Doctor Tomorrow

Valiant Entertainment

Writer: Alejandro Arbona

Artists: Jim Towe & Diego Rodriguez

Ever since the reboot in 2012, I’ve always loved to see Valiant bring back its classic characters. Over the last couple of years, some neat heroes from the vault have brought life back into Valiant’s arsenal. The flagship characters are nice, but the universe is at its best when it’s filled with excellent superheroes.

Doctor Tomorrow #1 brings back Doctor Tomorrow, a character that hasn’t appeared in a panel since the late 90s. Bart Simms is a hotheaded teenager who only has baseball and his friend to keep together. Before long, he meets Doctor Tomorrow, a new superhero who claims to be Bart from the future.

Alejandro Arbona takes his time in this issue, ensuring that the readers get to know Bart and his pal, Gretchen. Not much happens in this issue, making it a slow burn, developing the characters rather than pushing the plot ahead. Bart and Gretchen are well written, and their close bond and dynamics are clear to the reader by the end of the issue. Aside from a cold open, the heroics don’t even happen until the last quarter of the issue, so by then the reader will feel at least somewhat attached to the characters. This style of pacing might turn some away, but Arbona’s narrative choices will likely benefit the series significantly in a few issues.

The solid art by Jim Towe and Diego Rodriguez complements the narrative well. The characters look great, showing natural emotion in every panel. The action in each panel looks great, but sometimes the panels don’t flow too well. There is always some movement assumed in between the panels, but the flow during the cold open and a few other action-filled scenes isn’t crisp. The art just isn’t sequential enough. Readers won’t be too confused, but it does hurt the pacing of the action scenes. Otherwise, this is a great looking issue, with great backgrounds and strong character designs. Diego Rodriguez’s colors are spectacular, breathing life into every page and panel.

While it’s slow, Doctor Tomorrow #1 brings tons of the promise to this new series. The time-traveling will likely lead to some fun arcs down the road, and the cold open teases an exciting event coming. Valiant fans will want to add this series to their pull list.

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