DC COMICS – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Jeff Parker – @JeffParker
ARTIST: Jeff Parker; Ron Randall; Evan “Doc” Shaner
COLORS: Hi-Fi
LETTERS: ALW Studios' Dave Lanphear
COVER: Evan “Doc”Shaner
VARIANT COVER: Paul Renaud
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2016)
Rated “T” for “Teen”
“How the Mighty Fall!”
Future Quest is a comic book series produced by DC Comics that re-imagines and re-interprets the classic sci-fi and superhero television series created by American animation studio, Hanna-Barbera. Future Quest brings together the stars of the TV programs “Jonny Quest,” “Space Ghost,” “The Herculoids,” “Birdman,” “Frankenstein Jr.,” “The Galaxy Trio,” “The Impossibles,” and “Mightor.”
Future Quest is written by Jeff Parker; colored by Jordie Bellaire; and lettered by Dave Lanphear. Evan “Doc” Shaner is the series' lead artist, with artists Ron Randall and Steve Rude as frequent contributors. So far, the main focus of Future Quest is the cast of “Jonny Quest” (referred to as “Team Quest”): Jonny Quest; his adopted brother, Hadji; his father, Dr. Benton Quest; family bodyguard, Race Bannon; and, of course, Jonny's dog, Bandit.
Future Quest #4 (“How the Mighty Fall!”) opens on the world of Mightor as the hero faces the universal and time-line threat, Omnikron. Meanwhile, Space Ghost sidekick, Jan, tries to remember her past, with some encouragement from Team Quest. Two extra stories, “The Structure of Fear” and “Frankenstein Jr. Making Friends,” peak in on the evil Dr. Zin and the terror organization, F.E.A.R., and tells the origin story of Frankenstein Jr., respectively.
I eagerly tore through Future Quest #4 – another whirlwind reading tour of an issue of Future Quest. I love this comic book because I love classic Hanna-Barbera sci-if/superhero series like “Space Ghost” and “Jonny Quest.” I also love this series because writer Jeff Parker is gifted in his ability to create pop comics that recall the imaginative, weird, and escapist fun of comic books and TV cartoons past. This issue, Parker even treats us to some of his comic book art with the story, “The Structure of Fear.” I did not know that he could draw comics.
I must say that I think that Future Quest will read better, for many readers, in trade paperback form. For various narrative and production reasons, Future Quest is told in chucks, interludes, chapters, flashbacks, back story, cutaways, etc. It often seems that Future Quest can never give the reader enough of one thing because it has to jump over to another thing.
Still, Future Quest is DC Comics' best comic book right now.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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