Sunday, April 26, 2020

Sunday Splash Page #111

"Hell, Man, Who Doesn't?" in Chronos #7, by John Francis Moore (writer), Paul Guinan (penciler), Denis Rodler and Steve Leialoha (inkers), Mike Danza (colorist), Ken Bruzenak (letterer)

I bought all of Chronos in a back issue hunt a few years back. It doesn't seem to come up as often as a lot of the other '90s DC stuff that usually gets touted - Starman, the Peyer/Morales Hourman - but I must have seen a few favorable mentions somewhere. Plus, it only lasted 11 issues, so it's not like it was a massive undertaking to hunt down. Although I just realized I forgot to get the DC One Million tie-in. Whoops.

Walker Gabriel starts as someone who befriends the original Chronos, and builds himself a suit that can temporarily freeze time. He gets manipulated by a guy who wants to become the master of all time, and things just spiral from there. He struggles to return to his time, and keeps drawing the attention of other people who move through time. All he wants to do is get home and get back to committing crimes, but he's surrounded by people trying to preserve time in one manner or another, or bend it to their will. Surprisingly only runs into Rip Hunter once. Does encounter Destiny of the Endless, though. Not sure if that's better or worse. Probably worse. Means you're playing in the deep end of the pool.

Paul Guinan draws the whole series, and Steve Leiahola inks most of it. I don't know if the clothing in the past time periods is accurate, but they make it distinctive. Helps that the settings are usually wildly different. Renaissance Italy versus late-1800s Kansas. Also that the Star City of 2113 is having a Neo-Victorian revival. Everything old is new again. Leiahola seems to have a lighter touch with his inking than Rodier in this issue. Shadows aren't as heavy, not as much linework on faces. The art's clean, straightforward, expressive. It works for drawing regular people and it works for drawing weird monsters and beings from outside time.

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