From Weird To Weirder — Reviewing ‘Captain Henry And The Graveyard Of Time’ #3

Welcome to the table,

Something is endlessly fascinating about a space outside of what we understand. I don’t mean a new undiscovered land or some far-off planet it takes light-years to get to. Those are fascinating in their own ways. In this case, I’m talking about a space that is beyond our known reality; somewhere outside the confines of space and, in this instance, time.

Mike Mignola and Bruce Zick‘s Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time takes us on an adventure to just such a place. In the third issue of this Dark Horse Comics series, things go from weird to weirder in a delightful way.

Captain Henry and Bertram Archimedes Otterham gear up with some truly fantastic-looking time-tech gear savalged from an endless landscape of lost time machines and the dead travelers who once operated them.

Zick’s art really lends itself beautifully to the familiar yet alien design of the strange temporal oddities that exist in the Graveyard of Time. There is this beautiful circuit board oddness that feels like it could be at home in some ancient civilization that had its rise and fall before the first humanoids ever crawled from the sea, or something that belongs to a species of sentient jellyfish that has inhabited the earth and is thriving long after the sun grows dim.

Every design choice feels timeless. Not in the way a black dress or pocket watch feels timeless. It feels timeless in the way that it is out of time, like there is no specific time that can define these designs. The artistry it takes to craft them and allow them to work across the paneled page is nothing short of extraordinary.

As the Captain and Bertram make their way through this space outside of time, they find themselves looking upon a towering colossus. This monolithic structure looks to have been inspired by Jack Kirby‘s 4th World. As a fan of Kirby’s particular brand of design in those weird fiction adventures, I was instantly a fan of the thing when it showed up on the page.

Within the confines of this megastructure, the Time King dwells. We learn he is not only aware of the travelers but is plotting a trap for them. The Captain and Bertram fight their way through various waves of time constructs. Eventually they find themselves in the heart of the citadel, where they uncover that the souls of those who travel time have been siphoned into a great glowing orb that is powering some kind of foul device.

Captain Henry unleashes a blast from his newly equipped time-tech sword and blows apart the time siphon orb, but in doing so, it seems the full wrath of the Time King is about to be visited upon the good Captain and Bertram.

Captain Henry And The Graveyard of Time continues to be a delightful adventure story full of strange settings, fantastic technology, and odd encounters that harken to the kinds of adventure stories that make you feel like each page turn is a new landscape full of endless possibilities.

Until next time, I believe, unless something has changed, the next issue will wrap up this run. Hopefully, all the positive chatter I have been hearing about this book from fans and friends in the industry alike will lead to more adventures for Captain Henry.

Only time will tell.