It is quite often that when you go into a comic book store, there are plenty of great comic books you are over looking or just don’t know about. It’s a fact of life (David keeps telling me I need to read “some book” called Scalped, for example). However, often times I have a radar sense that allows for me to find a book with a #1 attached to it, and this is what led me to a book called Time Lincoln.
Needless to say, this is my favorite new book.
Click behind the jump for my thoughts.
It seems we have some odd fascination with Lincoln in our cultures these days. Not only do I get to buy Time Lincoln, but I also have the opportunity to go buy Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter if I wanted to. However, with my predisposition to sci-fi rather than horror, I’d take Time Lincoln over that any day of the week, and we have had but one issue.
Now, I’m not sure if this is a brand new on-going or if it’s just a one-shot. If it’s a one-shot, then I’m actually highly disappointed. The book was fantastic and, while I’m not crazy about the price of the book, I would considering adding this to my full time pull if given the opportunity. In reading Time Lincoln I found one of the most fun and creative titles to come out from a small time publisher, enough to help warrant my attention and unabashed love.
Time Lincoln features Joseph Stalin, powered by “the Void,” traveling to the night of Lincoln’s murder in order to assassinate Lincoln himself. Unfortunately for Stalin, he and his band of time traveling misfits (which include Napoleon, Castro, and Hitler) have to go up against a time traveling Lincoln and his posse made up of Einstein, Newton, George Washington Carver and Benjamin Franklin (I would’ve added Nikola Tesla into the roster, but that’s neither here nor there). Through a mixture of steam punk-esque weaponry and absolutely hilarious concepts, Lincoln has to somehow fight against an expositional Stalin – all while frozen in time!
Fred Perry is the mastermind behind this title, both on writer and artistic duties. That’s quite a lot of work for an unknown name, but if he’s going to be putting work out like this I can imagine that you’ll be seeing his name next to Brian Clevinger in your comic book collection. The book is an incredibly clever title that is well written and amazingly humorous throughout. In all honesty, Void Stalin? That’s absolutely brilliant. And Mephitler! I love it!
Not only that, but Perry doesn’t phone it in with the art. It’s like Scott Wegner meets a more anime style with a touch of Mike Oeming. It’s a very cool style to have, and everything looks great. A lot of the backgrounds are solid colors with shadows, but it does look great and very form fitting. Honestly, the amount of work done on character detail is so good that too many backgrounds might even take away from the great look of the characters. That and all the various team-punk weaponry and gadgets are absolutely beautiful. The page that shows Lincoln’s full time traveling team is absolutely great, and for that alone I’d like to see more issues.
In the end, Time Lincoln was a fun read, and I’d definitely like to see more along the lines of this story. The opening blurb promises that you will be “solidly hooked and ready for more.” I can’t say I disagree with that statement.
Final Verdict 8.3 – Buy
