What a week! It’s been miserable, except for the baseball and an overabundance of food and sweets. I decided to go to the Farmer’s Market this morning. Dad took back the iPad and gave me $40 cash. (I still feel terrible that he spent so much money on that iPad that I didn’t need and it wouldn’t have replaced my old one.) I invested the money in a jar of local honey and a bag of kettle corn. Unlike last time, I only had to wait in line for the popcorn for like 15 minutes, though it was hot.
There were some interesting comic strip collection books at Coas that I passed on. At Zia Comics, a large X-Men collection that I’d had my eye on had been sold. I also passed on a large Rob Liefield New Mutants collection that I’d seen before. I actually have a reproduction of the first appearance of Deadpool, which is in this volume (11-25-22). That’s probably enough of that material. I’m worried that I’ll start seriously considering those $125 hardback collections if I keep going back to Zia Comics.
Something interesting I saw was a Snagglepuss trade paperback. Yes, that Snagglepuss, the swishy Hanna-Barbera version of the Pink Panther. In this case, it was an “adult” reimagining of the character as a Southern writer, who does social commentary. Part of me was horrified, the other part was slightly intrigued. DC did a line of these reimaged cartoon character comics. I read their updated version of The Jetsons a while back (10-3-18). What I settled on was two new Space Ghost comics.
I went to the Little Toad Creek Brewery for lunch. I’d never been there before and wanted to try something new. Inside, it looked like a reproduction of the famous CBGB club, but much cleaner. I got a big turkey sandwich with cheese and bacon on a sourdough bun with fresh kettle chips. It was great, though the Cokes I drank with it were likely the most appreciated after being out in the heat. When I got home, I couldn’t stop drinking water.
Space Quest #3
Oh yeah, I’m here to do a review. Whatever I think of these comics, I’m keeping this one just for the cover. Joshua Middleton has done an all-time great cover. I’m putting this on display and wondering if I should get a picture frame for it.
I haven’t actually seen a Space Ghost cartoon in a long time (there are some up on Youtube), though I did recently buy an issue of Back Issue featuring the character (1-20-25). I am a Nexus fan (2-17-21), so I feel like I’ve been reading a bunch of comics that are like Space Ghost. (A sort of “mature” and “adult” Space Ghost as it were.) I’m also a Jonny Quest fan. That’s why bought this team up when DC did it years ago and called it, Future Quest.
The comic itself (“Finally!” says the reader) is action-packed and feels pretty true to the characters and stories. Basically, Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit change places with Jan, Jace, and Blip with their respective adult guardians. Jonny’s crew has been deputized by Space Ghost to fight monsters. The other kids are helping Dr. Quest to try and get a machine going to transfer everyone back to where they came from.
Unfortunately, this is just a slice of bigger story and it’s not a very large one. It’s mostly decompressed action scenes and a couple of expository interludes. And a whole bunch of in-house ads for other titles. It feels like the entire series story would have worked better as a full-sized non-decompressed annual. The artwork is pretty good, as are the characters and the story. It’s only the presentation that’s at fault.
Look, there’s no point in not waiting for the trade paperback version if you’re publishing these floppies with nothing extra in them. I’m sure the fans would rather pay more for a single double-issue, with no ads, with a nice, tight story.
Space Ghost Annual #1
It’s another dynamic cover. Whatever Dynamite is paying for these covers, it’s probably worth it in increased sales. I think this was recommended to me by Wes at Thinking Critical a couple of weeks ago. He’s also been promoting the Energon Universe comics by Image featuring GI Joe and Transformers.
While this is an annual, it is not a standalone story. I think it’s the finale to their first year of Space Ghost comics. While I was advocating for a double-sized issue above, this isn’t how I meant it to be done. Once again, there’s lots of house ads and it’s not even actually double-sized anyway. The storytelling isn’t decompressed, but it’s a bit padded with action scenes. The extra pages do allow for more story, though it’s not a complete story. I liked the artwork in Space Quest better, but it’s still good here. It depends on your tastes.
An entity known as The Collective is enacting a scheme to produce universal harmony via computer-controlled mind control link. (I think. It’s like I walked into a movie during the third act. A recap page would have been helpful.) Somehow, Blip being tortured is pivotal to this plan.
Space Ghost (looking pretty awesome here) and Jan and Jace are immune to the control thanks to their Inviso-Belts and are coming to rescue Blip and stop this takeover.
Is it a spoiler to say they succeed? Afterward, they have lunch at a diner. Yep, that’s SG out-of-costume.
Space Quest’s Jan and Jace seemed a bit younger than their cartoon counterparts. In this comic, they’re even younger. Perhaps these supposed to be stories from early in Space Ghost’s career?
I feel like I have to highlight the in-house ads in these comics. It felt like half of these issues were ads. (It was probably like a fourth.) Dynamite has the license for a whole gambit of Gen-X franchises. The editorial in the back of these issues are promotions for upcoming titles. They all assure the readers that the comics will more “adult” than you remember from the cartoons, though still faithful to the concept (sort of). I have read their version of the Herculoids already (4-23-25).
I’m not surprised to see Thundercats here.
I probably shouldn’t been surprised to see Cheetara as the breakout character. Furries are freaks, but for Cheetara we’ll make an exception. (Wasn’t she topless in the first episode at one point?)
Here you go: Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. It’s Batman and a dog version of Inspector Gadget. (Are they already doing an edgy, mature Inspector Gadget comic?)
Captain Planet with a beard doesn’t make this more mature.
Silverhawks? It was a sort of conceptually interesting cartoon, but of absolutely consequence. Maybe it could work with some extensive changes.
They don’t forget the classics, though, like The Wizard of Oz. Especially when it ties into Wicked.
What I am waiting for is a more “mature” version of Galaxy Goof-Ups. This was one crazy concept wrapped up in a psychedelic cartoon.
Finally, an iconic Alex Ross Space Ghost cover.
So, I wouldn’t say these two comics are great, but they’re okay. Maybe they’re better than the Rob Liefield New Mutants trade, maybe not, maybe about the same. (Honestly, there's no beating that Steve Rude Space Ghost comic from the 80's.) Too bad there wasn’t another Nexus trade paperback at the store.
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