Chrononauts #3

[history79]

"I love Rod Serling. I generally don’t read modern sci-fi, but I love the humanity and simplicity in his sci-fi and we saw it in the guys he worked with like Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson. The mechanics weren’t interesting to them. It was the human consequences that engaged us and I think that’s how you do sci-fi for a mass audience. Chrononauts owes a lot to those guys. A simple idea using real world events and people."

- Mark Millar

Comments

[captainbellman]

...Is Millar capable of writing lead characters you don't want to punch in the face?

[damar148]

Actually yes, given Superior and Starlight have likeable protagonists. It's more likely he doesn't want to and enjoys trolls more.

[captainbellman]

Seriously. As I said when #2 was posted, I have met only one person who behaves/talks like these protagonists, and he turned out to be a date rapist.

[halloweenjack]

In theory, maybe he hasn't forgotten. In practice, he seems dedicated to the idea that what matters isn't how a comic is written, but how it's marketed.

[mrstatham]

This has to be one of the stupidest things I've read in a while. That old expression I steal from the Cinema Snob about how you shouldn't invoke way better work in your shitty work? Millar REALLY should have taken that into consideration before he invoked The Smiths or Harry Potter, but ESPECIALLY Breaking Bad, which pisses in the face of his adolescent, pathetic, trashy garbage like Nemesis or Wanted in terms of showing the rise and fall of a supervillain.

[informationgeek]

Ah! Another fan of the Cinema Snob! Yay! :D


But you're right... Millar should not be reminding us of better work we could be reading when his story is so... ugh. I want to like Millar, especially since I love Superior to death and his Ultimate X-Men run is what got me into Marvel initially, but dammit, his track is so spotty (speaking of which, if I ever get my hands on it, I should probably do entries on Trouble, the thing he's actually the most ashamed of)!

[deh_tommy]

I think that Mark Millar is actually quite effective at writing those kinds of stories (Red Son comes to mind). May I ask (out of curiosity, not malice) what made you dislike this?

[icon_uk]

Not sure I can really agree there.

Why shouldn't an artist, wanting to refer in a shorthand fashion to critically acclaimed franchises namecheck the work of much better creators in order to establish the level of nuttiness of the plot?

[sianmink]

Breaking Bad wouldn't have even worked in 1986!

[bariman]

Yeah, that was in the middle of the big "Just Say No (To Drugs)" campaign. Why would a show about a guy who makes and sells drugs become popular? And what channel even existed at the time that would show it?

Furthermore, wouldn't people be suspicious that a guy who wrote songs for the Beatles would go on to write a children's fantasy book series, a mature crime drama television series, and now alt rock songs for the Smiths, and over the course of the twenty-odd years never ages?

[icon_uk]

Nope, have to say, still enjoying this story mostly because of it's inherent silliness. It's like a 2000AD Future-Shock story extended to feature length... In fact I could see this whole thing being a 2000AD strip without raising any eyebrows.

[drtechnobabel]

I agree. I don't feel like it's taking itself too seriously. Sure, the protagonists may be douchebags, but watching them abuse time-travel like this (and pretty blatantly too, all things considered) is just too much fun for me to hate this.

[silverhammerman]

Agreed, the hate this book's been getting seems a little undue given that it's not trying to be anything but a lighthearted buddy comedy romp. Plus, by the standards of a Mark Millar comic it's incredibly inoffensive.

Honestly, with the last few Millar books I've started daring to think that after a decade he may have gotten all the Wanted/Kick-Ass era nihilistic phoned in pandering out of his system.

[bariman]

Every time I see the title of this comic, I have a strong desire to play a certain card game. And considering the tagline of the game is "What would you do with a time machine?" I guess it works. So how many times are they going to kill and un-kill Hitler so they can play the German Cake card?