THE ARGUS #1, from Source Point Press on October 26th, 2022, sees Randall Patton experience one very bad, strange, stressful day when he’s conscripted to stop a killer from destroying the time/space continuum.
The Details
- Written by: Mark Bertolini
- Art by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Colors by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Letters by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Cover art by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: October 26, 2022
Is It Good?
Trippy! THE ARGUS #1 is the type of time travel, action/adventure story that will either get your creative juices flowing, make your head hurt, or both. That’s a good thing, so this is a good comic. Not perfect, but pretty good.
Mark Bertolini’s story centers on Randall Patton – a smart guy who just invented the theory of time travel. Unfortunately, the theory immediately proves to be a dangerous reality as he’s visited by versions of himself from the future to stop one of his future selves from destroying time after going insane from a freak accident. Again, trippy!
The story mostly works as Bertolini dumps a whole lot of exposition by smartly using the first Randall Patton to act as the audience surrogate. Randall is just as confused as we are, so his questions mirror our questions. The delivery of the exposition makes sense as part of the story, getting you immersed in the confusing rules of time travel without the feeling you’re reading a science manual.
The piece that doesn’t quite work is a mild disconnect between the story and the art. Randall is visited by multiple versions of himself, gathered from different points of the timeline. If that’s an accurate description, each Randall should look like Randall but aged differently. Here, some of the Randalls look like completely different people, so the idea of multiple Randalls doesn’t make visual sense as presented. This critique may sound like a minor quibble, but multiple Randalls are the hook of the story, so if the hook isn’t right, everything else feels off.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with 19-year-old Randall Patton working on complex formulas in his room. Suddenly, a group of armed, armored men appears in his room, asking Randall to come with them. They explain they’re all future versions of him, and the formula for time travel he invented an hour ago works.
Later, the Randalls take Randall to the Argus, a location protected from the timestream where the Randalls operate as protectors of time from thieves, assassins, and general mischief makers. Normally, the first Randall would never have been contacted, but one of their own was accidentally lost in the timestream, driving him insane. Now back, the crazy Randall is using his know-how of time travel to destroy reality.
We conclude the issue with an attack on Argus, reckless escapes, and all the time in the world.
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Final Thoughts
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THE ARGUS #1 is an intriguing, trippy story about time travel and what could happen when the wrong traveler goes rogue. The head-spinning details are handled well, and the action set pieces are well-done, but an odd inconsistency in the art contradicts a major part of the story.
Related Information
How do you travel time?
You don’t. Time travel, as far as we know, hasn’t been invented. Whether or not it will eventually be invented remains to be seen.
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