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Special Review: Days Missing Hardcover

By | January 11th, 2010
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The folks at Archaia were kind enough to share a copy of their upcoming hardcover to Roddenberry Productions’ Days Missing. In case you missed it, here are my thoughts on the title, dropping in February.

Synopsis (From CBR):
Since the dawn of time, a being has existed whose interaction and interference with mankind has shaped human history. His powers of time and intellect have allowed him to secretly remove certain critical days from the historical record. Their stories have never been told. Their details have never been documented. Their existence is not remembered. But the occurrences of these days have forever changed the course of humanity’s evolution. These are the Days Missing from our existence, and they are about to be revealed…

The book grabbed me right away. Even before the story began, because it had a foreword by one of the most respected creators in the industry, that being Warren Ellis. He compares our main character The Steward to other characters we’ve seen in comics, such as The Watcher, beings that observe humanity from afar, only intervening whenever it is deemed absolutely necessary. He also brought up the inspiration the character has from one of the best creators in the history of the industry, Jack Kirby.

All of this is true. I see a lot of Uatu the Watcher in The Steward, but I also see a bit of Eliza Dushku. And maybe a little Bill Murray.

Let me clarify. Eliza Dushku is one of my favorite actresses on television right now, but the similarity I see with the protagonist is from her canceled sci-fi series Tru Calling. The series had a simple premise. She would relive days to prevent some sort of catastrophe in the city of Boston. Well, the same applies here. This is the essence of our main character’s one super power; he can travel back in time (one character called it a “suture”) and stop whatever threatens to destroy life as we know it). But The Steward is not anchored to any one city, and he is not mortal either. He is immortal and lives a lonely life, repairing the world before we can destroy ourselves. It’s certainly a fascinating concept, and one that I would not be surprised if Ellis wrote this himself. And if you don’t see a bit of Groundhog Day in this, I may have to slap you.


The book itself is split into 5 chapters, one for each issue that was released. Each story is self contained but reveals more about our mysterious white-haired protector.

The story itself is really engaging, and Stew, as some might call him (OK OK OK, only me), is a capable lead. He’s taciturn, and a proper badass. He’s incredibly intelligent, and is more often than not acting under selfless motives.

Of the five chapters, there were four creative teams handling the scripts. While the writing is top notch, the artwork is where it is at its weakest. Not that it’s terrible, it’s just uneven. Imagine if Alex Maleev and Bryan Lee O’Malley were both in the same book. By themselves, they’re both great artists, but if their styles do not complement each other in the slightest. And while it’s a small problem I have, it can’t go unmentioned.

In the end, I think this is definitely worth the buy, even if you had already picked up the individual issues. Do you like extras? Of course you do. Aside from extras that put a whole new spin on what was written (which I will get into in just a minute), there are also the standards. Covers fill the book, as there are about 15 different covers in the back. There are also interviews and about the creators, your standard info. There are tons here. And they even help to put the ending in perspective. I originally had issues with the ending, as it was a tad on the abrupt side, but after solving the puzzle (yes! Puzzles!) on the back of the book, an absurdly brilliant story all of a sudden had an even more absurdly brilliant ending. It was by all accounts, mind-blowing (sorry Sheldon).


The Days Missing Hardcover hits the stands in February, for more information, including a preview of the first issue, head to Roddenberry Comics


Gilbert Short

Gilbert Short. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. When he's not reading comic books so you don't have to, he's likely listening to mediocre music or watching excellent television. Passionate about Giants baseball and 49ers football. When he was a kid he wanted to be The Ultimate Warrior. He still kind of does. His favorite character is Superman and he will argue with you about it if you try to convince him otherwise. He also happens to be the head of Social Media Relations, which means you should totally give him a follow onTwitter.

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