Chronowar

    (Dark Horse, 1996-1997)
™ and ©1995 Kazumasa Takayama. English edition ©1996 Studio Proteus and Dark Horse Comics

The transformation of man into machine is a recurring theme in contemporary Japanese art through its use as a stock formula in the popular media of anime and manga. Chronowar, a nine-part mini series by Kazumasa Takayama offers its own variation on this subject.

As downtown Tokyo is being evacuated prior to the crash-landing of an orbiting satellite, protagonists Chiaki, Takashi, and Detective Watanabe are embroiled in a case of mistaken identity. Their chase inadvertently puts them at ground zero when the crash occurs. But instead of killing them, the satellite, which had obviously been contaminated by alien technology, transforms them into biomechanical cyborgs.

Chronowar is illustrated in clean but fabulously detail-rich black-and-white, with expressive characterizations that avoid many of manga clichés.
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  • 1
    #1
    Aug 1996
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  • 2
    #2
    Sep 1996
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    W: Kazumasa Takayama, Dana Lewis, Toren Smith  ·  A: Kazumasa Takayama, Tomoko Saito
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  • 3
    #3
    Oct 1996
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    #4
    Nov 1996
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    #5
    Dec 1996
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    2 copies from $0.99
  • 6
    #6
    Jan 1997
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    2 copies from $1.00
  • 7
    #7
    Feb 1997
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    2 copies from $2.25
  • 8
    #8
    Mar 1997
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  • 9
    #9
    Apr 1997
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    2 copies from $1.50