4 out of 5

James Harren + monsters will never not be a good comic.  This is a provable formula.  So in The Abyss of Time, when some B.P.R.D.ers discover a Helopic Brotherhood hideout, and agent Howards’ grasping of an odd-angled blade sends him on a mental journey to witness an ancient pack of warriors battling ancient-er monsters…  Yeah, good comic.

But let’s not pitch Harren as only being suitable for that: his characters and settings just ooze with a life that’s very particular to his style, and given further breath by Dave Stewart’s warm colors.  From the underground dwelling in which we start to the jungle and temples of the flashback / parallel world / whatever, it all looks fantastic, with the dialogue pages as energized as those splashed with action and blood.

This is a very short tale, mainly used to bring Howards into the bigger picture, and the lack of space makes the extra characters in the ancient setting a little too cluttered, but this is otherwise a wonderfully exciting, compact side story.