Comic review: Time Warriors #1- A strong central idea and lots of laughs

Writer: Guy Hasson
Artist: Juan Manuel Almirón

Publisher: New Worlds Comics

Release Date: 12th May 2015 (Get the book early by clicking on link below)
http://newworldscomics.com/?p=1403



Time Warriors #1 is an independent digital comic book that I got for a couple of quid online, two weeks before it’s official release date of Tuesday May 12th.

I liked both the marketing strategy, and the plot idea behind the story. That marketing strategy and plot idea combined to win me over, to get me to buy the book, so it’s already a success for the independent comic book creators at New Worlds Comics.

So what did I think of it after I actually read it?

I thought that it was fun, it made me laugh, and overall it was well worth my £2. The art was messy, but messy in a good way. The mess created it’s own little (yes, I’ll use the word again) messy little world, and that (here it comes again) messy little world worked very well with the script, not distracting, and not being too out there to stop me from knowing exactly what was going on plot-wise.

The plot idea that hooked me, the idea that time travelling soldiers get information, and are then killed, only to be brought back to life later was played out mainly for laughs in this first issue, and the serious implications will no doubt follow in the up-coming issues. The soldiers knew they were going to die, but it was their first time, so they were understandably a bit nervous about it. Writer Guy Hasson cleverly played with this, creating different personality types who all dealt with this weird situation in their own individual way. This led to naked street running, sex, drugs and dying on the toilet.

What would you do in your last moments before your temporary death? I’d probably do what I’m doing now, eat a sweet and type out a review, but I’m an odd guy, as anybody who has ever met me, or had any correspondence with me will be well aware of.

That self-indulgent reference to myself brings me to the end of issue #1 and a reveal that didn’t exactly surprise me. I’ve had some brief correspondence with writer Guy Hasson and I’ve asked him why he writes his main protagonists as rebellious young girls when he himself is obviously not in that demographic. It puzzled me, and his answer that he just always did that, puzzled me even more.

Is it a male guilt thing perhaps? The idea being that men are terrible, that all of the problems in the world have been caused by evil men, so it has to be a young woman who comes along to save us all? Come on Guy, feminism is so 1970’s man. Get with the kids, it’s all about the MRM (Men’s Rights Movement) today dude.

I’m just messing here. Well, just a bit. Put aside that whiff of third wave feminism and I liked Time Warriors #1. Okay, the title doesn’t exactly win any points for originality, but the actual idea, the central core of the book is very original indeed and has a heck of a lot of mileage in it. This first issue took that idea and had some fun with it, so issue #2 is already intriguing as I’m sure that strong central idea will be developed a lot further as the story progresses.

Get the book. You’ll like it. I did. We need to support people like Guy Hasson and debut artist Juan Manuel Almirón. They are doing interesting work outside of the boring, safe, lame, tired mainstream, and if you are like myself and constantly bemoan the lack of originality or new ideas in contemporary comic books then you’re sure to get a lot of enjoyment out of Time Warriors #1.


Rating: 8/10 (A strong, intriguing #1 with lots of silliness, laughs and hints of darker things ahead)