores from its behind” or “Art viewing adaptable virtual reality screen while sitting on futuristic toilet” – being Scott has to be entertaining. Now, I have not actually seen the script, these are just educated guesses based on the final product. I think my favorite part about this new story is that Matt can invent anything he wants. He can tap his wildest dreams. This universe is new, vast, and unexplored. He is making the rules, and it looks like Scott is doing a fantastic job keeping up with this Kindt-Level imagination.

So, while I do highly recommend checking out DHP #6 for the prologue, this is definitely a perfect jumping on point for new readers. And from what I can tell, we should hold onto chonohelmets – it is gonna be a wild ride through our future’s history!

Finally – Please follow both of these fine fellows…@mattkindt and @ScottKolins!