3 out of 5

And back around we go.

The promise of time travel antics – Doc punching a dinosaur on the cover while steampunky guys look on from some type of portal and that lovely dumb title – should be gold for Hastings’ rapaciously random ongoing webseries, but, unfortunately, it functions like the stories collected in volume 3: a bit too over-stuffed for its own good.  That collection suffered from subplot bloat, which doesn’t occur in Timefist, but it does feel like it continually doubles over itself for explanations.  (Often a consequence of time travel, ain’t it?)  It just never quite gets full steam going to make the leap into silly inertia, making the reading a bit more of a chore than it really should be.

And I’m going to draw some unfair connections here.

Things start off pretty great (in that straight-faced dumb way at which McNinja excels when it’s at its best) with clone story ‘Army of One,’ which ties into the also-great volume 2 collection by way of Franz Reyner.  Hastings’ particular brand of humor balances on the edge of too winky-quirky and self-sustained quirky, no winks required; Reyner, built from 80s stereotypes, and this storyline, blending a pretty funny internet concept with an oft-used sci-fi setup and Chris’ own indulgent randomness (i.e. Ben Franklin) is a perfect example of bringing this type of stuff right to a boil and holding it there.  The story builds on the McNinja history but works completely self-contained; it lasts long enough but definitely concludes.  It’s also inked by Kent Archer.  And colored by Anthony Clark, but more on him in a bit.

Judy Gets a Kitten happens, written by former colorist Carly Monardo.  It feels like a guest strip, but we love animals buddying up, so it’s cute and a good pause between stories.

But now we’re to the main chunk of things: Space Savers and Futures Trading, which… minor nit, annoys me because one story cannot exist without the other, to the extent that they might’ve been one story.  Except, sure, the former focuses on alternate timelines and the latter focuses on time travel.  If I were to rattle off the bits and pieces involved in these stories, they’d definitely sound like McNinja and they’d also sound pretty damn funny.  But, as mentioned above, it’s so focused on explaining everything – and jumping back to previous storylines, especially volume 3, which is the unfair connection that I’ll say is not a coincidence in that two sluggish storylines tie into one another – that it all feels like purposeful delay for a punchline that only sort of arrives via the climactic final battle.  “Sort of” because you’re worn out by that point, and it’s somewhat kitchen-sink overload.

Adding to this effect is the art: Hastings has taken over his own inking, or, maybe, there’s no inking, and Clark does the lines during coloring.  It’s pretty atrocious.  Background details become blobs, defining lines are thick and sloppy.  Chris’ figurework is certainly better than when he started, but the look has the uncomfortable “starting fresh” look to it that volume 1 did.  Which worked, despite its limitations, as the storyline never felt limited by it, but oddly, despite all the craziness going on in Timefist, the panels feel dialed back compositionally.  Because the artwork isn’t as fluid, it allows more focus on the colors, which are much flatter than Monardo’s colors.  Is this just a transition phase?  Absolutely.  Glancing at the next volume, the linework is cleaned up and the crew looks like they’ve settled into a much better visual rapport.  But this is an uncomfortable beginning, especially paired with such a cluttered story.

The trade concludes with an Axe Cop crossover, which, unfortunately, is dumb, and not dumb enough.

WHAT A HORRIBLE REVIEW FOR A THREE STAR BOOK.

I mean, it’s still enjoyable, and conceptually hilarious.  But, as with volume 3, this felt like an idea (talking dinosaurs with guns!) Chris needed to get out there.  Now he has, and it was amusing, but he’s given us much better.  So let’s see where we go from here.