Ivar, Timewalker - Fred Van Lente

Ivar, Timewalker - Fred Van Lente 

1. Making History - Ivar, a time traveler, appears to Dr. Neela Sethi, who is about to invent time travel, and takes her on a voyage through time while being chased by strange entities representing a "sentient city" and 'clockwork holocaust" who want to get Neela, or perhaps rescue her from Ivan, who may not be the savior he claims he is.  The mix of action and humor and craziness I have come to expect from Van Lente; great stuff.  [4.5]
2. Breaking History - Neela is taken captive by her evil future self and it's up to Ivar and his two similarly immortal brothers to rescue her.  More madcap Grant Morrison-esque technobabble and wildly improbable derring-do ensues.  While less happens in this volume than the previous, it's still terrific fun.  [4]
3. Escaping History - Neela, now an experienced timewalker herself, resolves to make things right, and enlists the help of... Ivar?  But a young Ivar, taken from ancient Babylon.  Unfortunately, her future self is still out there trying to erase the universe, and Ivar's not who he will later be.  They end up in a world of Roman carnosaurs, who treat plant-eaters as slaves and mammals as gladiators.  Ivar teams with a world-weary humanoid ankylosaur while Neela tries to make things right.  Terrific comedy, pathos, adventure, and absolutely gorgeous art.  [4.5]

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Youth - Curt Pires

Youth - Curt Pires

1. Season One - A mixed-race teenage gay couple, Frank and River, angrily leave the dead-end situations in their bigoted small town and go on the road.  The meet up with three other youths in a van, and get fucked up.  Then a meteor hits, and they gain super powers.  It's a tale that's been told a million times, but this is in a sense a fresh take on the idea.  It's set in the "real world," and these troubled youths act in a way that you might expect super powered youths to do.  They mope, do drugs, question themselves, steal money, party, hook up, get jealous, and lash out.  People are killed, and there are some explicit sex scenes.  I never really connected with the characters because they're all so distasteful and unsympathetic, at least from my aged vantage point, but maybe more will happen in the next "season."  [3]

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