Review: Future Quest #6

by Tony Farina
1 comment

[Editor’s note: Thank you for your patience waiting for this review while we updated our website host. This review may contain spoilers.]

Writer: Jeff Parker
Artists: Doc Shaner, Ron Randall and Craig Rousseau
Inkers: Veronica Gandini and Jeremy Lawson

Summary
Once again, Parker and team give us two stories. Unlike past issues, the back story continues on from where it left off. In the first story, Team Quest must face the the facts that F.E.A.R. is everywhere, dinosaurs are on the loose and the boy they picked up in the Everglades has been transformed into a prehistoric superhero.

In the B-story, The Impossibles learn to work with Cobalt, who it turns out is not a music reporter stalking her favorite boy band-turned actors-turned super heroes. She is just another person who was affected by the F.E.A.R. machine that turned them into super heroes. There is a giant villain, who in a typical giant villain way tells his whole back story and fills in the plot holes. All in all, it is a lot of silly fun.

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Positives
SPACE GHOST! Yep. It is about time. I have been waiting for him. As far as this old school universe goes, he is Elvis to team Quest’s Beatles. Jan has been with Team Quest for a while due to her amnesia. She finally remembers who she is and she finally remembers how to contact the Ghost. Woo.

I keep hitting on this but the art in the front story by Doc Shaner is so good. I am not sure what he does, but he makes me feel like I am watching a cartoon straight from the 70s. Sure, that is not great for all readers, but this book, as well as most of the Hanna-Barbera books, is aimed at those Gen X-ers who fondly remember when they only had three channels.  Gandini’s inks bring that nostalgia home. It is really great. Bravo team.

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In the second story there is nothing but campy, on the nose, zaniness. In fact, the back stories in Future Quest have been the most reminiscent of the original shows.  I am not sure if it is because they are self-encapsulated stories that only have specific members of the new Future Quest family that they feel more satisfying or if it is just that they come to satisfying conclusions. Either way, this story is an A+.

Negatives
There is still a big mess in the main story and we understand that the second story will eventually crash into the first which might end up causing even a bigger mess. This book’s main issue is that there are so many moving parts and with only a few pages each month, it is hard to keep them all moving in the same direction with the same exuberance.  While there is a lot of fun and the artwork is great, there is such a lack of focus that there is a risk of losing readers.

Verdict
It seems that Parker is playing a long game. It seems like he really knows what he is doing. He has a great grasp of character and dialogue. Those things keep me interested for now. A glimpse of Space Ghost is a great sign of things to come.

3.5outof5

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