Time Before Time Vol. 05
Rory McConville & Declan Shalvey, writers; Geoffo & Joe Palmer, artists; Chris O’Halloran, coloist; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, letterer
Image Comics, 2024

This is the finale of a series that ran for 29 issues: quite a long run these days. After the first couple of collections artist and co-creator Joe Palmer left the artwork to several artists (a new one for each new arc), so it is fitting that he returned to draw the final issue. Nadia Wells had been on a mission to reunite with her time-displaced family for most of the series. When she finally did it things became complicated, and taking down The Syndicate became her new goal.

Concluding the story required even more frequent time shifts than usual (which can get confusing, but that’s time travel for you). The first issue started in 2455, moved to 2144 after two pages, then to 2097 after four more pages. And that’s just the beginning! There were four more shifts in the first issue alone. We see Tatsuo, Sebastian, and the robot Kevin (who has seen better days)…then Nadia announces her plan to take down the Syndicate in a dramatic final full-page spread.

In the course of the action Nadia’s nemesis Helgi finally got his just desserts, and Tatsuo made the ultimate sacrifice while helping her. The final issue, “We Were The Future Once,” is a beautiful, bittersweet coda to the series. A young Tatsuo (starting from 2140)  makes a delivery to an elderly Nadia in 2600. He does not recognize her (having not met her yet in his timeline) but she tells him that she has been waiting a long time for the delivery, and convinces him to stay for dinner. It is a heartbreaking full-circle moment, one of the most emotionally satisfying endings I have ever seen in a series. Hats off!