Ah, now this is shaping up really nicely.  Jonathan Hickman expands on the world building of issue one with the new recruits moving through training to real world time travel fighter piloting (or a description that's less unwieldy).  There are a core of three pilots, one in charge, who banter and bicker with a script that feels incredibly realistic, despite such a vivid, futuristic setting.  Then we flip back to Dom's father in the past, as he describes his efforts to integrate with the people he finds there, before Hickman throws another layer into the mix, taking his time travel conceit and really having a blast with it.

The package itself is exactly what I hope for in a Hickman comic, especially a creator owned piece.  There's his graphic design elements, along with text sections to flesh out certain segments at the same time as moving things along at a decent pace.  These add to the flavour wonderfully without weighing things down by being to lengthy.  Nick Pitarra's artwork rises to the challenge in the design and world building stakes, while making some excellent use of negative space throughout, making sure it keeps with the general look of the comic.  Mention is also well deserved of Rachelle Rosenberg's colour work, which effectively use a limited pallet of gorgeous, washed out tones.

As with some of his other creator owned concepts, like Pax Romana, I find myself sad that Hickman doesn't expand the series into something more open ended.  He always has a fascinating hook to draw you in, but thankfully he never fails to build on that.  He fleshes out both characters and setting, never letting the reader forget that these are whole worlds we're reading about here.  Couple that with the fact that his Marvel work shows how well he writes an ongoing and I wonder if the 4 issue format does him a disservice. There's not been a single one of his minis that's not more than worth a visit...I just wish that sometimes we could stay.