Time Before Time Volume 3

Time Before Time (collected editions)

by Declan Shalvey, Rory McConville, Joe Palmer (Artist)

The past catches up with a vengeance in the latest chapter of the critically-acclaimed crime/time-travel series,

With the 33rd century’s most dangerous bounty hunters on their trail, Nadia,Tatsuo and Kevin’s journey leads them further into the future than ever before. As enemies old and new close in, will they learn the secrets of the Arcola Institute before it’s too late? Collects TIME BEFORE TIME #13-17.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Dystopia

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2022

About the author

Declan Shalvey is an Irish comics artist and writer.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A badass bounty hunter is on the trail of Nadia, Tatsuo, & Kevin.
But the thing is, you kind of like the guy because the story is that his grandson needs medical treatment and this job will pay enough to get it.
So yeah, he's a bad guy, but even bad guys have hearts.



The Arcola Institute which took Nadia's family to some supposed utopian society in the past is looking shadier and shadier the more they discover about the group and its recruitment practices.
And Tatsuo is dying of rad poisoning, and jumping desperately to different future eras to find a cure.
But will he run out of time before he can locate the right one?



You can't really say much more without giving major spoilers, so I'll just say this one is keeping me on the edge of my seat.

Recommended for fans of the genre.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good series so far!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good continuation! and benefitted from not dwelling at all on internal policial machinations in the Syndicate or Union or any other arbitrary power brokers but instead keeping the focus on human (and robotic) agency.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I am so loving this series and this 3rd volume doesn’t disappoint. Tatsuo and Nadia barely escape with the robot, Kevin. However they have two big problems. One, Tatsuo is dying from rad sickness from those time jumps in that unshielded time pod. They are now traveling forward in time to see if a cure has been invented. Two, Tatsuo’s old clique, the Syndicate, have hired these mercenaries to find them and bring them back. The plot just gets more juicy as you care about what happens to Tatsuo and Nadia but the main mercenary has a strong reason for taking this job that also make you sympathetic towards him. Man, volume 4 can’t get here soon enough.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing I continue to love about this series is that it's able to find a way to wrap up previous story arcs and launch into new ones in a way that doesn't feel awkward or out of place. While the artwork can sometimes be underwhelming, the story is tight and the characters are interesting. The excitement about what's going to happen going forward based off the last issue in this volume and that's a great feeling to have after reading any comic.

[Mariano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than vol 2, great fun. I'm loving this series.

[Alex Sarll]

What began as a series about a time war played out between crime gangs instead of empires* increasingly feels like it's moved past that; yeah, there are bounty hunters after the protagonists, but even there we see enough from one of their perspectives to realise that this unstoppable badass is just one more poor bastard trying to look out for his family in a world where that feels increasingly impossible. Meanwhile, the leads are chasing their own white whales down the timestream, a plot which for all its dark moments now feels remarkably optimistic in having humanity continue as a technological civilisation for another millennium or two.

*Obviously begging the question of what exactly the difference is, beyond scale.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this grants another 3.5 stars rating, but, as you can notice based on the three visual stars, it was somehow less interesting that the previous two volumes.

Probably because it spends a lot of time (two whole issues) introducing a new character in the plot... and he better be really important and significant to the story later on, because it hardly seems worth the effort and the detour so far.

Apart from that, the story moves on just a little bit, but there's some major development finally, and the ending holds enough promise to continue with the series... even if I'm not that invested over all, specially after this volume.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I loved this. The series may start a bit slow but it is cooking now. More world building, gut wrenching twists, and a snarky robot for good measure.

[Roshan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time Before Time, Vol. 3 (2022)
Writer – Declan Shalvey, Rory McConville
Artist – Ron Salas, Eric Zawadzki
Series – Time Before Time #13-17
Genre – Sci-Fi, Thriller, Crime

Synopsis: In the year 2140, the criminal organization known as the Syndicate offers to transport people back in time for a better future. When one of their smugglers and an FBI agent steal their machine, it leads to a manhunt by the Syndicate, which has hired a bounty hunter to track them down.

The story flows flawlessly through the narrative, introducing a new antagonist, Sebastian, into the mix. The main trio continues their journey into the future in search of a cure for Tatsuo and to uncover more answers about the mysterious Arcola Institute. However, with Sebastian on their trail, time is running out for all of them.

This volume presents a fresh change of pace for the series. A recurring issue in previous volumes was the presence of weak antagonists who felt one-dimensional and easily disposed of. With Sebastian's inclusion, the writers introduce a compelling antagonist with a clear purpose. The chemistry among the main trio—Tatsuo, Nadia, and Kevin—is palpable, and the story is fast-paced, maintaining an upward trajectory. The constant threat that anyone could die keeps the tension high throughout.

The artwork, done by Ron Salas, is a marked upgrade in design and style from the previous two volumes.

Overall, Volume 3 continues to push the story to greater heights.

RJG Rating – 3.85/5
Goodreads – 3.80/5

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. I think I've accepted this series just doesn't fully click with me. We start with a cutaway to the new threat in the bounty hunter who's hunting them down to solve his own family drama and financial issues.
From there more drama escalates as Tatsuo gets worse, Nadia struggles to find (and then work with) the group that her family joined, and that's before they meet up with the mercenaries. Tatsuo’s story was the best to me as he keeps positive through his terrible situation. He's trying to keep himself going and its hard, in a well-written way, to watch. It just hits.The finale where they part is a bit too sudden for my liking though Nadia's journey to the past is interesting to me.
We get some guest artists here and I really enjoy them. the art of this series hasn't been for me so these guests artists were deeply appreciated as I enjoyed the art much more. So much I sorta wish they continue the guest artists for the whole rest of the series which probably wont happen.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

New characters--a team of bounty hunters raids a corporate headquarters for its pod tracking tech and gets picked off one by one. It's a great little subplot tangent that serves to introduce a sympathetic new antagonist.

Meanwhile, Nadia finally solves the mystery of where her family landed (and the answer is delightfully counterintuitive) and Tatsuo, withering away from timejump rad sickness, desperately tries to find a time when medicine has developed a cure. His decline is illustrated really well.

While there's still a lot of unrealized potential (why does every time they visit spanning 2600 years speak the same flavor of English?) this is the most solid volume of the series so far. The writers finally left behind the confuzzlement of dozens of interwoven time jumps without losing the coolness of time travel itself. The focus is starting to narrow, to the series' betterment.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Syndicate NEVER gives up...

Tetsuo, Nadia, and the snarky robot Kevin are still jumping through time. Their mission? Stay ahead of 'The Syndicate' and find Nadia's family. What IS Arcola? Also, Tetsuo is running out of time. Radiation poisoning is hard to ignore and every jump forward is giving him less...time.

They're being pursued by a bounty hunter with his own need for the reward. This isn't a simple chase down and pay out. If it's a group bounty, you KNOW somebody is at least getting double crossed. Fun times!
-----
Love this series. I'm waiting for more time travel shenanigans besides the radiation poisoning. Maybe a paradox?

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems to be getting better, although the plot does seem a lot like a video game: before you can do this big thing, first you need to do these side quests, etc. Tatsuo is getting sicker and sicker, but is sure the cure is just ahead in the next five- or ten-year jump. They've finally got a line on Arcola. And a big chunk of this is devoted to telling the backstory of a mercenary who's on their tail. Oh, and the artwork has improved significantly this time out.

[StephanieNicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this volume as much as the previous volumes: The plot did not advance much, and the focus was on a bounty hunter instead of Tatsuo/Nadia/Kevin. I also didn't like the illustrator change because now my favorite characters look different. I'm still interested in reading more, but now I'm worried the story isn't going anywhere and this will just drag slowly on.

[Luke John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time travelling can be confusing even without adding the multiple competing factions in this book, but this volume does a lot to return focus to the narrative. The final issue leaves me looking forward to finding where things go, introducing a further faction, but one with very different (and refreshing) motives.

[Metabull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this volume. Kevin is a funny character and a couple of new characters that move the plot forward in interesting ways. The artwork changes from volume 2 and it works very well. I really liked it.

[David Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally different art, feels like a different graphic novel, the story arc lost me until the end.

[Christa Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read of this series, the more I like it. Putting this one down and picking up Vol 4.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best collection of the series so far.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for all six volumes:

Self-described as "A mix of SAGA and Looper".

Sometimes marketing gets it right.