DC’s Hanna-Barbera offerings redesigned

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Suffice to say, not everything from DC is annoying reboot of their universe for the umpteenth time *cough! Rebirth**cough! Crisis something* No, someone from the executive caste in the Time Warner empire probably told the DC people to make viable titles from the Saturday-morning archives they own. Good thing there were no “notes” on how to screw it up. Of the four titles DC took on, I got hooked on two.

First up is The Flintstones. Yeah, I know. The Sixties primetime show which got syndicated to death and led to numerous weaker Saturday-morning spinoffs. I think Boomerang is the only channel showing the originals anymore too. Anyway, at its core, The Flintstones wasn’t necessarily for children. The cartoon spoofed modern life in the Sixties via a fictional caveman world with a big nod to The Honeymooners; money problems, jealousy, sneaking out to see a fight without the wives knowing, etc; more like life in the Fifties in my opinion. It took poetic license with cartoon physics because it could. The Simpsons still do.

This comic returns to those roots yet the problems have been updated; they have cell phones, flat-screen TVs, hipsters vaping and the awful caveman equivalents of things in our world. For example, Tarpit for shopping, Outback Snakehouse for dining and Starbrrk’s for coffee. Each issue covers one or two plots so you don’t necessarily have to read them in order, much like TV sitcoms. It’s also a little darker than I thought it would be, namely how Fred and Barney are vets from the Paleolithic Wars. The famous duo are holding up well but they have buddies suffering badly from PTSD over how they killed the tree people in order for their civilization to get the land. There are lighter stories poking fun at modern art, consumerism, organized religion, what is civilization and malevolent little green people from the stars. The inaugural issue began with a modern-day museum displaying a Neanderthal who met an ugly end in Bedrock and they’ve never returned to this. I’m wondering if there are plans down the line like a finale or something when the 21st Century museum gets involved again.

Another reason I picked it up was the artist responsible for redesigning the characters. The great and prolific Amanda Conner. I loved what she did for The Silk Spectre, Super Zero and Harley Quinn. Since the people of Bedrock live in a world still powered by people and animals (dinosaurs too), most residents are fairly ripped. Not quite like body builders but you can tell they’re pretty strong. I can’t tell anything about their height.

This is worth a peek. The title makes good, light reading like I have via The Simpsons or Futurama.

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Future Quest is the title I couldn’t wait for DC to launch. It’s the ultimate team-up, crossover of Hanna-Barbera’s superhero-action characters (mostly) from the Sixties: Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Galaxy Trio, the Herculoids, Birdman, the Impossibles, Frankenstein Jr. and Mightor. There may be more as it goes but the ones I listed are the ones who’ve appeared thus far at issue four.

So how do all these characters come together especially when one is from the distant past and several reside in outer space? A monster. A monster named Omnikron which consumes and assimilates all life it comes in contact with. Like the Borg and Starro from the Justice League. This creature is losing in some places (Amzot home of the Herculoids) thus it’s trying to teleport over to modern-day earth where it might survive. Meanwhile, Dr. Benton Quest’s rival, Dr. Zin has predicted Omnikron’s arrival and plans to capture the alien with help from FEAR. Of course, Dr. Zin doesn’t realize he’s messing with something composed of pure evil.

I grew up with most of these characters and many had a comeback in the Seventies thanks to Star Wars. Others received a comical revival on CN before [adult swim] was established (Space Ghost, Birdman and Jonny Quest). Seeing all of them in action, working together in unison rocks. Lastly, the late Darwyn Cooke redesigned these characters and he did a fantastic job modernizing the primarily Alex Toth creations for the 21st Century. Oh yeah, they filled in some gaps as to who was Jonny Quest’s mother…Dr. Ellen Quest.

I highly recommend this title and promise a money-back guarantee to my friends on Future Quest.

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