Read our review of Timeless #1 from Marvel Comics, written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with art by Juann Cabal.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Timeless 2023 #1 Review:
In this new issue, we flash forward to the future of the Marvel Universe as Power Man, the last surviving hero, tries to take down Moon Knight, who is looking to consume the world. Over various twists and turns we get to see flashes of the next year or so of Marvel stories, as well.
Host Pete LePage thought the issue was “fun and over the top… It’s an interesting future.” Not only that, he liked the superpower reveals throughout the issue — Power Man also has the powers of Hulk, Sentry, Iron Fist, and more.
Conversely, Alex Zalben said that despite liking the writing and art team in general, “This didn’t work for me.” Spoilers past this point, but the issue comes down to a fight between Power Man, who is Luke Cage, and Moon Knight, who is secretly Danny Rand. “When we get to the eventual emotional parts of [the issue] towards the end, as the two them, their friendship has broken apart… That was smartly and interestingly done. But I would have liked more of that throughout the comic book.”
Additionally, Zalben noted that with some exceptions, the teases for future storylines failed to get him excited. “It didn’t get me,” Zalben said.
For Justin Tyler, he was “somewhere in the middle.” He was a fan of the emotional core with Luke and Danny, but the set-ups for other Marvel stories “feels like an after-thought… The fight was cool. And I like the emotional underpinning. But it just felt like it was trying to do too much all at once.”
Timeless 2023 #1 Official Synopsis:
BEHOLD THE FUTURE OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE – FEATURING THE DEBUT OF TWO NEW MARVEL ICONS! In a devastating future born from the choices of today, all of time and space is threatened by the ascension of an ancient evil. The MOON KNIGHT UNENDING has risen – a nightmare born of StarkTech, the Eternal Machine and the God of the Moon – and now all of Earth bows before his overwhelming power! But one man stands against Khonshu’s coming tide of chaos: POWER MAN, the Marvel Universe’s final living super hero.
But who is Power Man – and how did he come to wield the unstable powers of the Sentry, the Hulk and the Iron Fist? What dark, deeply personal conflict underpins this mind-bending apocalypse? And at the end of the line, can the Marvel Universe ever truly be saved? PLUS – a SHOCKING glimpse into the next year of Marvel stories!
