Advance Review: ‘The Man Who F#&%ed Up Time’ #3 As Our Hero Keeps F#&%ing Up Time

Loser-in-life, Sean Bennett, has been given the chance to unravel the mess he’s made of the time stream, and it’s lucky he’s a quick learner given he has only one day left to do this, with some help from the Future Police who are on hand to help Bennett every time he comes unstuck. Which is very often, the doofus.
Juxtaposing the dramatic, life-threatening events of the f#&%ed up present with the events from a few months ago – and a life-changing night out on the town celebrating the creation of the time machine that’s caused so many problems – is a narrative trick writer and co-creator, John Layman has played before in other titles such as Chew and Outer Darkness, but it’s one that is guaranteed to raise intrigue in the reader as Layman cuts from the present to the past across the first half of this new issue, all the time throwing us a few more pieces of the jigsaw to put together to reveal the bigger picture of what is going on.

Through the eyes of this unlikeliest of heroes we get a much needed recap as these kind of time-travel capers can get rather complex rather quickly and with Sean having met two versions of himself already – one from the past, one from the future – he’s gotten into a right mess. A mess he’s happy to blame on anyone else but himself. And, his day just gets worse from thereon in. All set against the backdrop of a messed up time stream in flux that mashes up the primeval with the medieval and more. And all ruled by Supreme Emperor Abraham Lincoln VI. This should tip you off to the kind of problems Sean is having. And any attempt by him to solve anything seem to be very clumsy at best. He’s what you’d get if Chevy Chase played Doctor Who.


Layman certainly knows how to spot ‘em too, with artist partner, Karl Mostert, being a huge talent to keep an eye on. I swear his artwork has developed across these first three issue right in front of my very eyes. What once felt like rather sparse panels are now more rich in detail and backgrounds, although a lot fo that has to do with the various tine periods Mostert has to incorporate into many of the pages in this issue from across history.The careful placing of the lettering – courtesy of Layman himself – also helps balance out the artwork when there is no call for a busy background. 

It’s another fun-filled read that, as is Layman’s way, plays with the typical tropes of  a particular genre, in this case the classic science fiction time marvel plotline, adding a decent sense of humour to proceedings, courtesy of Sennets clumsiness mainly. Bennett stands with those time travellers such as Marty McFly; a man out of his depths but giving it a good go. His heart is in the right place, even if he’s not necessarily the best person for the job. Or is he? There’s evidence in this comic that Sean isn’t the biggest loser to ever travel through time and does seem to be having a positive effect on the tie stream, even if he doesn’t know it yet. But, to do that he has to survive, which he’s show in this issue he’s not too good at that either. And this is civilisations great last hope? Gulp.
The Man Who F#&%ed Up Time #3 will be available from Aftershock Comics, Wednesday 17th June