"Peter and the Machine" (Chapter 1) (Beyond the Fringe Chapter #1A)

I am so happy that there is now a third series of comic books, but I do very much wish that it were available in print, as well, not just digitally, especially since I can't figure out how to actually download the comic to my computer; it would seem that, even after paying for the comic, you can only read it on DC's website, which I don't appreciate. I wish that, at the very least, it were available on iTunes. I do think that comic books are becoming more and more obsolete, but I do fear the day that all literature will only be available digitally, which may be good for the environment but not for humanity's lack of dependence on electronics. Granted, I do wish that I had an iPad or something like it so that I wasn't limited to reading the comic on my computer; at least, then, the comic might feel more like a possession. My intention, however, is not to merely complain about the comic being limited (for the time being, hopefully) to a digital release; my intention is to talk about the comic itself, and I am really thrilled that Josh Jackson wrote the comic. I don't know if he will write all fourteen issues, but I do know that, at the very least, he is writing a couple of them, and that is really exciting.

 

The artist is named Jorge Jimenez, and I have to say that in comparison to most of the previous artists that have done work for Fringe comics, Jimenez did an excellent job of capturing the characters. Previously, Peter has been seen not looking anything like himself, but now, he looks exactly like himself; the art is much, much better than much of what we have seen in the past. I am really excited about this series of comics, because I have a feeling that this is how all of the questions with which "The Day We Died" (3.22) leaves us will be answered. What exactly did Peter do that resulted in his non-existence? How did he and Walter "fix" the timeline so that Olivia wouldn't be dead? It seems that this series is going to answer those questions, as we are going to learn what happened during the time that passed in between Peter and Walter deciding to alter the timeline and Peter returning to the present and consequently disappearing. Because we haven't seen that time period, we don't understand how Peter doesn't exist. It seems to be very likely that, like "White Tulip" (2.17), Peter had to repeatedly jump until he reached his goal, and this most likely created some sort of paradox which resulted in his current non-existence. What is interesting, though, is that Peter seems to be ready to die, but he also wants to be with Olivia, even though he seems to understand that he can't have both.

 

Also interesting is that Walter comments how what they are doing is a part of a loop, so they will unknowingly do this over and over and over again, and I love how he names the Machine "Daisy" simply because he is trying to enlighten the dark times. Walter then says that they will know that the time travel has worked when they both cease to exist, but this doesn't make any sense. Why would Walter not exist? Does this mean that they are stuck in a loop in which they never live past 2026? Both of them ceasing to exist could help support the theory that their intention was to somehow prevent September from saving them from Reiden Lake; however, Walter still exists, even though he fell into the lake with Peter and therefore should have died, too, so that can't be what happened. I am also confused because Walter says that the plan is to first send the Machine back in time and then send Peter, but my understanding was that it was the Machine that made time travel possible, so if they send that back first, how would it be possible to then send Peter back in time? It's interesting how you can see three people watching what is happening from a distance, but I wonder who one of them is. One is Astrid, one is Broyles, but I have no idea who the other one is.

 

Peter then goes back in time to a dinosaur age, which is kind of silly, but this is, after all, a comic book, and I suppose that it would stand to reason that if Peter went back in time far enough, he would run into a few dinosaurs along the way. He continues to travel through time, including to Ancient Greece and Ancient Spain, and Ancient China, and he is keeping a journal in which he stores his thoughts. What is his objective? Well, it seems to be to locate scattered markers so that he knows where to deposit pieces of the Machine. After some time, he starts to feel a bit hopeless, believing that there is nothing that he can do to save Olivia, and he apologizes to her, and the comic leaves us hanging on a cliff, which obviously means that we have to wait to find out more of what happens. Now, unfortunately, I don't think that we will find out when the next comic is released, because from what I understand, there will be seven issues but fourteen releases, as each issue will have an A and a B story; the A story will take place in the Fringeverse with which we are familiar, and the B story, as far as I know, will ask "What if?" questions, so I would say that I am more so looking forward to the A releases, seeing as how it is most likely via those releases that we will be getting answers, but I'm looking forward to the remainder of these comics regardless.