At the end of Time Bomb #2 I had concerns about how well Time Bomb #3 would be able to conclude a story that felt very much open and not quite ready to finish. In the end it gets the ending you expected, but that it deserved. 

A quick recap of the series. Nazi missile goes off in the present, world is on verge of destruction, team of super-awesome spies are sent back to 1945 to stop the missile and a lot of people die.  

If it was possible issue 3 moves even more into the realm of sci-fi as the team of super spies show off a whole bunch of really cool technology in their attempt to stop the Nazis. Like I said the ending is one that you would have expected, but that’s okay because the writers at least make the characters work for that ending and throw in a little bit extra ‘what-if’ fantasy awesomeness that a lot of people would appreciate. While I enjoyed the extra ‘what-if’ at the end it was a bit predictable and for some reason didn’t hold very much of an impact on me, maybe because I was in fact expecting it to happen. Also the explanation given at the end was rather lame and felt tacked on.  

There was still very little character development, but heading into this issue I was prepared for that. I knew it was going to be a bumpy, explosion fuelled ride with a few witty quips thrown in and that’s basically how it went. Most of the characters were given their moment to shine either through brute force or great dialogue. I did appreciate the fact that Hitler was, well, Hitler. He was short, blaming everyone but himself for any failures and never seemed to grasp the full nature of the situation even though he tried to make it sound like he did. I also had to laugh when he was concerned none of his friends would make it into the underground city before the bomb went off. Hitler with friends is just such a strange concept.

The artwork was as solid as it has been all series. There weren’t any pages that really stuck out in my mind but one thing that did stay with me was the fact that most of the Nazi soldiers had their eyes covered either by goggles or the shadow off their helmet. It made them seem robotic and inhuman and for some reason that just felt right and made them a little bit frightening. The other really striking piece of artwork was the facial work on Jack at the start of the issue when he’s being taken to interrogation. He makes a lot of really funny comments about the missile and what not all the while he’s drenched in sweat and obviously worried about the mission. His face betrays his words for a moment and you wonder just how things are going to pan out and then something ticks over and his face looks cold and calm and that reflects what happens next. It also made me think Jack might be a little bit psycho, something I previously related to Ken and added something to Jack’s character as a result. The use of black was well done I thought. It was solid, not a shade although it was used like shading is for shadows and light, and something about its boldness really made the panels it was used in pop.  

A good way to end the series but a way that I really expected it to end. The extra bits of sci-fi are cool and the explosive ending is fun but I don’t think it’s an ending I’ll particularly remember as it didn’t shock me it really only delivered what I was expecting. Still Time Bomb proved to be a very entertaining ‘what-if’ sci-fi romp through time filled with doomsday devices, Nazis and plenty of action.