Rip Hunter... Time Master #28 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Noted time traveler Rip Hunter has an ever changing problem on his hands: lately he's been ever changing into huge monstrous creatures!

When a historian colleague finds evidence of a wizard, Rip and company travel 18th century Poland. Once in the past, the time sphere crew are captured by a trio of unusual creatures. The time travelers are taken to an actual wizard! Named Kraklow, the man has in his possession of a clay with special properties. Whenever the wizard uses the magical mud to make an image of a person, that individual comes under Kraklow's spell. A few adjustments later, the wizard turns the human character into a monster., of which years later we would refer to as 'Kaiju'. As soon as Kraklow finishes, the enslaved person transforms into the monstrous creatures of the wizard's imagination.

Using brawn over brain, Rip overpowers the mage and destroys the sculptures, freeing the people of Poland from Kraklow's thralls. The magician claims that he has no more clay which satisfies Rip. However, once back in the 1960s, Rip suddenly turns into a gigantic beast that runs amok. Once his team is able to administer a an antidote, everything seems to have a happy ending. That is until Rip turns back into yet another monster once again! It looks like Kraklow was lying about having run out of his mystical clay and is enacting his revenge on Rip from the past. It appears that another trip in the time sphere is in order to save Rip Hunter from a lifetime of terrifying changes...

This was the penultimate issue of Rip Hunter... Time Master. I don't think that the creative team of writer George Kashdan and artist Will Ely had an idea at this point in time that the writing was on the wall for the series because there's a tease at the end of this issue that this might not be the last we've seen of Kraklow. (Note: it isn't as he'll pop up years later to give the Teen Titans headaches.)

With a publication date from 1965, I think you can accuse the team at DC of ripping off an idea from Marvel. The Fantastic Four's nemesis, the Puppet Master using a radioactive clay of his own to put his does under his power. I guess you could say that Kraklow is an ancestor of the Puppet Master, since the FF character did obtain his clay from somewhere in Central Europe. Perhaps the magic behind Kraklow's clay was radioactivity. It would fit the modern day saying Rip Hunter and the Legends of Tomorrow that 'magic is just science that we don't yet understand.' Plus with radiation experts the Curies coming from Poland, who knows?! It's definitely an idea that got merit for an obscure crossover between the DC and Marvel universes.  

Hey, Big Two! I'm available to help write this script up! 

I loved Rip Hunter... Time Master. My dad had a few issues of the time travelling series in his collection that I later obtained. It was a fun little series that fell under the category of DC's more obscure characters. And for me, the obscurer the better.

Not the best dialogue. Clever plot that just got better the more I reflected on it. A great trip down memory lane as happy memories with my father are few and far in-between. If I could find the other 28 issues, I would snap them up in a heartbeat. 

Completing this review completes Task #2 (Comic from the Silver Age (1956-1970)) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Unexpected #183 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

DC's The Unexpected started life as Tales of the Unexpected in 1956. Due to restrictions set by the Comics Code, DC began Tales of the Unexpected as a milder sci-fi anthology alternative compared to the compilation series being published by EC Comics. Over the next decade, as guidelines over what was deemed unacceptable to be in comics lessened, especially elements of the macabre, Tales began to include fantasy and horror stories along with those sensational science fiction adventures. 

By 1968, DC had determined that they had a glut of Sci-fi and horror titles and they retooled Tales of the Unexpected into a fantasy only series. Starting with issue #105, the title was trimmed down to The Unexpected. However, it was soon revealed that sales for a fantasy only book wasn't as strong as DC had hoped for. Pretty quickly, elements of horror and science fiction were reintroduced into the title though the series never reverted back to its original name. 

The Unexpected continued in print to May, 1982; ending at issue #222. It survived through the DC Implosion of 1978, incorporating titles such as House of Secrets, The Witching Hour and Doorway Into Nightmare in its pages. A series that began without a host, by the time The Unexpected was cancelled, hosts such as the Witches Three and Abel were presenting spooky stories to readers in rotating segments. 

This February, 1978 issue was published almost a full year before the assimilating effects of the Implosion were felt in the title. Yet, the 3 stories presented in this book are full of terrifying twists and turns. In 'The Dead Don't Always Die' George Kashdan and Ernesto Patricio give a deadbeat swindler insight on the forthcoming date of death of a relative- it just might not be the one he was hoping for. Carl Wessler and Gerry Talaoc warn a pair of American crooks wreaking havoc in Brazil to 'Beware the Green Cannibal.' Finally, Kashdan returns with art by E.R. Cruz in a mad scientist story titled 'Golden Grave.'

Cover art, based on the opening story, was by Luis Dominguez.

Completing this review completes Task #40 (A Work Published in February of Any Year) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.