Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Time Bomb #1Time Bomb #1 of 3
Radical Comics
Palmiotti, Gray & Gulacy

Time Bomb is a science fiction, horror, war comic book that touches on a lot of areas that make for great stories, like World War II, time travel and population destroying plagues. This opening chapter is an excellent read because it presents the mechanism for introducing the problem, unleashes the problem and opens up the door for the potential solution while setting it in motion. This is what you get when you have fifty-one pages of story in a comic book. Sure, the price is five bucks but with this level of storytelling it is well worth it. This is a mini series definitely worth checking out.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe set up is quick. Some people fall into a massive hole beneath the subway in Germany. They find a hidden city or fortress built by the Nazis. The city is rigged and their entrance to it sets off a bomb. The bomb releases a gas that wipes out the population in a matter of hours as it spreads through the air to cover all of Europe and eventually the globe. Basically, Hitler had a doomsday device to kill everyone off.

A team is assembled to go back in time to find the bomb prior to it being set off and block off the city so that no one ever finds it or seal off the city so that no one can reach the bomb. It seems like such a simple task except the time machine device can't really be controlled and thus it is not certain where the team is going or how many of them will even make it there. It's a very good story set up.

The artwork is what outdoes everything in this issue. What Gulacy manages to do in illustrating and enumerating the spread of the plague is nothing short of brilliant. Whether it's the random people standing around when the bomb goes off or the people eroding away as the gas literally eats away their skin the comic book is simply at its best during these scenes. As the book moves along the art stays at this high level. I can't wait for the battle scenes in the coming issues.

The story itself hits the impossible topic of time travel and makes it digestible. Thankfully, the story doesn't look to change timelines or make crazy leaps of logic in an attempt to explain a topic that could easily make your head spin. The story focuses on the task and makes the comic a joy to read.

The tough part of the story is the time spent on the characters. We've got four core characters in the book and we are introduced to them but they don't quite have voices of their own yet. This isn't a problem but it just makes having a vested interest in their struggles a little more difficult. I think for an opening issue to a mini series I would rather the plot grab me anyway and that is what we have here.

Finally, the aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the pace. As mentioned, this comic book moves through so much in such a short amount of space that you can't help but feel fully engaged the entire time. There is no time for rest or even throwaway panels. Everything in here feels like it matters making the story a fun read.

I enjoyed the first issue of this oversized mini series. I can't wait for the next issue as we get to the heart of the mission and get to know the characters a little more. This is a comic book that any science fiction, conspiracy or fan of World War II books should check out. This is an excellent start to a mini series.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles