The gathering of heroes continues … but where are they going?
Creative Staff:
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artwork: Evan Shaner, Ron Randall & Jeff Parker
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
What They Say:
When the adventurous and inquisitive Jonny Quest and his adoptive brother Hadji make a startling discovery in the swamplands of Florida, they are pulled into an epic struggle between the Space Rangers and a dangerous villain who threatens the galaxy.
Now it’s up to the combined forces of Team Quest, Inter-Nation Security, Space Ghost, and a host of Hanna-Barbera’s greatest action heroes to stop him and save their universe!
Content (please note that portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The presence of Omnikron was not destroyed for its still exists, the gaseous monstrous form not remaining in one place for long, phasing through all times and all dimensions, absorbing more to complete itself. But even as others are taken, it is still is not enough. But even amidst all the chaos, Dr. Quest and his family are still trying to find answers on how to track the vortices to save the world and also find clues about their otherworldly visitors. As they jet their way to the next clue in order to talk his old friends the Messicks, Benton still tries to unlock the female alien’s memories, but with no luck. That is until her monkey companion throws a tantrum and rips the clipboard from the startled scientist’s hands and starts scribbling. Through his crude drawings, he has also written two names above their representations – Jan and Blip. The girl squeals in delight as she hugs her simian pal in gratitude after they land at the specified location for the next piece in their hunt.
However the celebration is soon interrupted by the ferocious roar of some unknown beast as it breaks the calm, closely followed by what appears to be a caveman with a young boy riding on his back. The odd twosome cannot stop for right on their heels is the source of the commotion – a supposedly extinct allosaurus. The group panic and split up, not knowing what to do or how to avoid this thunder lizard, until Race coolly strides forward and puts the animal down with a skillfully place shot to he head. Now that they now have time to breathe, Dr. Quest recognizes the child as the son of his friends the Messicks, going by the name of Don. After questioning the boy, Benton understands that they too have been swallowed up by another one of those mysterious energy vacuums, but before he can help, they must first explore the petroglyphs they were investigating. But, one cannot but think that Dr. Zin has also sent someone else to follow them, but where are they?
In Summary:
I like how writer Jeff Parker starts every issue with a new victim for Omnikron, but at this rate, he is going to run out of heroes from the Hanna-Barbera 60’s cartoon lineup. However, even with this enormous cast, Parker is still able to keep the tale concentrated on the Quest family and the troubles from the vortices. This center is appropriate since the series began with Jonny exploring and everything always comes back to that initial problem of the energy vortex. Though with this being the fourth issue, I would have liked the main story to have progressed further than it has thus far; but, since is each book has only half or less dedicated to the main narrative and the other for a tangential story, it makes Jonny’s quest feel like an episodic show, where you need to return next month for further installments. While it does work in premise, sometimes the reader needs to go back to previous issues to remind them what happened in the previous story. Hopefully when the trade paperback does comes out, they will publish it normally as one piece and save the side stories as a dessert for finishing the meal.
Even with this gripe, what we did get for the main story does integrate marvelously into the previous issues and even more so this time. While we were introduced to familiar characters from Mightor, Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr., the best part of all was Parker’s name change for one of the cast from Dino Boy in the Lost Valley. Anyone familiar with the fundamental animated shows will remember that Dino Boy was originally named Todd with no last name, but Parker did a nice dedication by changing his name for this series. Back in the day, there once was a popular voice actor name Don Messick, who created a number of recognizable voices for various studios, including the original Scooby-Doo and Bronty from Dino Boy. With his passing almost ten years ago, Parker now created a new last name for this character: his name is now Todd Messick. What an amazing way to pay tribute to that prolific actor, forever immortalized within this modern interpretation of one of his shows.
Of course the artwork is always incredible in this series, but this time we are treated to three different techniques within the main story alone: Evan Shaner, Ron Randall and writer Jeff Parker also joins in the fun. While you can visually see when the artists pass the page along to another while they preserve the original animation style, it is Hi-Fi’s beautifully rich and yet vivid colors which unify the illustrations in as a whole. The ferocity of Shaner’s Mightor to start the tale refreshes the story since last we saw it, his primitive muscles against the raw energy of Omnikron helps to shape the issue with a show of raw power. When Randall takes over the transition of connecting the past to the present, he begins his section with another dedication from the past by using the cockpit shot from the original Jonny Quest opening sequence. These pages within the Dragonfly help to ground this middle section between action scenes by reminding us that the human factor does make a difference within the narrative. Then to close out this act, Parker does what he does best, aside from writing this brilliant series: action scenes! And of course, he gets the best part, the dinosaur chase; you can almost feel the breath of that allosaurus as it barrels down on the characters, each snap of its gruesome teeth makes us flinch and then that single shot from Race, giving us a sigh of relief. These pages merge wonderfully into one kinetic flow, not even noticeable as being three people unless you carefully pay attention. This is what grand storytelling should be, and in Future Quest that is what it has become.
Future Quest has become an even more expansive story than I thought from the first issue, but as the action intensifies and we are introduced of even more heroes from the Hanna-Barbera 60’s universe, you have to wonder how much more can we take? As quickly as they are introduced, they are sucked up by the Omnikron vortices, although you do see some fighting in the background. I just hope that we aren’t bombarded by them in a massive battle at the end of the series! But then again, that wouldn’t be a bad thing either!
Grade: A
Rating: T (Teen)
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: August 31st, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
