40: Chrome if you want to

The mid eighties saw a boom (shortly followed by an inevitable bust) in independent publishing, spurred on by the rise of the direct market. Chicago was a hub of comics activity at the time, with their popular comic con spawning First Comics amongst other newcomers. Joe Judt, a former fanzine editor and acquaintance of Gillis, decided to get in on the action, setting up the short lived Hot Comics.

Following their brilliant run on Micronauts, Peter Gillis and Kelley Jones were itching to work together once more. Surprisingly their dream project was... Iron Man. As there was little hope of Marvel letting either of them near their A lister, Gillis soon came up with his own typically twisted twist on the man in armour formula. What if the guy was stuck in the suit permanently? And what if nobody could tell who he really was underneath, a Russian or American astronaut?

Gillis originally considered the resulting concept Chrome for the initial incarnation of Jim Shooter's New Universe project, but as he put it:

"Things got a little strained between Marvel and me after I got fired off the Eternals limited series. I started thinking less of the New Universe and more of the new universe of independent publishers."

It was around this point Joe Judt approached Gillis about his new Hot Comics startup... 

Chrome #1-3 (1986-1987)

Pencils: Kelley Jones
Inks: Jim Sinclair

Two men, one Russian and one American test experimental robotic skin tight chrome space suits in orbit. Their craft burns up in re-entry, leaving only one survivor. But as the suit is now permanently attached to them as a result of the accident, the mystery remains; which man returned? The man in the suit claims to be the American Creighton Glenn, and on the surface there's no reason to doubt him... or is there? It's a very cool, if slightly implausible sci-fi concept.

Once the setup is out the way, the first three issues are quite heavy in action. First Chrome escapes from a torturous grilling by US forces, then visits Creighton's family, before being pursued by a Judge Dredd style crazed assassin on a futuristic motorbike. He then goes from the frying pan into the fire, getting captured aboard a Russian airship. His escape attempt, and the short lived series, ends in a giant fireball.

Amongst all the frantic action, there's little room for characterisation, with the male characters weighing in on the sadist or psychotic end of the scale. Females fare no better, with Creighton's wife appearing either in her underwear or naked in her two scenes, with only strategically placed speech balloons to protect her modesty. It reads much like an 80's action movie, with a maturity level to match. It may be a fair page turner, although aside from the occasional bout of philosophy, it's lacking Gillis' usual personal imprint.

The art and colouring are variable.

Hot used impressively high quality paper, so my copies are still shiny white compared to the standard newsprint of the time. The colouring and reproduction looks rather muddy however, detracting from the artwork, which is far from Jones' finest. It's hard to pinpoint the problem, but some of it looks rushed (perhaps busy with more lucrative mainstream work), with occasional wonky looking faces. Maybe it's the inking combination with Sinclair, although the two worked fine together on Star's Air Raiders.

...although some of it is very nice.

Gripes aside, the intriguing premise had potential to explore new ground. Sadly that went unrealised, as a penciled fourth issue never appeared. Although Jones was informed Chrome was selling very well, other Hot books were not so hot, which resulted in the short lived company folding barely a year after launch. The erratic scheduling couldn't have helped, with the 3 issues released sporadically over six months, despite the promise of a monthly schedule.

Cover for unpublished #4.

Jones and Gillis wouldn't get to collaborate again for another 30 years. Jones found himself pigeonholed at Marvel as a toy artist on their younger audience Star line. He finally found his niche drawing Wrightson-esque horror over at DC on the likes of Deadman and Sandman. It's a shame the two never got paired on Doctor Strange. What wonders they could have unleashed.

As to where Gillis was going with it all, Chrome's true identity was to be revealed after a few more issues, coinciding with a four issue trip to Russia, where he gets caught up in a potential revolution. The series was to head more in a "very twisted" superhero direction. I like to believe it was Russian Stefan Tatianov under the chrome skin, as that would've made for an interesting statement in the mid-eighties political climate. I guess we'll never know.