Showcase #20
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeShowcase #20 introduced Rip Hunter, Time Master to the DC Universe, establishing one of the Silver Age's most enduring time-travel concepts: a team of ordinary, un-powered humans using homegrown technology to navigate history. It was part of DC's deliberate strategy of using Showcase as a proving ground for new characters, and the Rip Hunter concept proved successful enough to earn a dedicated series in 1961 that ran for 29 issues. The character's Time Sphere and quartet-team formula directly anticipated the structure of later DC adventure properties, and Rip Hunter himself went on to play meaningful roles in Crisis on Infinite Earths and the post-Infinite Crisis era, eventually being retconned as the son of Booster Gold.
In "Prisoners of 100 Million B.C.", a group of time-traveling adventurers finds themselves stranded in prehistoric times after a malfunctioning time sphere crashes into the past. With dinosaurs on the move and only limited space in the remaining functional sphere, the travelers must work together to repair their vessel and escape—while grappling with the harsh rule that nothing from the past can be brought back to the present. Written by Dave Wood and illustrated by Ruben Moreira, with a cover by Bob Brown, this 1959 Showcase issue delivers a taut, imaginative adventure from DC's early Silver Age.
In "Prisoners of 100 Million B.C.," Rip Hunter and Jeff Smith journey back to the Mesozoic era for a test run in Time Sphere II, only to find themselves stranded when crooks—led by Bonnie Baxter and her brother Corky—force their way into the past to capture them. With dinosaurs roaming the prehistoric landscape, the team must survive the chaos of the ancient world while racing to recover their missing Time Sphere before time itself runs out.
In "Chapter 2: The Modern Day Cavemen," Rip and his companions are stranded in a prehistoric world after the crooks who stole the Time Sphere meet a sudden end. With no way to return and the sphere still missing, they must adapt to their harsh surroundings—only to face a new threat when a volcanic eruption reveals the sphere’s location… and puts it at risk.
In "Chapter 3: The Great Beast Stampede," the time travelers face a new crisis when the crooks—survivors of a fall and now in possession of a sack of jewels—must be taken to the disabled sphere for repairs. With only four people allowed per sphere, Bonnie and Corky return to the present while Rip, Jeff, and the crooks set off on a perilous journey through a prehistoric landscape, dodging a massive dinosaur stampede. As the repaired sphere prepares to leap through time, the crooks discover their treasure has vanished—proof that the past cannot be changed, not even by the most desperate hands.
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Writer Jack Miller and artist Ruben Moreira created Rip Hunter under the editorial supervision of Jack Schiff, who later recalled that he and Miller had considerable fun developing the material. The concept drew consciously from the commercial blueprint laid down by Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown — a quartet of non-powered adventure-seekers — and grafted it onto a time-travel framework that let Miller, a dedicated history enthusiast, weave (loosely) historical settings into each story. The debut issue's cover-date of May/June 1959 placed it squarely in one of the most productive years of DC's Silver Age expansion, the same year Supergirl and Hal Jordan's Green Lantern debuted.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of Rip Hunter (full name: Ripley Hunter) and the entire Time Masters team — Jeff Smith, Bonnie Baxter, and her younger brother Corky — all debuting simultaneously.
- Created by writer Jack Miller and artist Ruben Moreira; edited by Jack Schiff.
- Cover-dated May/June 1959; on-sale date recorded as March 17, 1959 per Grand Comics Database.
- Lead story title: 'Prisoners of 100 Million B.C.' — Rip and Jeff test the second Time Sphere with a voyage to the Mesozoic Era while criminals hijack the original sphere and strand the team 100 million years in the past.
- Rip Hunter's key invention, the Time Sphere (an atomic-powered spherical time machine), makes its first appearance here and becomes the character's defining piece of technology throughout his entire publication history.
- The Challengers of the Unknown's commercial success directly inspired this concept: DC editor Jack Schiff and writer Jack Miller modeled the four-person adventuring team format after Kirby's groundbreaking quartet.
- Following three additional tryout issues (Showcase #21, 25, and 26), the character graduated to a self-titled ongoing series, Rip Hunter... Time Master, which ran 29 issues from 1961 to 1965.
- The issue has been reprinted in World's Finest #225, Showcase Presents: Showcase Vol. 1, and the black-and-white trade paperback Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter, Time Master Vol. 1 (2012), which also collects Showcase #21, 25, and 26 plus the first 15 issues of the solo series.
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Reprints
Reprinted in All Favourites, The 100-Page Comic #15 (1959), Tarzan #228 (1974), World's Finest Comics #225 (1974), The Essential Showcase 1956-1959 #[nn] (1993), Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter, Time Master #1 (2012), Showcase Presents: Showcase #1 (2012)
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