Infinitum: Time Travel Noir

by G.M.B. Chomichuk

"With enough time, you can fix anything." The Infinitum are a future society of people and aliens displaced to our past. Special Investigator Nine works in The Paradox Bureau, an agency that polices the temporal diaspora and prevents crimes before they happen. Nine is sent on assignment to the 1940s (to the very place and time he was originally recruited) and must avoid altering his own past while investigating a seemingly unpreventable murder. Nine uncoils a temporal conspiracy at the heart of a militant separatist movement. Why would an organization dedicated to preventing murder before it happens cover up a series of grisly killings? Through the flash of rayguns and the half-light and the fog of a future-tainted 1940s, Nine pursues a killer while he avoids fouling the investigations of his own multiple selves.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2015

About the author

GMB Chomichuk is an award-winning writer and illustrator whose work has appeared in film, television, books, comics and graphic novels. His most recent work with HighWater Press, Will I See?, was a collaboration with writer David A. Robertson and singer/songwriter Iskwē. He writes and/or illustrates occult suspense stories like Midnight City, science fiction works like Red Earth, or inspirational all-ages adventure stories like Cassie and Tonk. He is the host of Super Pulp Science a podcast about how genre gets made. His newest full length graphic novel Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal was featured on The Hollywood Reporter, The Nerdist, and Billboard Magazine.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love time travel stories and this is a good one. In the beginning, it can be a bit confusing as a lot of world building information is dumped on the reader. It's definitely worth it to keep going. The writing is great. This really stood out for me:

"The true cost of anything is the amount of life you spend on it."

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too bulky.

[J Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most time travel fictions have the problem that they try to explain or solve paradoxes poorly and end up worsening the inevitable plot holes. While I found that the characters and vibe of this noir graphic novel were too well-worn, I enjoyed that instead of fighting with time travel paradoxes the author doubles down and makes the plot as tangled as possible. I would need to read this several more times to see if there is some internally consistent logic, but either way it was a fun brain-teaser.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the story didn't grip me quite the same as Imagination Manifesto, I found the art much more comprehensible. I spent a good bit of time puzzling over whether this fit into the IM stories, as certain characters seemed to parallel others from the creator's earlier trilogy.


The story takes the Looper, Paradox, etc style time travel paradoxes and uses them to explore identity, love, and responsibility in interesting ways while still feeling really dime novel pulpy. I'm looking forward to more Midnight City books to find out where GMB takes this when he has more room to world-build.

[Mark Allard-Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

What G.M.B. Chomichuk gives us with Infinitum is a dark, stylised Sci-Fi Noir in similar veins to the movie Blade Runner and a story narrative that perplexes and subdues us with curiosity in the same tones as Robert A. Heinlein's All You Zombies.

Beautiful Artwork, glossy with a beautiful sultry dark depth to it.

A wonderful Graphic Novel that is an ode to Parents' love and time lost. A worthy read for any reader of Sci-Fi, especially the perplexing stuff like the aforementioned All You Zombies.

[Stacey Kondla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this graphic novel, but didn't love it. I enjoyed the artwork, but found that the story got bogged down at times. I'm glad I read it and will watch for more by GMB Chomichuk