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.

Suicide Squad: The Silver Age Omnibus, Vol. 1

In anticipation for the 2016 Suicide Squad movie, DC Comics released a slew of material. This hardcover collection was one of them. But don't expect to see Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang or Amanda Waller in this book. In fact, don't expect any superheroes at all!

This Silver Age Omnibus is basically broken into 2 parts. The first section reprints the issues #25-27 and #37-39 of The Brave and The Bold prior to it becoming a Batman team-up series. The section part collects a handful of stories from the war anthology title Star-Spangled War Comics.

The Brave and the Bold stories are the ones that are perhaps the most connected to the modern Suicide Squad that most fans know and love. Also called Task Force X, this team is summoned to action when the military fails. The team is led by Rick Flag Jr. and is comprised of a field medic, a physicist and an astronomer; all who were the lone survivors of horrible tragedies. Promising that their colleagues deaths would not be in vain, the members of Task Force X are highly trained operatives who are willing to give it their all, including their lives as a Suicide Squad! 

If the second half of this book looks like it's a collection of stories from the War That Time Forgot, give yourself a cookie! Almost a dozen stories of World War II adventures atop Dinosaur Island star a group of Allied special forces operating in the Pacific known also as the Suicide Squad. But there is no apparent connection between this version of the team and the Brave and the Bold group other than the name. Oh, and that of both having the same creator. 

Robert Kanigher (E.C.'s Psychoanalysis) created both versions of the Suicide Squad. And both versions are of differing quality. The Task Force X stories utilize giant monsters (later reanimated dinosaurs), science, and insipid romance. Rick Flag and field medic Karin Grace are secretly in love with each other. But Flag refuses to acknowledge the affair because it might upset the other two Suicide Squad members who are also pining for Karin. So all this running around gets tiring pretty quick. But not as quick as the dialogue in the Dinosaur Island stories.

The first 2 stories involve characters that are all rather likable. I don't think Kanigher was a big fan of this because after that first couple of tales, the replacement characters become really unlikable. I mean to the point that you wouldn't mind if they all got eaten by dinos or killed by the Imperial Japanese. 

In these remaining tales, you have a pair of Suicide Squad members pitted together. One hates the other one (and vice-versa) to the point that they constantly threaten to kill each other should the other one turn chicken or turn their back on the other. And the dialogue gets repetitious. And do I mean repetitious. 

For example, in one story, a soldier accuses the other of chickening out a total of 4 times in the span of 3 pages! With the same phrase 'Are you chickening out on me?' Another story has a different solider taunting another to shoot him in the back 6 times in a span of 4 pages! I thought this was supposed to be the greatest generation!

I'm not making this kind of thing up! It's one of the biggest criticisms fans of the Golden and Silver Age of comics have about Robert Kanigher. That sort of one-note level of dialogue and his ability to piss off the artists he worked with!

I had read all of these Dinosaur Island stories before in the pages of Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot, Vol. 1. But I never noticed how monotonous the dialogue could be. Maybe that's because that volume had all of the Silver Age Dinosaur Island stories and not just the Suicide Squad ones. But I am amazed how much I overlooked this!

Lastly, what is up with the numbering of this book? It's listed as a Volume 1. What are they going to consider a Volume 2? There's nothing else involving the Suicide Squad to publish from the Silver Age! Everything else was Bronze Age or newer stuff. I'd be okay if this book was listed as an Omnibus with a Volume 1 because I understand that poor sales can kill a proposed reprint series. But it aggravates my OCD to no end when you improperly title something. 

Also- that's a great Easter Egg by cover artist master, Michael Cho. Unfortunately, the trade paperback cover doesn't have it!

Fun Fact: Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot is also listed as a Volume 1. However, there was still enough material from the 70s and 80s to publish a second. It'd be a small volume. But at least it was still possible aside from this book.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Weird Love, Volume 1: You Know You Want It

Commie bad boy hunks. Mentally unhinged debutantes. Free love hippies, mini skirts, and Ronald Reagan?! It's all found in this edition of Weird Love: You Know You Want It!

Weird Love is a comic anthology from IDW Publishing and Yoe Books. The collaboration reprints some of the wildest, weirdest and down right prudish stories taken from the romance comics of the 1950s, 60s and 70s! 

I'm a fan of comics of all eras but my heart is firmly rooted in the Silver Age of comics when the Comics Code was just taking affect. There were so many titles out there trying to be lurid without attracting attention from politicians and angry moms. It's rather funny in an uncomfortable way.

A lot of these stories are like B-movies. They're so bad, that they're good! Fans of MST3K, Svengoolie and Ed Wood will delight in these forgotten gems from yesterday.

My wife got me this for Christmas. I have no idea where she got it. She's pretty well okay with a lot of oddball comics I bring in, including kids stuff. But the romance stuff, she tends to find that laughable and a little silly for a grown man like myself to read. But my mother had a bunch of them from when she was a girl and I being hooked on anything comic book related, gobbled them up. So, for me, it's not odd for men to read romance comics. 

But still, I'm a little mystified that my wife got this for me. I'm wondering if some of my buddies at my favorite comic book shop made the recommendation, as they know I am a huge fan of any type of comic book from this era. I guess that's one mystery I've leave unsolved.

This book was a thrill to read. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series or some of the sister books like Haunted Horror. I've read several other collections from Yoe Books and they always seem to find some great stuff. This edition does disappoint!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Superman: The Silver Age Dailies 1959-1961 (Volume 1)

  A part of the Library of American Comics series, this volume collects the complete 1959-61 run of Superman stories that appeared in newspapers nationwide. Most of the Superman stories that ran in the funny pages were recycled from comics that were published months earlier. For those who may collect the DC editions that reprint the stories from Action Comics and Superman, it's more than likely that you already have almost all of these tales in your collection. 
      Only the first story- Earth's Super-Idiot is an original adventure. Although some elements of the yarn were borrowed from a story printed in Superman #135 (The Trio of Steel.) I know for sure that I've read a couple of these adventures before such as the 'Superman of the Future' and 'The Mad Woman of Metropolis' in their original form.
      In order to build interest and assist readers who may have forgotten what happened the day prior, the last panel of one strip is often repeated in the first panel of the next. This repetition gets a little old but it's not the worst thing in the world. It still makes for a fun read of silver age fables starring the Man of Steel. 
       One thing that is a little confusing is the numbering of the stories. This is volume one of Superman: The Silver Age Dailies. Yet, the first epic is numbered at Episode 107. The publisher, IDW, is also reissuing the older tales from the Golden Age. But that numbering is starting at Episode 1. As there's only that first volume available, it may be a little while before IDW gets to Episode 106.
        The Silver Age Dailies, Volume 1 features artwork from some of the most legendary Superman artists of the era. Wayne Boring, Stan Kaye, and Curt Swan all craft some amazing images of the Man of Tomorrow along with Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and Lois Lane. (In my opinion, the Curt Swan stories are the best drawn.) Every episode is written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and some are quite good. But the allure and wonder of these Superman tales are all thanks in very large part to editor Mort Weisinger. 
         Weisinger would bring mock-ups of ideas to the kids in his neighborhood and let them decide the next adventure of the Man of Steel. The idea was a huge, if not a tad far-fetched success. However, it's one reason why the Silver Age sagas of the Last Son of Krypton are still popular with fans today.
          An enjoyable chronicle of Silver Age Superman in which I hope to obtain further volumes in the series. Being an oblong book and very heavy, it's a little unwieldy- especially when trying to read it in bed. I recommend a desk or recliner when reading.

     Worth Consuming!
  
      Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
       

Showcase Presents: Superman Family, Volume 4

  When I was a little kid, it would be a special treat when my father would bring our his collection of comics from when he was a youngster. Born in 1955, my dad's collection was from the Silver Age of comics. So  most of my introduction into comics were titles from about 1956-1968. That's not a bad tutorial for a kid born in 1977 to have.

   My pop had things like the first appearance of the Barry Allen Flash, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, and the Black Panther. (I later inherited these gems only to have them stolen by an older high school 'friend.') But my favorite comics were the ones that starred Superman, particularly those adventures that starred members of Superman's Family. Those titles included Superman's best friend Jimmy Olsen and the Man of Steel's best gal, Lois Lane.

    This collection reprints some of those gems from the Olsen and Lane titles. Ranging from 1959-1960, this book includes the first appearance of Jimmy as Giant Turtle Man, the beginning of the Imaginary Tales stories that pondered what would happen if Superman finally married Lois, and numerous cameos from another Superman Family favorite of mine- Supergirl!

    Featuring art from Silver Age legends Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger, these stories are true American treasures. Sadly, just who wrote most of these classics has become lost to time or poor record keeping but you can see the deft handiwork of iconic DC editor, Julius Schwartz. The only thing missing would be a few ape covers because hey- gorillas sell books, kids!

   Besides being an anthology of some of the lesser known Superman titles, this was a time capsule to my childhood. It's been almost exactly 2 years since this title was published and a fifth volume in this series has yet to be issued. I hope DC hasn't given up on this series as there are at least another 10 years worth of stories left to be retold.

  Sometimes hokey, with some archaic views towards women and teens, but never boring, this is great stuff from the Silver Age that's totally Worth Consuming!

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars