THE ARGUS #4, from Source Point Press on January 25th, 2023, ends the trippy time-travel adventure with a battle against Time itself.
The Details
- Written by: Mark Bertolini
- Art by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Colors by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Letters by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Cover art by: Darryl Knickrehm
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: January 25, 2023
Is It Good?
THE ARGUS #4 brings the mini-series to a close with time loops, trippy monster battles, character evolution, improved art, and a fairly reasonable conclusion to the adventure. All things considered, this is as good of an ending as you could expect. Perhaps better.
The strength of Mark Bertolini’s script lies in the clean, clear, concise way this issue wraps up what has been an admittedly complex time travel story. You have to consciously suspend a little disbelief to accept Time personified in the form of a tentacles monster with a conscious mind, but once you get past that leap of faith, the story is pretty enjoyable.
That said, defining Time as a living thing seems like an interesting concept, but it’s not clear if this finale really explains how the new status quo fully works. If Time is defeated, destroyed, or trapped, how does Time, as humans experience it, work? That’s an obvious, logical question that never gets addressed, so the story ends in a positive, albeit unclear, state.
Regarding art, this issue improves on a chronic problem that hindered all the previous issues. Namely, all characters are supposed to be versions of Randall from different points in time, but somehow several Randalls looked completely different. Not different due to age. Different, as in not remotely alike. Here, Knickrehm adjusts the facial features such that the final team at least appears to be iterations of the same person, and the visual readability makes much more sense. Kudos to Knickrehm for a big improvement in the last issue.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Check out our THE ARGUS #3 review to find out what happened to Randall #1 when he ventured into the heart of Time.
We begin with Randall #1, aka Randy, working away on his calculations for time travel on that first fateful night when 96 arrives in his room with Randall close behind. Time, now pictured as a tentacled monster, attacks and begins killing every Randall it can find before 96 resets and tries again.
Eventually, 96 convinces Randy to come with him to The Argus to meet the “conditioned” Randys. 96 explains that his conditioning was engineered by Fate or the Universe or a Higher Power to give him the durability needed to carry out his mission and save humanity from Time’s desire to wipe everyone out.
We conclude the issue with a battle against Time, a change in momentum, and a new era.
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Final Thoughts
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THE ARGUS #4 ends the time travel adventure with big action, characters leveling up, significant art improvements, and a satisfying conclusion.
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