Review: Time Before Time #6
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Declan Shalvey, Rory McConville
Artist: Joe Palmer
Colorist:Â
Letterer:Â
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
“Well let’s put it this way Tatsuo. If you think the past can be changed, do you really think the world would be like this?” – Syndicate
Time Before Time #6 – 2140. To escape a world with no future, many turn to the Syndicate—a criminal organization that, for the right price, will smuggle you back in time to the promise of a better yesterday.
Oscar Gomez is on the hunt for a Syndicate deserter hiding out in the year 1994. Can he rely on the local Syndicate network to track the deserter down?
This standalone story features art by series co-creator Declan Shalvey!
Positives
Writers Declan Shalvey and  Rory McConville take a break from their regular scheduled characters to explore the far reach that the Syndicate has on clients. Take one family who knows a bit too much and is strapped for cash. It’s not The Squid Games, but you can see shades of desperation all over this story.
The art is phenomenal and the transport scene is wretched. Who knew that could happen during time travel? Maybe these old refrigerator-type time jump devices are so efficient. However, don’t get caught outside one!
Shalvey and McConville have a new playground to work within! Given the depth of a story and the infinity number of years you can be dropped in, there is so much to work with, in making a quality comic for these two. Here’s hoping for a long run!
Negatives… but not really
issue #6 means that Image took my advice. There are a LOT of stories to be explored here. Given the reach of The Syndicate, we get a great glimpse of that here in this issue.  Issue #5 was the conclusion of Volume One of the story arc. Issue #6 is a punt issue in that we get a chance to catch our breath a bit before we hit the main characters again. What an issue though…
Verdict
Depositing yourself somewhere in time…Looper, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Avengers: Endgame, and now this book. But this take is different. An acknowledgment of what time travel can do to your body, the overarching power of a Syndicate that can find you somewhere in time, and pods that you have to trust your life to that look like bad refrigerator-freezers.
What’s not to be intrigued about? The Syndicate is a perfect villain for this time chase! And this issue proves there is more playground here that can be explored in a quality way!
Again, get in on the ground floor of Time Before Time. Click on the aforementioned link to transport yourself back in time to the first issue. However, it is up to you to find Issues #2 – #6.
