[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer/Artist: Jeff Parker
Other Artists: Evan “Doc” Shaner and Ron Randall
Inker: Hi-Fi
Summary
Timelines collide. Backstories are cleared up while others are muddied. A dog chases a cat. A monkey draws a picture and writes his own name. A super-villain is diabolical. A genius creates a giant robot for her son. A spacewoman remembers her name. A Neanderthal saves a modern day boy while being chased by a dinosaur and that dinosaur is shot in the head. All of these things happen and yet, not one of those things is actually a spoiler. Future Quest is just getting started (or has already happened depending on what timeline you are in).
The Positives
Jeff Parker is having a great time. He really hopes you are too. One must imagine that when Hanna-Barbera decided to update and reboot these comics, they came to Parker and said, “Hey Jeff, here are the characters we have left, what do you want?” To which he said, “How about I toss them all in and see what happens?” What has happened is a long story arc that Parker is slowly building straight out of old timey comic strip pages.
The various artists are what solidify the serial feel. The reader never gets too many pages by one artist. That way, the crazy stories feel fresh and the new characters make sense. Not many creative teams could pull of a story with over ten characters all of whom used to have standalone works. There is a reason that most super hero teams only have around six members working on any one case/adventure. There is simply not enough space for all of them. Parker and his team give each person enough room to grow while keeping him or her part of this new world that bends time and the universe.
Hi-Fi has done something amazing in this book. Not only do the colors pop off the page, the background is almost always colored in. There is very little white behind the action. It took a lot of work, but it works. The book feels so big and the reader is forced to take his or her time and look at every single color choice.
The Negatives
I am having a hard time finding anything wrong with this book besides the fact that a dinosaur is shot in the head and that somehow kills it. I know I know there is time and interdimensional travel, so why would I worry about something small like that? Well, there are rules here. The rules have been pretty well followed so far. Each slip in time, spacewoman, giant robot, or Birdman is explained. What kind of gun kills a dinosaur with one bullet?
The Verdict
If you need your comic books to brood and only brood, do not pick this up. If you need your comics to take themselves totally seriously, do not pick this up. If you are someone who wants those comics, but also appreciates things that are self-aware and silly, while telling compelling stories, this is your book. The new Hanna-Barbera line is really a lot of fun.
