Time Masters: Vanishing Point (2010-2011)

Writer and artist Dan Jurgens tells a story of his time travelling hero Booster Gold in Time Masters: Vanishing Point. Booster Gold recently hit the big time in an episode of Smallville on the WB Network. The episode picked up on many of the recent comic book developments with the character.Time Masters: Vanishing Point continues the story of Booster Gold and his partner Rip Hunter from the Booster Gold series produced by DC Comics. Booster and Rip are time cops making sure that time progresses as it always has. There are villains who wish to go back in time and alter events to suit them. Booster and Rip must prevent this.Jurgens uses some nice story telling techniques to go in depth on the characters of Booster Gold and Rip Hunter. The interactions the two heroes have throughout the story with Superman and Green Lantern help to tell who these characters are. Booster is defined by his aloofness. He must present the act of a media crazed, bumbling fool to continue as the greatest hero the world has never known. If his enemies knew what he was really up to they would stop at nothing to finish him off. This is not always easy for Booster to take and Jurgens conveys this throughout the story.Rip Hunter on the other hand is more of a mystery. Jurgens frames every story in this collection with a look at a young Rip as he grows and learns the dangers that come as a protector of the time stream. This method that Jurgens uses allows the reader to get more from the story not only of its central character but also of how the events of his youth are shaping his present.Jurgens does insert some items into the story that occurred in other stories not printed here and new readers may find that off putting, but not enough to detract from the overall story. Like most serialized fiction the story began somewhere else and continues in another book.The art that Jurgens provides with his inker Norm Rapamund is outstanding. A throwback to the more classic art of the 1990s, the pencil work is clean and each character is distinguishable from the next.The verdict: There is some great character development in this book. Jurgens makes the efforts of Booster Gold and Rip Hunter seem real and important in a fantastic way. The story has a beginning, a middle and an end but leaves enough plots dangling to entice the reader to come back for more. Fans of comics from all ages will enjoy this book

Dan Jurgens' mini series Time Masters essentially acts as a sister series to the main Booster Gold title of the Post-Infinite Crisis era. After having helped saved the multiverse during the events of 52, Booster was recruited by Time Master Rip Hunter to help protect the time stream in anonymity from villains like the Black Beetle who sought to rewrite history. While the rest of the world still thought of Booster as a joke and a glory hound, Rip knew the truth: that Booster (the man destined to be his father) would be the greatest hero the world had never known. During this mini series, mostly focused on Rip and his perspective, the Time Master, Booster, Superman, and Hal Jordan travel into the past in an attempt to locate Batman after the events of Final Crisis. Having been thrown out of time by Darkseid, Bruce Wayne is jumping from one location in the past to another. Sadly, this series actually doesn't have all that much to do with Batman as his adventures were taking place in the Grant Morrison Return of Bruce Wayne series (it infamously saw Batman as a caveman, pilgrim, and pirate). Instead, this book, despite its premise, is mostly a time traveling adventure featuring the four main characters that serves as a sequel to Booster's solo book and a spinoff that gives Rip more of a chance to shine while delving into his often convoluted backstory. If you've read the Booster Gold solo books this is a great additional read that further develops the relationship between the two characters, while also serving as a fun and wacky adventure all its own. However, if you haven't read the Booster series or are unaware of the Final Crisis story arc this book will make no sense to you so catch up on those titles first before checking out this one.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point collects issues #1-6 of Time Masters: Vanishing Point, originally published between 2010 and 2011. It's hard to tell exactly where this falls continuity-wise (for instance, is it before, after, or during  Justice League: Generation Lost, Vol. 1 ?), but it clearly comes after the events of  Final Crisis  and is meant to occur simultaneously with  Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne . Production quality is competent: thin, medium-gloss paper and a flexible if somewhat messily glued binding (my copy has a couple smears of glue at the top of the spine). There are no extras save a single variant cover for issue #1.Dan Jurgen's story, in which Rip Hunter and Booster Gold lead Superman and Hal Jordan through time on a quest to find Batman, is fun and imaginative stuff, though not as tightly plotted--and not quite *as* imaginative--as Geoff Johns and Jurgen's earlier work on Booster Gold (see  Booster Gold: Blue and Gold SC  and  Booster Gold: Day of Death ). In fact, the story would probably have worked better had it stuck solely to Rip and Booster, as Booster's own series did. Here, Jurgens seems to have written in more characters than he knows what to do with (what purpose do Klaw and Starfire serve?); by the end, even Superman and Hal Jordan seem unnecessary additions. Art-wise, however, Jurgens is at the top of his game here. His pencils are expressive and dynamic--and beautifully colored by Hi-Fi Designs.If you like Dan Jurgens or Booster Gold, you'll likely enjoy this book. If you're a Batman fan looking for tie-ins to Batman's return, however, you're probably better off skipping this one (the search for Batman is a quickly abandoned setup). That said, by its end Vanishing Point appears to be functioning as a prologue for DC's next mega-event, Flashpoint. If you're at all interested in that, you'll want to pick this book up.

Cette mini-série est écrite et dessinée par Dan JurgensLe récit à deux niveaux de lecture, d'une part Rip Hunter accompagné de Superman, Green Lantern et Booster Gold à la recherche dans le temps du darkknight : Batman.Ensuite l'autre histoire est consacré à l'attaque du Vanishing Point (lieu le plus reculé au niveau du temps et là où est installée le qg de Rip et Booster)par un mystérieux individu.On retrouve avec joie les ennemis classiques de Booster et Rip (black beetle, degaton...)Toute la partie consacré au Vanishiong Point aurait pu se retrouver dans la série Booster GoldPOur les fans de Booster, c'est un vrai complémentEnsuite dans la partie de recherche dans le temps de Batman, Dan Jurgens nous ramene des héros qu on avait pas vu depuis des années , et cela fait plaisir.Le tout est très sympa, c est assez simple à lire en anglais pour les novicesPour moi l'une des mini-séries de cette année

This story is fantastic. It also peaked my interest to watch Legends of Tomorrow.

:D