Future Quest #12 - A Review

The final battle with Omnikron has begun. Can the united heroes of three worlds and the most brilliant scientists on Earth hope to stop an intergalactic menace that has destroyed countless civilizations? Or will this battle spell the end of humanity?


Future Quest ends as it lived - awesomely. There is not much for me to say beyond that. Jeff Parker crafted a story lifted wholesale from the realm of imagination. Doc Shaner and Veronica Gandini gave that story a perfect visual representation.  Apart from some of the panels in this issue seeming a little cramped when it came to depicting the battle, I don't have a bad thing to say about this series. If you haven't been reading it already, check out the first TP.

Final Analysis: 9 out 10.

Future Quest #11 - A Review

As I've noted before, I'm reviewing Future Quest as a matter of form. At this point, you're either already enjoying this book as a glorious tribute to classic action animation or you're not. If the very concept of a team-up between Space Ghost, Birdman, The Impossibles and The Herculoids isn't enough to make you say "I should read this", my opinion won't count for much.


Still, it must be said that Jeff Parker has done a masterful job spinning a tale that brings these characters together in a shared universe, More, he's taken a concept that could have existed as a simple action-piece and worked actual pathos - such as Space Ghost's musing on the Terrans succeeding where more advanced civilizations failed - into the narrative. And the artwork by Doc Shaner and Veronica Gandini brings the concept to life perfectly.

Future Quest #7 - A Review

With the vortexes getting worse and the UN in emergency session, it falls to Inter-Nation to deal with the crisis. The kidnapping of Dr. Quest has slowed their efforts but they do have other scientists - like robotics expert Dr. Kim Conroy - to consult with. Little do they realize that Quest's kidnapping was a ruse and that Dr. Zin - having discovered the nature of the threat they are fighting - is ready to work with them.. but is it too late for that?


The art team for this series has done a fantastic job emulating the feeling of the 1960s comics that had as much a hand in inspiring Future Quest as the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the era. There's little consistency between the styles of Doc Shaner, Ron Randall and Steve Leiber but thankfully the story is broken up in such a way that the art emphasizes the different universes coming together for this crossover.


Jeff Parker continues to spin the mother-of-all crossover tales like a master weaver. As good as this series has been, however, I am truly looking forward to next month's issue and the arrival of a character I've been waiting to see in action since this series was announced.

Future Quest #6 - A Review

As FEAR and Dr. Zin attempt to abduct Dr. Quest and their friends fight a stampede of dinosaurs, the rock-band/secret superhero team known as The Impossibles and a new friend have their own fight with the forces of FEAR! And half a universe away, Space Ghost gives chase to the multi-dimensional monster known as Omnikron...


Jeff Parker continues to weave an amazing tale utilizing some of the most beloved (and most obscure!) Saturday Morning cartoon characters ever into one sprawling epic. Reading this book is like listening to a group of children mixing and matching all of their action-figures into one massive fight, but with a better sense of continuity. This is the kind of comic where dinosaurs with bombs strapped to them does not seem the least bit over-the-top or absurd... and thank heavens for that!


I wish I could be as universally enthusiastic about the art.  The first chapter with Team Quest and Birdman is excellent but the artwork for The Impossibles back-up story seems half-finished, with a good portion of the panels depicting the characters as outlines filled in with their dominant costume color. This may have been a stylistic choice, but - coupled with some uneven inking - it makes the whole affair seem rushed.

Future Quest #5 - A Review

As The Quest Team and friends move in on Dr. Messick's dig-site, they run into a FEAR excavation team. It seems one of the fossils may be an artifact of power - the club of the ancient hero Mightor! Meanwhile, FEAR is moving in on another group - a rock-band who the world believes only play at being impossible superheroes!


Craig Rousseau and Jeremy Lawson join Evan "Doc" Shaner  and Hi-Fi on the art duties this month. Shaner and Hi-Fi offer their usual quality work, with Shaner offering up some amazing splash-pages. The back-up story featuring The Impossibles isn't bad, but does feel a little rushed at times.


Enjoyable as this series has been, I found myself liking the back-up tale featuring the origin of The Impossibles a little more than the main story. I realize there's a sizable cast that needs to be introduced but the larger narrative almost seems like an afterthought in the wake of all the excellent origin stories Jeff Parker has been crafting or refining for these classic cartoon characters. This is a minor complaint, however, and it stems from my desire to have more of this book to enjoy. Can we get an 80-Page Giant in the near future?

Future Quest #4 - A Review

The reality-shattering vortexes are growing stronger, with Dr. Quest, his family and their new allies encountering a new one en route to meet with his colleague, Dr. Dale Messick. The latest vortex leads from a strange world where man and dinosaur lived together, endangering Dr. Messick's son, Todd! As our heroes investigate this latest curiosity, the sinister Dr. Zin makes a discovery that makes him reconsider his latest alliance.


It is a credit to Jeff Parker's talent as a writer and researcher that he has crafted such a rich shared universe using a wide variety of sources. It says a lot that he managed to conceive a reasonable explanation for the existence of Frankenstein Jr. - a giant robot superhero that looks like it was designed by a kid (because it was) and sneak in a tribute to voice actor Don Messick.

Doc Shaner, Ron Randall and Parker himself round-robin the art duties this month and it's as wonderful as the writing. From the introduction in which we see the final battle of cave-man hero Mightor to the oddly heart-warming story behind Frankenstein Jr's creation, this book is a great read. After four issues, Future Quest shows no signs of becoming stale. This is one of the best comics being published today!

Future Quest #2 - A Review

In the depths of deep space, an unlikely alliance of fantastic heroes do battle with the other-dimensional menace known as Omnikron... even as it begins to emerge upon Earth! The weird energies of the vortexes separate the group, leaving the Quest family with the mystery of an alien girl to deal with and the agents of FEAR with an alien space-craft and a strange hostage!


Personally, I would have like to have seen more of the battle in space and less of Johnny Quest in this issue. But I can't quibble. You still get to see Space Ghost fighting a monster that is basically Cthulhu alongside The Galaxy Trio and The Herculoids. And I shouldn't need to say anything else about this comic's story to get you interested n it.

The artwork for this issue is perfectly blended throughout. I had no idea that three separate artists had worked on this issue until I was looking at the credits for the tags for this review. Chalk that one up to the excellent coordination of the creative team and the wonderful colors of Jordie Bellaire.

Future Quest #1 - A Review

I was just young enough to catch the reruns of many of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons on the USA Channel back in the 1980s. My favorites, unsurprisingly, were the superheroes - Birdman and Space Ghost! Naturally, when I heard DC Comics was planning to do a massive Crisis On Infinite Earths style comic book crossover between all these series, I was curious if it would hold up.

Future Quest does more than hold up. What might have turned into a written transcript of a group of kids fighting a war between all their action figures instead starts as a sprawling epic worthy of the legacy of Alex Toth. It was Toth's designs and character backstories (most barely referenced in the original cartoons) that made up the brunt of Hanna--Barbera's classic adventure cartoons. And the designs for this comic (overseen by the recently departed Darwyn Cooke) are slightly streamlined but still recognizable from the original cartoons.


The script by Jeff Parker perfectly captures the high-action content of these cartoons After an opening prologue in which we see all but one Captain from a Space Force unit destroyed battling a cosmic being called Omnikron (possibly the origin of Space Ghost?), we cut to Earth where Dr. Benton Quest is investigating a series of strange vortexes. His arch-rival, Dr. Zin, is also investigating this phenomena and has apparently begun working for the terrorist group, F.E.A.R..

This discovery leads Dr. Quest to contact the top-secret security agency Inter-Nation and their sending top agent Ray Randall, a.k.a. Birdman to help with the investigation. The issue ends with Jonny and Hadji - in the wrong place at the wrong time, as usual - discovering that the vortexes lead to other worlds beyond Earth's solar system and one famous face threatening to kill them.


The artwork has a decidedly retro feel, with a blend of 1960s comic elements throughout. The Tothian influence is obvious in the designs but some of the character posing is reminiscent of Jack Kirby. And the scenes with Dr. Zinn inspire favorable comparison to the work of Jim Steranko.

Bottom Line: If you enjoy classic comics and adventure cartoons, you'll love this book!