The Traveler

Stan Lee is part of pop culture. I mean a big part. As we see in the huge popularity of the current run of Marvel super hero movies, and the part that he plays in them, it is almost impossible to not know that he exists. And he is essentially ubiquitous to Marvel Entertainment and all that is tied to those properties.

But I learned something recently. He wrote some comics for Boom! Studios in the recent past.

There was like this sudden drop in air pressure or something with that right? I felt it as it came from my mind. I like to think you felt it to as you read the lines. It’s one of those moments where you stop and maybe do a double take to ensure you read the line correctly. And then when you do you still question what it is you just read.

I mean seriously, I knew about Stan Lee from his connection to Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, before I knew or understood his connection to comics in general. But even through that he is one of those personalities that is what you expect when you think of certain things. And then to learn and experience something outside of what you expect, it touches you in places you didn’t expect. I may need therapy…

But I digress…

Where was I going with all of this? The Traveler, that’s the one. See, he had his hand in a few comics for Boom! Studios, a little while back and I’ve had some time to go through a bit of at least one of the stories. By this I mean The Traveler (Boom! Studios 2011).

To start off, I like the story and love the art. It’s a story I wouldn’t have expected. By this I am referring to the story itself. See, it is at its heart, a time travel story. But the approach to time travel and the world affected by the travelers is something a bit different than what we usually see.

It plays with our expectations and gives us something almost but not quite entirely what we would expect. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The series had a 12 issue run, collected into three volumes. The interesting bit of it I found as I made my way through the series, it connects with the other two series (Starborn and Soldier Zero). There is something in each of the storylines that ties in with the other storylines. There are moments when you are going through each of them and wondering where the current story plays in the timeline of the others. But in the end, they all make this cohesive whole of a world with so much room to explore.

I enjoyed each of them and could spend way too long talking about them. But as always, you would be better served to read and discover the stories for yourself. So, that is where I leave you. Right, I gave you like no information and babbled about next to nothing. And then told you to go read something. Go figure…

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