Bear with me, I'll get to the comic is a minute. First, a story.About 15 years ago I was working for a local TV station and I was given the opportunity to write an original children's special - the topic was up to me, and the only stipulation was that it had to be educational and practical in terms of budget - in other words, it had to be something we could shoot on the cheap.
I thought about it a long time, and since the show was aimed at kids, I decided to seek inspiration (some would say steal) from the books and comics I enjoyed as a kid. One of my favorites - and one that I actually learned from - was Rip Hunter... Time Master.
That comic featured four friends who traveled through time, courtesy of Rip's invention, the Time Sphere. Rip was the leader, his friend and lab assistant Jeff Smith was his right-hand man, Bonnie Baxter provided the love interest, and her kid brother Corky was the obligatory kid.
They were very much in the vein of the Challengers of the Unknown and Cave Carson - close friends and family members who shared amazing adventures.
The Time Sphere would carry them to the past (and occasionally into the future), where they'd meet famous historic figures, witness events and enjoy all kinds of adventures.
For example, in this issue (cover dated Sept.-Oct. 1963), a criminal hijacks the Time Sphere (luckily Rip has a backup) and sets out to build a "Criminal League of the Ages," which will include Captain Harry Hawkins, the infamous English highwayman, and Baron De Koven, the Black Knight.
As a kid, I never minded the way writers would sneak in some education with the story - it gave it an added dimension that's (sadly) almost completely missing from today's comics.
Rip Hunter always featured solid art in the classic DC style (though of course the artist and writer were never credited - Wikipedia lists Jack Miller as the writer and Ruben Moreira as the artist), and each issue was a treat, filled with adventure, twists and turns and a fun story, all "done-in-one."
Back in the world of TV, I used the idea to write an hour show that featured a kid being sent back in time when his Uncle's invention is accidentally activated (that part we shot in the engineer's shop at the TV station). He visits several time periods, learns about the history of the area (we shot at existing historic sites and used local actors to play historic characters), and along the way the viewers learn about history and such.
It turned out well, especially considering our monetary limitations, and when it appeared on the air it got good reviews, although one writer suggested that I had lifted the idea from the Back to the Future movies (which had honestly never occurred to me).
Hey, I wonder if Robert Zemeckis read Rip Hunter, too?
Grade: A-
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