This year, I decided to do something different for Fred Van Lente Day, I'm going to review one issue of Ivar, Timewalker a day, leading up to Fred Van Lente Day!

We continue with Ivar, Timewalker #7, by Fred Van Lente, Francis Portela and Andrew Dalhouse...

This issue is particularly fun for fans of Van Lente's previous Valiant series, Archer and Armstrong (and by "fans of Archer and Armstrong," I of course mean "anyone who read Archer and Armstrong"), as he ties Ivar in with that book directly with not only the use of fan favorite character Amelia Earhart, but also by tying in the evil future Neela with The Null, the nihilistic group from Archer and Armstrong.

First up, though, Amelia and Ivar have to fight against the shapeshifting villain Von-New-Man...

The Earhart stuff is hilarious. I love how Van Lente continually introduces villains that you just love to see more of, even if it is just to hate them. Here, Van Lente has Von-New-Man work the whole "bro" angle, a la the villains of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye and it works really well.

Ivar's brothers, Gilad and Aram (Eternal Warrior and Armstrong, respectively), have good showings in this issue, and it is particularly interesting to see how much faith Ivar has in his brothers, even though they don't get along with each other ever. Armstrong especially stands out in the issue, as he finds himself trapped in space and needs to get back to his ship. But what do you do when you have nothing to propel yourself through space? PROJECTILE VOMIT! So gross but so funny.

On her end, Neela has finally crack the code on time travel, but finds that her evil self is, well, you know, EVIL! This sets up the conclusion to this storyline, which has been called "Breaking History."

Portela and Dalhouse do a great job on the art in this issue - the projectile vomiting alone is worth the price of admission!