Future Quest #1: Review
If you ask my wife, I've had AT LEAST a second, third and, probably, a fourth childhood.
And I'm not here to deny this. I am very accepting of my inner child. And who can blame me? These days, everything I grew up with is getting new life. Marvel and DC have hit the big and little screen with a vengeance and I love it! I express unending to the Troll Nation online that they should be appreciative of the volume of comic related material out there to consume. But, when I do, I just come off sounding like some old codger telling the nerd kids to 'get off my lawn'!
So, imagine my reaction when I read that Hanna-Barbara was about to relaunch a great number of their old school favorites and attempt to ride the growing trend of building a collective universe out of them! WHAT!?! Forget #giddy...I was overwhelmed with euphoria!
But, as you can imagine, I was also a bit wary.
In all of my excitement, I also felt fear; fear of the unworthy reboot! That's right. What's worst than never seeing your childhood favorites but in reruns and dvd collections? Having them rebooted into some insane money grabbing event that makes you ashamed you ever loved them at all. Oh, yeah! We've seen it happen, time and time again. The euphoria fades to a numbing regret and we get to listen to the trolls on the internet tear apart what we love because it's nowhere close to what we love. That's was a real fear as I picked up this comic and peered through it's pages.
Picking the cover was painful enough. I mean, do I pick the Space Ghost cover? Or the Herculiods cover? OH! Maybe the cover with the montage of the whole group!! Why not all three? Right? We may not have this chance EVER again.
I'm not sure if it was a cautious optimism or hopeful skepticism I felt as I read through the pages. Whatever it was, I read it. And I wasn't disappointed. For a comic book with Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, Birdman and a cameo from the Herculoids, it wasn't cluttered or rushed. Jeff Parker has done an amazing job piecing them together and weaving a great story. He even worked (who else) Dr Zin as the main badguy. The introductions of the main characters was done well and it was like learning it all over again.
And, that's the point. It was like growing up all over again. Like discovering these great characters for the first time. I'm intrigued, even excited at the prospects of the new look and feel. The modern take on these classics does them justice and I just cannot wait to read more. Especially Space Ghost. He was my first superhero and seeing him back and learning more about him is just priceless. Maybe even a movie...let's not rush ourselves.
Evan Shaner's artwork does every character justice. And why not? He's been stretching his artistic legs at DC recently in titles such as Adventures of Superman, Convergence: Shazam and Justice League: Darkside War: Green Lantern.
If you're an old fan of Hanna Barbara adventure cartoons, please, do yourself a favor and pick FUTURE QUEST #1 up today. The second issue comes out at the end of the month.
If you have no idea who these characters are, do yourself a favor and check it out. Maybe it's time to experience a childhood as it might have been if you had grown up like me.
