There’s a great feeling in reading anything that genuinely takes you by surprise. Stan Lee’s The Traveler #9 is the comic that took me by surprise this week. A new arc with Mark Waid and Tom Peyer writing with artwork by Chad Hardin, this is a story that if you’re looking for something different, you’ve found it. I looked at the Traveler awhile back and this new arc has me excited. The Traveler just got back from the prison planet Anachronopolis that drove him into the grasp of Abaris. He had wanted the memories of the Traveler’s a.k.a Ronald Lessik’s love of Julia. At this point the Traveler had sacrificed his memories of Julia to defeat Abaris. With a sacrifice of this nature you have to wonder one thing, how will this effect everything else? Welcome to the new arc of the Traveler, the ghosts of time never truly die.
Ghosts are the theme of this story line, past and future colliding in ways that you could never expect. Chad Hardin’s art engages you from the start with the first page just showing a man about to die, then you hit that double page spread, and you’re jolted out of your seat. Adding a level of intensity to the situation. For when you’re dealing with death row you have a level of creepy already. My favorite part of the scene is how the Traveler handles the ghost of the inmate with everyone wondering what happened. The look he gives them on the last panel is perfect. It’s how anyone would react in that situation which is what makes this that much more effective.
That and the sequences involving ghosts deal with the fallout of the Traveler sacrificing his memories of Julia. When his friend Nate is trying to have him remember her, he can’t even form a complete vision of her. I won’t reveal the other ghost sequences but they all lead to a familiar place to the Traveler. When he appears on the scene though, things start going in directions he never could have expected. By the time you hit the last page of the issue you see a familiar face appear to confront the Traveler. If you look at the cover you know Soldier Zero is in the issue. How he pops up in will surprise you.
Just from this issue alone we’re in for one amazing story arc. I couldn’t be more impressed right now at how this came together. Chad Hardin’s artwork on this issue takes you for a journey and he makes those panels sing. Mark Waid and Tom Peyer made the issue friendly for a new reader. Yet if you are a new reader or a lapsed one this took you in directions you could never imagine. This is some fine work that plays with the time concept and takes it to a new level. If you haven’t picked up an issue of Stan Lee’s the Traveler, now is the time to start. Enter the time stream and enjoy the adventure.
