Speaking of Saturday-morning cartoons

Future Quest 1-12
DC Comics
Creators: Jeff Parker, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Ron Randall, Steve Lieber, Ariel Olivetti, Veronica Gandini, Dave Lanphear, Marie Javins and Brittany Holzherr
Release date: 2016-17

People of a certain age hear the name Hanna-Barbera, and they are taken back to when they were children, sitting in front of the television on a Saturday morning, eagerly absorbing all these two creators had to offer. The same happens at the mention of Filmation Studios and Sid and Marty Krofft. But William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the most prolific.

I've met a lot of DC Comics' recent reboots of the old Hanna-Barbera properties as modern comic books with some trepidation. My only exposure to "The Flintstones" reboot was that property's pairing with Booster Gold for a recent forgettable annual one-shot. The Space Ghost-Green Lantern pairing in another one-shot annual was much better, while the Suicide Squad-Banana Splits team-up annual one-shot had some funny moments, but that was about it. And I haven't tried the Scooby Apocalypse ongoing title for fear it will permanently ruin my love of the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" show.

The stand-out exception to all of that is Future Quest, mixing and combining all of the Hanna-Barbera space, sci-fi and adventure characters into one massive story. That one I was also nervous about, but I simply had to try it. "The Herculoids" and "Jonny Quest" were some of my favorite shows as a kid. I also enjoyed "Space Ghost." I confess I didn't know much about the more cartoony "Impossibles" or "Frankenstein Jr.," although I was aware of those shows. And I had never seen an episode of "The Mighty Mightor" or "Birdman."

I was not disappointed by this 12-issue maxiseries.

The story wasn't perfect. My favorites, the Herculoids, weren't as central to the plot as I might have liked, and half the team was sidelined early on. But this is a massive amount of characters to service, so I can understand that decision. Dr. Zin, a frequent foe of the Quest team, seems to very quickly join forces with the heroes and act a little out of character while doing so, to my mind. And the story has a few slow points along the way, making me think it could have been a tad bit tighter.

But overall, this was a phenomenal story bringing a huge cast of diverse characters together with very little tweaking to make the plot work. Most of the characters with which I was already familiar seemed to be spot-on in this series. The ones I wasn't familiar with before, I now want to know more about.

Whoever had the initial idea for this series: kudos to you and this fantastic team of creators who brought it all to life! Whether or not you are a fan of these characters from television, give this series a try if you enjoy sci-fi adventure. You will not be disappointed.