I've always liked alternative histories, perhaps because they combine the educational factual details of an event within the context of a fictional tale. Days Missing is an alternative history of sorts -- the main character ("The Steward") is a god-like being who can "fold time," thus changing the outcome of history. In several of the stories (this hardcover collects the five issues of the first series, with a lot of additional extra content), the alternative history comes first -- it is only at the ends of those tales that our narrator changes history into something we recognize, like Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein or Cortez's destruction of the Aztecs.

The Steward is interesting, but we're never really told his motivations. His mission is to watch over the human race, but we can't tell if it's strictly selflessness or if he's been given this task by some more powerful being. We are shown he's "helped" many times -- does he choose the dates or do the dates choose him? This first story arc just provides more questions than answers.

That's not to say that the book isn't good. It's an interesting take on various moments in human history, and there's a huge plot twist at the end to set up the next story arc. But each issue of the comic was written and illustrated by a different creative team, so the change in the art styles and the slightly different "voice" took a little getting used to. Days Missing is a good read -- I'm looking forward to the second arc -- but I wouldn't classify it as a "must read." ( )