Colin’s working on something in his garage. It’s a time machine. Sort of. The woman who is helping him out with his work is under the impression that it’s some kind of a wrist-mounted tech. It is. It’s also something that needs to connect directly to his nervous system, so it’s also going to need to be inserted into his wrist. With any luck it won’t fry his nervous system in the process. Colin’s crazy, but he knows what he’s going in Standstill #4. Writer Lee Loughridge finishes the first half of a story that is brought to the page by the art team of Andrew Robinson and Alex Riegel. 

The good news is that the device works. The bad news is that it doesn't work the way they would want it to. he can't stop time or anything like that. But he can be therefore when time is stopped by Ryker. Of course, the knowledge that it's Ryker in the first place is a little confusing to begin with. There's really no reason why he should've known about the technology to begin with. But he was kind of a bad way and his friend who is working on the project just happened to let it slip. Now Ryker is using the ability to stop time for himself. He’s using it to get revenge on the people who killed his wife. 

Loughridge has spent a solid three issues, just establishing the nature of the situation. However, the backstory hadn't really been fully developed until midway through this series. The full reveal of Loughridge’s premise IS kind of a disappointment. Things that seem so delightfully, strange and inexplicable. now that so much of what's going on is simply a revenge story lacks a little bit of the delicious weirdness that had so totally dominated the first three issues. It all seemed so pleasantly random and chaotic. Now that the pattern has fully emerged it's not nearly as interesting as it had been. But it's still a lot of fun.

Robinson issue with some very articulated drama. The wild eyes of Ryker continued to be very appealing. the moodiness of the drama feels quite potent throughout. Riegel manages the bulk of the issue with a art style that is complementary. It feels very well suited to the story that's being delivered. However, it lacks the kind of delicate finesse that Robinson had managed for much of the series running into this issue. And so it's kind of too bad that there's that little inconsistency. Honestly, Reigel’s style has its own integrity about it. It just feels kind of stylistically off with respect to what had been going on for the bulk of the three issues prior to the midpoint. 

Momentum is maintained even as artist switch. The wide the screen orientation of the action continues to work quite well. And there is a lot of forward movement as the momentum continues. The entire thing could play out on more of an 11 x 17 sort of a canvas. it's so rarely that that sort of a format is used becomes a major appeal of the series as it reaches its midpoint.

Grade: B