Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

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

Time Bomb wraps up with action-packed issue with plenty of twists and surprises. This mini series is a fun read that gives a good mix of science fiction, history and a military operation all in one. The one drawback was that I never really warmed up to the characters as much as I would have hoped for. Perhaps I just assumed they were all going to die and, therefore, I never allowed myself to become vested in them. Whatever the reason, I never found myself hoping that any one particular character would survive over another. The artwork helped elevate this issue to another level as it brings the whole story together.

The issue begins with Jack and Ruth captured by the Nazis and in a holding cell. The two characters interact, but not in an expected way. With Ruth being native to the 1940s you would think she would ask more questions of Jack because it seems apparent he is not from the regular, old 1940s. They find a level of trust and plan their escape.

Eventually Ken and Peggy find their way to Jack and Ruth while Christian remains above ground. These opening scenes help to reintroduce the characters as well as their placements in and around the Nazi stronghold. I literally felt I could just pick this issue up and read it which I think is important and worth mentioning.

As the issue unfolds there are plenty of turns of fate as the group escapes, gets captured and finds out the man behind it all. The issue has torture, clever ways to kill people, sinister villains and what all Nazi comics should have: Hitler.

It's a tricky thing to bring such an important historical figure into a story like this. The temptation to change the past must be really big, but, in some ways, if history is altered it makes the story less believable. Whereas time travel and bombs that wipe out the planet of humans are somehow realistic. This story manages to play around with Hitler while keeping the real life history untouched, for the most part. This showed good discipline from the writers and an intelligent way to weave a new story into existing history.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsGulacy helps to bring this story to fast-paced and drama filled issue. The level of detail is tremendous and fits right up there with any other modern World War II comic book artwork. Gulacy gets to show off plenty with some goodies like skin eating airborne viruses and the old knife through the chin trick. This issue is worth the cover price of five bucks because of the artwork alone.

Time Bomb is a fun series that plays with time travel without trying to explain the science behind it. Interestingly enough the time travel isn't even the biggest piece of science fiction in the comic book. Proving out that this comic gives a lot to enjoy in the three issues. If some of the characters survive I wonder if there could be a sequel in the works. The last page makes me hopeful that there will be one. This is worth checking out.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles