Time travel is one of the most common concepts in science fiction, but with the concepts comes its own self-imposed perils.  As the genre most focused on actual science, science fiction brings with it some need to be true to at least some scientific principles, but while time travel is a popular concept, there is nothing really scientific about it.  Generally speaking a real world application of time travel fails almost every potential logical or natural test that it can be put through, thus it remains in the world of purely speculative literature.  That having been said, there are few time travel stories which do not incorporate some aspect of supposed science into it, and in so doing stories about time travel essentially have to make their own rules to prove that what they are proposing is even possible.

In this case, time travel is possible, but there is an unexpected effect of time travel called the meld.  It is evident from the beginning of the book that this is where the main character Joshua is heading, as there is only the past, the present, the future and the meld.  Though little is known  of Joshua’s actual mission nor of his reason for accepting it, the missions would seem to take him straight into the meld, presumably a place where the past, the present and the future are melded together, in a post-apocalyptic land where dinosaurs also roam the Earth.  As an application of time travel making its own rules, this is a fairly interesting one, even if similar concepts have been tried before (for instance at present in the Flash.)  Not relying entirely on its own inspiration though, this time travel tale also seemingly draws some inspiration from Twelve Monkeys in an important enough plot element.

At the very least, this first issue sets up the remainder of the series for some success, as not only is the story interesting by itself, but so too are the character well-written, especially the band of survivors that the time traveler encounters.  Ei8ht still ends up being a refreshing tale of time travel, maybe not as groundbreaking in its version of the concept in its first issue, but still trying out something new while also borrowing from other works in the genre. The new plot device of the meld works well as a microcosm of this series, trying out some new ideas and some old ones, and mixing them together into something interesting.

Story: Mike Johnson  Art: Rafael Albuquerque
Story: 8.3  Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Read

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.