Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

Here is another book that made me realize that time has slipped away. I read this as it was coming out and have always meant to go back and reread it as a whole. As I looked at the copyright date I was a little taken aback that it was first published in 1998-2000. Really, it’s been that long? Time is a tricky thing.

I’ve written before about how I generally hate time travel and alternate dimension stories. I usually use the word generally because there is an occasional good one like “Avengers Forever”. The story is about seven Avengers from seven different time periods who are brought together to help fight “The Destiny War” and keep the bad guys from destroying humanity’s future.

This story is full of Marvel Universe continuity but in a good way. Busiek tends to explain everything so even a new reader won’t be too confused. It’s the type of continuity that made me love super hero comics. Super heroics taking place in a universe that has a history that enriches the story. Not a universe that exists so writers can break the rules and show how clever and above it all they are.

As a time travel/alternate universe story Busiek sets up a few simple rules and sticks to them. You can time travel but you can’t change time and if you try to you will create an alternate timeline at best. Only this special one of a kind object, the Forever Crystal, can completely obliterate a time line. They stick to those rules and try to keep things clear. I’ll accept that. So many time travel stories muck things up, don’t bother with rules, or make up rules and then ignore them. That’s what makes me hate travel/alternate universe stories. In general.

The art is in Pacheco’s highly illustrative style that is influenced by photo realism. It’s generally good if not a little too cluttered at times for my taste. Nothing really to complain about though. The coloring by Steve Oliff is top shelf stuff. I wish they had fixed some of the production mistakes that were in the original such as a stray balloon tail in issue two and lots of butting problems with flat topped word balloons but oh well.

Overall this stands as one of my favorite Avengers stories. It captures a lot of the fun and drama that I expect from the world’s mightiest super heroes. This is the oversized hardcover volume too so it’s a nice way to read it. If you’re looking for a good Avenger’s story then check this one out.