Geek Syndicate Issue 5 | Page 102

Geek Syndicate
COMIC REVIEW

Time Samplers Issue 1
run their machine to go back to visit Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, but Bell seems to be doing more than just making phone calls. The idea is a great one and has the potential to work really well. The idea borrows from The Manhattan Projects and The Invisibles to create something that feels fresh and different from the competition. The creative team cleverly builds a universe by explaining to the reader how their form of time travel works. It is nice to see that it’s not just a case of flicking a switch and away they go. The idea that time can be photocopied is ingenious and makes the reader think of all the different stories that could evolve out of this. By spending this time developing the world we really get a sense of how the machine works. There are many threads that are left unexplained. This makes sense, because the team wants the reader buy more issues - but is there enough here to bring the reader back? The issue starts with a mysterious man watching over the world as they go shopping on Black Friday. This is an intriguing idea as he seems to be pulling the strings somehow. Furthermore, the two travelers go on their first journey because they need to test the machine. The issue does not have that killer blow of a cliffhanger that is often essential to a first issue, though. It feels more like the opening chapter to a graphic novel rather than a comic book, with the subtle difference being that the reader has the entire story in their hands with a graphic
Image © Paranoid Android, 2012

novel, so can find out what happens automatically. I worry that there is not enough to come back to for the majority of comic buyers in Time Samplers issue one. Writers Thomas Gorence, David Pickney and Erik Koconis create believable dialogue that will draw the reader in. Further Nicolas Colacitti does a stellar job with the art. Colacitti’s artwork is glorious. His characters stand out. The way he depicts time travel looks completely unique and adds to the feeling. His lettering looks the part and his colours are bright, bringing extra depth to his work. There are other clever features to the book such as biographies for each of the famous inventors mentioned in the story. Time Samplers is a comic book created for the graphic novel medium. It is a book that has a lot going for it, with more innovative ideas in one page than most books have in an entire issue. However issue one is lacking the killer blow to maintain the comic formula, with it suited more to the graphic novel approach. As a single issue this is where Time Samplers falls down but I am sure that this comic is just going to get better and better. Try it and stick with it: awaiting the slow burn. Hopefully the start of something clever and different. Find out more about Time Samplers on their website, follow them on Twitter or like their Facebook page

Writer: David Pinckney, Erik Koconis & Thomas Gorence Art & Letters: Nicolas Colacitti Publisher: Paranoid American

Lex and Cal take the W.I.L.D. machine on a test run, using an antique tuning fork to travel back to 1913, where Alexander Graham Bell is presenting his latest research to the Jekyll Island Hunt Club (JP Morgan, William Rockefeller, and other Jekyll Island elites). Giving well known historical figures a story that the world is not aware of seems all the rage at the moment with such books as The Manhattan Projects. Time Samplers follows this thread by creating something that feels like The Invisibles and The Manhattan Projects’ love child. It works on so many levels, yet falls down at the final hurdle. The story follows two underground musicians who look into real life conspiracy theories through psychedelic time travel. On their first adventure they test

Luke Halsall
Rating:

GGGGG

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