Future Quest Showcase #1
By Hervé St-Louis
August 20, 2017 - 17:48
DC Comics
Writer(s): Jeff Parker
Artist(s): Ariel Olivetti
Letterer(s): A Larger World Studio
Cover Artist(s): Ariel Olivetti; Steve Rude
$3.99, 22 pages
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The Space Ghost visits the Herculoids while a new villain called Metallus plans to steal the hero’s powers.
Many readers will be happy for this series which continues after the popular Future Quest maxi-series which started last year and ended a few months ago. The Hanna-Barbera super heroes have proven popular once more and the perfect characters for those who us who long for simple and more heroic adventures. Jeff Parker continues to infuse these characters with just enough maturity and complexity while keeping their charming core intact.
The story presented this issue gives readers a bit more information about who the Space Ghost was before and about the source of his powers. Parker does the same with the Herculoids and the story of how the last humanoids of the group fled their planet after artificial intelligence took over. For new readers this will be very useful while allowing them to jump on a new adventure with some of Hanna-Barbera’s cartoon super heroes.
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The last Future Quest series was a success mostly because it was drawn by Evan Shaner who easily evoked the simple and effective designs of Alex Toth but for comics. Ariel Olivetti was one of the artists who took over Shaner when he needed a fill-in artist. In the previous series, I was critical of Olivetti because his style conflicted with the what had been established by Shaner. Art direction matter more than the ability to fill-in a comic. Many editors forget this.
Olivetti works here because he starts the story and creates a interesting visual language for space that does not contradict anything established before. Because he is also drawing the Herculoids, his rendition of them is also very good and works well within the confine of the story. Granted I think that a painterly style with hints of 3D imagery takes away from characters best known as animated 2D cartoons but I’m sold so far.
Rating: 8.5/10
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