Future Quest #1 (Family Comic Friday)

  Normally when I review a book for Family Comic Friday, I make as many attempts as possible to find an all-ages rated book. However, this week, I decided to review a comic that was based on something from the 70s that would have been all-agesback in the day, but in it's rebooted form is now considered rated for readers aged teen and up.

    Earlier this year, DC Comics announced that they were releasing 4 new comics based on classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 60s and 70s. The 4 titles were reboots of the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Wacky Races, and many more animated shows that adults from my generation just adored. Of the reboots, I chose the one that is considered by fans to be the least retooled (and closest to the original source material): Future Quest.

   The comic, being a reasonable facsimile to the original shows of which the characters that star in this series originated, has the crossover of all crossovers. When a series of temporal paradoxes explode over the Florida Everglades, Jonny Quest and his friends investigate. In these portals are characters such as Space Ghost, the Herculoids, Mightor, and many more of your favorite Hanna-Barbera action and sci-fi heroes from years past. But quick on Jonny's heels are the forces of his arch-enemy, Dr. Zin, and they have the tools  to collect the strange beings bleeding over into our universe and the resources to make them an army of unmatchable power!

    The brains behind Future Quest are X-Men: First Class' Jeff Parker, along with Adventures of Superman artist Evan 'Doc' Shaner, and living legend Steve Rude! They did a fantastic job bringing the heroes of my past into the present and made them exciting and new without changing the formula too much. Many reboots of cartoons from the 70s are done tongue-in-cheek or barely resemble the original with updated outfits or modern trends. Here, everybody looks classic but with just that little modern day touch of class and there's one very good reason for this- Darwyn Cooke.

    Just before Darwyn Cooke (Justice League: The New Frontier) passed from his horrible fight with cancer, he developed all of the designs of characters to be used in this book. As it is with all of his works, Cooke was very devoted to nostalgia but he wasn't afraid to change things up when warranted. Even though Darwyn didn't get to personally complete this project, his deft hand is evident in each and every panel.

     I loved this first issue. Was I 100% sure who everyone was or had a complete understanding what was going on? No! But, I liked what I saw and I and very much willing to continue with this series. Of the 4 reboot titles, this one spoke to me the most. There's no goofy Mad Max element or veiled allegory to the economic disparity of poor and the 1% as in Wacky Raceland or retooled The Flintstones. This felt like something that I would be proud to share to the next generation of readers and it's why I shared my review here with you now.

    Speaking of the next generation, this book is rated Teen. Under DC's personal guidelines, the book is recommended for ages 12 and up. But other than a couple of panels of mild violence, there's nothing really objectionable. Sex appeal is at a near zero. The language was extremely tame. The idea of inter-dimensional crossover between universes is perhaps the most grown-up thing in the book. I mean, we are talking about quantum physics here, folks.

    So if your child hands you a copy of Future Quest and asks you to A) buy it or B) read it with them- choose option C and do both! This was a fun trip down memory lane and I am sure that the guest stars that keep popping up over the course of this series will continue to thrill and delight. Who knows, for a Space Ghost Coast to Coast fan like me, I might luck out and get a chance to see my old buddies Borak and Brak!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Tales of the New Gods

An eclectic collection of stories featuring Jack Kirby's Fourth World. Some of the tales were originally explored by the King himself whereas others expound or even completely develop some the origins of the various background characters that inhabit New Genesis and Apokolips. Featuring the awesome writing and artistic talents of John Byrne, Mark Evanier, Frank Miller, Steve Rude, Art Adams, and dozens more, this is a volume you don't want to miss.

    The episodes in the volume were originally printed in Mister Miracle Special, Jack Kirby's Fourth World, and Orion. That in no way means that you shouldn't collect Fourth World or Orion because with the exception of the Mister Miracle Special, the other chapters reprinted here were backup features to those titles. If you was to omit them from your collection would mean that you would be missing out on two dynamic titles from the 90s as each story is only about 4-8 pages long (and the titles Tales of the New Gods were contained are about 4 times more in length.) So if you were to find Orion or Fourth World in a dollar box or cheaper, you would still be making a wise investment in completing your Fourth World collection.

    I knew about this when I bought this book at a used bookstore a while back. I was so desperate to read more adventures about the New Gods, that I gladly shelled out some hard earned cash knowing very well, I will probably sell this book once I collect the previously mention titles that contain these legends.

    If you are new to Kirby's Fourth World, I strongly encourage this book as a primer. Some of Kirby's work isn't easy to dig into, particularly New Gods. This work is the perfect way to learn of the backstory of such important characters like Darkseid, Highfather, and the Infinity Man; all of which Kirby plotted out their origins but never got around to diving into in his Fourth World titles in the 70s as the entire line was cancelled in less than 2 years due to poor sales.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Comico Christmas Special (#1)

(Disclaimer: I happen to know and interact on a daily basis with one of the editors of this comic. I didn't know this until after I read it. I mention this not to drop names but to allow readers the chance to skip this review if they feel I may in some way be biased.)

Comico: The Comic Company operated from 1982-1990 until it went bankrupt. Following this restructure, Comico still operated but its scope was narrowed to the occasional publication before completely folding in 1997. In its heyday, Comico produced a variety of titles including such licensed properties as Hanna Barbera's Jonny Quest, Max Headroom, and Robotech. They also published some cult classic original titles such as Mage and Evangeline.

 I love the Jonny Quest series. I read the first two issues and was so impressed I snatched up the rest of the series when I came across them at a comic book show in late 2013. This summer I found this holiday title online on a steep discount. Impressed already by the company's work with Jonny, I decided to give this title a shot.

   This 1988 comic is an anthology of Christmas stories ranging from sci-fi to humor to suspense. The first tale involves a man who goes into cryogenic freeze 11 months out of the year in order to only live during the holiday season of Thanksgiving through New Year's. But when a young boy captures his heart, will the man decide to live out the rest of the year or skip to the next Christmas.

   Then a young boy is left alone on Christmas Eve when a mall Santa breaks into his home. Can this Santa prove he's the real thing thanks to the miracle of cloning?

   Our third tale is like Fahrenheit 451 meets Christmas. In the distant future, Christmas has been outlawed for 11 months out of the year, thanks to the oversaturation of the over-commercialization of the holiday. Now a young rebel joins up with a group of Pro-Christmas militants.  in hopes of restoring the joy of the holiday. This strange romp has some crazy moments but was very thought provoking. The only thing missing was Charlie Brown.

  Tale #4 takes place in Buffalo, New York. There a young boy on Christmas vacation decides that snow isn't so great when he's constantly battling it with his trusty snow shovel.

  The final tale is also based on the cover image. Here, a group of alien explorers on marooned on a devastated earth. When the search parties chief researcher decides to write to Santa for a new engine, he awakens that Christmas magic that's been dormant for centuries.

The Comico Christmas Special is not only a fun collection of holiday tales. It's also a Who's Who of artists and writers that I've grown to become a fan of. In 1988, these guys were up-and-comers. Almost 20 years later, this all-star grouping is considered legends in the comics field. Bill Willingham, Steve Rude, Tim Sale, Dave Stevens,  Bob Pinaha, and my buddy Michael Eury are amongst some of the stars of this neat treasury.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Legends of the DC Universe #23

A great cover by the Rude Dude, Steve Rude.

Part two opens with Superman and Dabney being rescued by a tribe of werewolves. Together, They all now set out in search of the leader of the tribe of vampires in hopes of saving the earth and for the man of steel and captive to return home ( hopefully back normal size.)

   But it is discovered that the ruler of Transilvane, the micro planet threatening to destroy all of the earth's plastics is the dread lord of vampires.

    I still think this plot is ludicrous and fit for B-movie fodder. True, the late night horror pics on TV are what Dabney used to educate the citizens of Transilvane. Maybe that explains the stupid plot to bring the earth to it's knees. Or maybe the whole thing is a ruse in order to trap the creator of Transilvane and force him to make the vampire lord the strongest force on his planet? I'll leave that to you dear reader.

   However, I must say that the dialogue in this chapter is an improvement. The chemistry between Superman and Dabney is very similar to that of DeNiro and Grodin in the classic 80s hit, Midnight Run. Superman, in DeNiro's role of beleaguered bounty hunter, just seems to me, is looking for the first chance he can get to deck Dabney without violating his strict moral code. Dabney, on the other hand, is like Charles Grodin's con man character, eager to assist the Man of Tomorrow. But given the chance to run or defeat Superman, he's going to take it without any crisis of conscience. (This is making me want to see Midnight Run again really bad.)

  It's not the best issue starring Superman that I've ever read, but it's enough of an improvement for me to deem it Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Legends of the DC Universe #14

I've read this story before in another treasury of which I've forgotten. I can remember where I was when I read this yet I cannot remember which book this was in. But that's okay because my memory of how much I loved this story still lingers and it's why I read this one again. If I'm repeating myself from a previous post, please forgive.

The story is set during the Jack Kirby run of Jimmy Olsen. In this story, Olsen uncovers a plot to turn the human race into rampaging monsters. He is assisted by the Guardian and Dubblex to defeat the minions of Darkseid. Meanwhile, the Man of Steel is trying to prove Bruno Mannheim is somehow involved with Intergang. Obviously, the two parties are going to intersect and it's going to out ************** (ah, ah SPOILERS) as being one of Darkseid's underlings!

   The surprise of who really is a bad guy gets me both times I've read this story. I've read my share of Superman stories from his 80 year history in print and I just don't remember this person being bad. So either I've not read that far yet or Mark Evanier decided to do some rebooting. Not sure which.

  Anyways, as I wrap up, I want to applaud the art of Steve Rude. I've seen many an artist attempt to draw in the style of the King but only Rude has ever fooled me into believing that this was some long lost story of Kirby's. Fantastic!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars