May 7, 20202 min read

Indie Comic Review: Ret:Con #1

“We’ve barely cracked the surface”

Previously…

Recently the creator of 133art Jason Reeves was interviewed by his rival Greg Anderson Elysée, I also just so happened to have reviewed one of Greg’s comics (The Gentleman) and after reading their camaraderie laden exchange I decided to review 133’s new comic Ret:Con created by Jason Reeves and John-Ruben Milton, and written by Robert Jeffery II. Let’s see if this rivalry is as competitive as it seems.

Situation

Our story begins with Hilter suffering from a 9MM headache while a mysterious German soldier stands over his corpse. From there he makes an explosive escape to his own timeline. Careening through the vastness of space-time into his present, our future. Here he is debriefed and informed of how the world has been torn asunder by a time travel skirmish that makes the nuclear arms race look like a checkers game. We learn that time travel has ruined the planet and then we are taken back into the past (our past) to find out who or what created & started the arms race that led to these cataclysmic results. The second half of the comic is an illustrated narrative disguised as a technical briefing that gives us some insight into one of the story’s key players and possibly its most important.

Story

Every time I read something written by Robert Jeffery II I feel like I’m looking at a more down to earth Jonathan Hickman. High concept sci-fi storytelling complete with expositional infographics, but without all of the overly complicated storytelling and characters that don’t seem quite human or, in the X-men’s case, like themselves. Jeffery does a great job of putting us the main character’s head, disorienting us as he travels time and lands unawares back to his home era. There is a sense of loss or confusion as we learn that he has made the same comments and done the same things each time he returns from a jump, but never remembers. Ret:Con has the makings of a great Twilight Zone episode stretched over time especially with the reveal of the Earth’s surface in the wake of the time travel war.

Pictures

Jordi Perez and Paris Alleyne lines and colors remind me of a mix between Mike Deodato and Pepe Larraz. There’s a dull shine to it that does distract but still creates the impression that these characters are alive. The layouts for this book also have a very Hickman-esque feel to them especially as we tunnel through time, viewing it as a shattered mirror and our hero in his traversing gear as a matte black-figure filed with ethereal lattices of light. With that being said despite all the damage that it seems to have done to the world, time travel looks fun as hell, at least initially, at least when you’re not firing bullets through the time stream.