CHRONONAUTS review

Chrononauts is a 2015 time travel action-adventure miniseries published by Image Comics. Written by Mark Millar (of Wanted and Kick-Ass fame) and illustrated by Sean Gordon Murphy (of Punk Rock Jesus fame). 4 parts long, Chrononauts was met with rave reviews. Plus it's already been picked up for a film adaptation, as Millarworld titles tend to wind up being. Chrononauts ends up being a blast [enter pun here], and one of the best time travel stories I've read.

Murphy's art is great, well stylized and pretty damn cool looking. It's not hard to follow what's going on and even the more anarchic panels have a sense of order that makes them not be too visually busy. Tons of little details are much appreciated. The covers are also pretty neat, they appear to be done in the vein of what one would see in a movie poster. The action has a frenetic, bombastic feel to it, it's definitely great to see the titular chrononauts leaping between timelines, or motherfuckers in tanks in the fifteenth century.

The dialogue of Chrononauts is slick, and the banter between characters can leave you chuckling. The comedy is pretty damn funny, and used in a way that enhances the likeability of the characters.

One major problem that comes up in a lot of time travel stories is an inconsistent rule set that leads to massive plot holes or a plot that's too complicated to follow along without a nearby encyclopedia--Chrononauts evades these due to a cohesive, simple, and well-defined usage of time travel. Perhaps it's not scientifically accurate, but that's a welcome burden when it leads to such a fun and unique take on chronokinesis. The plot is a straightforward but still compelling and exciting romp through time. This is thanks to very likeable and relatable protagonists. These guys use their ability to jump through time as a means of escapism, at least at first, and seeing how they do so, it's not hard to like the guys and significantly harder to hate them for being inconsiderate imbeciles. The pacing is smart and I appreciate that it tells such a complete, fulfilling story.

Chrononauts is an excellent little title. It doesn't try to be dark or heavy or realistic, as Millar books often do; it just tries to be an adrenaline pumping burst through time; and, in that, it succeeds tremendously. Extremely enjoyable from beginning to end, Chrononauts is damn good at what it does, so hats off to Mark Millar, SGM, and the rest of the creative team; you've done it again. I'm definitely interested in seeing how the Chrononauts film turns out, Millarworld adaptations are usually great, outside of Wanted (something nobody wanted--well, at least not how it turned out). Chrononauts gets a 9/10.

Awesome

Summary:
Chrononauts is a superb and exhilarating time travel tale. Strong visuals, cool covers, rollicking action, solid dialogue, good banter, great humor, a clever usage of time travel, a great plot, great characters, and smooth pacing. An easy recommendation.

(originally posted: 9/13/2016)