‘Chrononauts’ Review: Exciting

When you begin to read Millar and Murphy’s “Chrononauts,” your first impression is what the hell and when will they learn? Years ago, the show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” attempted to discuss, through the discovery of a wormhole why it is dangerous to mess with concepts beyond a civilization’s understanding. Concepts such as linear time which can be a tricky thing. We tend to go back to moments that are cripplingly traumatic. When Sisko (Avery Brooks) realizes his grief has stalled his ability to move forward, or live in linear time, he becomes a better man. In essence he is more in tune with the world around him. That series showed a complexity that incorporated religion, war, and most importantly the conflict within one’s self. When Dr. Corbin Quinn decides to build a time machine, you know there’s going to be trouble. If only Quinn had seen that first episode of “Deep Space Nine” he would have never embarked on such a reckless journey.

Still, what would you do if you had an apparatus that could send you to any time period you want? Some may find a way to cure Cancer or attempt to correct the mistakes in their own pasts. There’s an episode of “Doctor Who” where the Doctor tries to right what he considers to be a wrong. He manipulates a fixed point in time and at the end realizes what a monster he became in the process. But the Doctor was able to come to that realization before any irreversible damage is done. What Quinn does through timelines shows a wanton disregard and lack of respect for history itself. What’s more Quinn doesn’t even try to deal with his issues, instead he chooses to run away from the things that have hurt him. Through different timelines Quinn is escaping a bad marriage and residual guilt over his father. No matter how much you try, you can’t outrun your own history. However, whether or not Quinn comes to his own epiphany is inconsequential. What does matter is that “Chrononauts” is an exciting ride for the reader.

From a hired gun called Mannix to Marilyn Monroe, Murphy liberally uses pop culture and historical points in time to make this trade paperback smart and funny. For some jokes you have to be literate to get the punchline, like when Quinn pulls out his timepiece. For the well-read audience you’ll get a deep understanding of Quinn’s character from that action and for those who don’t get the reference, it still doesn’t take away from enjoying this work.

What will also pull you into this world is the artwork. It’s reminiscent of some of Paul Smith’s work with the X-Men in the early ’80s. The adults look like grown-ups, not some extreme, teenage fantasy. The violence is authentic looking and so are the various periods in history. Everything can’t look the same and Sean Murphy and his team pull off the variety of characters and centuries.

For the reader “Chrononauts” is about the journey and the constant questioning of what would you do if you could go back in time. Forget your own problems and instead laugh, yell and get frustrated with Quinn as he tramples through history as we know it.