The Time Museum

The Time Museum Graphic Novels, Book #1

By Matthew Loux

ISBN: 978-1-59643-849-1

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

Review:

Imagine having a time traveling uncle from say 3000 or so odd years in the future. One who indulges curiosity in his niece, and runs the Time Museum, a masterpiece of technology, capturing the greatest mankind has to offer in a place that strangely exists ‘outside of time.’ Now imagine you are his niece, and have stumbled across this time museum and have been given the chance to compete to become a temporal custodian, guarding time itself against tears in the fabric of reality itself. The Time Museum by Matthew Loux offers a frenetically paced graphic novel that covers Delia’s (our hero of the story) adventures across the epochs.

I’ll have to admit, I’m a sucker for a well written time travel story, The Time Museum fulfilled my appetite. With stunning art and witty dialogue Loux presents a masterwork graphic novel and I can’t wait for the sequel. It is a truly reader engaging story with the science fiction theme looking at real-life struggles through the lens of past failures and gains and future catastrophes or progresses. The Time Museum is quite the work of art, stylistically and in the form of the written word.

Loux has crafted quite the story here. At no point is it ever dull or uneventful; something is always happening in the story. The writing style is unique to each of the six candidates characters (which I imagine wasn’t too difficult given the time periods they came from) and their unique voices speak volumes. This is a dialogue driven work of snappy banter, quick comebacks and soul searching questions about themselves. It’s a truly touching story with mystery and intrigue, and the surprise ending leaves you hanging for the next installment. For a 200+ page graphic novel, that’s impressive. At no point did the story waiver from its temporal nature and I found myself being pulled page by page until The Time Museum was over.

The artwork is definitely performed in the North=American in style, with cartoonish figures in exaggerated poses throughout the course of the work. By no means does this get in the way of the story. Loux can be as cartoony or as realistic as his needs suit him. The art pushes the narrative forward integrating cliffhangers at appropriate times. The Time Museum, like all museums, is a place you can take your time and admire the art and story and reflect (perhaps reread) upon the art and story. The art makes the graphic novel a moment captured in time, edging its way to its sequel. All the twists and turns in the plot grace the pages in twists and turns in the artwork. It is truly a stunning dynamic between word and picture that has been pulled off here. Loux is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

I would highly recommend this graphic novel to any studious young adult, those curious about history, and those (like myself) who love a good, fast paced time travel story. The graphic novel encourages teamwork, and overcoming differences in abilities and unifying them to become a cohesive whole. It’s a book about finding your place and giving 100% of your effort. The Time Museum is that and more, and it deserves a spot on everyone’s bookshelf (electronic or otherwise).