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Book: “Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age” by Stephen Graham Jones, Ricardo Burchielli (Ill.), Patricio Delpeche (Ill.), & Emily Schnall (Ill.).
Publishing Info: IDW Publishing, February 2024
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Guest artists Riccardo Burchielli ( DMZ ), Patricio Delpeche, and Emily Scnall join Stephen Graham Jones— New York Times best-selling author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw —for a mission to the Ice Age exploring America’s pre-Columbian past!
When Martin and Tawny’s children disappeared, the couple barreled into the desert to track them down at any cost. Instead, they ran afoul of another group of rovers who claimed to be saving the world by traveling through a cave portal to the year 1492 to prevent the creation of America—an idea that defied belief until the grieving parents were lured into the cave and vanished in time and space.
Now alone, Tawny must adapt to the wild marshlands of prehistoric Florida, circa 20,000 BC, and the breathtaking and bloodthirsty megafauna are the least of her problems when she’s caught in a war between a community of native Paleo-Indians and an occupying Solutrean force. Tawny’s odds of survival are in free fall, but she’s a mother on a mission…and she’s holding on to hope that the cave brought her here for a family reunion.
In the tradition of Saga , the next chapter of the critically acclaimed sci-fi epic is here in Earthdivers Vol. 2 . Collects Earthdivers #7-11.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this graphic novel!
When I first started Stephen Graham Jones’s fantasy/Sci-Fi time travel series “Earthdivers”, for whatever reason I thought that it was only going to be focused on what the first volume covered: the time travel assassination of Christopher Columbus. Why I thought it was only going to be that is beyond me, but when that arc came to an end at the start of “Kill Columbus”, I wondered where we were going next, with no clue or idea as to what the path was going to be. Who were we going to follow now? Was it still going to be historical fiction time travel-y? Our protagonist’s storyline pretty much definitively ended, what is going to happen now? And then I saw the cover for “Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age”, and I was blown away. BACK IN TIME TO THE ICE AGE?! HELL YES! And when I saw that we were following another time traveller, this time Tawney, a mother who was searching for her children, I was all the more excited. And shocking absolutely no one, “Earthdivers: Ice Age” is suspenseful, intriguing, and enthralling.
I really love that we are starting to explore stories of other characters in the book who have fallen afoul the mysterious cave. In “Ice Age” our focus is on Tawney, a grieving mother who had been looking for her missing twins when she and her friends were lured into the cave by Emily as an act of self defense. When Tawney wakes up, she is no longer in the 22nd century, but all the way back to the Ice Age and the Paleolithic era of humans. This is such a great choice, narrative wise, as it not only opens up a slew of possibilities as to what stories are going to potentially be told next (after all, there were multiple people who ended up in the cave around the time that Tawney did….), but it also gives us lots of different character possibilities. Tawney was a good first choice, because her motivation is based on her love for her kids, and it drives not only her want to survive in this wholly new setting, but also the choices that she makes while there. I really loved Tawney as a main character for this volume, and I loved the idea of the Ice Age as a setting and having her have to figure out how to survive in this totally new environment. Whether it’s dealing with smilodonts, having to adapt to the cold, or trying to find ways to communicate with the people she meets and connects with, it makes for a gripping story of a stranger in a strange land.
And in true Jones fashion, “Ice Age” also taps into societal injustices that feel very true today and places them even in the Ice Age. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this volume, as I thought that the Ice Age would have different hardships, but Jones keeps with the fighting against colonialism theme, using the clashes between Indigenous people and Solutreans (a controversial theory that Europeans settled in the Americas during the Ice Age by traveling over the frozen waters, HERE is a pretty good write up as to why it’s unlikely and also racist). It’s genius because it’s laying not only another kind of invading force story, but also tapping into Tawney’s inner turmoil about how to proceed when she finds herself protecting and becoming attached to a Solutrean child, as she sees her own children in him. These led to some really emotional beats, as Tawney, unlike Yellow Kid in “Kill Columbus”, draws lines when it comes to children as victims, no matter how much it could seem like a ‘greater good’. I also love how Jones has taken this fringe theory of Solutrean discovery and torn it apart by having Tawney basically fight back against the invading forces with her know how from her own time period. It’s very creative and makes for a really interesting volume! Throw in some more backstory for the Earthdivers and their motivations, as well as world building for the ravaged planet they are trying to reset, and the story arc continues to build on its complexity in very rewarding ways.
And finally, the artwork. We have some new artists in this volume, Ricardo Burchielli, Patricio Delpeche, and Emily Schnall. I liked the new styles that they brought, as while they still fit in with the previous Volume, they did bring their own aesthetics and signatures to the work.
I’m still really digging “Earthdivers” and how outside the box Stephen Graham Jones is taking it. I can’t wait to see who we follow through the cave next, and what time period it’s going to be.
Rating 8: Another creative and intense time travel story from Stephen Graham Jones! I’m loving the world building at the creative time and place.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Earthdivers (Vol. 2): Ice Age” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but would fit in on “Graphic Novels & Comics By The Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native Peoples of the World”, and “Time Travel”.
The Library Ladies 