The Traveler #2 (Boom! – Waid / Hardin)

STAN’S BACK! THE PUBLISHING EVENT OF THE YEAR! Legendary comic creators Stan Lee and Mark Waid continue their hot new series featuring.. a man out of time! With the city still under siege from the Split Second Men, THE TRAVELER, must push his powers harder than ever before. With their plans shrouded in as much mystery as their origins, it’s a race against time and space to prevent whatever cataclysm would be in store if they succeed! He calls himself the TRAVELER. He has the power to warp and bend time to his will. But who is he? Where has he come from? And more importantly: what is coming after him?

Well, I don’t know if I would call it the publishing event of the year – but it is pretty darn good!  Once again Mark Waid shows he is worth his own hype – this series has a grand mix of sci-fi plot, comic book heroics and drama to help flesh out the characters.

The Traveler is what all the fans wanted future Hiro to be and more!  A hero with time-based abilities that has trouble dealing with the singular linear nature of the people who he trying to save.  He is battle a group of equally complex villains that are on his same power level.  He needs to save the world without re-writing his own past.  Let me take a momentary pause in my gushing over Waid to let you know that the art was very solid – Chad Hardin’s style and frames does a fantastic job of laying out the high levels of action and drama of the story.

It’s fresh material within a fresh setting – so not needed back issues – just go pick up issue #1 and now #2  and enjoy reading them over your holidays!

The Bottom Line: One of the best new series of 2010!

Issue Grade: A