Earthdivers #2 continues one of the more intriguing new series of the year. After dodging the apocalypse, four Indigenous outcasts are past the point of no return on their audacious one-way, time travel mission to save the world by killing Christopher Columbus. Tad in 1492 must not only survive but figure out how to complete his mission. In 2112 questions and suspicion grow as questions linger in how to measure success keep being raised.
Writer Stephen Graham Jones has put together a very interesting series that plays with a lot of time travel concepts. Generally, with time travel there’s a cascading impact of actions. If you kill the wrong person, a ripple will happen potentially leading to a vital person not being born. But, Jones asks the question, how would you know? If the past is changed, how do you know you’re not living in that changed present? Add in other paranoia and Earthdivers #2 isn’t just a historical assassination attempt but an interesting take on the entire time travel genre.
But that historical aspect is interesting as well, because there too Jones delivers something new. Not only is there a question of how the mission should be completed but a question is raised that the mission itself is impacting time and history. Will history attempt to fight back when some attempts to change it? It’s an intriguing concept that makes the mission feel even more like it’s swimming against the tide.
The art by Davide Gianfelice continues to be solid. With color by Joana Lafuente and lettering by Steve Wands, the comic looks great jumping between its two eras. I can’t say how accurate the past is but it feels like what I’d expect or at least delivers enough to feel believable. The future too is a bleak dry wasteland but there’s something interesting in the emptiness of it all. The two compared to each other creates a visual clash that works so well and enhances the choices of each.
Earthdivers #2 is a solid read whose details really stand out. Small things said or concepts thrown in make a simple time travel action story something more. There’s a great sci-fi aspect to it where it’s exploring so much of its concept and delivering something new and different for readers at the same time.
Story: Stephen Graham Jones Art: Davide Gianfelice
Color: Joana Lafuente Letterer: Steve Wands
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Read
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle
