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 begin, naturally enough, with Ivar, Timewalker #1, by Fred Van Lente, Clayton Henry and Brian Reber...

The star of Ivar, the Timewalker, is Ivar, the third of the three immortal Anni-Padda brothers, the other two being Aram (also known as Armstrong, of Archer and Armstrong) and Gilad (also known as the Eternal Warrior). He has the ability to travel through time.

Ivar, Timewalker very intentionally has a Doctor Who feel to it, as Van Lente does a great job capturing just how offbeat and interesting Ivar's life is - this is literally a guy who just travels through time as if it was him going to the bank. However, when he brings someone else into this world, it becomes very clear at how the things that have become routine to him are really quite nuts.

This first issue is based on Ivar showing up right before brilliant young scientist Neela Sethi is about to invent time travel. You see, a group of bad guys (who sort of exist outside of time itself) want to gain the secret of HOW she invented time travel, and Ivar has to protect her from them (the Promitheans). He takes her on a journey through time to escape from them, and look at how awesome this sequence is - Clayton Henry and Brian Reber deliver an outstanding piece of sequential work here, as this scene krackles with kinetic energy, aided in great deal by Reber's striking colors...

Nice little Eternal Warrior cameo there.

Van Lente is a student of history, so he does a great job of working real life history into these stories.

The first issue ends with a great twist, when we learn who is in charge of the bad guys and it is someone who hits very close to home for Neela (who gets a lot of great development in just one issue - she's a lot of fun). This was a charming, action-packed entrance into the world of Ivar, and it gave us a fascinating companion in Neela who ends up driving much of the series herself.

See you tomorrow, as we look at #2!