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Chrononauts #1
Chrononauts, Vol. 1
Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly are two red-blooded American guys who also happen to be scientific geniuses. With the whole world watching, they embark on the world’s first time-travel experiment. But when their planned routine goes off-course, they’re left to fend for themselves ― leading to an era-hopping adventure! From ancient Rome to the roaring twenties to the 1980s music scene, Corbin and Danny wreak havoc with the time stream, score front-row seats to the world’s wildest events, and get into hijinks with history’s scariest villains. But is it worth the price, when they have unresolved problems to address back home in the present day ― and a team of angry bosses ready to do whatever it takes to rein them in?
This story unites the talents of writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and artist Sean Gordon Murphy (Punk Rock Jesus) ― two powerhouse figures in the comics world, whose combined forces must be seen to be believed.
Collects CHRONONAUTS #1-4.
This story unites the talents of writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and artist Sean Gordon Murphy (Punk Rock Jesus) ― two powerhouse figures in the comics world, whose combined forces must be seen to be believed.
Collects CHRONONAUTS #1-4.
120 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2015
21 people are currently reading
858 people want to read
About the author
Mark Millar
1,514 books2,560 followersMark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 262 reviews
October 26, 2025
(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Too quick to zoom, no breathing room, more concept than a plot, nice scenic chases, shifting places, fun if scattershot.
*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-2 ◦ Issues #3-4
Notes: Too quick to zoom, no breathing room, more concept than a plot, nice scenic chases, shifting places, fun if scattershot.
*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-2 ◦ Issues #3-4
June 26, 2020
Chrononauts or Brononauts?
I'd say you probably need to know upfront that this reads like Millar wanted to explore what would happen if Bill & Ted were scientists.
And then he added a pinch of Mad Max for a bit of ambiance.
Because why not?
Now, if that sounds like a terrible idea to you, you may need to back away from this particular graphic novel. I won't even say you'd be wrong to do so.
This is one of those senseless stories that would probably go down a little better with a drink or two. <--or at the very least it might make any plot holes smaller.
Shhhh. Don't look too closely.
The gist is that these two buddies go back in time, stop giving any shits about the revered butterfly effect, and just have a blast taking over everything and being the top dudebros in multiple timelines.
Spoilery things happen, shit gets real, and they have to try and fix things before a Tommy Lee Jones look-alike from their timestream hunts them down and beats their asses.
Or kills them. Whatever comes first.
Truth? I liked this. It was fun!
BUT. After looking at some of my friend's reviews, I think it's going to be hit-or-miss with a lot of you. I knew what I was getting into when I picked it up, but I think you have to want something light and silly.
If you're hankering for a darker, angstier look at fucking around with alternate realities, you might do better with something like Black Science.
I'd say you probably need to know upfront that this reads like Millar wanted to explore what would happen if Bill & Ted were scientists.
And then he added a pinch of Mad Max for a bit of ambiance.
Because why not?
Now, if that sounds like a terrible idea to you, you may need to back away from this particular graphic novel. I won't even say you'd be wrong to do so.
This is one of those senseless stories that would probably go down a little better with a drink or two. <--or at the very least it might make any plot holes smaller.
Shhhh. Don't look too closely.
The gist is that these two buddies go back in time, stop giving any shits about the revered butterfly effect, and just have a blast taking over everything and being the top dudebros in multiple timelines.
Spoilery things happen, shit gets real, and they have to try and fix things before a Tommy Lee Jones look-alike from their timestream hunts them down and beats their asses.
Or kills them. Whatever comes first.
Truth? I liked this. It was fun!
BUT. After looking at some of my friend's reviews, I think it's going to be hit-or-miss with a lot of you. I knew what I was getting into when I picked it up, but I think you have to want something light and silly.
If you're hankering for a darker, angstier look at fucking around with alternate realities, you might do better with something like Black Science.
July 30, 2018
Fun comic that deals with the concept of time travel. But only in a very loose soft sci-fi way. No big science, no deep philosophical or causal implications.
It's a fun, bite-sized comic. Well-written and fast paced, as you'd expect from Millar.
It's also kinda unique in that it seems to have been written as a single volume, with no door left open for a sequel. I find that kind of refreshing, as I don't feel the need to rush out and buy more of them, or wait for the story to progress.
On the other hand, it makes this feel less like a big story, and more like the graphic novel equivalent of... kind of like a short story? I feel like if this was done in text instead of comic format, it would be about 7000-14000 words long at the most. It's not a novel. It's an idea that's sort of lightly explored.
Might be *really* up your alley if: You like fun, non-technical sci-fi with lots of action.
Might be *not* your thing if: You're tired of stories about dudes being dudes. This story doesn't have any female characters to speak of. The ones that do exist are pretty much only the objects of male desire. Objects to be wood or won. Or trophies. And it doesn't clear the (admittedly low) bar of the Bechdel test.
It's a fun, bite-sized comic. Well-written and fast paced, as you'd expect from Millar.
It's also kinda unique in that it seems to have been written as a single volume, with no door left open for a sequel. I find that kind of refreshing, as I don't feel the need to rush out and buy more of them, or wait for the story to progress.
On the other hand, it makes this feel less like a big story, and more like the graphic novel equivalent of... kind of like a short story? I feel like if this was done in text instead of comic format, it would be about 7000-14000 words long at the most. It's not a novel. It's an idea that's sort of lightly explored.
Might be *really* up your alley if: You like fun, non-technical sci-fi with lots of action.
Might be *not* your thing if: You're tired of stories about dudes being dudes. This story doesn't have any female characters to speak of. The ones that do exist are pretty much only the objects of male desire. Objects to be wood or won. Or trophies. And it doesn't clear the (admittedly low) bar of the Bechdel test.
July 3, 2015
Spoilers - this comic is shit!
Meet the ultimate craptastic time-travel story: Chrononauts!
What happens when two meathead “scientist” dudebros invent time-travel? Dude - they use it to get babes, money and fast cars! Yah, brah, they like totally get laid tons and use their knowledge of history and their timesuits to jump into any timezone and get stuff to make their lives easier whenever they want!
They want to become emperors to 16th century people? Give them 21st century weaponry and lead them in battle against their enemies! Machine guns, planes and bombs will easily make them the victors against spears and horses and they’ll make you their ruler. Then you get gold and women and you just keep doing that everywhere in time because that’s what “rock star scientists” do!
It feels redundant to say Chrononauts is a dumb and lazily scripted comic because so much of Mark Millar’s recent output has been like that; Chrononauts is just the most brazen, to date. I thought Starlight was the bottom of the barrel but then MPH came out. It couldn’t get any worse than that, could it? Then came Chrononauts. I have no expectations now on what Millar will put out next.
The biggest problem I have with his latest book is that it feels blatantly designed to be sold as a movie and not as a comic in its own right - more so than usual! Chrononauts is the least imaginative, overly simplistic time-travel storyline that’s easy to digest and enormously saleable. And that’s exactly what happened to it. Like a lot of his Millarworld comics, Millar sold Chrononauts to a Hollywood studio, this time just one issue into its print run! I guess if you produce a comic like a Michael Bay movie, you can expect that to happen.
It’s baffling how these so-called scientists instantly abandon their principles and have no qualms with disrupting the timestream for their own selfish needs. Introduce future technology to the past? No problem! Alter the course of history for a country? Sure! Why not invent Harry Potter and Breaking Bad and The Smiths? You’ll make scads of cash! Ethics? Logic? What’re those? It’s almost like reading a personification of Millar the writer today, a guy whose only interest is seemingly only in money and nothing else.
The appalling characters are all the worse because Millar can write convincing and complex scientist characters. Lex Luthor in Superman: Red Son was the best character in that brilliant book and he was a genius, much like Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly are presented to the reader as. The difference being the Millar from 10 years ago actually took the time and effort to make Lex believable and did no work at all with regards Dumbass #1 and #2 who are the worst scientist characters I’ve ever seen. Put The Rock and Vin Diesel in lab coats and glasses - that’s the level we’re dealing with.
Not only that but the finale revolves around what’ll make Corbin genuinely happy which turns out to be the most obvious thing that he should’ve done immediately once he decided he was gonna fuck with history. And this guy supposedly has a 240 IQ? What’ll make Corbin happy is set up in the most superficial way in the first issue. I shouldn’t be surprised this was rushed though as this is only a four-issue story - Millar’s comics, along with getting worse in quality, seem to be getting shorter too. A byproduct of becoming more and more like movie storyboards? I’m sure it’ll be more developed in the McG-directed version.
As with all time-travel stories, there’s the usual issues with “but if they did that then how come…?” that I won’t go even bother going into - that’s just what you get when you write a time-travel story and Millar’s no more guilty of these plot-holes than any other hack.
Sean Murphy’s art is fine if you’re a fan. It’s slick and accomplished, I’ve just never been that enamoured with it. Maybe because his art’s always been accompanied by mediocre scripts - Punk Rock Jesus, The Wake, Chrononauts. It’s pretty clear though who he wants to play Mannix in the movie as he’s a dead ringer for Tommy Lee Jones.
I honestly feel like Chrononauts is the acid test for Millar fans - if they accept this, he can do anything. He could publish a comic called CHUMPS with a smiling Millar flipping off the reader with every page inside being blank panels with YOU’RE A FUCKING CHUMP AND I’VE TAKEN YOUR MONEY, AHAHAHA! scrawled on it and he’ll still have his fans shrugging and saying “I thought it was fun!”
Actually, Chrononauts feels a lot like CHUMPS already. Coming soon to a cinema near you starring the cast of Entourage!
Meet the ultimate craptastic time-travel story: Chrononauts!
What happens when two meathead “scientist” dudebros invent time-travel? Dude - they use it to get babes, money and fast cars! Yah, brah, they like totally get laid tons and use their knowledge of history and their timesuits to jump into any timezone and get stuff to make their lives easier whenever they want!
They want to become emperors to 16th century people? Give them 21st century weaponry and lead them in battle against their enemies! Machine guns, planes and bombs will easily make them the victors against spears and horses and they’ll make you their ruler. Then you get gold and women and you just keep doing that everywhere in time because that’s what “rock star scientists” do!
It feels redundant to say Chrononauts is a dumb and lazily scripted comic because so much of Mark Millar’s recent output has been like that; Chrononauts is just the most brazen, to date. I thought Starlight was the bottom of the barrel but then MPH came out. It couldn’t get any worse than that, could it? Then came Chrononauts. I have no expectations now on what Millar will put out next.
The biggest problem I have with his latest book is that it feels blatantly designed to be sold as a movie and not as a comic in its own right - more so than usual! Chrononauts is the least imaginative, overly simplistic time-travel storyline that’s easy to digest and enormously saleable. And that’s exactly what happened to it. Like a lot of his Millarworld comics, Millar sold Chrononauts to a Hollywood studio, this time just one issue into its print run! I guess if you produce a comic like a Michael Bay movie, you can expect that to happen.
It’s baffling how these so-called scientists instantly abandon their principles and have no qualms with disrupting the timestream for their own selfish needs. Introduce future technology to the past? No problem! Alter the course of history for a country? Sure! Why not invent Harry Potter and Breaking Bad and The Smiths? You’ll make scads of cash! Ethics? Logic? What’re those? It’s almost like reading a personification of Millar the writer today, a guy whose only interest is seemingly only in money and nothing else.
The appalling characters are all the worse because Millar can write convincing and complex scientist characters. Lex Luthor in Superman: Red Son was the best character in that brilliant book and he was a genius, much like Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly are presented to the reader as. The difference being the Millar from 10 years ago actually took the time and effort to make Lex believable and did no work at all with regards Dumbass #1 and #2 who are the worst scientist characters I’ve ever seen. Put The Rock and Vin Diesel in lab coats and glasses - that’s the level we’re dealing with.
Not only that but the finale revolves around what’ll make Corbin genuinely happy which turns out to be the most obvious thing that he should’ve done immediately once he decided he was gonna fuck with history. And this guy supposedly has a 240 IQ? What’ll make Corbin happy is set up in the most superficial way in the first issue. I shouldn’t be surprised this was rushed though as this is only a four-issue story - Millar’s comics, along with getting worse in quality, seem to be getting shorter too. A byproduct of becoming more and more like movie storyboards? I’m sure it’ll be more developed in the McG-directed version.
As with all time-travel stories, there’s the usual issues with “but if they did that then how come…?” that I won’t go even bother going into - that’s just what you get when you write a time-travel story and Millar’s no more guilty of these plot-holes than any other hack.
Sean Murphy’s art is fine if you’re a fan. It’s slick and accomplished, I’ve just never been that enamoured with it. Maybe because his art’s always been accompanied by mediocre scripts - Punk Rock Jesus, The Wake, Chrononauts. It’s pretty clear though who he wants to play Mannix in the movie as he’s a dead ringer for Tommy Lee Jones.
I honestly feel like Chrononauts is the acid test for Millar fans - if they accept this, he can do anything. He could publish a comic called CHUMPS with a smiling Millar flipping off the reader with every page inside being blank panels with YOU’RE A FUCKING CHUMP AND I’VE TAKEN YOUR MONEY, AHAHAHA! scrawled on it and he’ll still have his fans shrugging and saying “I thought it was fun!”
Actually, Chrononauts feels a lot like CHUMPS already. Coming soon to a cinema near you starring the cast of Entourage!
June 12, 2015
Idiotic fun. That's what this was.
I seem to either love Mark Millers work or...okay...I usually just love Mark Millar's work. Something about the dude makes me wish I could hate something of his though. Just once. Ya know?
The whole premise of this one was pretty whack. A couple of dudes who happen to be brilliant scientists invent time travel and decide to televise all of histories greatest moments.
Pretty freaking smart if you ask me. Reality television at its finest.
Except once they hop back in time they realize that there's nothing to stop them from basically just doing whatever the hell they want and going wherever the hell they want.
I mean, why not, right?
There's some great laugh out loud moments and there's an AWESOME car chase scene that literally spans all across the world, throughout all of time. It's pretty epic! would make for a kick ass live action set piece in a movie...which, since this is a Millar book, will probably wind up happening.
Anyways - there aren't any deep feels here. This comic is cake. It's probably not good for you, but it sure tastes fan-feaking-tastic going down.
April 14, 2025
Chrononauts is a non-sensical time travel adventure that follows two pretentious best friends as they constantly screw up the timeline. It is extremely fast-paced, and it looks fantastic, however, it's hard to get over how unlikeable the main pair are. If there was any sort of character development, it may be easier to swallow when everything falls into their lap and their bad behaviour is constantly rewarded. As it stands, it doesn't end up being a fulfilling read, and despite the experienced creative team behind it, it is an empty experience.
March 27, 2020
Millar has done it again! But I would expect a creative team of Mark Millar and Sean Murphy to knock it out of the park. They've taken the time travel story and put their own twist on it. It's a lot of fun and reads like storyboards for a movie.
March 30, 2016
Bullet Review:
Highly readable and kinda fun, but I have no clue how any of this works. Suits can work for 100 years, regardless of what they bring - whether it's a person or the White House? Danny and Corbin can gallivant across time and yet that doesn't affect the present? And what about how the effing hell they fixed the timeline?
Oh well, just read and sing "LA LA LA" as loud as you can to drown out your brain, which likely can think light years around "240 IQ" doofus Corbin.
Have I mentioned how I HATE it when authors us an obscenely high IQ to tell us their character is smart?!
Highly readable and kinda fun, but I have no clue how any of this works. Suits can work for 100 years, regardless of what they bring - whether it's a person or the White House? Danny and Corbin can gallivant across time and yet that doesn't affect the present? And what about how the effing hell they fixed the timeline?
Oh well, just read and sing "LA LA LA" as loud as you can to drown out your brain, which likely can think light years around "240 IQ" doofus Corbin.
Have I mentioned how I HATE it when authors us an obscenely high IQ to tell us their character is smart?!
November 6, 2016
Much like an ice cream sundae, what's not to like about Chrononauts? Friends and physicists Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly invent time travel in the form of chrono-suits. When Corbin gets thrown off course (of course!) he makes his own personal playground in time, and rather than rescue him Danny joins in the fun. Why not?
Now you might say that's shallow. It's a simple "what if" involving time travel and bromance. So what. You might say Corbin and Danny are bros: they're silly, hedonistic and reckless. But they aren't bros: they're underdeveloped, average at best, and scientists. Because when their fun sours they realize they want to do something meaningful and humanistic and tackle another "what if" by helping others and fixing their mistakes.
Millar uses his wild imagination and penchant for humor and violence, while Sean Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth, probably my favorite illustrator and colorist, take us there in vivid style. What's not to like? If only there were more volumes.
November 9, 2016
Aventura intrascendente, un par de científicos participan en un proyecto en el que descubren la forma de viajar en el tiempo, cuando lo consiguen comienza un sinfín de disparates ya que en lugar de cumplir su misión de conseguir imágenes de hechos históricos comienzan a utilizar su traje temporal para pegarse la gran vida y adquirir poder personal, tras unos tiempos felices llega el momento de cargar con las consecuencias e intentar remediar el entuerto.
Es la típica historia corta de Millar, simplona, sin mucha lógica y pensada directamente para ser llevada al cine.... Millar ofrece pocas explicaciones, la coherencia interna brilla por su ausencia y en definitiva la trama es una simple excusa para mostrar escenas de acción desenfrenada y sin sentido. finalmente la conclusión intenta remediar un poco el descontrol argumental, pero la verdad es que soluciona muy poquito.
El dibujo de Sean Murphy es excelente y en mi opinión es lo que salva al tomo, que no deja de ser entretenido si te metes en la historia y pones el cerebro en reposo.
Es la típica historia corta de Millar, simplona, sin mucha lógica y pensada directamente para ser llevada al cine.... Millar ofrece pocas explicaciones, la coherencia interna brilla por su ausencia y en definitiva la trama es una simple excusa para mostrar escenas de acción desenfrenada y sin sentido. finalmente la conclusión intenta remediar un poco el descontrol argumental, pero la verdad es que soluciona muy poquito.
El dibujo de Sean Murphy es excelente y en mi opinión es lo que salva al tomo, que no deja de ser entretenido si te metes en la historia y pones el cerebro en reposo.
April 27, 2016
That's it? Really? Vapid and shallow, bad enough, but plagiarism? (Read Remender's Black Science and tell me there's not a bit of "oh cool,idea, I'll take it and dumb down for peeps.")
The Mannix character ie. Tommy Lee Jones, is a carbon copy of the Bodyguard in Murphy's Punk Rock Jesus, as well as the security head in Remender's Black Science.
Once scientist looks like Wolverine, the other like Johnny Storm. But these are the dumbest "scientists" ever.
I gave an extra star because in spite of most of it being idiotic, I smirked at them being like "ethics? Paradigm shifts? Fuck that noise, let's get laid!"
The Mannix character ie. Tommy Lee Jones, is a carbon copy of the Bodyguard in Murphy's Punk Rock Jesus, as well as the security head in Remender's Black Science.
Once scientist looks like Wolverine, the other like Johnny Storm. But these are the dumbest "scientists" ever.
I gave an extra star because in spite of most of it being idiotic, I smirked at them being like "ethics? Paradigm shifts? Fuck that noise, let's get laid!"
August 17, 2020
A slam-bang, two-fisted, balls-to-the-wall action comic — The Fast and the Furious with all the cars and tanks but now with added time travel! (Actually, I haven't seen the last one. Is F&F doing time travel now?)
The energy almost won me over, but the fast and loose play with time travel logic and the jackass personalities of the leads simultaneously pushed me away.
The sequel is just sitting right there on Hoopla though, so I’m probably going to read it.
The energy almost won me over, but the fast and loose play with time travel logic and the jackass personalities of the leads simultaneously pushed me away.
The sequel is just sitting right there on Hoopla though, so I’m probably going to read it.
January 7, 2018
Fun story. Glad to see there is nothing intentionally shocking.
March 10, 2016
Really surprised how silly and shallow this book was. Mark Millar has been one of my favorites and with this series I was let down. The story follows two friends who are time travelers that are supposed to be documenting time but instead they decide to get girls and money. Drop the bad language and its a much better graphic novel for young kids, seriously it really is. The fact that its considered adult and not even older teen is shocking to me. The writing is immature and trite and not very interesting. The art is pretty dang cheesy to with all the smiles these guys have even when the shit it hitting the fan. I would not recommend this to anyone.
March 2, 2017
Well, the art is great...
The story is a p unoriginal "dude wouldn't it be bad-ass if we could do whatever we wanted with time??" type romp. Spoilers they alleg have IQs of 240 and their best ideas are literally "sleep with a lot of girls and bring a bunch of anachronistic weapons to the Middle Ages so the people worship you". Very much Millar indulging his inner 14 year old (I know you're thinking, why did you expect anything else? But I really loved starlight! I'm even defensive of a handful of his recent stuff).
The story is a p unoriginal "dude wouldn't it be bad-ass if we could do whatever we wanted with time??" type romp. Spoilers they alleg have IQs of 240 and their best ideas are literally "sleep with a lot of girls and bring a bunch of anachronistic weapons to the Middle Ages so the people worship you". Very much Millar indulging his inner 14 year old (I know you're thinking, why did you expect anything else? But I really loved starlight! I'm even defensive of a handful of his recent stuff).
March 28, 2021
SUPER FAST REVIEW:
So this was recommended to me by a few people: at least one online and one I know IRL because I like Archer (the animated action-comedy series) and to be honest I don’t see the similarities, I actually didn’t consider this particularly humorous even... that being said it is still a fun comic book adventure nonetheless!
The story is a fun time-travel adventure that is interesting and doesn’t take itself too seriously with solid artwork (Murphy’s art seems to usually either really work or not work at all for me, in this one it really worked!), a good serving of action and a pretty great ending!
I will admit I didn’t care much about the characters and I didn’t find it as humorous as I had hoped.
Overall, even if not a masterpiece I had fun and this comic seems like it’s main goal is to be fun so it works! Will add volume 2 to my reading list.
4/5
So this was recommended to me by a few people: at least one online and one I know IRL because I like Archer (the animated action-comedy series) and to be honest I don’t see the similarities, I actually didn’t consider this particularly humorous even... that being said it is still a fun comic book adventure nonetheless!
The story is a fun time-travel adventure that is interesting and doesn’t take itself too seriously with solid artwork (Murphy’s art seems to usually either really work or not work at all for me, in this one it really worked!), a good serving of action and a pretty great ending!
I will admit I didn’t care much about the characters and I didn’t find it as humorous as I had hoped.
Overall, even if not a masterpiece I had fun and this comic seems like it’s main goal is to be fun so it works! Will add volume 2 to my reading list.
4/5
February 28, 2016
This book was Re-God-Damn-Diculous! Mark Millar treats time travel with all the deference of a 5 year old eating a pixie stick who just found his dad's playboys under the bed. It starts off with two fratty-bros who are about to travel through time. One is the Tony Starkish inventor and one is his dumb bro. It was intriguing because as they were getting closer to time travel, they found a lot of modern artifacts in places where modern artifacts shouldn't be so they believed this confirmed they were about to invent time travel. So far, so good.
Next, they send a satellite back in time and show the world a live feed of the battle of Gettysburg. Still very cool and interesting. However, the moment the inventor steps into the time machine, things go off the rails. He's supposed to go back to see Columbus arrive in America but is knocked off course to another ancient time and place and isn't responding to mission control. His frat bro is sent back in time to find him and finds that he is completely abusing his power by messing with the time line drastically for personal gain. He has become a tyrant, dictator, warlord, and crimelord in multiple timelines. He kills people at the drop of a hat, with no concerns of the repercussions. He introduces modern technology as far back as the 1500's without a care in the world.
Mission control won't stand for this and they send Tommy Lee Jones (not by name, but it's clearly Tommy Lee Jones) to hunt these fugitives down. It ends up being an insane chase through time with betrayals and crazy twists and turns. It's ultimately resolved with a cheat that "fixes" everything but it's time travel what are you going to do?
I wish this book had been half as much fun as it clearly was to create. Look, I'm not going to say Millar needs to do less cocaine but maybe when he's writing he should take a few breaks here and there.
Next, they send a satellite back in time and show the world a live feed of the battle of Gettysburg. Still very cool and interesting. However, the moment the inventor steps into the time machine, things go off the rails. He's supposed to go back to see Columbus arrive in America but is knocked off course to another ancient time and place and isn't responding to mission control. His frat bro is sent back in time to find him and finds that he is completely abusing his power by messing with the time line drastically for personal gain. He has become a tyrant, dictator, warlord, and crimelord in multiple timelines. He kills people at the drop of a hat, with no concerns of the repercussions. He introduces modern technology as far back as the 1500's without a care in the world.
Mission control won't stand for this and they send Tommy Lee Jones (not by name, but it's clearly Tommy Lee Jones) to hunt these fugitives down. It ends up being an insane chase through time with betrayals and crazy twists and turns. It's ultimately resolved with a cheat that "fixes" everything but it's time travel what are you going to do?
I wish this book had been half as much fun as it clearly was to create. Look, I'm not going to say Millar needs to do less cocaine but maybe when he's writing he should take a few breaks here and there.
June 16, 2015
A money grabber storyboard for an easy movie.
Definitely Millar is the Michael Bay of comics. No story, just effects, explosions and shinny vehicles, you can't have fun with something that isn't made to care. It's a shame the excellent art wasted on this failure.
Think i need a time travel suit to recover the time wasted on this.
Definitely Millar is the Michael Bay of comics. No story, just effects, explosions and shinny vehicles, you can't have fun with something that isn't made to care. It's a shame the excellent art wasted on this failure.
Think i need a time travel suit to recover the time wasted on this.
June 15, 2017
The story was fun... but not too special. HOWEVER, the artwork was AMAZING!
5 stars for the art.
5 stars for the art.
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December 22, 2015At socially-aware geek con Nine Worlds this summer, I caused an outraged scene reminiscent of a Punch cartoon when I opined that after a load of right bollocks, some of Mark Millar's recent work had been OK again. This, however, shows that he hasn't altogether given up on the adolescent tripe semi-rescued by a good artist. A thundering arsehole of a science bro (inexplicably working for NASA, rather than a private sector Elon Musk type) invents time travel along with his basically identical bro (so far as I could tell the difference: bro #2 is maybe 20% less of a prick, and they have different colour hair). On their first manned mission to the past, something inevitably goes wrong - but wouldn't you know it, this basically leaves the two of them living the life of Riley as they hop around the timestream getting 'phonecam shots of the Nativity, romancing great historical beauties, and so forth. There are occasional mutterings about potential consequences, but nothing actually materialises. Every threat is telegraphed and easily overcome. The resolution has its cake and eats it by moving queasily from presumed wish-fulfillment to utter schmaltz. The only thing which saves the entire enterprise from being utterly hateful is Murphy's art - characterful enough that all the time zones feel like part of the same history, yet versatile enough to bring out the crazy juxtapositions.
January 31, 2018
Some pretty fun stuff from Millar here.
March 12, 2016
Frat boys time travel. A little too silly for me. Poorly executed and very poorly resolved.
May 14, 2016
Two frat boys romp through history and all I want is for them to die. Miserable.
September 23, 2018
Rating: It was ok, I liked it but could have been better☺️.
It’s nothing special, too silly and it lacks depth, but it’s entertaining. If you want something quick and light I recommend it.
It’s nothing special, too silly and it lacks depth, but it’s entertaining. If you want something quick and light I recommend it.
April 26, 2021
It's too bad that this is so short it could have been pretty good if it were a bit longer. It's got great setup and execution and then the plot goes south real fast and the story is moving along, humming and purring and little details in the setup are coming to the fore. It's great. And then you see that it's only four books long and they have to wrap it up in four books and they took ~2.5 to get where they are. Boom bang bummer it's over.
Would make a great limited series or something like that where they can expand the structure a little bit. It's a great story idea, just very limited by the length.
Mark Millar's a varied dude.
Would make a great limited series or something like that where they can expand the structure a little bit. It's a great story idea, just very limited by the length.
Mark Millar's a varied dude.
February 26, 2018
[I actually found the exclusive, Z-Box Edition - wait for it - sold at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow].
I am quite conflicted about this one. On the one hand, if we go by its categorization as sci-fi, it is atrociously bad, with no believable science or logic whatsoever. Time travel tales are tricky to begin with and this one does not seem to pay attention even to the basics. On the other hand, if you read it as a sort-of-science-ish pulp adventure, it's really good fun in a naive and not-too-troubled kind of way.
Basically, it's a what if: what if two genius dickheads who are not fundamentally bad and at the end of the day would try to do the right thing, had free reign to muck with time during all these cool eras you see in historical movies and period TV series.
Furthermore, it is illustrated by the insanely skilled Sean Murphy, who really gets a chance to flex his artistic muscles with both sci-fi and historical iconography, while maintaining a frenetic pace for the multitude of action scenes. In fact, there is a car chase through time that has a very movie-like feeling and looks like it would cost a couple of fortunes to film.
At any rate, do not expect a consistent (let alone scientifically believable) carefully thought-out plot, but expect a fun, amazingly depicted adventure with a feelgood ending.
I am quite conflicted about this one. On the one hand, if we go by its categorization as sci-fi, it is atrociously bad, with no believable science or logic whatsoever. Time travel tales are tricky to begin with and this one does not seem to pay attention even to the basics. On the other hand, if you read it as a sort-of-science-ish pulp adventure, it's really good fun in a naive and not-too-troubled kind of way.
Basically, it's a what if: what if two genius dickheads who are not fundamentally bad and at the end of the day would try to do the right thing, had free reign to muck with time during all these cool eras you see in historical movies and period TV series.
Furthermore, it is illustrated by the insanely skilled Sean Murphy, who really gets a chance to flex his artistic muscles with both sci-fi and historical iconography, while maintaining a frenetic pace for the multitude of action scenes. In fact, there is a car chase through time that has a very movie-like feeling and looks like it would cost a couple of fortunes to film.
At any rate, do not expect a consistent (let alone scientifically believable) carefully thought-out plot, but expect a fun, amazingly depicted adventure with a feelgood ending.
July 2, 2017
Si no fas gaire cas de la infinitat de paradoxes temporals inherents a la història, ni que tampoc aporta gaire res de nou a la temàtica dels viatges en el temps, no deixa de ser un divertimento entretingut i ben trenat.
Suposo que si no han fet pel·li encara és perquè aquest cop Millar ha picat massa amunt en els calers que costaria fer-la.
Suposo que si no han fet pel·li encara és perquè aquest cop Millar ha picat massa amunt en els calers que costaria fer-la.
July 23, 2023
Genius versions of Bill and Ted bro it up through history. This was entertaining even though I found it to be very predictable. This strongest aspect of this book was the incredible art of Sean Gordon Murphy.
November 16, 2015
2/10 (Awful)
I'm typically not one to bash a writers' work, but every so often a book comes along that is both lazy and stupid. This comic is completely, ridiculously absurd. I realize that continuity in time travel stories is difficult to pull off, but in Chrononauts zero attempts were made. In this book we have two "scientists" hop-scotching through history making themselves kings and rulers, inciting wars and introducing military and other sophisticated technology hundreds and even thousands of years before its' time. They do this all for their own personal gain and benefit all the while racking up an impressive body count.
Not to worry though because their solution to fixing history and correcting the time-stream is to simply go back to the date of their first time travel and simply carry out their original mission as planned...problem solved. So, I'm just supposed to believe that the 2015 they go back to hasn't been altered in anyway after these two idiots gave automatic weapons to the Spartans and tanks to the Samurai? It's just utter nonsense and the worst part is that the film rights to this comic have already been sold.
I'm typically not one to bash a writers' work, but every so often a book comes along that is both lazy and stupid. This comic is completely, ridiculously absurd. I realize that continuity in time travel stories is difficult to pull off, but in Chrononauts zero attempts were made. In this book we have two "scientists" hop-scotching through history making themselves kings and rulers, inciting wars and introducing military and other sophisticated technology hundreds and even thousands of years before its' time. They do this all for their own personal gain and benefit all the while racking up an impressive body count.
Not to worry though because their solution to fixing history and correcting the time-stream is to simply go back to the date of their first time travel and simply carry out their original mission as planned...problem solved. So, I'm just supposed to believe that the 2015 they go back to hasn't been altered in anyway after these two idiots gave automatic weapons to the Spartans and tanks to the Samurai? It's just utter nonsense and the worst part is that the film rights to this comic have already been sold.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2017
This book basically forced me to admit that I'm just not a Mark Millar fan. While I think he's capable of brilliant work (most notably Red Son), I dislike most of his stories that I've read. Chrononauts is no exception. To steal a friend's phrase, I consider Millar an edgelord (along with Frank Miller and Garth Ennis). He writes whatever he thinks will shock or push boundaries the most. Sometimes that works for me, most of the time it doesn't. The intention as far as I can tell with Chrononauts was to create an over-the-top, time traveling, humorous bromance adventure. What I read felt more like Black Science if all the scientists were bros and no one ever had to face repercussions for their actions. This is not to say you're terrible if you enjoy Chrononauts or Millar's work in general, it's just very much not my thing and I'm finally willing to accept that I'm just not a fan of him.
Full review here: http://aeither.net/graphic-reviews-ch...
Full review here: http://aeither.net/graphic-reviews-ch...
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