Reviewer: Mathan “Bug Eyed Bandit†Erhardt
Story Title: Time on My Hands
Written by: John Francis Moore
Penciled by: J.H. Williams
Inked by: Mick Gray
Lettered by: Ken Bruzenak
Colored by: Mike Danza
Editor: Dan Thorsland
Publisher: DC Comics
Running with the theme of comics canceled before their time I present the retro review of Chronos #1,000,000. See back in 1998, to coincide with DC producing it’s millionth issue, all DC comics dealt with the future. The 853rd Century to be exact. See that is when DC’s longest running title would reach its actual millionth issue, in real time.
The issue begins with John Fox, the Flash of that era doing a patrol in Metropolis. John Fox has these time gauntlets that combined with his speed allow him to travel through time. Chronos happens to be visiting the century on a pilfering mission. As a result the two time traveling characters meet. Chronos makes short work of Fox and relieves him of the time gauntlets.
Chronos then goes to 11,021 AD, where the Chronovore is causing temporal instability. But Chronos isn’t a hero, he doesn’t try to stop the time parasite, he just takes the opportunity to have a drink at a bar. There he encounters various characters who he has encountered in the pages of this book while time constantly shifts around him.
Out of nowhere John Fox (who used a Time Sphere to arrive) attacks Chronos and immobilizes his ability to travel through time. Of course Ambush Bug, the barkeep, isn’t happy with the ruckus. John and Chronos manage to come to terms, and Chronos agrees to return the Time Gauntlets. But then Scourge the head of Warworld, comes a looking for the Gauntlets. In the process he destroys the Time Bubble.
Once Scourge gets his hands on the Time Gauntlets he gets caught in a time loop. Apparently Chronos altered them after he stole them, so that they would malfunction when activated. It turns out that if he hadn’t done that, Scourge would have found other means of time travel, gone back in time and killed half the population of Krypton, including the forefathers of a certain Kal El.
Then Chronos has an interesting encounter with the android Hourman, who mentions that they will meet as enemies. Unfortunately both books were canceled.
Moore spins a fun tale. It is full of guest stars and he even uses this obligatory crossover issue to advance the building plot of the series. The snippets of the conversations, and Chronos’ motivation for the heist were extremely nice touches.
Williams and Gray are one of my favorite art teams of all time. I especially loved their work on Chase and Starman. Their art here doesn’t disappoint. It is the usual detail, intricate, beautiful work that one has grown accustomed to. I really wish they would reunite on a DCU book in the future.
