This is my first time ever r
eading Stan Lee’s Traveler. Since this issue is the beginning of a new storyline I got curious to see how it would work for new readers. You do get one nice recap page at the beginning of the book. Telling you about what happened up to this point and leading you up to where we are now.
There could be some mild spoilers to come. Since this is covered on the recap page though it shouldn’t be too bad.
The man who is the Traveler is Ronald Lessik and by this point it seems this issue is where if you think it’s hit the fan by now you haven’t seen anything yet. He’s searching for his missing fiancee Julia and his boss is now his arch nemesis Abaris. Oh and did we mention his future self helped set the initial events in motion and made him into The Traveler by default? Yeah by this point in time Ronald is not a happy man. This issue deals with the fallout of all these events. How he’s going to go on from here and how in the world he can find his Fiancee.
The issue itself makes it pretty easy to follow overall. Mark Waid and Tom Peyer make it extremely user friendly. This is the issue where the Traveler being Ronald has to learn how to deal with his current predicament and it does it. You get introduced to his friend Nathan who helps him to figure out how he can use his powers for good rather than looking at them as a bad thing. You can’t blame Ronald for looking at them like that but it gives you a nice counterpoint to it. If you have the powers you should be able to make them work for you and use them for said good. You get to see a lot of the play on this issue and just how things are going to play out from here.
My major thing in this issue is I really do love the artist on this book. Chad Harbin is his name and he does do a bang up job with the issue. There’s one part when these aliens come after Ronald and the designs he does for them is absolutely a lot of fun. I have to say I do love the designs on this series. From the aliens, Abaris, the Traveler, and even just the general people. It’s all very well done. There’s one thing about this book is the book does have a lot of nice energy to it.
The issue at first was hit or miss for me. For I did see where it was going but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first. I mean I could sympathize with the character and I could see where everything was coming from. Just it wasn’t totally clicking with me at first. Then the last few pages. Oh those last few pages. That whole sequence made me decide that this could be one interesting story arc in seeing how this is all going to work out. To the point of which I’m now going to take a look at the last few issues before hand to see how this all got to this point. It ended up being at that point that I got the hook laid into me and it all started to click in. So this is a book that you should all go out and definitely grab it. It’s well worth a read and like I said if you’re not sure just wait till those last few pages. They’ll hit you and you’ll be as curious as I am about the next issue.
A review copy was provided for me by Boom! Studios.
