Reviews»Comic Books»Ivar, Timewalker #7
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Kareem Ali 4.5

Ivar, Timewalker #7

 

  • The good

    Great plot twists involving Neela and her discovery. Action sequences with Ivar and the guardian

  • The bad

    Overall story still progresses slowly this issue

  • The ugly

    • Ivar, Timewalker #7 has Ivar and his brothers battling against the drydock’s guardian, which is preventing them from traveling to the nexus in order to stop Neela. Capturing the dry dock seemed easy enough as Ivar, Gilad and Aram were able to take out the guards with ease but they didn’t expect an A.I. in a nanite-fueled physical form to be on board and attack after Ivar’s departure. This issue opens up with Ivar returning with the pilot he wants to fly the ship to the nexus, and it’s none other than Amelia Earhart. She asks him how he keeps track of everything he does jumping from one point in time to another, and he tells her that he lives moment to moment and trying to keep track of the bigger continuity would only drive him insane. This conversation doesn’t last long as Amelia is blown away by the ship Ivar wants her to pilot, and Ivar becomes suspicious when he notices that the Lurker who built the ship and his brothers are missing. He eventually locates a drunk Aram and a passed out Gilad in one of the rooms, and Aram claims that Gilad challenged him to a drinking contest and lost. And the bet was that Gilad’s supra-healing would keep him sober longer than Aram’s supra-healing. This leaves Ivar perplexed, and not only because Gilad would never challenge Aram to such a contest but the fact that Gilad doesn’t have supra-healing and Aram should know this. With his disguise exposed, the guardian attacks Ivar who proves to be a harder target than his brothers. But can Ivar defeat the guardian and get the mission on track by rescuing his brothers? Or was this all part of a plan?

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    With Neela’s discovery at the end of last issue and future Neela’s shocking response, I was looking forward to this issue to see what answers would be revealed. This has been an exciting and fun series overall, even though it felt like the beginning of last issue was stalling in terms of story progression. This issue wouldn’t show Neela and her discovery until halfway through the issue but the battle between Ivar and the guardian was pretty entertaining. Seeing the guardian change shape and weapons at will while evading Ivar’s attacks was wonderful to see, especially considering Francis Portela’s artwork. And the writing was a lot of fun with its couple of laugh out loud lines such as Amelia trying to make sense of the situation or the guardian’s background being revealed. This definitely hit the mark a lot more than last issue’s humor with Gilad and Aram. I won’t give away how this situation ultimately unfolds but it was clever and enjoyable, and I was glad to see some characters be more useful this time.
    Neela’s situation would progress slightly, and that’s mainly due to the riveting answers revealed this issue. Last issue showed Neela discovering a time loop and this issue shows her describing her discovery to future Neela/Prometheans and its significance. And I’ve maintained that the Prometheans have easily been the most interesting antagonists this series, and this issue revs it up another notch. Some answers have been a long time coming, well since the start of this series, and this issue delivers in big ways while creating the environment for interesting theories regarding some of Ivar and Neela’s interactions earlier in the series. And now I can’t wait to see how everything comes together from this point.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    Ivar, Timewalker #7 delivers big time with the revelations regarding Neela and the identities of the Prometheans, and it was worth the build up. Future Neela’s answers about why this is all being done and what needed to be discovered blew my mind. It takes a while for this issue to get to that point but Ivar’s battle with the guardian is one of the more entertaining action sequences this series. Although the overall story still doesn’t progress much with Ivar no closer to getting to Neela this issue is still an exciting ride.

     

    Release Date: 7/22/15

    Writer: Fred Van Lente

    Artist: Francis Portela

  • Rating ( 8.75 )
  • Total score 8.8

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