Out of His Time is a comic series that ran for the duration of 2015. It tells the story of Ulysses S. Powell coping with the modern world and meeting Dr. Cyber.
Plot Summary[]
The comics' story begins with a re-cap of Ulysses' involvement in When Barrels Fly and Late for the Soccer Match and how he came to the present day, wondering why everything is so expensive. He is impressed by the advancements in technology, but is still baffled by other changes, such as almond milk.
Since 130 years have passed, Ulysses decides to see if there is any mail for him. It turns out that he has to pay back-taxes that accumulated during his absence, and subsequently obtains a series of jobs to pay them off. None of them satisfy him, but finds a memo advertising paid positions to work alongside Dr. Cyber. Interested, Ulysses meets Dr. Cyber, who tells him that he can solve his problems.
Showing Ulysses around the time lab, Dr. Cyber shows off his time machines, including the time microwave, which he uses to send Ulysses' back taxes back in time to the due date. After testing the Time Booth, Dr. Cyber introduces Ulysses to his assistant Tim, who ends the comics on a bad joke. The last comic ends with Samantha Rhodes strangling the cartoonist, livid over the awful pun.
Development History[]
After Tales of the Adventurers concluded at the end of 2013, Crazyhouse Comics was left with no comics in 2014 for Ten Years of Going Crazy!. As 2014 was coming to a close, Andrew Bermudez, wanting to introduce new comics alongside the then-upcoming DINO ATTACK: Saga of a Conflict, proposed a series of comics, including possible comics based on A Friend of the Police and An Afternoon at the Zoo. Most of the comics were rejected, but two ideas that were well-received were comics based on Lord Sinister's story from before Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile and Ulysses S. Powell from When Barrels Fly.
The three comics were announced on the press room on December 12, 2014, with the first comic being released on the 31 of the same month. However, as 2015 wore on, development lagged, especially since another comic series, Journey to Siberia, was gearing up for a Summer 2015 release. On top of that, comics were being developed for DINO ATTACK: Saga of a Conflict.
After only a meager seven comics, Out of His Time ended on January 16, 2016. This was done in order to shift resources towards the other two comics.
List of Comics[]
Listed here are all of the comics featured in this series.
- Ulysses' Background Story - Released December 31, 2014
- A Sense of Culture Shock - Released January 19, 2015
- Taxing His Patience - Released March 2, 2015
- Looking For a Job - Released April 19, 2015
- Meet Dr. Cyber - Released July 7, 2015
- Sending Back the Back Taxes - Released October 2, 2015
- Tim the Assistant - Released January 16, 2016
Tropes[]
Out of His Time contains examples of the following tropes.
- All There in the Manual: Between comics 6 and 7, Ulysses S. Powell goes on a dramatic and humbling time travel adventure...that can only be found in the audio short story A Greater Cost.
- Complexity Addiction: Dr. Cyber's plan to submit Ulysses' overdue taxes is to put them into a time machine microwave, which can operate backwards in time, to send the documents back to April so that a younger Dr. Cyber can acquire them and take them to the post office. Ulysses then wonders why they don't just use a time machine and go back themselves.
- Continuity Nod: In a finish to the comic series, and a reference to Tales of the Adventurers, Prof. Samantha Rhodes shows up at the cartoonist's desk to harass him for making another bad pun. The last comic also references the New England Arsonist, a major plot point from Mystery at Shady Acres, and one of the jobs that Ulysses has is as a barista at Dan K. Donuts, the doughnut shot from Seeing Eye Robber.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Essentially, the premise of the comics is Ulysses figuring out how to cope with the 21st Century.
- The Future Is Shocking: Parodied in the second comic, where Ulysses is shocked and confused by skyscrapers, purple hair,... and almond milk.
- Immediate Sequel: Canonically, the first comic takes places just moments after the canonical ending for Late for the Soccer Match.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: Despite disappearing for 140 years, Ulysses S. Powell is found by the IRS and is required to pay 140 years worth of back taxes. Ulysses himself even wonders how they found him.
- Mundane Utility: Dr. Cyber only ever uses the Time Microwave to pay Ulysses' taxes.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: Parodied at the end of the first comic, where Ulysses is stumped by the fact that a loaf of bread costs $3.99.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job: In one comic, Ulysses S. Powell jumps from one job to the next to pay off his debts, with each job being more miserable than the last. Only in Dr. Cyber's employ is he truly happy.
- Take Our Word for It: At the beginning of the last comic, Ulysses S. Powell has just finished a time travel adventure, but we never actually see what happened. That's because the story of his time travel adventure is entirely covered in the audio short story A Greater Cost. However, the comic directs readers to listen to the story, so this trope is subverted.
- Time Machine: Dr. Cyber, being an eccentric inventor, has invented a plethora of time machines, including the iconic Hypno Cruiser, the Time Booth, the Time Boat, the Time Chair, the Time Microwave, and the Time Tie. Ulysses is said to have tested the Time Booth and the Hypno Cruiser and Time Microwave are both shown.
Trivia[]
- This comic series was originally going to run until the release of A Future in the Past.
- The canonized fan video, A Greater Cost, ties directly into the comics' plot line.
- The ending of the final comic, Tim the Assistant, is a nod to Tales of the Adventurers, where Samantha Rhodes would typically break the fourth wall and get upset after a really bad joke is told.
Gallery[]
