by Win Scott Eckert
This is a chronology of the time-traveling adventurer Restin Dane, who called himself "The Rook," after the castle-like shape of his time machine. Dane's exploits were told in the pages of Warren Eerie and The Rook magazines in the 1970s and 1980s. In order that this timeline make the most sense to the reader, I am breaking with the traditional method of presenting all events in strict chronological order, and instead will present the events as they happened in order from the point of view of Restin Dane and his companions.
A few notes about consistency... Continuity is not necessarily a trademark of this series (and the same might be said of other Warren series), therefore I have noted inconsistencies when I have found them, and postulated explanations where necessary. Each time the Rook visits the future, there are discontinuities, such as the Earth being completely barren of all life in the 30th Century (Future Shock, Eerie # 88) and yet showing a 40th Century in which a very technologically advanced mankind is engaged in a massive battle for survival with their robot creations (The Trouble with Tin Men!/Robot Fighters, Eerie # 104-105). These, therefore, must be treated as futures which are only possibilities, and not set in stone from our 21st Century perspective.
Another mystery surrounds Restin Dane's romantic entanglements. In the initial stories (Eerie # 82-85), Restin appears to be involved with January Boone, while Bishop Dane is involved with Katie McCall (this involvement clearly ends later on, with Katie calling Bishop a "senile old coot" on several different occasions). In Quarb and the War Ball (Eerie # 98), Restin tells Katie he loves her as he departs on another mission. In a later issue, January calls him "lover" (Terror of the Spaceways, Eerie # 102). And yet, in Terror of the Spaceways, Part II, (Eerie # 103), Restin kisses another woman while in the future (admittedly, she is very distraught over losing her family, so perhaps Restin is just comforting her). Later on, it is established that Restin and Katie have a long-standing relationship. Oh well, it was the '70s, after all.
As with any series, The Rook stories vary in quality. In my opinion, the best Rook stories are those which deal with the history of Restin Dane and his companions, rather than the somewhat throwaway adventures that send the Rook to the future, outer space, the edge of the universe, and so on. The essential Rook stories are:
The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82
The Day Before Tomorrow, Eerie # 83
Yesterday, The Final Day, Eerie # 84
Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98
The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1-3
The Coming of Coral Dane!, The Rook # 7
The Coming of Billy Dane!, The Rook # 8
To Checkmate a King!, The Rook # 9
Finally, some may disagree with the direction that Harris Comics took when they revamped The Rook in the 1990s. However, this is an effort to document the complete adventures of The Rook, so I have noted those stories as well.
6 Million BCE Unnamed aliens perform an experiment in which they attempt to introduce intelligent life into Earth's eco-system. In what will be Africa, they bathe two hominids in a strange light and then depart. Shortly thereafter, the two hominids reproduce, and the resulting child, Quarb, almost resembles a modern day human being. As he grows up, it becomes clear that Quarb has a genius-level IQ, coming up with many advanced inventions, as well as teaching his companions to hunt and kill with a bow and arrow. As they hunt, Quarb's companions yell "Kreegah!" and "Bundolo!" a linguistic connection indicating that they are pre-Mangani. Quarb also becomes very prolific, fathering 372 children with his eighty wives. While the children are marginally more intelligent than others in the tribe, they are not nearly so evolutionarily advanced as he is, and he concludes that evolution will have to take its long, natural course. After about fifty years, Quarb realizes that he is not aging, and takes his leave of his tribe in search of further knowledge. The aliens return occasionally to check on the progress of their "experiment," but Quarb evades them each time, reasoning that their investigations might involve some invasive procedures upon his body and brain. Quarb is the ancestor of every human being on Earth, and would go on to spread his genes throughout humanity during his life of six million years, taking a special interest in the McDane/Dane family (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
1764 Birth of Deven McDane in Lochcarron, Scotland to Evan McQuarb and Elisa McDane (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
1792 Birth of Parrish Dane in Pawcatuck, Connecticut to Deven and Lorna Dane (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
January 11, 1822 Birth of Bishop Dane in Scarbro, West Virginia to Parrish and Zenobia Dane (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
1852 Bishop Dane makes his living as a gun-for-hire out West. On one of his periodic visits to his wife and child in Philadelphia, his lifestyle catches up to him and his wife is accidentally gunned down. Bishop places his son, Castle Dane, in a boy's home, and Castle grows up hating his father. They will not see each other again for twenty-two years (The Rook and the Protectors, Part I, The Rook # 10).
1874 Marriage of Castle and Kate Dane (The Rook and the Protectors, Part II, The Rook # 11).
1875 Conjecture: Birth of Louise Dane, daughter of Castle and Kate Dane. By 1892, Louise will be just old enough to have married and borne a son to Adam Bruce Clarke Wildman, as postulated in Dennis Hager's article "The Great Danes."
1892 Birth of Richard Dane, son of Adam Bruce Clarke Wildman and Louise Dane (The Original Master of Time!, Part III, The Rook # 3).
1892 The Time Traveler ("Adam Dane") makes his momentous journey into the future (The Time Machine by H.G. Wells; The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1-3; note: Readers who follow the annals of the Wold Newton Universe know that Philip José Farmer, in his Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, established that The Time Traveler was one Bruce Clarke Wildman. Dennis Hager resolves this conflict in his article, "The Great Danes," stating that The Time Traveler was Adam Bruce Clarke Wildman. Furthermore, The Rook comic series altered the truth a bit by stating that "Adam Dane" was grandson of Bishop Dane; in fact, the Dane line carried on through Bishop Dane's granddaughter, Louise Dane, who married Adam Bruce Clarke Wildman).
802,701 The Time Traveler becomes involved in the conflict between the Eloi and the Morlocks (The Time Machine by H.G. Wells; The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1-3).
1892 The Time Traveler returns home to England, relates his tale to H.G. Wells and company, and then sets off again for the future, never to return (The Time Machine by H.G. Wells; The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1-3). Shortly thereafter, Adam's wife Louise ("Weena") also disappears, leaving baby Richard to be raised by relatives (The Original Master of Time!, Part III, The Rook # 3).
Late 1960s Death of Restin Dane's father, Richard Dane, in Cambodia (The Original Master of Time!, Part III, The Rook # 3).
January 1977 Restin Dane ("The Rook") makes his first trip into the past, to the Alamo in 1836 (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82).
March 6, 1836 Restin attempts to rescue his ancestor Parrish Dane on the day of the fall of the Alamo. He fails, but does manage to rescue a young boy who has gotten hold of Jim Bowie's knife. Unknown to Restin, the young boy is Bishop Dane, the son of Parrish. In order to save the boy, Restin jumps him forward in time one day (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82). Unknown to both, the villainous Gat Hawkin, an Alamo deserter, hitches a ride (The Day Before Tomorrow, Eerie # 83).
March 7, 1836 After rescuing the boy (Bishop Dane), Restin attempts his second long trip in the Time Castle, with the goal of returning to his own time. However, he is forced to stop and make repairs to the Time Castle mid-journey. He arrives in the small town of Chancellorsville, Arizona, in the year 1874. Again, unbeknownst to Restin, Gat Hawkin hitches a ride (The Day Before Tomorrow, Eerie # 83).
1874 Restin discovers an abandoned mine shaft which leads to a hidden gallery containing scientific wonders left centuries ago by travelers from the stars. He also realizes that the gallery is directly below his 1977 headquarters. Meanwhile, Gat Hawkin shoots the town's sheriff and takes over as the new sheriff. Bishop Dane (now grown up from the boy last seen at the Alamo in 1836) is now a master gunfighter with a traveling carnival, whose billboards tout him as the owner of Jim Bowie's knife. Based on the knife, Hawkin identifies Bishop as the boy from 1836, and is the first to make the familial connection between Bishop and Restin. Hawkin forces saloon owner Kate McCall to seduce Bishop, in an effort to get to Restin's Time Castle. However, the plan backfires when Kate truly falls for Bishop and warns him. When Bishop escapes, Hawkin forces Kate and saloon girl January Boone to take a message to Restin, bargaining the Time Castle for Bishop's life (The Day Before Tomorrow, Eerie # 83). The Rook finally realizes that Bishop is really his great-great grandfather and rescues him from Gat Hawkin (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82; The Day Before Tomorrow, Eerie # 83).
February 2, 1977 Restin Dane returns to his present, drops off Bishop Dane to be nursed back to health by the robot gentleman Manners, and heads back to 1874 on his third trip into the past, in order to even the score with Gat Hawkin (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82).
1874 Hawkin tricks the Rook and apparently shoots him dead. However, the Rook survives, barely. Kate McCall and Jan Boone take him to the abandoned mine shaft, as the only place of hidden safety near the town, in the hopes that they can help him survive. Severely weakened, the Rook asks Kate and Jan to help retrieve the Time Castle. Jan attempts to do so, but Hawkin traps her, and in the struggle she ends up sending the unattended machine into 1977 (Yesterday, The Final Day, Eerie # 84).
February 16, 1977 Bishop Dane awakens in his future, after being deliriously ill for two weeks (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82).
February 17, 1977 Restin's Time Castle appears, empty. Bishop uses the Time Castle to travel back to the past and save Restin (The Man Whom Time Forgot!, Eerie # 82; Yesterday, The Final Day, Eerie # 84).
1874 Restin recovers enough to mount an attack on Sheriff Hawkin and his numerous gun slinging deputies. At the same time, the cavalry arrives from the future in the form of Bishop Dane and the robot Manners. The townspeople rise up to join them, and Hawkin and his deputies are defeated. Manners takes Restin, Bishop, Kate, and Jan to 1977 to recuperate from the ordeal (Yesterday, The Final Day, Eerie # 84). Gat Hawkin, however, survives his defeat and retrieves a remote-control device inadvertently left behind by the Rook. Apparently the device is linked to the Time Castle, and by using it Hawkin is able to jump himself closer to the Castle's "current" time-location in short chunks (Future Shock, Eerie # 88; note, the story states "1884," but 1874 is more likely).
March 1977 Restin, still not completely healed of his wounds, travels back to 1857 to further investigate the scientific marvels hidden in the mine shaft (Lost to the Land of Nowhen, Eerie # 85.)
1857 When the Rook makes to enter the hidden gallery, the gallery's Sentinel recognizes him from their first meeting in 1874. This could only happen if the Sentinel has consciousness outside of linear time. An accidental explosion in the gallery destroys it and knocks out Restin, and his "time fragment" runs out. Sensing that Restin has been gone "too long," Bishop and Manners arrive in the backup Time Castle just in time to see Restin and the first Time Castle dissolve into "nowhen." Bishop vows to carry on Restin's work, and buys the mine and surrounding land. He places a hero-for-hire ad in the Old West Gazette and then mounts a mailbox near the mine entrance (Lost to the Land of Nowhen, Eerie # 85).
March 1977 Kate and Jan, driving back home to Rook Castle (also known as Rook Manor), observe a rusty old mailbox near the mine entrance that wasn't there when they left. Inside, they find a letter marked with the symbol of the Rook (Lost to the Land of Nowhen, Eerie # 85). Bishop and Manners, now returned to 1977, begin training for their new roles as heroes-for-hire, when Rook Castle is attacked by an old enemy of Restin's, Granny Gadget. After defeating Granny, Bishop and company open the letter that Kate and Jan found. The letter is apparently from Restin, and states that he is a prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie, but that he'll be home by Christmas (Prisoner in a Chinese Fortune Cookie, or Bad, Bad Granny Gadget!, Eerie # 87).
1977 After escaping from Nowhen, the Rook tries to return to 1977, but is catapulted into one of mankind's possible futures (Future Shock, Eerie # 88).
Possible Alternate 30th Century The Rook discovers that the Earth is a barren, destroyed world (Future Shock, Eerie # 88).
1977 The Rook returns briefly to 1977, leaves a tape recording of what he has found in the possible alternate future, and journeys off to the future again. He leaves instructions for Manners that another time travel device, the Knight, should be sent after him with a set of supplies for rebuilding the future. Using the remote-control time device, Gat Hawkin arrives at Rook Castle and shoots Bishop. Hawkin then hijacks the Knight, which is pre-programmed to travel straight to Restin's current time-location (Future Shock, Eerie # 88).
Possible Alternate 30th Century One thousand years beyond his own time, The Rook meets an alien android named Starlock, sent by his masters to help Earth. When Starlock's ship crashed, he was repaired by Earth's last surviving human, Erinyes, whom Starlock now serves. The Rook explains that he has come to start helping rebuild Earth, but Erinyes is insane and disbelieves Restin. After attempting to kill Restin, Starlock turns on his master and kills him, saving Restin. Restin plants an apple tree as a symbolic beginning to revived life on Earth (Future Shock, Eerie # 88). Restin receives an alarm to return to 1977 to handle an emergency. Just before he leaves, Gat Hawkin arrives. Restin leaves him trapped in this time period, as the king of, and only man in, the world (Trouble in the Time Factory, Eerie # 89).
1977 Bishop, not severely wounded by Hawkin's gunshot, prepares to follow him to the future in the backup Time Castle. However, before he and Manners can depart, they are summoned instead to an emergency at the Time Factory. The Time Factory is a top-secret joint-venture between Restin Dane and the U.S. government, dedicated to further research and expansion of Dane's inventions, and located near Dane's Rook Castle in Arizona. One of the Time Factory's "Mandroids" has gone amuck, and Bishop and Manners try to help capture or destroy it. In the end, Restin arrives and is able to subdue the Mandroid (Trouble in the Time Factory, Eerie # 89).
Early 1978 The Rook builds a new device, the Whizzer. In it, he travels to the edge of the universe, discovers the existence of alternate universes, and then journeys to the beginning of time to witness the Big Bang, before returning safely home (What is the Color of Nothingness?, Eerie # 90).
Early 1978 After Restin and Bishop argue, Bishop takes one of the Time Castles and travels to the past. Restin, with a continuing foul disposition, then drives away Manners, Kate, and Jan. Once alone, it becomes clear that some alien entity took control of Restin on his journey to the edge of the universe. Kate eventually rescues Restin from the creature (The Incredible Sagas of Sludge the Unconquerable, Helga the Damned, and Marmadrake the Magnificent, Eerie # 91).
c. 9th Century Bishop encounters two groups of feuding Vikings. Eventually, Manners and the recovered Restin arrive in the second Time Castle to take Bishop home (The Incredible Sagas of Sludge the Unconquerable, Helga the Damned, and Marmadrake the Magnificent, Eerie # 91).
Spring 1978 An alien from the planet Thalmuroid, Organ Lo, has been observing all of the Rook's exploits from afar with great admiration. Finally, in an effort to emulate his hero, he uses a space-time transporter to take himself to the Old West of the 1800s. Restin checks his mailbox and discovers a letter which was placed there in 1879 by the residents of Red Gap, Arizona, responding to the hero-for-hire ad in the Old West Gazette. Apparently an incredibly strong, but small and troll-like monster has been plaguing the town, helping himself to all the town's riches, although no one has been hurt. Restin, Bishop, and Manners hop in the Time Castle to investigate (Strangers in the Strangest Places!, Eerie # 92).
1879 The Rook, Bishop and Manners confront Organ Lo, only to discover that he has been terrorizing the town at his landlady's behest, in payment for the "debt" he owes her for keeping him "safe" from the other townspeople. They also discover that it was Organ Lo himself who wrote the note summoning the Rook, as Earth's Old West in 1879 was not as much fun as he thought it would be, and he needed the Rook's help in getting home. The Rook uses a space-time transporter in his hidden mine shaft gallery (now called the "Rook Cave") to send Organ home, while the landlady heads for a jail cell (Strangers in the Strangest Places!, Part Two, Eerie # 93).
1978 When a neutron bomb test causes an ancient monster to hatch, the Army calls in the Rook to help deal with it. At the same time, Vampirella and Pantha are returning to Earth from Drakulon, in the company of a motley bunch of spacefarers, and they monitor the Rook's battle with the monster. One of the aliens recognizes the monster as the "Annihilator," an unstoppable beast placed on Earth eons ago by the alien Breez to prevent the colonization of Earth by their enemies, the Crotons. The Annihilator eggs are designed to hatch upon detecting a certain level of energy. Vampirella's alien companions send a message summoning the Rook to them, and they explain the situation. It is clear that this is the first meeting of the Rook and Vampirella. Restin, Manners, Vampirella, and Pantha travel back in time to prevent the Annihilator from ever being deposited in the first place (The Coming of the Annihilator, Eerie # 94; note: the storyline with Vampirella and Pantha returning to Earth is a continuation from Vampirella # 66).
c. 75 million BCE Upon their arrival, the Rook and company face a Tyrannosaurus Rex, indicating they have come to the late Cretaceous period, somewhere between 85 million and 65 million years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic Era. They land in the middle of a battle between the Breez and the Crotons. After defeating the Crotons, the Breez continue planting their Annihilator egg guardians, ignoring Vampirella's pleas to cease and desist. Before finally departing, however, one sympathetic Breez gives Vampirella and the Rook a key to shut down the Annihilators, of which there are a dozen in all. The Rook, Manners, Vampirella, and Pantha return to 1978 to shut down the Annihilator (Warriors from the Stars, Eerie # 95; note: The story indicates that they traveled to 20 million BC, an impossibility if they really encountered a Tyrannosaurus Rex).
1978 Conjecture: The key to the Annihilator does not work as planned. Therefore, the Rook and his companions decide to try their original plan again. They travel back in time again, this time arriving shortly after the departure of the Breez, but just before the final arming sequence for the Annihilator eggs can be implemented. They manage to disarm all twelve Annihilators and return to the present. In 1978, since the neutron bomb test never causes the Annihilator to hatch, the chain of events that leads to the meeting between the Rook and Vampirella never happens.
1978 A robot that appears to be Restin Dane’s robot, Manners, kidnaps Vampirella while she is in Hollywood with her magician friend Pendragon. When Pendragon alerts the authorities, they contact Restin based on Pendragon's description of the robot. It was not Manners, of course. The Rook, Manners, Bishop, and Pendragon set off to investigate the only designer capable of duplicating Manners, Granny Gearloose. While they battle some of Gearloose's robots, Vampirella manages to escape. It turns out that Gearloose had kidnapped Vampirella to provide companionship for her "stepson," a very human-like android. Of note, both Vampirella and the Rook say that this is their first meeting (Ghostly Granny Gearloose, Vampirella # 70).
1978 The Leakeys discover the six-million-year-old fossilized remains of a tree house in the Olduvai Gorge in Africa. The Rook sets out to investigate. Meanwhile Bishop takes the other Time Castle to learn more about the history of the Dane family (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
6 Million BCE Five centuries after Quarb left his tribe on his quest for further knowledge, Restin Dane arrives to investigate Quarb’s advanced tree house. The same unnamed aliens who spawned Quarb arrive and capture Dane, examine him, realize he is from six million years in the future, and abandon their experiment in evolution on Earth as unsuccessful. Restin then finds Quarb in his tree house, but Quarb "plays dumb," and Restin eventually leaves, reasoning that the aliens must constructed the tree house as a lure for creatures like himself or the "dumb ape man." As the Rook departs, Quarb lights his pipe and has a good chuckle (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
1764 Bishop Dane and Manners arrive in Scotland, searching for the reason why Bishop's grandfather Deven Dane was born illegitimately. He meets his great-grandmother Elisa McDane and her father Murdoch McDane. Bishop discovers that the father-to-be is one Evan McQuarb, who has many "sorcerous" powers, including the ability to seduce any woman he chooses. McQuarb also claims to have met Bishop and Manners many other times in the past. Bishop attempts to force McQuarb to marry Elisa, but both refuse and Bishop and manners Return home in defeat (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
1978 Sir Evan Quarb arrives at Rook Manor, desiring to meet Restin and Bishop Dane. Seeing they are absent, Quarb reveals to Kate McCall and January Boone that he knows of the Rook's top-secret journeys through history. He puts both women in a light trance and then goes to investigate his descendant Restin's laboratory, before finally being shown to the door by a security robot. Bishop and Restin then return from their respective journeys through time, comparing notes but not quite making the connection between the various Quarbs (Quarb and the War Ball, Eerie # 98).
Late 1978 Restin Dane is meeting with his accountant, Hickey J. Lubis VI, in preparation of his 1978 tax return. Bishop, disgusted with the notion of the government taking part of one's hard-earned income, storms off for another adventure in time, dragging the robot Manners with him (Hickey and the Pirates!, Eerie # 99).
1806 In Hong Kong Bishop and Manners become embroiled in the adventures of the first Hickey J. Lubus, an accountant who gave up his fortune to seek adventure in the Orient as a sort of pirate Robin Hood. After a while, Restin tracks down Bishop and Manners and brings them home (Hickey and the Pirates!, Eerie # 99).
Early 1979 The Rook decides to go in search of the fabled lost city of Ti Chi, the legendary retreat of ancient Oriental warriors, which is apparently located somewhere in the American Southwest in the previous century. He sets his Time Castle for the year 1875. Shortly after Restin's departure, he receives a call from the military to help deal with an apparently hostile alien craft which has crashed in the Florida Everglades. In Restin's absence, Bishop and Manners respond to the call, and Bishop discovers a lone alien in the company of a deaf/mute hermit. After a trigger-happy general orders an assault, the alien and the hermit are killed. Bishop then discovers a note of peace and friendship in the alien's hand; he was an interstellar diplomat sent to welcome Earth into the celestial community (Master of Ti Chi, Eerie # 100).
1875 Restin finds Ti Chi, but instead of a peaceful retreat, he discovers that it is ruled by a vicious despot, and that he apparently is a prophesied "savior." After defeating the city's dictator, Restin is rescued by Manners, who has come back to 1875 to find him (Master of Ti Chi, Eerie # 100).
1979 A 19th century mechanical man is unearthed in Austria, and the Rook goes to investigate. Shortly thereafter, a group of disenchanted Black Berets attack Washington, D.C. Manners and Bishop go to Washington to investigate the attack, which mirrors very closely the attacks seen in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and Orson Welles' radio broadcast of the same. Bishop and Manners eventually reveal the truth behind the "Martian" attackers (The Martians Are Coming, The Martians Are Coming!, Eerie # 101).
1894 The Rook arrives in Austria and discovers the inventor of the robots. However, one of the inventor's colleagues has stolen the plans for the robots and is now mass-producing them as an army of conquest. Restin and the inventor defeat the evil, mass-producing robot maker, Alois Schicklgruber... Adolph Hitler's father (The Martians Are Coming, The Martians Are Coming!, Eerie # 101).
1979 Angered by the government's cutting of funding for the space program, Restin travels to the future on a mission to bring back evidence that technology will be mankind's savior (Terror of the Spaceways, Eerie # 102-103).
Possible Alternate 2079 The Rook arrives, only to find that the Cold War of his time has grown hot, and is now a Solar System-wide conflict. After several misadventures, he safely returns to 1979 (Terror of the Spaceways, Eerie # 102-103).
1979 Restin pays a visit to his Time Factory, where he finds things is disarray due to a robotic revolt staged and organized by the malfunctioning Mandroid. Meanwhile Bishop and Manners decide to take a jaunt to the future (The Trouble with Tin Men!/Robot Fighters, Eerie # 104-105).
Possible Alternate 40th Century Bishop and Manners arrive to find a very technologically advanced mankind is engaged in a massive battle for survival with their robot creations, who seem to greatly resemble the Mandroid of 2,000 years ago (The Trouble with Tin Men!/Robot Fighters, Eerie # 104-105).
1979 Restin defeats the Mandroid and goes back to the drawing board, vowing to work out all the bugs before creating any more intelligent robots. Bishop and Manners arrive home from their visit to the future (The Trouble with Tin Men!/Robot Fighters, Eerie # 104-105).
1979 Restin reveals that when he was much younger, he and his father found his grandfather's journal, which expounded upon the principles of time travel. Restin credits this incident with his own interest in time travel. Apparently Restin's grandfather, Adam Dane, simply disappeared in the year 1892. January Boone suggests to Restin that perhaps the events of H.G. Wells' novel The Time Machine were not fiction after all, but a factual account of Restin's grandfather. According to The Time Machine, the Time Traveler had disappeared on a second trip to the future, so Restin sets out to check the future century by century, in a quest to find him. Restin sends Bishop on his first solo trip through time to 1892 England, to see what can be learned there (The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1).
1892 Bishop arrives at Adam Dane's house in England; he and a man who turns out to be H.G. Wells set off after a thief who is running from Adam's house. They follow the man through the sewers and eventually end up in a massive underground cavern housing an ultra-modern city. They find the man who was running from Adam Dane's house, who turns out to be Quarb (The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1). Quarb had gone to Adam's house with the plan of leaving detailed notes on the Time Machine for Restin to discover someday. However, Bishop thwarted Quarb, and yet Restin still built his own Time Castle, proving he didn't really need the notes after all. This leads Quarb to say of Restin that he "is one of the few of my progeny who has not been an abysmal disappointment to me." Quarb goes on to relate that he built the underground complex as a shelter against the holocaust which will come one day, but that those who will survive in the subterranean shelter are destined to become the evil Morlocks, as recounted in Wells' novel of Adam Dane's first trip into the future. Quarb temporarily imparts Bishop and Wells with vast knowledge and power, and sends them into the future to rectify this error (The Original Master of Time!, Part III, The Rook # 3).
Possible Alternate 802,702 Restin arrives in the future and meets the Eloi, who are joyful upon hearing his name is "Dane," a name they recognize. Restin enters the gates to the underground world and discovers his grandfather's destroyed Time Machine (The Original Master of Time!, The Rook # 1). Immediately thereafter, the Morlocks attack. The Rook tries to teach some of the Eloi to fight back, and after a battle Restin meets one Eloi who was taught to speak English by the prior Dane. She prepares to take Restin to Dane, but the Morlocks attack again. This time, Adam Dane comes to Restin's rescue (The Original Master of Time!, Part II, The Rook # 2). After introductions, Adam Dane reveals that he has been stranded in this future time for one year. Restin and Adam then discover that the Morlocks have destroyed Restin's Time Castle. They are trapped in the future. As they battle the Morlocks, Bishop Dane appears out of nowhere and saves them. They then use a leftover, ancient nuclear missile to destroy the remaining Morlocks. H.G. Wells appears, escorting Adam's wife Louise ("Weena"). Adam and Louise stay in the future to start rebuilding the world, while Bishop and Wells escort Restin home before their power fades (The Original Master of Time!, Part III, The Rook # 3).
1980 Bishop and Manners take another time trip, this time to Chicago in the 1920s (The Time to Be Forgotten!, The Rook # 1).
1920s Bishop and Manners become briefly involved in the Chicago gang wars, and then decide to go home (The Time to Be Forgotten!, The Rook # 1).
1980 A spy and saboteur is at work in Restin Dane's Time Factory complex. He is eventually revealed as a janitor, one Sergei Baginski, who was given a powerful bionic body by the Soviets. The last laugh, however, is Baginski's...on his former Soviet masters. In front of the Soviets, Baginski pretended to be a mindless idiot who would never even think of defection. He then committed his "sabotage" in a way that would get him quickly and easily caught by the Americans, which is just what he wanted in order to defect to the U.S. (The Fighting Armenian, The Rook # 2).
1980
Bishop suggests another time-trip as the cure for Restin's current malaise,
and Restin sets off after the "legendary" train robber Al Jennings in
the American West of 1909 (Master of the
World, Part I, The Rook # 4). Meanwhile,
Bishop and Manners discover a previously unknown annex to the hidden gallery of
alien scientific wonders under Rook Manor. In it lies a gigantic alien time
machine which somewhat resembles the King piece on a chess board (Master
of the World, Part III, The Rook # 6).
1909 After a series of separate adventures, The Rook (Restin Dane), Dr. Al Jennings, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), the Cisco Kid, “Poncho” Hernandez, and Sherlock Holmes all come together in Haiti to face off against Robur the Conqueror. Bishop and Manners arrive in their new time machine just in time to help out (Master of the World, The Rook # 4-6; Notes: “Poncho” is more normally spelled “Pancho.” Jules Verne, in our universe, died in 1905. Perhaps this story really features Verne’s son. The villain in this story is called “Robar,” but is clearly Robur, of Verne’s two novels Robur the Conqueror (aka Clipper of the Clouds) and Master of the World. This portion of the story supposedly takes place a few months after the Tunguska explosion in Siberia in the summer of 1908. However, it would have take Robur longer than that to gather his new army, build his new ship, and construct a partial robot body, so I have placed this story a year later, in 1909. Regarding Robur, he claims to be a refugee from an alien space war. It is more likely that this is the same Robur seen in Verne’s tales, experimenting with space flight, and that his ship crashed in Siberia.).
1980 Dexter Lucifer Blackjack, a megalomaniac genius who never graduated high school, can never get any federal grants for his scientific projects. He decides the best way to prove his value it to assault the headquarters of another great scientific genius, the Rook. He sets a giant amoeba to attack the Time Factory as a diversion to lure Restin away from Rook Manor. Meanwhile, Bishop and Manners have made a wager about whether or not humans coexisted with Tyrannosaurus Rex. They take off on a time journey to the late Cretaceous period in order to settle the bet. The Rook defeats the amoeba creature at the Time Factory and returns to Rook Manor to find that Jan and Kate have successfully defended it against Blackjack (Blackjack, Eerie # 116).
c. 75 million BCE Bishop and Manners encounter a T. Rex and various other dinosaurs before being picked up by a seven-foot-tall humanoid for disturbing the zoo animals. The are taken to the humanoid's advanced city, Lemuria, where they are tried and summarily found guilty, the punishment being eternal banishment from Lemuria. Bishop and Manners are put in their Time Castle and sent home to the 20th Century (Blackjack, Eerie # 116; Note: Readers who follow the history of the Wold Newton Universe know that Lemuria was also an ancient continent in which a barbarian warrior named Thongor had adventures c. 491,000 BCE. The Lemuria seen in Blackjack is clearly different, and I speculate that it was an outpost or resort for aliens not native to Earth.).
1980 Bishop Dane plans to use a Time Castle to jump back in time and meet a missed dental appointment. Instead, he ends up far in mankind's barbarian past (The Warrior and the Gunfighter!, Eerie # 120).
c. 24,000 BCE Bishop meets a barbarian warrior named Dax. Bishop uses his twin Navy Colts in battle on behalf of Dax's people, and is revered as a "sorcerer." Bishop continually insists that his powers are based in science. He then becomes involved in a battle that ends in the sinking of Atlantis. Back in Dax's homeland, Quarb reveals himself as the one who brought Bishop back to this time. Before Quarb send Bishop home, he reveals that it was all part of his plan to start mankind on the road of supplanting magic with science (The Warrior and the Gunfighter!, Eerie # 120).
1981 Restin, Katie, Bishop, Jan, and Manners are driving home from a movie when they have a blowout and nearly go over a cliff. The blowout was caused by a knife sticking out of the tire, with a note attached, reading "Father -- Mother is dying! Come quickly!" along with some space-time coordinates. As Restin and Bishop set off to investigate in a space/time ship, a devastated Katie reveals to Jan that she is incapable of having children (The Coming of Coral Dane!, The Rook # 7). Heartbroken, Katie decides to go back to 1874, her home time (The Coming of Billy Dane!, The Rook # 8).
Possible Alternate 2011 Coral Dane, having observed her father receive her note in 1981, has traveled in her thirty-year-old space/time ship back to her home on Jupiter's moon, Io, to inform her mother. However, Coral has vowed revenge against her father for stranding them on Io for so many years. Restin and Bishop arrive on Io, and locate Coral's mother, who is distraught to meet such a young version of Restin. She realizes the truth, that Coral could not find Restin on Earth in 2011 because he was dead, and therefore she had to search for him in the past. Since he was dead, he was unable to come rescue Coral and her mother from their exile on Io. Coral's mother then dies in Restin's arms, with Restin never learning her name. Coral arrives, raging at Restin for stranding her on Io since 1995, when she was three years old. She leaves, after which Restin and Bishop are attacked by a giant snake (The Coming of Coral Dane!, The Rook # 7). Coral finally comes to her senses, and sets her giant feline companion upon the snake, saving the severely injured Restin and Bishop. She flies them back to Earth in her older version of the space/time ship. In transit, Coral reveals what awaits them on Earth in the year 2011: a brutal, oppressive dictatorship. After landing, Restin and Coral take Bishop to a hospital, where a doctor recognizes Restin as a younger version of Senator Dane, who died ten years ago. The doctor describes the massive nuclear wars of the mid-199os, which resulted in General Alexander Martinson Tavyl's election as U.S. President, followed by a fascist, oppressive regime. The only man courageous enough to speak out against the regime was Senator Dane of Arizona. Finally, in 2001, there was a massive military showdown at Rook Manor, which could only end one way, with the deaths of Restin, Bishop, and their rag-tag group of rebels. However, one boy survived, an orphan who went on to take the name William Dane in honor of Restin. That boy has now grown up into a young doctor whom they meet at the hospital. Restin, Coral, and William leave to see if anything is salvageable from the remains of Rook Manor, in the hopes of taking up the fight again. When they arrive they find that Rook Castle is not quite as deserted as they thought it would be (The Coming of Billy Dane!, The Rook # 8). Tavyl captures Restin and Coral, but William ("Billy Rook") escapes. Billy goes to the Rook's last remaining Time Castle, which he kept hidden all these years. Just as he is preparing to leave, a somewhat healed Bishop joins him, and the two set off together. The Time Castle arrives at Tavyl's location, Bishop and Billy taking Tavyl and his troops by surprise. A battle ensues in which long-dormant rebel groups aid Billy, Bishop, Restin, and Coral, and Tavyl is killed. In the aftermath, a figure -- Quarb -- steps from the shadows and gives Restin the thumbs-up sign. Restin, Bishop, and Coral return to 1981 (To Checkmate a King!, The Rook # 9).
1981 Restin is grief-stricken upon learning of Katie's departure, and he and Bishop set off after her. Meanwhile, in New York City, a bizarre group of disparate aliens saves an old woman from a gang of youths, and start to become involved in one youth's life. They are also strangely interested in the Rook, and are remotely monitoring events at Rook Manor (The Rook and the Protectors, Part I, The Rook # 10).
1874 On a train headed back East, Katie meets a man who looks just like Restin. It is Bishop's son, Castle Dane, who turns out to be the notorious train-robber, Kid Castle. Castle takes Katie hostage during his latest train robbery, and then spirits her off to his hideout. Meanwhile, the Rook and Bishop arrive and begin the search for Katie (The Rook and the Protectors, Part I, The Rook # 10). Learning that Katie has taken the train East, the Rook sets off after her on a fast horse. Meanwhile, Bishop has learned that his son Castle is in the area, and vows to find him and atone for his past wrongs. At Castle's hideout, Katie learns that the reason he robs trains is to funnel the money back to orphanages, and she promptly falls in love with him. Bishop locates Castle's hideout, and after a few tense moments, they agree to make amends. Meanwhile, Restin has caught up to the train, but no Katie. He meets Bishop back at the Time Castle, and Bishop convinces him they should go home (The Rook and the Protectors, Part II, The Rook # 11).
1981 Bishop pulls out a family history, and shows it to Restin, Coral, and Jan. In it are family photos of Castle, his wife Katie, and their children; Katie had been sorely mistaken in her belief that she could not have children. Meanwhile, two of the bizarre aliens (the "Protectors") enter one of the gang members' subconscious in an apparently successful effort to dissuade him from further drug use. The Protectors also continue to show interest in the Rook (The Rook and the Protectors, Part II, The Rook # 11).
1981 Restin makes a solo journey into the prehistoric past. When he arrives, his Time Castle sinks into a primordial swamp and Restin is trapped. He almost touches a strange fungus, but is stopped at the last moment by voices that emanate from the air, calling themselves the "Protectors." If Restin had taken the fungus spores back the present, all life would have been destroyed. The Protectors speak to Coral in the present, and send her back in time to rescue her father (The Protectors, The Rook # 12).
1981 Restin and Bishop are in New York City, where they encounter a mysterious blue-skinned, horned dwarf wreaking havoc. At the library, Restin finds references and photos of a similar event almost 65 years ago. Restin calls Coral to New York, and she arrives via Time Castle. Restin and Bishop use the Time Castle to travel back to August 12, 1917 in order to investigate (The Goblin, Part I, The Rook # 12). Coral continues to pursue the Goblin in present-day Harlem (The Goblin, Part II, The Rook # 13).
August 12, 1917 Restin and Bishop arrive in time to observe the blue-skinned goblin-creature's battle with police. They follow the goblin and discover that he has reverted to his true form, an old man. He had used the spells in a mystical book to change into the Goblin, in order to protect his religious followers who had been accused by the Establishment of devil-worship. The old man pleads with Restin to destroy the book, whereupon he dies. The police burst in and accuse Restin and Bishop of being associated with the devil-worshippers (The Goblin, Part I, The Rook # 12). Restin and Bishop are thrown in jail. Bishop begins reading the mystical tome with an eye toward turning himself in the Goblin and escaping (The Goblin, Part II, The Rook # 13). The Goblin/Bishop attacks their jailer and they escape. Restin and Bishop hide the book in the old man's Brownstone and return the present. The book will eventually be found by the young man who is the 1980s Goblin (Goblin Night, The Rook # 14).
1981 Restin pays a quick visit to Los Angeles to check up on his friend Sergei Baginski. However, when Baginski goes into action as the costumed Fighting Armenian, he is not exactly accepted by an adoring public. Restin informs Baginski that costumed vigilantes are generally not well-received, and besides, in Capitalist America, the public is accustomed to paying their crime fighters, such as the police. Baginski decides to go into business for himself, and become a rich man, "like Bruce Wayne and Richard Nixon" (Fighting Armenian, The Rook # 13).
1981 Professor Duncan Conneally calls Restin to Connecticut to investigate a virus which has been crippling the descendants of a local family, as well as a deadly substance spewing from a nearby graveyard. According to the Cendrillon family accounts, the curse began in 1781 when he -- Restin Dane -- fathered the family line. Restin travels back in time to investigate. In the end, the time stream is altered so that none of the events happened, and Restin has no memory of them (The Dane Curse!, The Rook # 13-14, and Eerie # 132).
1981 The Asian arch-fiend Ten Ichi kidnaps Dr. Richard Harris (aka "Pie") and uses the powers of his alien Pie amulet to summon five powerful beings from the past and alternate futures, for the purpose of seeking out and destroying Vampirella. The five are Schreck, Child, Exterminator One, Dax, and Hunter. Vampi is aided by Pantha, Pendragon, and Adam and Conrad Van Helsing. After a raging battle, the five are finally convinced that they've been tricked by Ten Ichi, and they switch sides. Ten Ichi then calls forth more heroes from across space and time (Mac Tavish, Spook, Coffin, Hunter II, and Darklon). Under Ichi's spell, the fight begins anew. When Dr. Harris awakens, the long-dormant alien life-force in his amulet awakens also, and takes over his body. The resulting energy surge creates a time-vortex, into which Vampirella and Hunter are drawn. The alien disposes of Ten Ichi and then departs, with everyone except Pantha in pursuit. Pantha calls the Rook in Arizona, but only reaches the robot Manners. Pantha uses Restin's equipment to pinpoint Vampirella's space-time location, and she borrows a Time Castle. Meanwhile, the N.Y.P.D brings out the big guns against the Pie alien, although the alien has made no aggressive moves (Vampirella and the Time Force!, Eerie # 130).
Possible Alternate 2207 Vampirella and Hunter arrive in a post-apocalyptic future and are quickly captured, to be executed at a burning stake. Pantha arrives and quickly sets out to rescue them. However, a mutant finds Pantha's Time Castle and steals it, heading back to 1981 (Vampirella and the Time Force!, Eerie # 130).
1981 The mutant exits the Time Castle, and a short time later, Restin, Bishop and Manners find the empty time machine, but no Pantha. Bishop shoots the mutant, and they journey to the last destination of the Time Castle: 2207 (Vampirella and the Time Force!, Eerie # 130).
Possible Alternate 2207 Restin and Bishop arrive, saving the day. Vampirella, Pantha, Restin, and Bishop arrive back in 1981 New York, just in time to observe... (Vampirella and the Time Force!, Eerie # 130).
1981 ...The Pie alien absorbs enough power to transport itself, along with the consciousness of Dr. Richard Harris, back to its homeworld (Vampirella and the Time Force!, Eerie # 130).
1982 The Rook's computers and time monitors identify an event that occurred 200,000 years ago which will trigger the end of the world on January 12, 2011.
Possible Alternate January 12, 2011 Restin and Bishop arrive in a frozen wasteland off the coast of Mexico. Apparently the world is in the grips of the most hostile weather conditions since the Ice Age, and the Mexican island is a receiving station for a great solar power array. Unidentified tremors are rocking the island, and if the receiving facility shuts down, millions will die. A quake opens a great chasm, and Restin and the facility's scientists discover a 200,000 year old spaceship, complete with alien pilot in suspended animation. An automatic sequence revives the alien (The Fallen, Part I, Eerie # 134), who in an effort to save himself merges with a monstrous, shapeshifting alien lab-dog. Restin discovers that the shapeshifting could actually be transmitted like a virus, endangering the whole
world. Too late, the virus begins to spread beyond their control, and Restin heads for his Time Castle (The Fallen, Part II, Eerie # 136).
198,000 BCE The Rook arrives 200,000 years ago at the time of the spaceship crash, and convinces the already-dying alien to circumvent the sequence of events. The alien agrees, and Restin destroys the ship, consigning the sorrowful alien to the nether time-stream (The Fallen, Part II, Eerie # 136).
1994 Restin Dane (The Rook) now travels not only through time, but through the "reality stream" (i.e., alternate universes). Since The Rook's last documented appearance in the early 1980s, he has undergone significant changes: he is now cybernetically merged with a sentient "chaos-skin" or "chaos-armor" and travels the reality stream in a much different vehicle than his old rook-shaped Time Castle (The Rook # 0-4, Harris Comics).
1994 When The Rook arrives in a reality in which Vampirella has been killed and Chaos reigns supreme, he travels back to his home universe. There, he enlists Vampirella to travel back to the Chaos universe to defeat the ruling Chaos-child. While in the Chaos universe, they encounter and fight beside alternate universe versions of Adam Van Helsing, Pendragon, and Dracula. While the changes in The Rook are not fully explained, flashbacks do reveal that this is the same Restin Dane who appeared in The Rook from the late 1970s - early 1980s. (Chains of Chaos mini-series, Harris Comics.)
