Thursday, March 08, 2007

Rip Hunter, Time Master


Here's a comic book that I somehow missed entirely in my youth. True, the last of it's 29 issues (not counting 4 earlier SHOWCASE tryouts) came out just before I started collecting comics but I never even ran across back issues in the dingy corners of the junk shops, carryouts and second hand stores that recycled old comics for a nickel. The character has been revived in recent years but like many, retconned almost beyond recognition.


RIP HUNTER, TIME MASTER was originally Flash Gordon crossed with Doctor Who...only five years before the Doctor even came along in the UK. In his time sphere, he and his companions would adventure across time with aliens, presidents, dinosaurs, crusaders and mythological beasties. A few of the earlier issues featured nifty art by Alex Toth, Nick Cardy, the Andru/Esposito team and the already legendary Joe Kubert. For the most part, though, Rip ripped along with servicable, nondescript art by the little-remembered Bill Ely. Scripts, provided mostly by Jack Miller and George Kashdan, took themselves a tad too seriously to be fun. Still, can't help but wonder if the BBC's long-running time traveller was at least slightly influenced by Rip's six years of DC adventures.

3 comments:

  1. What a great freaking cover

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  2. Anonymous9:29 PM

    It's fun to play "let's pretend",
    but I seriously doubt that the
    makers of Dr. Who knew anything
    about Rip Hunter, Time Master...
    or that the folks at DC were aware
    of the BBC television series.
    Poor Bill Ely; yes, he is almost
    forgotten. He was one of the FIRST
    DC artists, drawing strips as far
    back as 1937. But never a big-name starring feature to link his name to. Anyone remember Johnny Law,
    Jack Woods, Sandra of the Secret
    Service, Nadir, Scoop Scanlon or
    Larry Steele? Ely went on to draw for other companies like Centaur, Western and Hillman, but he came back to DC the year I was born, and was a steady maker of deadlines for 15 years. Every DC mystery book for years seemingly had one story in each issue by Bill Ely.
    Rip Hunter was his biggest assignment, and it's a good, if
    unspectacular read, issue after
    issue.

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  3. Anonymous10:30 AM

    I've never seen a Back Issue of this book either.

    I mean when I was a kid looking for back issues I'd never see this book and a few other obscure DC titles.

    There were a number of Marvel titles that never appeared at my local newstand.
    Tales of Suspense would show up at the groceries on the far side of town but my newstand never got any copies of it.
    Odd.

    Alan - JettBlackBerryX@yahoo.com

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