Review: The Argus #1
There is this old Calvin and Hobbes story. Its one of the longer ones for sure. The idea is that Calvin doesn’t want to do his homework, so he builds a time machine (turning the transmogrifier on its side). The plan is that he will jump ahead and get the homework from his future self. The flaw of course is if he jumps ahead to the future, he won’t have done it so the whole things turns into a bit of a farce. At the it’s very core, The Argus kind of has the same mentality to it, albeit with far less farce.
Randall Patton has just discovered time travel is real, even if he didn’t bang his head and come up with a flux capacitor. Thirty minutes after the discovery, he is joined by several versions of himself, who are are some sort of time police. Together, they check any incursions in the timeline. Thing is not every Patton feels the same, as one of them has existed within the time stream, which sent him slightly bonkers. Now bonkers Patton is out to kill himself from all the time periods he has ever been in! Confused? Don’t worry, it makes sense…..sort of.
The book is written and co-created by Mark Bertolini who first crossed my radar on the mini series Bastard’s Waltz from Darby Pop Publishing. Where that book had a certain familial context to it, hidden in all the violence and revenge; The Argus is centred around the responsibility of ramifications. Inventor Patton is surrounded by proof of his success, but in essences, he himself is trying to tear it down. Seeing both the best and worst of himself is certainly going to take its toll down the line. In fact, inventor Patton acts as a proxy of sorts as he is equally as confused as the reader is. There are some explanations as to how time travel works in this universe, which does help set the scene appropriately.
Co-creator Darryl Knickrehm provides the art for the book. The idea behind the story gives Knickrehm the chance to have fun with the different versions of Patton, giving the reader the opportunity to wonder what happened to make the Patton the man he is, the man is going to be and the man he is going to be after that. Given that this is the first issue, there is a lot of tech-time-talk to get through. Knickrehm does well not to let the verbiage weigh down the art. Perspectives can be off in some places, though it is not overly off putting. There is no credit for colors or letters, so I am going to assume that Knickrehm supplied both. The scheme has a murky look of browns and khaki, with the font changing to demonstrate the differences between the Patton’s and their would be killer. Its shame that the letterer isn’t lisgted, as due to the amount of words, they should get some credit for the great work they have completed.
Time travel gives a whole bunch of people a headache. Learning the ropes of another universe can be difficult, whether it be Trek, Back to the Future, Endgame of even Calvin and Hobbes. Still, when the premise is as interesting as the one here, putting the time in is more than worth the effort.
Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Overall – 4.5 Stars
Written by; Mark Bertolini
Art by; Darryl Knickrehm
Published by; Action Lab – Danger Zone
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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