[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Steve Pugh
Inker: Chris Chuckry
Summary
It is Fred’s birthday. That means, a big big party, Bedrock style. Pebbles give Fred a copy of a T-Rex album. Betty gives him a Thigh Master and Barney…well, Barney gives Fred a giant stone statue of the two of them locked in a “brotherly” embrace. It is called “Friends Forever.”
The Great Gazoo has been called to Las Vega to discuss the future of the human race. The “neighborhood association” has been called upon to decide if humans are worth keeping and Earth is worth saving. Despite what you (and Gazoo) might think based on the name, the neighborhood association has nothing to do with tupperware and everything to do with killing people.
Oh, right, and hipsters have invaded Bedrock. They are officially everywhere.
Positives
As Mark Russell mentioned in his DCN interview, he was dying to bring in the Great Gazoo, and while he was never my favorite character on the cartoon, what Russell has done with him in this run, and in this issue, is touching. In the cartoon, Gazoo thought Fred and Barney were nincompoops, but he had to do their bidding as some sort of alien genie. In the comic, Gazoo thinks all of them are nincompoops, but he wants to save them because he thinks they have potential. It is early in humanity’s timeline and Gazoo thinks we are worth saving. Here is how it goes down:
Purple haired cat eared guy: “Look, Don’t get all judgy on me. Evolution already works hard weeding out the undesirables out of the galaxy. We just give it a push in the right direction. There’s a term for it actually–”
Gazoo cuts in: “Racism?”
They bicker for a while and Gazoo brings up the ethics of killing someone before he/she has done anything wrong. Old Purple guy says: “Ethics are just a choice between being an asshole and being a sucker.”
When you finish laughing, continue with the review.
Steve Pugh gets to have some fun with the hipsters. Honestly, they look like all the hipsters I know except they are wearing long dress-like moo-moo things. Spot on. The T-Rex on the cover of the T-Rex album is so funny. Also, when we are inside the Neighborhood Association’s ship, we see Earth from space. Pangaea is the only continent. Science jokes are normally not funny, but honestly, everything about this book is.
Negatives
This one felt like it had too much going on. I would have liked to see the hipsters in their own book, but considering there is only one issue left before the end, it was important to kick everyone in the teeth, even if it was only for half an issue.
Verdict
What happens to humanity? Are they saved? Pick up this book and find out. I may like to quote Mark Russell and ruin all the jokes, but I am not going to give away the punchline. There is only one book to go. Only one. I am so sad about that.
