Thanks to the Legends of Tomorrow TV show, I think I've seen more episodes with Rip Hunter, than read comics with the character. Going back through the blog...it's close. He's in this book, but only barely: from 1990, Time Masters #3, "Time Has Come Today" Written by Bob Wayne and Lewis Shiner, pencils by Art Thibert, inks by Jose Marzan Jr.
(I don't know what is going on with that gun there.) Rip is kind of a brooding, moody dick in what we see of him here; but he's fighting a conspiracy spanning centuries, and his equipment and team are only good for "one round trip only, for each of us." He's a little pissed young Corky wasted a trip back to dinosaur times. Based on an anachronistic Polaroid, Rip sends Jeff Smith back to 1874, where he may have to assassinate Porfiro Diaz before he becomes president of Mexico. (Spelled 'Porfiro' here, it should be Porfirio Diaz, a real historical figure!) Still, Jeff's in for a tough time, since not only is he not a killer, he's in that Polaroid with Diaz's bodyguards: Scalphunter, Bat Lash, and Jonah mothersmurfing Hex.
From our point of view, hiring those three is like getting the Justice League; but I didn't think Scalphunter worked for cash much, and who hires Bat Lash? Even more unusually, Hex is rather out of character here: when the Spanish ambassador pulls a gun on Diaz at dinner, Hex smokes him, but is oddly deferential to Diaz. I wouldn't think there was enough money in the world to make Hex polite, and based on the context here Diaz was probably at best a robber baron. Hex still saves Diaz from Jeff, who has to escape to the present with a bullet in his arm; as Rip's headquarters is booby-trapped with explosives, and he and his team are forced to flee with Cave Carson! Some history seems to be implied, but Rip looks like he's seriously considering being blown up rather than accept help from Carson.
This was an eight-issue series, and has been collected; I am not positive how I got just this one issue now...
As a long-tome Jonah Hex fan, I should probably go look for this. Porfirio Diaz also shows up in the Lt. Blueberry books. The man gets around!
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm calling bullshit on this being the real Jonah Hex. There's no way in hell he'd work for a sleeze like Diaz. Nope. Must be that imposter who tried to cash in on Hex's rep.
ReplyDeleteWhenever the subject of bad Jonah Hex stories comes up, I tend to point to this as one of the worst of the worst (his appearance in The Return of Bruce Wayne is another contender). I've even tried reading other issues of Time Masters just to see if it'd improve in context...but nope, it doesn't. This series was wall-to-wall awful.
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