The War That Time Forgot!

The War that Time Forgot was revived by writer Bruce Jones as a limited series in 2007. I well remember being attracted to this series at the time, lured in by the spectacular Neal Adams cover the debut issue, but I was ending my new comic book collecting for the most part back then and I let it go. But I always wanted to read it but alas it's only ever been collected in two rather slim volumes and the price is not necessarily nice. But thanks to online sources I got them somewhat cheaper than cover and gave them a read. Sadly as with most modern comics it didn't take all that long. The artwork for the first eight issues is by the team of Al Barrionuevo and Jimmy Palmiotti. The ninth is by Scott Kolins and the tenth and eleventh issues are by Graham Nolan and inker Dan Green. Barrionauevo returns for the finale with inks by Green. The art is solid but not spectacular. 

The premise is at once simple and complex. Warriors from across time are gathered together on a volcanic island teeming with all sorts of dinosaurs for reasons unknown to them. Being military folk they arrange themselves by rank and we end up with two forces at odds with one another. One group of more recent people on one side and on the other more ancient warriors. Among the time-lost characters are Enemy Ace, Golden Gladiator, Viking Prince, Firehair, G.I. Robot, and Tomahawk. There are others such as our main character Lt. Carson a U.S. pilot from just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. There is also a dame in a silver suit who seems to be from the future who is an enigma for much of the story. Personally I'd have loved to see more with the more famous characters but Jones I guess realized he could do little to advance their story arcs, so Carson and Vietnam vet called Jarhead and his wife Trang, along with a U.S. Iraq war pilot and a Japanese WWII ear pilot get much attention. A Colonel Jape proves to be as close to a villain as the series presents. There are lots of twists and turns, but in the final analysis I cannot recommend this one due to its prohibitive price for just too little story. 

There are some knockout covers as can be seen in the gallery below.  

(Neal Adams)

(Brian Bolland)

(Mark Schultz)

(Russ Heath)

(Walt Simonson)

(Mike Kaluta)

(Kevin Nowlan)

(Josh Middleton)

(Jose Ladronn)

(Justiniano)

(Jeff Darrow)

(Howard Porter)

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