Rip Hunter... Time Master #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeRip Hunter... Time Master #1 is the series debut that gave DC's Silver Age time-travel concept a permanent home after four successful tryout appearances in Showcase. It formalized the four-person team structure — scientist-inventor Rip, his best friend Jeff Smith, girlfriend Bonnie Baxter, and her kid brother Corky — that DC would use as a narrative template for non-powered adventure quartets throughout the early 1960s, itself a conscious riff on the Challengers of the Unknown model. The series planted the earliest roots of what would grow, decades later, into the full mythology of the DC timestream, the Time Masters organization, and ultimately the television series Legends of Tomorrow. As the flagship issue of a 29-issue run, it stands as the definitive first-issue statement of Silver Age comic-book time-travel adventure in the DC universe.
In "The Thousand-Year-Old Curse," Rip Hunter answers a desperate plea from Martin Craig, who fears a mysterious family curse will claim him at 25. With artist Ross Andru and inker Mike Esposito bringing the action to life, Rip and his team journey to 17th-century Europe to uncover the origins of the curse, only to arrive in a town under siege by a monstrous force from the past. The cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito captures the eerie, time-twisted tension of a 1961 DC adventure that’s as much about mystery as it is about time.
In "The Thousand-Year-Old Curse," Martin Craig enlists Rip Hunter to unravel a family fate that claims each Craig male at 25. Traveling back to 1600s Europe, Rip and his team intervene to save Elliott Craig from a deadly ambush—only to discover a monstrous threat already tearing through the village. The mystery deepens as they trace the curse’s roots to Bern Craig in 13th-century Switzerland, where the past holds secrets that defy time.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The character debuted in Showcase #20 (cover-dated May/June 1959), riding the commercial wave that Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown had created for non-superpowered adventure quartets. After three further tryout appearances in Showcase (#21, 25, and 26) confirmed audience interest, editor Jack Schiff — assisted by associate editors Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan — greenlit an ongoing series. Issue #1 went on sale January 19, 1961, written by Jack Miller and illustrated by the team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, who would define the book's visual identity throughout its run. There is a genuine creator-credit dispute for the character's origination: the Grand Comics Database credits the Showcase #20 script to Dave Wood, while Wikipedia, the DC Database, and DCU Guide credit Jack Miller as writer — sources openly disagree, and Miller is the undisputed writer of the ongoing series beginning with this issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue of the ongoing Rip Hunter... Time Master series, published by DC Comics with an on-sale date of January 19, 1961 (cover-dated March/April 1961).
- Written by Jack Miller; interior art and cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito — the creative team that would carry the series throughout its run.
- Edited by Jack Schiff, with Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan credited as associate editors.
- First appearances in an ongoing series of the full core team: Rip Hunter, Jeff Smith, Bonnie Baxter, Corky Baxter. Peter Puptent also appears in this issue in a separate humor segment.
- The lead story is a three-chapter adventure titled 'The 1,000-Year-Old Curse!' (chapters: 'The Thousand-Year-Old Curse,' 'The Secret of the Volcano Creature,' and 'The Wizard of the 10th Century'), in which Rip and his team travel to multiple eras to unravel a family curse — demonstrating the multi-era, three-act story structure that defined the series.
- The series ran for 29 issues (1961–1965), making it one of DC's longest-running Silver Age science-fiction adventure titles.
- The entire run — including the Showcase tryout issues and the first 15 issues of this series — was collected and reprinted in Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter, Time Master Vol. 1 (DC, 2012).
- Rip Hunter's mythology was later substantially revised post-Crisis on Infinite Earths and again after Infinite Crisis (2005), which established him as the secret son of Booster Gold; the character also appeared in the Arrowverse television series Legends of Tomorrow, portrayed by Arthur Darvill.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Wonder Woman #82 (1956)
Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter, Time Master #1 (2012)
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