Hi Everyone.

The sales figures came in, I ordered my review comics, and they arrived today, so let's start looking at them.

The lowest selling comic of November 2013(according to Comichron.com) selling 1,057 copies, was Chronos Commandos: Dawn Patrol #5 - (of 5), from Titan Comics.

As usual, I'm not familiar with the series, and didn't do any research into it before reading this issue, just to see if it's new reader friendly. There may be small spoilers, but I'llblockthem just in case. Let's start with the cover.

Cover:

The first thing that strikes me is that this is kind of familiar. This is only my 8th review, and already it looks like I'm reviewing another comic with both Nazis and dinosaurs involved, the first being Fearless Dawn In Outer Space. Maybe comics with Nazis, dinosaurs and the word "Dawn" in the title just don't appeal to people.

Anyway, it's drawn and coloured fairly nicely. It's also designed pretty well, with the military and time travel aspects reflected in the dog tag numbers, stenciled signature, grenade and clock in the title. It's obvious to me what the title is, but would obscuring it with a Nazis arms make it tricky for someone seeing this comic on a shelf? Hard to say.

Art:

The art is nice enough. It's drawn pretty well, and suits the tone of the comic well. I don't know if it was intentional, but the Nazi officer looks to me like Arnold Schwarzenegger in most of the panels.

The colouring is good, perhaps higher in quality than the pencils/inks, but is kind of limited. The scenes with the Nazis are great to look at, but the laboratory scenes are pretty much just red or blue from panel to panel.

Story/Writing:

In a laboratory, two professors who are identical, I think because they're the same person from different times, are briefing a sergeant who is suiting in protective gear to fix a time machine called the Chronosphere. Meanwhile, what seems to be the same (American?)sergeant and his squad are in battle with some Nazis, and he talks of time travel with the commanding Nazi, Richter. The Americans are defeated and the last of them are about to be executed by flamethrower, when one of their previously thought to be dead squad shoots the fuel tank, setting the Nazis alight. In the ensuing chaos, some of the Nazis try to put out the flames in some nearby water, where they get savaged by crocodiles, including Richter, who has his arm bitten off whilst holding a piece of time travel equipment. The Americans kill the crocodile and retrieve the equipment.

Back in the laboratory, the sergeant is shown struggling to get to the valve he must turn to stop the time machine exploding, eventually managing, and then time traveling away somewhere, where he shoots a person who tries to shoot his pod just arriving, or something. He speaks to a version of the professors from before, about the Chronosphere being close to exploding, and then it does, I think. The issue ends with some Nazis gathered sending a coded message seemingly through some kind of device that links minds. A shadowy figure is told to report to the fuhrer that someone wishes to begin communication, and he's revealed to be Richter, now featuring a robotic arm and faceplate and calling himself Ironfist.

Most of the story was fine, but it got confusing near the end. I can't quite tell how the laboratory scenes relate to each other, but I'm pretty sure it's the same sergeant in both, though he isn't given a name anywhere through, simply being referred to as "sergeant" or "sarge"(23 times). The dialogue is mostly O.K., but the Nazis are written with German accents, like V's for W''s etc. I'm not sure what to make of this. Also, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Richter having his arm bitten off whilst holding time travel equipment reminded me of Captain Hook having his arm bitten off by the crocodile that swallowed a clock. If this was written in as some kind of reference, I have no idea why. It doesn't come across as a new reader friendly issue, but then it is the last issue of the arc, so maybe that's understandable.

Other Things Worth Mentioning:

24 Pages of comic content for $3.99.

All advertising left to the end.

Chronosphere blueprints, guides on how to recognise dinosaurs and a pin-up of a woman in her underwear are included at the end.

No dinosaurs in the issue, despite the cover, and cover of the advertised TPB.

Overall:

Overall it was O.K., but nothing special. The art was decent enough, but the story was a bit confusing in places. I don't think I'd be interested in more. I'll give it a high 2/5(6/15).

So has anyone on here read this issue? What did you think of it?

There'll be at least 2 runner up reviews for this month, so look out for them in the next few weeks. :)

Scarlotte.