''Time Flies'' is a

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

series published in the comic anthology '' 2000 AD''. It was created by

Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970) is a Northern Irish–American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dari ...

and

Philip Bond Philip J. Bond (born 11 July 1966, in Lancashire) is a People of the United Kingdom, British comic book artist, who first came to prominence in the late 1980s on ''Deadline magazine, Deadline'' magazine, and later through a number of collaborat ...

. It first appeared in 1990.

Publication History

''Time Flies'' was the first Garth Ennis story published in ''2000 AD'' after he moved from its short-lived sister title ''

Crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

''. The sequel story “Tempus Fugitive” was shelved for five years before it was published in 1996 and was printed mainly for financial reasons. The publisher had a policy that if work that had been paid for it had to be published. Although admiring of Philip Bond’s artwork Ennis has said about ''Time Flies'', “I think if you examine it in detail I think you’ll find it was, in fact, crap.” By the time “Tempus Fugitive” was published he had established a much more successful career, especially with ''

Hellblazer ''John Constantine, Hellblazer'' is an American contemporary Horror fiction, horror comic-book series published by DC Comics since January 1988, and subsequently by its Vertigo Comics, Vertigo imprint since March 1993, when the imprint was introd ...

'' and ''

Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

''. Philip Bond quit the sequel before finishing and was replaced by Jon Beeston,

Roger Langridge Roger Langridge (born 14 February 1967) is a New Zealand comics writer, artist and letterer, currently living in Britain. Biography Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' series ''The Stra ...

and Simon Jacob.

Plot summary

The story is set in a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

n 36th Century. The Time Investigation Team protect time from temporal disruptions caused by time pirates. In the original story

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

is held for ransom by the time pirate Captain Whitewash. The day is saved by Trace Bullet and the World War II

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

pilot Bertie Sharp. In “Tempus Fugitive” the zombie of Trace’s ex-husband Cutty O’Sark attempts to assassinate the Time Investigation Team members who were previously on the Göring mission.

Publications

* "Time Flies" (in #700-711, 1990) * "Tempus Fugitive" (with

, Jon Beeston and

, in #1015-1023, 1996) Both stories were reprinted in ''2000 AD Extreme Edition'' #19, 2006

References

{{Garth Ennis 2000 AD comic strips Comics by Garth Ennis Comics about time travel 1990 comics debuts