Time Flies (comics)

Time Flies
Cover to 2000 AD Extreme Edition #19, 2006 featuring Time Flies. Art by Henry Flint.
Created by	Garth Ennis Philip Bond
Publication information
Publisher	Originally IPC Media (Fleetway) until 1999, thereafter Rebellion Developments
Schedule	Weekly
Title(s) 2000 AD
Genre	Science fiction
Publication date	October 1990 – December 1996
Number of issues	700-711 1015-1023
Main character(s)	Trace 'Tracer' Bullet, Bertie Sharp
Creative team
Writer(s)	Garth Ennis
Artist(s)	Philip Bond Jon Beeston Roger Langridge
Letterer(s)	Gordon Robson Steve Potter
Colourist(s)	Simon Jacob
Editor(s)	Tharg (Richard Burton) Tharg (David Bishop)

Time Flies is a time travel comedy series published in the comic anthology 2000 AD. It was created by Garth Ennis and Philip Bond. 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. 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 and Preacher. Philip Bond quit the sequel before finishing and was replaced by Jon Beeston, Roger Langridge and Simon Jacob.

Plot summary

The story is set in a utopian 36th Century. The Time Investigation Team protect time from temporal disruptions caused by time pirates. In the original story Hermann Göring is held for ransom by the time pirate Captain Whitewash. The day is saved by Trace Bullet and the World War II bomber 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 Philip Bond, Jon Beeston and Roger Langridge, in #1015-1023, 1996)

Both stories were reprinted in 2000 AD Extreme Edition #19, 2006