By Dustin Cabeal
This is probably going to be one of my shorter reviews for a graphic novel based on a few things. The first being that if you don’t like time travel stories, then you shouldn’t bother reading this one. It’s a brilliant homage to the genre, and while creator Matthew Loux manages to tweak everything just enough to be its own, it’s hard to ignore the influences completely… but then that’s also what’s fun and entertaining about The Time Museum.
The gist of the story is that Delia is a very intelligent youngster and one summer she goes to visit her uncle and discovers that he’s the curator of the World Time Museum. He’s offering her the chance to become an intern for the museum, but she’ll have to compete with other kids her age that have been plucked from different time periods. They’re given three trials, and each of them ends up more dangerous than the last.
I won’t say much more than that about the story. The reason being that it does have several mysteries going on and only one of them is answered in this volume.
Loux does a fantastic job of not only developing the characters but developing their relationships as well. The character growth is tremendous because of that, and it puts Delia on a believable story path. Another bright spot for Loux’s writing is his dialogue. Not only was it very teen friendly, but it had a consistent style to it. The kids didn’t all talk the same or act the same, and they all have unique and well-rounded personalities.
The elephant in the room is, of course, the time travel. It’s good. It’s handled delicately in this volume because again it’s more about the relationships and two other major aspects that I won’t spoil. I would be curious to see how it’s handled more in future volumes, but for now, it’s the right fit for the story, and that’s not disappointing.
Loux’s artwork is lovely. I enjoyed the hell out of it. It has a young adult look to it, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the character designs and overall style of the story. The thick lines paired with the vibrant coloring makes for a distinct looking graphic novel. The style reminded me of something, but in the end, I just enjoyed the way it looked as it had just a positive vibe to it that put a smile on my face while looking at the visuals.
Does this story break the time traveling mold and offer something that we’ve never seen before? Parts of it does, but overall not really and it’s not important that it does either. The only way time traveling works or is interesting is if the reader cares about the characters. The Time Museum creates more than one character for you to care about and drops them into a setting and story that you’re sure to enjoy.
Score: 5/5
The Time Museum
Creator: Matthew Loux
Publisher: First Second Book