Review

"We'll be home in time for Tea and Dexter" - Sheriff Sawyer

Our zombie duo of mayhem Bones and Sawyer are left by Daisy, another zombie, to housesit for her. The only proviso being that they don't enter one room or touch a certain urn in that room. Naturally Sawyer not only enters the forbidden room but also manages to break the urn. Unfortunately this unleashes the Vicis Res, the titular time being, promising Biblical amounts of slaughter and gore. Daisy, when she gets home, orders Bones and Sawyer to Badiyat ash Sham to prevent the time being from entering a room that will allow it to take corporeal form.

Meanwhile Martin, a libarian, wants to expierence things for real. He quits his job at St Marcus's College library and as chance would have it heads to the ill fated Badiyat ash Sham to investigate Mesopotamian potsherds. And to round things out Dr Sainsbury, a female adventurer, also decides to make the scene.

Bit of trivia, the fabled Badiyat ash Sham is in modern day Iraq, the exact same Country that Father Merrin is working in during that scene from The Exorcist.

The Time Being is the first chapter in a three part adventure featuring the reanimated Bones and Sawyer and a number of new characters. While the story is separate from the web comic that made the names Breach and Wood famous in comic circles in Australia, it still retains the same charm and light handed approach of the web adventures. If you like the web comics then you are simply going to love The Time Being.

Jen Breach kicks the script off with multiple threads, well three at least, all leading to the same location for some unholy unleashing of underworld mayhem. Considering this is the first part of what promises to be an epic adventure Breach does a mighty fine job in introducing her characters and setting them on the road to conflict. There's nothing forced in the script, the plot flows logically as our three separate threads unite toward the end of the comic. Along the way Breach adds a touch of humour, a feeling of comedy, and a general air of not taking things too seriously. While The Time Being might deal with the equivalent of a kraken I guess and a fair grouping of zombies, in Breach's hands things diverge from the Romero landscape to a sort of Disneyland of grim humour. If you haven't dialled up your horror humour content for the year then my suggestion would be to get some Time Being under your belt. About the only thing missing is an Ash like character, but hey with two chapters still to come my way anything is possible.

While Breach can script with the best of them, and far better than most, Trev Wood's artwork backs up the standard she sets with distinct styling and flourishes. Wood may have the advantage of a full coloured canvas, but he surely can put together facial expressions, which is quite the achievement considering three of his characters are pretty much made up of decaying bones. The Artist has an uncanny knack of being able to convey feeling by postuer alone. It's pretty engaging stuff, and of a much higher level of achievement than one might expect from a comic purporting to cover the old comic non deplume of "the funnies".

I guess if I had to describe the artistic style Wood achieves then I would point at Disney's cartoon Atlantis. For some reason Wood's panels remind me of the artwork used in the House of Mouse's movie.

Publisher Sockpuppet Comics turns in a truly professional book that is a joy to read. The format is standard U.S comic size with excellent layouts and a feeling that nothing has been jammed together in order to fit the maximum amount of panels on one page. Considering we get full page panels that's a real asset. The Time Being as a package would not be out of place in the catalogue of a big New York publishing house, jeez we rock in this Country.

So I had an awesome time with The Time Being and dug what Breach and Wood threw in my direction. The art was stunning enough to bring a smile of satisfaction to my dial while the plot promises some excellent unexpected turns in the next two comics. If you dig yourself some dark genre delights, and are not adverse to the odd punch line being throw in then you are in the right place. Rock on and enjoy yourself with this one, you'll be thanking me immediately after finishing the book.

Okay so before you start emailing with demands of where to get the comic head on over to Black Boox and score yourself a copy for a very modest $7 plus P&H. Actually since the second and third instalments are also available why not grab all three and really have a good time tonight. For OS readers, yes the team at BB do ship Internationally.