Time Masters: Vanishing Point

Cover Description: There are two covers to this issue. Both the standard cover by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund and the 1:10 variant cover by Chris Spouse and Karl Story feature Rip Hunter in the foreground, Booster Gold, Green Lantern, and Superman flying in the middle ground, and the looming specter of Batman in the background.

Brief Synopsis: Rip Hunter and company go looking for Batman and find trouble instead.

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

Issue Notes: This mini-series loosely ties-into the "Search for Bruce Wayne" storyline.

Reprints: This mini-series has been collected in Time Masters: Vanishing Point.

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ISSUE ANNOTATIONS

Page 4, panel 5
Booster Gold stands atop a cliff with Green Lantern, Rip Hunter, Skeets, and Superman. When this quintet was last seen, they had been trapped in Vanishing Point by a time-displaced Bruce Wayne (as seen in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2). It appears that Rip Hunter has used his Time Platform to remotely send the squad to an unknown seaside location in the 15th century to avoid Vanishing Point's imminent destruction.

Page 5, panel 3
Scurvy is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. It is not infectious and can be easily cured by the consumption of citrus fruit like oranges and lemons. Smallpox is a disease resulting in small, painful blisters across the body. It is highly infectious. In fact, Smallpox was declared eradicated from Earth in 1979, so Booster Gold, born in the year 2442, may want to consider activating his impenetrable force field to be sure to avoid unleashing an epidemic of the disease on an unsuspecting public when he returns to the 21st century.

Image Copyright DC Comics

Page 5, panel 5
"Cojones," commonly pronounced either ko-'xones or ko-'ho-nes, is Spanish slang for... um, "guts." Though Booster has previously demonstrated a working knowledge of the Spanish language, this seems a rather unusual expression for Booster to use, especially in front of Superman.

Page 13, panel 6
Is Booster's question rhetorical? He must be really trying to irritate his long-time rival, Superman, who is standing right next to him. Even if Green Lantern's power ring loses its charge and Booster's durable flight ring gives out, the last thing that the party needs to worry about is scurvy. Flight, telescopic vision, and super-speed should combine for a pretty quick trip to the fruit market. That's a job for Superman! (He'd probably welcome the opportunity for the action; he's not doing anything else in this story.)

Page 18, panel 5
It sure is convenient that the Supernova mask completely hides the identity of its wearer. Especially since it is starting to become apparent that almost everyone in a Dan Jurgens book is related to Booster Gold. Maybe Michelle, a novice superhero who has already died once on the job, should think twice before accepting Despero's word for it that this Supernova is Daniel.

Page 19, panel 2
Transatlantic telephone conversations would not become possible until the second half of the 20th century, 500 years in advance of the pirates' "present."

For more annotations from this issue which occur at different points in Booster Gold's chronology, click here for Booster's future in the distant past or click here for the Booster's past at the end of time or click here for Supernova

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ISSUE REVIEW

Boosterrific Review: What is this series, exactly? The cover claims that the issue is about "the search for Batman," but readers will find that the book has more to do with Rip Hunter, Time Master. Certainly, there is a lot of exposition in this story, explaining many head-scratching elements of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, but readers will soon discover that Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern appear as little more than set dressing to Hunter's story. Is this misdirection involving several of DC's biggest names necessary to sell this sort of series? Will readers accept this ruse?

Readers who can get past this facade will find a disjointed and confusing issue that frequently alludes to events previously seen in the pages of the second volume of Booster Gold. This issue teases more than it reveals about the secret life of the mysterious Hunter. Clearly writer Dan Jurgens is banking that readers who were brought in by the misdirection will stay for an action-heavy character piece. Characterization and melodrama are Jurgens' strengths, boding well for the future of this series off to a rocky start.

Boosterrific Rating:

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

Gold Standard.

Average Fan Rating:

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

(4 votes)

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

BoosterPowershot (Oct. 21, 2010, 10:50:13)
Since I'm late reviewing this, I'll have to keep each issue review based on what I felt on this sole issue, including my belief on WHERE this series is going. To me, I looked at this series as my Jurgens Booster Gold fix while he's away from the real title. I love Jurgens artwork. I think this series was given Superman and Green Lantern (the biggest name in the DCU and the most popular name in the DCU) to entice sales, but I think this is actually an attempt to get more readers interesting in Booster Gold. The issue is alright, but it doesn't really expound on anything in Return of Bruce Wayne. However, breaking into Morrison's acid trip storyline would be difficult for anyone, especially when editors are enforcing restrictions on you.

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

Erin (Jul. 23, 2010, 10:55:01)
This was an average issue. Not much happened. It's not too certain where this book is headed but hey it's Rip and Booster so I'm not too upset with getting another title with them. Not all the questions are answered, if anything it raises more: Is this competent Supernova really Daniel? Why does time traveling master planner Degaton sound like he's a rookie and Desperos' minion? Hopefully some of these questions will be answered by the end of the series. Thus far the best parts are the ones where we get some insight on Rips' character. How he views Booster (with what I think is the best scene in the book) to why he decides to take Superman and Hal with them.

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

KMD (Jul. 23, 2010, 07:12:20)
There were a few nice moments (I did like the young Rip Hunter scene) but not enough of them to see this as a strange work that did not do much. I was surprised given how much DC pushed the idea that Tim Drake (Red Robin) was one of the few who knew Bruce Wayne was still alive that he had nothing to do with the story.

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

Superman (Jul. 23, 2010, 05:27:22)
The story here feels like it's meant for only 10 pages of a comic book, expanded to make 22 pages while leaving us with not much meaty stuff to sink our teeth in.

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