Fierce readers, I know that Marvel and DC in their main lines have little to offer us but insults, hand wringing, and preachy message fiction. I stopped reading most superhero books because of that.
However, DC does have one book that so far has avoided such things. Maybe it's because it's a nostalgia book, maybe it has fewer editors, maybe the writer is a classier guy than most at the big 2 these days. This book is Hanna Barbera's Future Quest.
Yep, if you haven't looked, all the major Hanna Barbera heroes are there. The Quests, Birdman, Space Ghost, The Impossibles, The Herculoids, and more, sharing one adventure.
Yes, I know there's been some atrocious things done to Archie, the Flintstones, and Scooby-Doo lately. That hasn't happened here. The author has a plan, and he has to: the series is only going 12 issues, so if you go for the trades, it'll be 2 volumes. Unless there's demand for a deluxe edition or the like.
Anyway, back to my point. The characters all feel right. There's two very minor points that could be construed as appealing to minorities, but they're both well written, and feel like throwaway bits as far as I'm concerned. The Quests feel like a family, Race Bannon is most definitely an action hero badass for a non-powered guy.
There's real heroism in the first collection. Sacrifice, so that others can live and fight on against a truly existential threat to everything. The art is dead on, so don't worry about your favorite character getting completely redesigned. Unless Frankenstein Jr. or Mightor was your favorite character, and they had story driven changes.
Why am I taking so much time to point out this comic? Because my friend Jon Del Arroz has recently lamented a lack of fun comics from Marvel, things he can enjoy and share with his children. I honestly can't guarantee kids will get the characters unless you purposely get them watching the old cartoons, but this is good stuff, it's fun, it's clean, and honestly, it's noble.
I'm really hoping DC takes note of how good this is, and steps up with similar material. I don't want copies, but I do like some all ages fun on occasion in my comics.
When you play Social Justice, the world loses.
I'm female - but FQ has too much of a "feminist" slant for me. The new member in my all-time favourites the Impossibles is a deal-breaker for me - takes attention from the originals and affects their interaction, and I don't like Deva, (who I feel is over-exposed in the story anyway), and cartainly don't want her replacing the original Big D. I'd prefer to have seen much less of the 'Imps but closer to the original cartoon. Some of the artwork of them is really nice and does make them look like realistic versions of their cartoon selves, (HAD to buy FQ11 for the gorgeous Multi Man full page picture - just wish it featured his original costume)!!but, apart from the first introductory segment, they mostly seem out of character, although Mr. Parker has avoided the trap of making them too "dark", which is something that's now old and tired rather than "edgy". Have to say the story is exciting, (mostly read online), and the Lovecraftian Omnikron is a brilliant foe!
ReplyDelete