There's No Time Like the Present

by Paul B. Rainey

A ‘Doctor Who’ devotee…A collector of cult paraphernalia…An excessive consumer of dairy products…An agoraphobic who has never met his best friends…Seemingly set in a world just like yours, this is the story of a group of friends and their relationships.Except the world now has access to the ultranet and can, if it wants to, download music that hasn’t been written yet, movies that haven’t been filmed yet and even, if it’s not too careful, learn the exact date and time of its own demise.In a world where time travel has at last been discovered, how is it that everyone’s life is more the same than ever before?

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

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2015

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drawn & Quarterly reprints There's No Time Like the Present, a 2015 graphic novel from British cartoonist Paul B. Rainey. Much like his more recent graphic novel, Why Don't You Love Me?, the story is filled with misanthropic characters and stipulates on the human condition with an acerbic wit. Where Why Don't You Love Me? couched some of the more speculative fiction elements in a subtle fashion, this book operates in the reverse. The premise to There's No Time Like the Present is that regular people now have access to the "ultranet", an alternate online service that allows one to peruse information from the future. Though the monumental implications for this kind of technology is made apparent early on in the narrative, Rainey makes it clear with the popular aphorism - "the more things change, the more they remain the same." Where one might use the ultranet to learn about their own future or the future of the world, we instead find that characters in this reality prefer to use it for bootleg copies of future episodes of Doctor Who and Star Wars movies. Indeed, it's the mixture of the wobbly sci-fi backdrop with a rather mundane set of characters that makes this a rather entertaining read.

Starring primarily three characters, the narrative follows the lives of Cliff, a classic culture nerd who pines for the romantic interest of his roommate, Kelly, a neurotic woman who just wants to enjoy episodes of Emmerdale after her tedious day job with her evening yogurt (despite being lactose intolerant), and Barry, Cliff's friend, who lives with his parents as he tries to get his business of selling bootleg ultranet downloaded TV shows up and running. The three navigate the eccentric existence of a reality where the future is easily accessible to them with the standard problems of young single adults - dating, careers, family, etc. It's all rather dry in its delivery, but by function. Rainey lulls the readers into this false sense of familiarity, only for the story to dovetail into more "out there" places.

Brimming with (primarily British) pop culture references and a satirical edge, this is an easily enjoyable read for those who liked Rainey's Why Don't You Love Me?. It's not nearly as subversive or inventive, but Rainey's version of an alternate world is an intriguing extraction of contemporary societal issues. The art is functional/effective, but no one will really find it appealing beyond some of the nuances that it can at times present. The comedic timing and the emotional beats are readily laced within the artwork itself, working well with Rainey's affecting storytelling.

[Betzim Gdolot · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can make a mundane, meaningless life even more predictable and boring? Enter the Ultranet, a "future internet" that allows users to access future releases of media such as movies and TV series (pirated from the future) and obtain information about events that have not yet transpired.

Our story follows a group of socially inept geeks who meet up and geek out (almost like we do now on Goodreads).

Yes, time travel is involved, but when time travel is "normalized" and becomes part of our daily lives, how would you handle it? Paul B. Rainey's There's No Time Like the Present is an intriguing exploration of fandom across time, friendship, and family. It's a slice-of-life story with sci-fi elements wrapped up with dry British humor (which I liked).

I felt like the first two-thirds of the book were a bit loose and didn't flow as smoothly, but it gets better and better. This is an earlier work of Rainey and it does seem like he finds his narrative towards the end of the book. The last 70 pages are absolutely fantastic storytelling that makes the whole story complete.
There was some unexplained things about the time travel and a bit of a mess with its mechanics, but isn't that how it works with all time travel stories?

The book is currently out of print but is set to be republished by a new publisher, Drawn & Quarterly, who also published Paul B. Rainey's Why Don't You Like Me?

Don't miss out on this one!

[Kurt Browne]

This is an unusual graphic novel. I am sure that I truly understand it. I am not British, so the humor evades me, and I have never watched Dr. Who.

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

Leave it to British SF to make the concept of “you get access to the future's internet and sometimes people from the future too” to be a look into the humdrum of life and how we all try to make of it and the weight and anxiety of the preordained-ness of life (both in how we can guess our future as well as later on just the inevitability of death). All with classic British dry wit, honestly some of the driest British wit I've witnessed.
The story pretty neatly separates itself into three categories. The first third was alright with some especially good moments with the girl who hates her job where she's constantly undermined.
Then we follow the nerdy boys as old men. It was sweet but still depressing. My second favorite character (the nerdy guy who finds pleasure in prostitutes) has some nice moments here as he handles how he feels he wasted his life in his nerdy hobby while tackling some sort of depression and his solace in his other more “mature” hobby of prostitutes. Finally, there is the far future as we pick up with my favorite character the girl who was whisked into the future and deals with abusive relationships and then enjoys a transient lifestyle enjoying life rather than focusing on some predetermined future opening the same option to the newly resurrected ex-roomie who had a crush on her.

[Dave Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this disappointing, not only after the excellence of Why Don't You Love Me? but because the first six (of seven) chapters are so involving. We know that Lara (small spoiler here) will travel back to 2014 because we already saw her there in the comic shop, though at the time I thought she was shoplifting rather than pregnant. And we know that it's impossible to change the past, so having Lara fix everything (whatever "fixing" would mean) isn't on the cards. So I have no problem with any of that. It's the rest of chapter 7 that I found myself skimming. Suddenly we're on another planet in the distant future hearing Kelly recount a frenetic sequence of sub-Hitchhiker's Guide escapades to a revivified Cliff. That all belongs to a different book and it's boring, whereas if it had all ended with (here's another spoiler) Barry phoning Ellie, that would have been perfect.

[Ryan Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a time-travel story about male sci-fi nerds (I mean no disrespect; I am one) that doesn’t involve much character development. The dysfunctions present in the sections about the men when they are young show them as essentially the same people as in the sections when they are older. No wisdom has been gained through the passage of time. I suppose one could take this as a reflection on the meaninglessness of life when the past and future are set because of time travel that makes future events knowable. But that seems like an overly generous interpretation.

There seems to be only room in the plot for one woman at a time in the first two sections and the women are either good girls or (literal) whores. The third section seems like an added-on fever dream of a coda that doesn’t do much for the story.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one very strange book. It’s about a couple of British introverts obsessed with nerd culture. It’s a slice of life story with the addition of the Ultranet, an internet that allows you to access media from the future. At a certain point people from the future start traveling back in time. We jump to when these nerds are old men. I really liked this part of the story. Then we jump ahead to the far future where things get pretty weird. It’s pretty solid stuff overall though.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept is really fascinating and the characters are interesting enough. In my opinion, there are some plot gaps or “dead spots” in much of Rainey’s work and this has that too. A little tighter storytelling would increase the flow. It’s really good for the premise alone, but there were portions in the middle where it felt flat.

[Scott Neigh]

A sci-fi graphic novel. Time travel. Unlikeable men who aren't even made particularly interesting and storytelling that meandered and did not grab me. Didn't enjoy it.

[Serge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bechdel test: fail.

[Bat Man]

Kinda profoundly miserable to me but not unaffecting