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Mild Mannered Reviews - DC Universe

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3

Scheduled to arrive in stores: September 29, 2010

Cover date: November 2010

"Passageway" - Part Three

Writer: Dan Jurgens
Art: Dan Jurgens
Finished Art: Norm Rapmund
Cover: Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

Reviewed by: James Lantz

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Young Rip Hunter is using a Legion Flight Ring to fly around Brainiac 5's laboratory in the 31st century. Brainiac 5 had assisted Rip's father Booster Gold in upgrading Skeets. Brainy says that Rip is always welcome to return to see his work. The adult Rip Hunter and Claw the Conqueror are in the tentacles of the wizard Serhatuu's creature. The beast is taking images from Rip's mind. Serhatuu intends to use them to dominate time and space. Rip's only hope is to somehow reunite with the rest of the Time Masters. Now, he knows where they are thanks to the evil magician. He'll just need to figure out a way to get to them.

Booster Gold and Starfire are battling the beast-men called the Mygorg and a blonde dragon-riding sorceress who has captured Green Lantern and Superman. Booster rescues Hal Jordan, who frees Superman afterwards. The combat comes more heated as rock creatures attack. The heroes make short work of them, but they are in for a surprise. As Skeets helps Claw and Rip escape in the other realm, the Dragon Witch has opened a portal in the sands to contact her master Serhatuu. With the aid of the wizard's tentacled beast, she has captured Superman, Green Lantern, Booster Gold and Starfire before making her escape to Serhatuu's world. Serhatuu may now be one step closer to ruling all time and space.

We now go to Time's End. Black Beetle, Degaton, Despero and the Ultra-Humanite search through the debris of the destroyed Vanishing Point as Supernova secretly watches them. The villains are looking for some rock big enough to hold a prison cell. Rip Hunter had placed the Linear Men in one because of their constant interference with the time stream. Black Beetle intends to break them out with the aid of Ultra-Humanite's great strength. His plan succeeds. Matthew Ryder and Liri Lee, the only remaining member of the Linear Men, are free. However, it is unclear if they will aid Black Beetle or betray him.

Story - 1: Wait a minute. Booster is Rip's father? When did this happen? I admit that I've read very little Booster Gold. I honestly wish the story had been more reader friendly. I feel like I've been stuck in the middle of the action without knowing how it started.

There seems to be very little character going on in this chapter and the entire series. I realize Jurgens is using characters from other books, but that's no excuse for the cookie cutter type of heroes and villains. Dan Jurgens has written some great stuff, and he'll most likely do so in the future. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of his weaker efforts.

This issue merits a two or three for the return of the Linear Men, but the remainder of the story becomes so convoluted and confusing that it feels like the vast majority of its pages are mere filler material. By the time the reader reaches the conclusion, they don't care about the outcome. Save your four bucks, and wait for the trade if you absolutely must read this.

Art - 4: It helped to tell the story. That's all I can really say about the art. Nothing stands out so much in a lot of Jurgens' panels. Still, it's great to see his visuals again.

Cover Art - 3: Not bad, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before. Plus, Despero is only in this issue's conclusion. The cover leads the buyer to believe that he takes a more active part in the story.