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.

Random Back Issue #10 - Chronos #4

Sir, I can assure you, wrapping a towel around your head the same color as your bathrobe does not work as a "look".

Hey, a comic from 1998! Chronos was not about the Chronos who used to fight the Atom a lot, flying around on a hoverboard shaped liked a sundial. Although that Chronos does appear at the beginning and end of this issue, discussing the negative side effects of jumping around through time.

This series was about Walker Gabriel, who built a suit that lets him freeze time to steal stuff. But things have gone wrong, and now he's being tossed through time. We start in a city called Chronopolis, where we find out that Walker helping a guy named Vyronis to build a machine called a Timesmasher last issue, he's helped that guy become Lord of All Time, or something. Demonstrated when the guy shows up and kills Rip Hunter (who I would swear is wearing a suit and tie under that spacesuit. Clearly not a trait he picked up from Booster Gold.)

So Walker's back to the 15th Century to fix his mistake, with a improved, untested version of his suit. Through the magic of Comic Book Science, the machine being hit by "particle bursts" somehow soups up his suit to where it can jump through time and space at will. Which gets him and Vyronis temporarily dumped in Kamandi's time before they return to Italy, and then Walker returns to the present, rather than let himself be arrested by the "Linear Authority", represented by one guy wearing a dumb suit of armor and a monocle.

I never thought you could look bad with a monocle, but this Traven guy managed it. Great hustle.

I don't think Walker ever makes a return trip to the confines of the 23rd Century. If I remember right, he may have stopped the wrong threat back in the 15th Century. Either that, or he's trusting the wrong person. I can't remember which. Time travel story, could be both at the same time.

[Longbox #3, 66th comic. Chronos #4, by John Francis Moore (writer), Paul Guinan (penciler), Steve Leialoha (inker), Mike Danza (colorist), Ken Bruzenak (letterer]