In the last issue, I reviewed the phat new comic book The Fix, written by Tony DiGerolamo and based on the equally cool novel of the same name. I loved it, and because I enjoyed it so much, I gladly agreed to review another piece of his work, The Travelers, a comic book that is far different from The Fix, but very much worth the read.

     The Travelers is an interesting tail based around Locust the Wizard. He has decided to form an adventuring club with five of his friends, whom are always getting into trouble. The group consists of the proper and pompous Sergeant T.S., the Robin Hood-esque Shambles, Cubby, the ambassador of the Snottis, Sir Dan and Barbara the Barbarian, both co-owners of the Dock and Swig bar, and of course Locust, who together get into many a misadventures.

     Almost immediately after acquiring a time machine from the ancient Greek inventor, Archimedes, the motley group broke it. Instead of traveling from the past to the future, the group has begun traveling to alternate realities. This hilarious squad of fighters are cool in their own right, I truly believe team books are cool, because you get to see how so many different personalities must learn to co-exist, especially in these alternate realities they get stuck into.

     Issue ten was hard to get into, but at the same time, it was a perfect issue to learn about the characters. The group faces evil alternatives of themselves. Locust is an evil tyrant looking to take over the world and unearth an evil demon. Sergeant. T.S.' father works for the evil Locust and Shambles must now relive all over again the horrible passing of a woman he loved who now works for the dark side, along with the evil version of himself. There is some tremendous action inside, lots of humor, well written dialogue and some pretty cool elements of drama all interwoven together to present a gripping story dealing with being lost, searching for home, being in love and taking care of your friends. The art is in black-and-white, which I have really grown to like, and the story contains the perfect blend of depth, humor and satire, which would make any Manga fan happy.

     By issue eleven, I had all the characters sorted out and I became totally immersed in the storyline. The Travelers are still looking for home and mistakenly unearth an Imprechaun. You don't want to run into these creepy creatures. Imprechaun's are like evil genies that grant wishes, but when those wishes are up, they must give up their souls to hell. Sounds like a great horror tale, but this story quickly becomes comedic when the group realizes there is a loophole in the contract and they actually have unlimited wishes. Poor Imprechaun. This was a hysterical tale that showed the debut of Straw Shambles, the inanimate buddy of Shambles. Yep, being away from home and not getting any closer has changed the attitudes of everyone on board their ship. See, the people from Star Trek Voyager never really changed at all from their ordeal, but DiGerolamo keeps it real and gets into everyone's psyche, making him a really smart writer and the comic an intelligent, fun read.

     I am currently looking for some back issues of this great medieval tale. The art is superb, the characters are very unique and the concepts for the stories are very intriguing. DiGerolamo has a very interesting ability for being original. The Fix and The Travelers are like none I have ever seen before. Don't miss out. It's about time we had something that didn't follow the mainstream style comics.

     Send your comments and or questions about this article to JMinners@ybfree.com.