Future Quest #1: Gathered Together from the Cosmic Reaches...

[zapbiffpow]

Man, I hope DC doesn't waste this Hanna Barbera world-building kick they're on - this could end up being another Bombshells! Not to mention the literal universe's worth of adaptable ideas for a Wave 2: anything from Samurai Jack to Sealab 2021...

Or at least Ultimate Comics: Jabberjaw. While I type a 5-arc proposal for that, Future Quest draws its first three behind the cut:


SPACE GHOST:

Captain Kyr (sadly NOT Thad Ghostal) is the last Space Force corpsman, with power bands::Green Lantern rings. Apparently Future Quest's villain is one of their rogues: a Yog-Sothoth-ish villain called the Core.






The villain thing is weakest part of an issue full of strong parts. The exact nature of the series threat is unclear: is this Core the reason for our heroes gathering together (like the Centre from New Frontier), or is it merely here as a part of Space Ghost's origin?

Anyway, the Core (or something)'s increasing attempts to breach Earth turn out to have been monitored by a certain adventure-loving family...


TEAM QUEST:

Dr. Benton Quest is running comms for Jonny, Hadji, Race and Bandit, investigating one of these breaches, called Vortexes. Meanwhile he meets with two agents of Inter-Nation, an international defense initiative, to inform them of the Vortexes:







One of the two Inter-Nation agents secretly happens to be another hero...


BIRDMAN:

Agent Ray Randall and Agent Deva Sumadi are warned by Dr. Quest that Jonny Quest villain Dr. Zin has been attacking Team Quest away from Vortex research...and that he's working for FEAR, Inter-Nation's enemy organization.





As Jonny and Hadji discover a big-ass Vortex predicting the other heroes (Mightor, the Herculoids, etc), Dr. Zin's drones attack them:They escape, but Race and Bandit end up flanked by FEAR agents.

Dr. Quest hurries Agents Randall and Sumadi into his hovercar, but the two have another plan...





No no no it's "BIRDMAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!" Probably just a typo.

Issue 1 ends with Birdman, Sumadi and Dr. Quest flying off to rescue Race...while Jonny and Hadji find the recently-breached Kyr, now Space Ghost.

A lot of Avengers comparisons here (for all that implies), plus Scooby Apocalypse probably makes a more appetizing read thanks to its tighter cast focus. Still, with protagonists cooperating, establishing emotional stakes, exploring costumed characters' civilian identities and familial relations...there's a lot to like about Future Quest. Which, good news, everyone!

Comments

[laughing_tree]

Aside from nostalgia and the great character designs -- many of which came courtesy of comic legend Alex Toth, as I understand it -- what's the appeal of the Hanna-Barbera action cartoons? From what I remember of them, they were incredibly generic adventure stories.

[zapbiffpow]

No idea, to be honest. Some of the old guard here might remember the appeal, but not me - I came into this having watched zero percent of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and 95 percent of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

[icon_uk]

Generic doesn't mean bad, especially when dealing with a kids show which would be many kids introduction to the concept.

Jonny Quest was seen as a very mature approach to the action adventure cartoon genre, especially in the early 60's when it debuted.

Many of them have proven able to be rebooted multiple times; The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest for example, or the umpteen incarnations of Scooby Doo which have ranged from 'A Pup Named Scooby Doo' to 'Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated' or parody rebooted like Harvey Birdman

The designs, as you say, are classics, and the simple character core concepts and team dynamics can be translated and updated many times, whilst still being recognisable.

With the genuine nostalgia that these characters are held in, it would be foolish to NOT make use of such well known properties.

[locuatico]

they were generic... because they were the first. But that doesn't necessarily make it bad. Unlike some shows who may have called themselves "Action Shows" but had little action until the end, hannah-barbera lived up to it's nameby having constant action in said shows.
And because the plots were, sometimes, simplistic, it was simple to follow what was going one while you watched the heroes kick-ass. Which was the main reason you warched say birdman.

[erikred]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I'm going to mainline as much Venture Bros. as I can get my hands on.

[glprime]

That sudden ending for the last season left me cold like a junkie.

[bradygirl_12]

"To my side, Avenger!"

Ha, I thought Sam Wilson might show up. :)

[astrakhan42]

He needs to get his bird costume out of lockup first.

[coldfury]

Awww, I was hoping this would adopt Race's daughter into mainline continuity. I thought that was a clever addition the 90s reboot did.

[tigerkaya]

Me to, I first remembered her from the 90's direct video movie of Johnny Quest.

[silverzeo]

I remember when they logged into QuestWorld, it was EXACTLY like the C5 thing from Where On Earth is Carmen Sandiego

[terrykun]

Real Adventures was the shit.

[silverzeo]

Same can be said about the CGI quality for the QuestWorld, sadly...

[lieut_kettch]

Jessie Bannon was a great character. Plus I like how they subverted the obvious trope and had Jessie and Hadji fall in love.

Though something's always bothered me about Hadji: is it really that common for a Sikh (as evidenced by his turban, the long unshorn hair we see when he takes it off, and the fact that his last name is Singh) to have a Muslim first name?