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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 7, 2022 18:19:04 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #17Apparently the Transformers are attacking the Quest Compound. Oh, if only Transformers had had animation at the level of Jonny Quest! Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel-pencils & letters, Mark Wheatley-inks & colors, Kathryn Mayer-letters & colors, Diana Schutz-pencils & editing Just kidding, Didi just handled the editing, though probably with a blue pencil. Coming in December, from Comico....... Excuse me while I wipe up the drool..... Synopsis: Race helps the Quest team pack for a vacation as the guests of Benton's old "friend," Stuart Gold. Race is staying behind, still recovering; but, he is wary of Stewart. Dr Quest assure him nothing can go wrong.... I believe the captain of the Titanic said something to that effect. Even Kathy (remember, Dr Quest's recent girlfriend?) questions things and Benton reminisces about helping Stuart study for his exams, and pay his tuition, and find the dean's dog.... They arrive at the island and see trees and a volcano and a coral reef; but, no sign of a 4-star hotel, promenades, calypso bands, swimming pool or monorail system. Dr Quest thinks it might be hidden inside the trees, for atmosphere. They land and walk through jungle, where they find plent of atmosphere, but no hotel. Then, they run into a large robot that refers to them as "intruders..." However, the robot, D'Atagnon is called off by a bespectacled woman, named Monica St James, who Dr Quest recognizes as a leading expert on cybernetics. She is on the island, doing research. She leads the group back to their compound and introduce the Quests to Gregor Steward, Lena Como, and J Parke Cooper, all experts in the field of cybernetics, robotics and AI. Kathy is less than happy at the lack of resort comforts, but Benton is dazzled by the collection of minds and they are in awe of him. Dr Quest asks after Stuart Gold and is directed to an old man, doing some gardening. He is Andrew Silas, and Stuart owes him a bit of a debt.... It seems Stuart arranged for these people to come and build giant robots to repel an alien invasion. Of course; how silly of me. Dr Quest is brought up to speed on the lack of amenities and the lack of progress in the robots, , with D'Artagnan being the limit they are against. Dr Quest points out that as the size of the robots increases, their strength squares, but their weight cubes, meaning they would collapse upon themselves if they were that large. The others don't seem to be willing to rock the boat and expect Benton to find a solution. They leave him alone, as he contemplates, then a robotic camera comes hovering in and Stuart explains the situation to Benton, remotely, while also warning him he is in danger! Kathy and the boys go exploring, while Kathy notes that there are 2000 different species of poisonous and non-poisonous plants and there are sinkholes, which she quickly discovers. The boys pull her out, as she comments that she thinks there are leeches in the pool in which she is stuck. They get her out and run into a man, named Milo, who came to the island to escape civilization. At least, that was the plan, before Silas and his eggheads got there. Jonny spots a glimmer of light and realizes it is coming from a rifle and pushes Milo out of the path of a bullet! Back at the lab, Stuart tells Benton that a rival of Silas is looking to sabotage the project. Dr Quest says it is impossible, because it would collapse under the weight. Stuart mentions anti-gravity discs, like the one that floats the camera that he is using to speak to Dr Quest (which Benton invented) and Benton hits on the idea of implanting anti-grav discs at the joints and coating the exterior surfaces with silicon to generate the power needed. Silas interrupts and asks if they will be ready for production. Dr Quest says, "in theory" and then Silas asks what they will turn into. Dr Quest is flummoxed. He tries to explain that a 15 ton robot would "turn into" a 15 ton screwdriver...it isn't practical.... Jonny, Hadji and Kathy turn up, after Silas leaves and tell him about Milo and someone trying to kill him. The next day, the automated factory that the other have created is turning out modular components, based on their designs. Cooper once again acts like a jealous ass to Bento, who calls him out. He has a 10 ft chip on his shoulder and walks away. Benton shares his woes with Kathy, who says the boys are cataloging their seashell collections. Benton finds that odd, as they were never interested in seashells, before. It turns out, they have actually snuck off, looking for Milo. They come across a small set of buildings, set up like a town. As they explore, Hadji remarks that there is something strange about Milo, as he claimed to have been on the island for months, yet his feet were not calloused from walking around barefoot. The buildings turn out to be fakes, like a Hollywood set. Bandit runs off bark and the boys chase him, right to Milo, who is barbecuing sausages. Jonny calls Milo a spy, or an assassin, as he is threatening Bandit, to get the sausage back. He argues, then sees Hadji levitating and decides it isn't worth it anymore. Dr Quest consults Silas and shows him a model of a robot, that turns into a football stadium, which is the ebst transformation they can come up with. Silas says he had a town built (aha!) on the other side of the island and they will test it under combat conditions. Milo explains to the boys that he works for a declining toy company and he was sent to spy on Silas, to see if there was something he could swipe, but he has been shot at and it isn't worth a promotion. They then run into D'Artagnon. Dr Quest tells the boys they aren't in trouble, after D'Artagnon brings them in. he tells them to stay inside, where it is safe. He then talks via camera to Stuart, when two guys in ski masks come in and point guns at him, saying it is a "snatch gig." They think Benton is nuts, talking to a "flying toaster," then Stuart guides the camera around to bash them in the head... Dr Quest gathers everyone and introduces them to the hoods, who reveal that the mysterious "Ringleader," is actually Andrew Silas. he also owns the toy company that employs Milo and sent him out. The whole thing was to create a common enemy and a climate of fear, to make everyone work harder and cohesively. Meanwhile, Kathy and the boys find Milo and D'Artagnon; but, he has reprogrammed D'Artagnon, whose controls were much like their talking teddy bear and he sicks the menacing robot, who asks to be friends, on the boys and Kathy. They run from the friendly robot run amok. Milo steals the giant robot and steps on D'Artagnon, but he is still a danger. Dr Quest sprays him with green pain, but, he uses jets to blow it clear. However, the liguid causes rapid corrosion and the power systems start failing, causing the load to shunt to other systems, overwhelming them and the robot collapses, in a heap. Afterward, Cooper has done a 180 and praises Dr Quest, but Monica St James is miffed. Silas says he won't sue over the damage to his robot, since Stuart promised that Dr Quest will lead an Arctic expedition to claim the sceptre of an eskimo princess. Dr Quest collapses in hysterics, pleading with the remote camera. Thought: Always fun to be had, with Stuart Gordon. he's rather like Harry Mudd, on Star Trek; a bad penny who keeps turning up, creating chaos for everyone. It lends itself well to nice stories that mix humor and mystery and Loebs handles it all cleverly and with personality. Hempel and Wheatley service the story well and their robot D'Artagnon evokes the look of the Transformers. ironically, I made the cover joke before re-reading the story and found that they had set my joke up for me. That was nice of them, 30+ years ago! The Comico Blimp (the editorial page) announces their 5th Anniversary, which follows the 50th Anniversary of DC and the 25th of Marvel (as Marvel Comics, excluding the days as Timely and Atlas). It's quite a time for them, as I look over the books out at that time: Jonny Quest, Grendel, Night and the Enemy, Elementals, Justice Machine, Fish Police, Robotech, and the upcoming Space Ghost, from Steve Rude. Quite a nice diverse line, with something for everyone. Sadly, in 2 years they would be in a mess, with talent defections and cash flow woes and would enter bankruptcy, ceasing operations in 1990. Andrew Rev then bought up their assets and tried a restart. Matt Wagner's copyright on Mage and Grendel were held jointly with the original Comico and it was treated as a company asset, by the bankruptcy court (which supercedes contract provisions). Wagner spent his time trying to reclaim his properties. Batman/Grendel was complete, but held up in the legal fight. It was published in 1993. Mage II was the bigger victim, not appearing until the end of the 90s. Jonny Quest was wrapped up before all of that, but we still have a little ways to go, in the series; plus, 2 specials and a 3-issue Jezebel Jade mini-series (with Adam Kubert!) Episode Review: "The Quetong Missile Mystery" Synopsis: Somewhere in Asia, two men move via boat, in a remote and swampy area. They are observed by black-clad and masked sentries, who bear the emblem of reversed back to back Fs, on their chest... I don't think they are members of the Free French... They observe the two intruders shooting photographs as they move up the channel. From below, we see mines tethered to the riverbed and the sentries have a detonator ready. When the boat is directly in the minefield, they detonate the mine. They radio in to their boos, who is pleased. We cut to a concrete blockhouse, where a loudspeaker gives orders to finish loading a missile in its silo and then to remove all scaffolding. The missile retracts into the silo, which then sinks below the surface of the water. We cut to the Quest yacht, where Dr Quest is visited by Lt Singh, of the Quetong Police. He asks him to accompany him to speak to Commissioner Wah, his superior. The Quests are driven to the station by Lt Singh and meet Commissioner Wah, who tells them of mysterious deaths and poisoned fish around aa swampy lake area. They feel that something sinister is at hand, but all investigators have disappeared. The Quests are set up in a hotel and a sample of the poisoned fish is provided for study. Later, back at the blockhouse, a voice reports in to the boss, about the Quest's movements. The boss wears a military uniform, highly ranked, with the double F emblem. He is pleased and orders continued surveillance and to make sure Dr Quest does not interfere with their plans. At the hotel, the Quest's luggage is delivered by a bellboy, when Race spots a bag that he doesn't recognize. Benton and the boys confirm that it is not theirs and Race grabs it and hurls it out of the window, where it explodes. he threatens the bellboy for answers, but he says the luggage came from police headquarters. Dr Quest tells Race to back off, that it had to be planted before it came to the hotel. His analysis of the fish reveals a toxic chemical, used in missile fuels. He says the contamination must be deliberate and someone is trying to keep people out of the lake area. He and Race will investigate, while the boys remain at the hotel. Dr Quest and Race fly a helicopter over the area, with a tv camera to record what they see. They send the footage to Jonny and Hadji, at the hotel, via their telecommunicators. They have a tape camera set up to record the footage fromt he telecom screen. We see a hand open their door and Jonny and Hadji are grabbed by the masked men. A man in a suit grabs Bandit and silences him, as he is also carried out of the room. The man in the suit trips the tape camera's cord and it swivels around, recording their departure. Back on the helo, Dr Quest finishes his survey and heads back to base. he calls the boys, but no one answers. they rush back and barge into the room to find everyone gone. They notice the tape camera pointed at the door. They play back the footage and see the masked goons remove the boys then see the man in the suit clearly. It's Lt Singh! Dr Quest and Race set their helicopter down on the roof of a building, near the police station. They call Lt Singh and ask where the boys are. he denies knowledge and suggests they have gone out for food. Dr Quest tells him they have proof that he took them and to remain where he is. They watch as he leaves the station and gets in his car. they follow as he drives quickly and doubles back on his route. He spots them and tears down the road towards the lake. They try to block his path, since he has seen them and he loses control of the car and crashes. Dr Quest and Race find him, thrown clear of the car. Dr Quest treats him and radios Commissioner Wah. Singh passes out. When Wah arrives with an ambulance he asks if Singh is dead, but is told no. He says he will be shot as a traitor, if he survives. Dr Quest has an idea and he and Race depart. Dr Quest and Race move up the channel, into the lake, in a boat with an electric motor, for silence. Race mentions that Singh babbled about blockhouses and secret missile bases and something about the trees having eyes. dr Quest spots a sentry post and they know what he meant. He aims an air rifle and fires a tranquilizer dart at the sentry, hitting him and knocking him unconscious. They find another sentry post and put two more guards down. The move under a third post and Race sneaks up a rope ladder and chokes out the sentry.... The unconscious man falls off the tree platform and into the water, creating a splash. Another post radios over and race answers, faking the voice of the sentry. The other post rebukes him for noise discipline and signs off. They spot the next sentry post and Race takes out the sentries, with the rifle. dr Quest then spots the blockhouse and a guard on the roof. Race tries a long shot, but they are outside its range. Race says they will have to take him out, the hard way. Race crawls up the side of the blockhouse, in the rear and creeps up behind the sentry. he is about to deliver a karate chop, to the back of the neck, when the man collapses on his own. race hit him with the dart. He passes down the guard's mask to Dr Quest, who dons it and knocks at the entrance door. The interior sentry opens the door for him, then is shot with a dart. Another guard comes up out of a hatch and gets dropped back down and Dr Quest throws down a gas grenade, which will knock anyone in the area out. Race finds the air intake for their ventilation system and they toss more gas grenades in it and spread the gas around the compound. They move out in gas masks. Dr Quest and Race split up to search for the boys. race finds guards asleep in a guard room and Dr Quest finds an office, where the boys are unconscious. he goes to collect them when the boss steps out from behind the door, with a Luger. Dr Quest identifies him as General Fong, even though we have not heard that name (presumably, Lt Singh gave him the name). He orders Dr Quest to remove his mask or he will shoot him. Race jabs the barrel of his Enfield rifle into Gen Fong's back and tells him to remove his mask. he does and soon falls unconscious. They collect the boys and escape. The fresh air soon revives the boys. Dr Quest finds the missile controls and raises the silo. He launches the missile and then cuts out the motor, with a kill switch, just as it clears the hatch. It then falls back onto the silo and tumbles over, towards the blockhouse and explodes. Race and the boys are safe, on the opposite side. Dr Quest tells them they had better get movieng, as Gen Fong and his men will awaken soon. They depart in their boat, but the electric motor can't give them great speed. gen Fong awakes and sounds an alert, then follows in a speedboat. He radios to the recovering sentries to destroy the Quests with the mines. They just miss them and try again, but still don't fire in time. They radio ahead to the next post, but Dr Quest has just passed. Fong berates the sentry for failing and fires his Enfield, in anger, killing the sentry, who does an Alec Guinness... ...right onto the detonator of the mines, which blows up Fong and his boat. The Quests then meet up with the approaching Commissioner Wah and a boatload of police. Thoughts: This is my favorite episode of the series. It's got everything I loved as a kid: James Bond-style action, a good villain, a cool lair in the blockhouse, masked soldier in awesome-looking uniforms, high tech gear and weapons, a commando raid and a high speed pursuit through a minefield. It's James Bond crossed with the Guns of Navarone and a little Bridge on the River Kwai. You couldn't beat this kind of adventure, on a Saturday morning! Gen Fong is never named until Dr Quest faces him, which is an obvious mistake in the script (he is labeled as such on model sheets), though you can rationalize it as Lt Singh giving up his name. This also gets rather deadly, as we see the initial police investigators blown up, then a guard is choked out (rear naked choke) and can be presumed to have drowned or was dead before he hit the water. Fong shoots the other sentry, who falls on the detonator, blowing up Fong and his driver. That's a pretty good body count, for a cartoon. Quetong is often identified as China, though I suspect it is meant to be Malaysia or Singapore. For one thing, there are no Communist trappings and Quetong appears to be a democratic state. Hong Kong would have seemed like a likely source, except for the swampy lake. That is why I think Malaysia or something more like Singapore. Also, at the beginning, when the investigators are moving through the channel, you see crocodiles along the bank. That suggests Malaysia, since they have saltwater crocodiles. China does have a species of alligator; but, mainly in the Anhui province, which is landlocked, though there might be some in Jiangsu, which is a coastal region, with Nanjing as its city. The depiction does not look like a Communist country and Taiwan does not have crocodiles; so, that is why I think Malaysia. Malaysia, especially Singapore, has a large Chinese population, as well as Indians and other ethnic groups. There is a slight unfortunate element in a yellow coloring for the Asian characters. It is not the deep yellow of Flash Gordon or Marvel's Asians, up through the 70s; but, there is enough to stand out from the caucasian characters. At least there is one Asian actor voicing a character, with Keye Luke, better known as Number 1 Son, in the Charlie Chan films (with a white guy, for a Pop) and blind Master Po, in Kung Fu. Luke was a painter, who had painted murals for Grauman's Chinese Theater, in the 30s, before moving into acting. He also appeared in the film The Painted Veil, as well as the dr Kildare series, the falcon series of detective movies and several other films, including Gremlins. In animation, he voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera, including the voice of Charlie Chan, in The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. he would later join other H-B voice vets on Battle of the Planets, for Sandy Frank, voicing the villain, Zoltar. Sadly, he is only Commissioner Wah and a couple of Fong's men. The villain role went to Henry Corden, again. Sam Edwards, a voice acting vet and also actor in things like 12 O'Clock High and multiple tv roles, provides Lt Singh's voice, as well as some of Fong's soldiers. Corden uses his same vaguely foreign accent, which could be Asian or European. This episode also features the only work by Alex Toth, on Jonny Quest. Toth came over from Cambria, the studio that put out the tv shows Clutch Cargo, Captain Fathom and Space Angel. Toth worked on Space Angel, designing much of the technology and some of the guest characters. Cambria used the infamous "synchro-vox" technique, where the actors were filmed speaking their lines, and their mouths were super-imposed onto the faces of the characters, which did not move, while speaking. In fact, there was little actual character movement in those series, other than as stills moving across a background, in a side view. Toth was a layout artist for this episode and designed model sheets for the main characters, including Gen Fong and designed his insignia and the uniforms of his soldiers. He also did the model sheets for the Enfield rifles that Fong's men carry and Fong's P-08 Luger pistol, as well as the air rifle/tranquilizer gun. Toth would then do layouts and character designs for Frankenstein Jr and the Impossibles, The Herculoids, Birdman & teh Galaxy Trio, Shazzan and The Fantastic Four, before launching his tour de force of Space Ghost. Great episode and one of the ones that got a VHS release.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 7, 2022 18:26:55 GMT -5
ps The Jerry Lewis movie, The Geisha Boy, has a nice send up of Bridge on the River Kwai, complete with Sessue Hayakawa, who was the camp commandant, in Kwai...
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 24, 2022 14:50:55 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #18Time for some voice over narration and a lot of talk about "dames" and "flatfoots." Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer; Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley and Katheryn Mayer-art, Diana Schutz-editor They have given up delineating who is doing what on the art and just said all three. Everyone was overlapping, anyway, so why not? Synopsis: A dark room, lit spilling in from a doorway. A radio/tape player is sitting on a desk. A finger reaches out and presses play. A deep voice comes out, saying if you are hearing his voice, then he is probably dead. It ain't Bogey and it ain't James Garner. It's Race Bannon, and he relates how he set up shop in the boss' office, while everyone was away. He reminisces about being a private dick, some 6 years before. He had dreams of slinky dames coming in with mysterious cases and murder around every corner; but it was mostly shoplifting surveillance and process serving. His partner, Tracer Bullet, skipped out, leaving him with the last month's rent.... Racae's memories of the past are interrupted by the present, as a mysterious skirt comes into the office, wanting his help to save the world. She speaks of an ancient civilization that burrowed underground, after nearly destroying itself with corruption and war. They recorded their knowledge to share with the upper world, when they were ready. An ambassador was sent, with the recording, but was swindled by a Maxwell Beatty. The frail offers untold riches to recover the talisman with the recording, then pulls off her veil to reveal that she has a face like a halibut... ...literally! Race makes a few calls, trying to get a line on Beatty; but no dice. he decides to track down the dame for more info and heads to a seedy hotel, the perfect place to hide when you have a fish-face. The desk clerk coughs up the room number, after Race gives her a song and dance about the woman being an actress and he an agent. He goes up to her room and runs into hoods in ski masks. Race finds the remains of a burnt driver's license and calls a friend to run it down. it comes back with a name, that leads him to a suburban home, family named Collins. The dame is their daughter, Margaret, who has been missing for 6 months. She is deep into the occult and has disappeared before. Messing around with a man named Randy Mist, who was in some political group and brought a gun into the Collins house. Race produces a picture of him and it is confirmed. He continues the search. His police contact tells him that Margaret has a long record of shoplifting and vandalism. her mother got done once for a stolen car. Mist is a hard case, mob muscle. The police think Collins, the girl's stepfather, is laundering mob money. Race asks about the girl's biological father, Al Michaels, who is supposed to be a cop. Actually, he's a sportscaster..... A car, with diplomatic plates, tries to run Race down. Skip, the police contact, tells race there is no record of an Al Michaels with the police (try ABC Sports). He thinks he might be an agent. Race tries to run down that angle. He calls another old friend, at the Agency, and learns he was the station chief for San Cristobal, a Latin American nation that has gone berserk, with a coup. Michaels was found splattered across a road. Race thinks, the kid wanted a talisman, against evil. There is a message from Terry Collins, the step-father, wanting Race to cal. race hears the door handle and pulls his gun and finds Sonny Collins, with two bruisers and accusations that Race is hiding Maggie. The bruisers are there to help him cough up her locale. Race smiles and does what he does best..... Race kicks them out, eats and goes to bed. His slumber is interrupted by Terry Collins, who tells him he gave Maggie the $15 grand she has been using to pay Race, to get her away from them and their "clients." he tells Race there is a package in his basement, from his associates, which had dynamite and several sticks are missing; he thinks Maggie has them. Race calls back his Agency contact and tells him he lied and wants to know where San Cristobal president Heint is, and his bodyguard, Max Beatty. The man gives it up and Race goes to stop Maggie from using the dynamite. He goes to the location and gets past the guards (with fists) and finds President Heint and Maxwell Beatty, and the truth... Michaels had prepared a report on the practices of Heint's government, which, if became public, would prevent him from gaining asylum in the US, in the wake of the coup. He was supposed to be detained; but, Heint's thugs killed Michaels. Beatty squeezes a handball and Race realizes what the talisman of power is an snatches it. Maggie hid the film of the incriminating photos in it. Now Race has it. There is a commotion on the roof. Race and the rest find Maggie, deformed by experiments run by Heint's security people and experimental hallucinogenic drugs. She is deep in her fantasy and Race tries to talk her down... Race refuses to leave and notices that Maggie has the dynamite wired to the trigger of her pistol. He talks to Maggie, penetrating the fantasy. He gets her to drop the dynamite and pistol and says he knows a doctor who may be able to help her. They start to leave and Heint grabs the weapon, to stop them. He pulls the trigger and sets off the explosion. race awakens in a stairwell, but Maggie is gone and Heint is dead. He arrives in the office as Jonny and Hadji finish hearing the tape and tells him the rest. then a client turns up. It is Maggie and she knows who she is and hugs Race. Thoughts: This is a bit weird, with the whole physical deformity; but, it is Jonny Quest and weird things happen. It's a nice showcase for Race, though a lot of detecting happens off panel and we get a lot of info withheld. Not exactly Ellery Queen; but, still a good mystery. The subject of things matches events of the time frame, as the US government was deeply involved in repressive governments in Central and South America, as well as backing the former thugs of Nicaragua against the Marxist government that kicked them out. A lot of the underbelly of US Foreign Policy was coming to light and it would get even dirtier, after Iran-Contra blew up. Loebs uses that background to set up his mystery and suggest that the American public might be like Maggie, falling into fantasy, looking for unsullied heroes or eras, in the face of corruption and war. The 80s did feature a lot of nostalgia for the alleged "greatness" of the post-War era, with America in its ascendency, as a political and economic power. Of course, the truth is, we were just as involved in dirty affairs abroad and had a nasty underbelly, at home. There is no grand, glorious past; just the past. Every era has its good and bad, because humans are capable of both good and bad. Still, Maggie finds her way back to reality, thanks to Race. Episode Review: "The House of Seven Gargoyles." Synopsis: In Norway, in an old castle/manor house, we see a man drive through the gate. Above the gate is a row od hideous gargoyles. One of them opens his eyes and we see him get up and climb onto a drain pipe and slide down to a ledge. He skirts across it and leaps to another ledge and another drainpipe, halting outside an open window. Inside is Professor Erickson, who is writing in a journal, which he locks in a hidden safe, when the gargoyle attacks him from behind and starts choking him. The gargoyle is scared off by Gunar, the professor's aid. His notes are safe and he locks the safe as they prepare for their guests. The Quest team is coming up a fjord, to visit Prof Erickson and see his new discoveries. Jonny and Hadji watch seals swim in their wake, then Jonny spots a periscope. It disappears before anyone else can see it and everyone thinks he is imagining things. There is much talk of ghosts and cemetaries and legends about haunting at Rockcliff Castle, where the professor lives. Meanwhile, the gargoyle sneaks through the castle's private cemetary and knocks on the door of a groundskeeper's shack, calling out the name Ivar. he says it is Dietrich and the door opens. Ivar asks if he has the formula and Dietrich says no, but guests are due. Ivar angrily tells him that the professor will show them the discovery and it will be his chance. Kill anyone who gets in the way and get that formula. He throws them out, telling him not to fail him again. As the Quests cross the fjord, they see a glacier overhanging, which could cause a serious disaster, if it ever collapsed int he water. Jonny asks about subs navigating the water and his father says it would be too dangerous. We see that there is a sub attached to the periscope that Jonny spotted and that it is a mini-sub, with two men, who will rendezvous with Ivar, to get the formula. The Quests are met by Gunnar and taken to the castle. Jonny sees the gargoyles and shudders at their creepy appearance. A bird lands near Dietrich and he shoos it away and Jonny catches sight of it, but everyone else thinks his imagination is running away again. Gunnar does tell them about the attack on the professor and we hear more about the value of his discovery. The Quests meet the professor, who demonstrates his discovery He sends an electrical current through a bar, which olds a heavy ball in a bowl. The current causes the bar to levitate the ball, until it collides with the ceiling. The professor says it would keep going, if the ceiling were not there. He cuts the current and the ball drops. he says the bar is called "Erikon, " after himself and the anti-gravity possibilities, for flight and space travel, make it priceless. Meanwhile, we see Dietrich slide from his perch and watch through the open door to the professor's lab... Bandit smells something and goes out the door and runs into Dietrich, he runs, barking, back into the lab and leaps onto the ball, as Jonny energizes it and sends it flying. They get him back down and he runs outside to draw them to the gargoyle, but Dietrich is gone. Jonny mentions the disappearing periscope and Dr Quest asks the professor if a submarine could navigate the fjord. he says they would have to be desperate men to navigate it's channels and the danger of falling ice, from the glacier. Race offers to stay in the professor's room, as a decoy, in case of another attack. bandit is stationed outside the lab, as a guard dog. We see the sub taking station, below the glacier, as they await Ivar. they are uneasy about their spot. At night, Dietrich goes prowling. Bandit smells somethingand snoops. Dietirch slips into the professor's room and tries to grab the key to the safe, but gets a fistful of Race Bannon. They struggle, as Dietrich tries to throttle Race. The gy goes flying and Bandit picks it up and runs away. Dietrich gives chase, but Bandit keeps slipping away, until he drops the key and Dietrich gets it. race emerges and fires several shots from his spy pistol. The gargoyle hurls a troch and sets the carpet on the stairs ablze. The professor says they must hurry t the lab and to take the back staircase. Jonny and Hadji use blankets to beat out the fire. Dietrich goes to open the safe, but hears the others closing in. He grabs the Erikon bar and goes out the window. The others arrive to find the safe still locked, but the bar gone. Dietrich meets up with Ivar in the cemetery and gives him the bar, but they soon argue about the money owed Dietrich. Ivar threatens him and tells him to get back to his perch and observe the Quests. He toses Dietrich aside, who sends threats back at Ivar. Race examines the window ledge and fidns scratches, indicating someone had been outside. The only thing he sees are the gargoyles. Ivar is off in the distance, with a rifle. he decides to keep Dietrich's share and remove him as a threat. he shoots and Dietrich falls to the ground. The Quests discover he wears a mask and Prof Erickson identifies him as Dietrich Sorenson, a noted circus acrobat. Gunnar spots Ivar leaving in a car and Race and Dr Quest chase after, in the professor's helicopter. They spot Ivar in their launch, but Race says it didn't have much gas left, so he can't get far; but, they can't set down on the water, without pontoons. they spot the surfaced submarine, under the glacier overhang. One of the spies starts shooting, with a rifle, to ward away the helicopter. ivar pulls alongside and yells for them to stop firing, before they cause an avalanche, from the glacier. He is too late and ice comes crashing down on both craft, sinking them. There is no sign of them afterward. The Erikon bar is also lost. The Quests make their goodbyes and the professor gives them a gift, the gargoyle that was removed by Dietrich so he could replace it. They found it in Ivar's shack. Jonny is less than happy to have the spooky thing in the same car. Thoughts: This is one of the spookiest episodes in the series and it freaked me out, when I was a little kid, the first time I watched it. The gargoyle design is pretty unnerving and to see it get up and go sliding down drainpipes, crawling across ledges and then strangling people inside a spooky castle is the stuff of childhood nightmares (as if I needed help, in that department!). It's a nice mix of a haunted castle story and a spy story, as enemy agents/mercenaries seek to steal the anti-gravity secret for great wealth. Dietrich is a nasty piece of work, but he seems more a pathetic creature, next to the evil bully Ivar. Dietrich is a dwarf, as the professor notes, while Ivar looks taller and thicker than Race. Still, Dietrich is quite strong, in his own right. The episode is filled with atmosphere, as the bulk of the scenes are darkly lit, adding shadows to the spooky castle. When Dietrich sneaks through the cemetery, it is done in silhouette, as we hear crows and owls cry. Dietrich even trips over tree roots and falls, at one point, startling us, with the suddenness of the action. The animators really did a great job with this one, using shadows very effectively. Mike Road and Henry Corden do double duty, in this one, as Road not only voices Race, but also Dietrich (and one of the spies). Corden voices Gunnar, Ivar and the other spy. Triple duty! Vic Perrin, the voice of Dr Zin, does the professor. The title of the episode is a play on the novel The House of Seven Gables, from Nathaniel Hawthorne, which was an actual landmark, in Massachusetts. Here, it is more castle, than house, with some repeated used of the castle of the baron, from "Shadow of the Condor." This is one of my favorites. Back in the day, in the early 90s, I was able to get the Quest VHS tapes; but, it didn't include all of the episodes. At the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, I was able to find a bootleg dealer, with a tape of nearly all the episodes I was missing, including this one. I also picked up a copy of the Heavy Metal movie, which still hadn't had a commercial release, due to music rights issues, and a bootleg of the captain America movie, that remained unreleased. The HM movie was great, the Captain America one made me regret spending ten bucks on that POS. Not because of the quality of the tape, as much as the horrible movie. I also picked up a bootleg of Bettie Page, which mainly consisted of silent film loops, with Bettie dancing in her skivvies , to unheard music. It got old about 3 minutes in. Should have sprung for the tape of her rope tricks, instead; at least they had something going on! Or so I've heard..... *ahem* So, yeah, spooky episode!
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Post by codystarbuck on May 13, 2022 17:00:23 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #19Jonny and Hadji have had a growth spurt! Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Ernie Colon-art, Bob Pinaha-letters, Kathryn Mayer-colors, Diana Schutz-editor Interior house ad celebrates Comico's 5th Anniversary. They would celebrate their 7th by filing for bankruptcy, after making the questionable decision to distribute on newsstands, which was a failure, eating up cash. Synopsis: Dr Quest is sitting in his office, fielding yet another phone call for the Bannon Detective Agency. He passes the call to Race and then gets a bit testy about being described as Race's "eccentric assistant." He and Race have a bit of a lovers' tiff, as he chides Race for turning his home into a three ring circus and Race reminds him that he lives there, too. Dr Quest goes after the Big Guy, to say he is sorry, then finds a note from Jonny that he and Hadji have gone to the city to seek wisdom, from Dr Dharma. Hadji sings the praises of Dr Dharma as a great spiritual leader, in his country, saying that he is beyond such pettiness as to object to Jonny coming along, to learn, as well. They come to his address, just in time to see the holy man kicked out on his tuchus...... They help the yogi off his enlightened backside, offering to be his part time students and he basically tells them to go stick it into their chakras. The boys offer to work, full-time for him and he says something to the effect that, back in his day, he had to aclimb a mountain (Himalayan, of course) to seek a wise man and was told to throw himself off to prove his sincerity. he did and was killed, but the yogi put him back together again and let him be his student. And you young people think you can just walk in here and be my students! Now get off of my nirvana! Jonny pushes him out of the way of a speeding car, while he is ranting about the "good old days." Meanwhile, Dr Quest tries to smooth Race's ruffled feathers. he apologizes and says he gets territorial because this is the first place he built himself, not the government and not Judith's money. He calls Race his friend, never his employee and Race warms back up. Since Jonny has saved Dr Dharma's life, he must take them on as students. He tells them to start earning their keep by carrying his bags and then asks if they have read the holy Hindu texts and receives an affirmative, from Hadji. he says, "Well forget that stuff and listen only to me!" Dr Dharma begins an exercise in thought reading and Jonny is skeptical; but, Hadji picks up the angry thoughts of a man, who was exposed as an embezzler and notices that Hadji is speaking what he is thinking and is going to go over and punch Hadji and Dr Dharma. he then realizes that Dr Dharma can teach him the secrets and he can be a big man again. Dr D literally makes the man, Mopes, and Jonny big men, towering over the city. Mopes lifts up a building to find his old partner and Jonny tries to stop him, before he hurts innocents and gets shoved over, falling over towards the city. However, Jonny lands at normal size and Mopes returns to his size. Dr D tells them it is all about belief in themselves. If Mopes releases his anger, he will find wealth and position. Mopes says anger at his partner is what keeps him going and Dr D says he means the anger Mopes has for himself. They then get hot dogs and Dr D angers the vendor by reading his thoughts and assuring him that his potential firing andhis wife leaving are good things and the vendor spikes his hot dog with spicy mustard. As they leave, Dr D illustrates a lesson in karma, as the vendor is the one who tastes the spice overload, not Dr D. Dr D gives them another elsson in eprspective, as they shrink down and discover the world at their feet. However, they are smaller than insects and come into trouble, but Hadji leads them in clearing their minds and wishing themselves away. It works a little too well, as they travel in time and reappear as dinosaurs, just as a meteor streaks toward the Earth.... Jonny is reminded of what Dr Quest said, about the end of the dinosaurs and it is brown trouser time. They return to the present, safe and sound and at regular size. Dr D says barriers are within the mind. Mopes berates the doc as a bum, like him and Dr D says he chooses to be unhappy. Mopes rattles on and Dr D tricks him into confronting his partner. He calls the firm and finds out that he has been arrested and is doing 8 to 10, in prison. When the man at the company hears that it is Ben Mopes, he tells him to come back, that they need him. They all want to celebrate, but Mopes' friends are still out in the cold and want Dr D to help them. Jonny and Hadji suggest a place where they can be warm and fed and learn.... Thoughts: Really fun issue and Ernie Colon's light artwork really works in its favor. The comedic elements really help sell the philosophy at the ehart of the story, that happiness or unhappiness are a choice and that if you let go of the petty worries or wounds, that you open yourself up to the world and see the opportunities before you, more clearly. Ultimately, the strongest thing that aids in your success is belief in yourself and the willingness to try. Meanwhile, there is some nice character stuff as Race and Dr Quest bond, while Benton apologizes for making Race feel less than a member of the family and shares his insecurities with hi friend. They work on a vehicle, while they talk and share a moment of humor and understanding. Elsewhere, there is a house ad for another Hanna-Barbera property, which will be captured in the coolest single comic around...... Seriously, if you have never read the Space Ghost one-shot, from Mark Evanier and Steve Rude, you need to rectify that situation immediately! You will not be sorry. Episode Review: "Terror Island" The episode opens with a man checking animal cages, somewhere in Asia, then fires a gun as a giant crab attacks. We then cut to Hong Kong, where the Quests are riding in rickshaws. They enjoy a dragon dance, in a parade and return to their hotel. In the night, Dr Quest is kidnappped and taken to an island to aid Dr Chu in his research, which centers on a formula that can make animals grow to large size. Dr Quest refuses and cautions Chu that his machines are dumping waste into the bay and the radioactive bacteria may cause mutations in other lifeforms, in an uncontrolled fashion. Chu scoffs at him. Meanwhile, Race turns to Jezebell Jade for help and she uses her underworld contacts to locate Dr Quest. Race takes the hydrofoil out to the island, to sneak in and rescue Dr Quest and finds Jonny, Hadji and Bandit have stowed away. he tells them to stay out of trouble, as he tries to rescue Dr Quest, but runs into the monsters Chu's formula has created. Jonny and Hadji commandeer a bulldozer and smash into the lab, crushing a giant spider and saving Race and Dr Quest from another creature. They escape and see a giant lizard rise out of the sea and attack the lab, but it runs into power lines and is destroyed, while Chu is also killed in the resultant explosion.... Thoughts: The giant monsters make this a bit scarier, though nothing like the more atmospheric "House of Seven Gargoyles" or the truly creepy, "Invisible Monster." This was Jade's last episode and we get a further idea about her shady profession, as her contacts fear her. Dr Chu is voiced by Will Kuluva, who specialized in playing foreign characters, despite being born in Kansas City. He was originally cast as Mr S=Allison, head of UNCLE, in the pilot episode of The Man From UNCLE ("The Vulcan Affair,"); but, after a test screening, an exec told the producer to "Get rid of the foreign guy," meaning Ilya Kuryakin and they let Kuluva go, by mistake, hiring Leo G Carroll to portray Mr Waverly, instead. When the pilot and subsequent episodes were edited together as a feature film, To Trap a Spy, the scenes of Mr Allison were left in, was were references to the enemy organization as WASP, instead of THRUSH. WASP was the earlier designation for the enemy, until they decided to change it to THRUSH. That name never had a meaning behind it, until the UNCLE spin-off book series, where the acronym was revealed to stand for The Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. It is also revealed that THRUSH was an outgrowth of Professor Moriarty's criminal organization. Other than the presence of Jade, this is not one of my favorite episodes. It is at the tail end of the series and the writers seem to be running thin on material. The monsters were decent enough; but, weren't quite up there with the Ashida Dragons or Turu the Terrible, let alone the Invisible Monster or the Mummy of Anubis. The lizard and his end are heavily swiped from Godzilla...
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Post by codystarbuck on May 25, 2022 17:27:46 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #20Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer; Hempel, Wheatley & Mayer-art, Diana Schutz-editor. Based on an idea by Robert Morgan Synopsis: Benton Quest is somewhere in the desert, hunting for someone who robbed a scientific facility, at the request of the authorities. A sudden storm comes up and he spots a roadside bar and goes in, to seek shelter. The name of the place is Ostrander's Bar & Grill... A man walks into the bar (what is this, a joke?) and sits down next to Benton, while speaking some weird patois. the bartender seems to understand him completely and delivers him the "joycider," he asks for. Benton ia confused... The man is a lawyer, working on a case. In the year 2312! He soon convinces Benton that he is from the future and he is fascinated to see the relics which are everyday things, to Benton. His name if Roger and he asks Benton how he came to be there. Benton tells him about the theft of a plutonium shipment.... ...by a driver, who took his son with him. He threatens to set off the plutonium unless he receives 200 million dollars. Roger looks at him and starts acting funny. He finally confides to Benton that he does not find the robber. The plutonium is detonated and the West Coast is irradiated and made uninhabitable. Benton asks why Roger is there and he confides that he is dealing with a murder case (and an estate case, trying to recover some family documents), where he believes his client is innocent; but, he insists he did it. Roger hasn't been able to locate evidence that the man, Jamie Welles. In fact, Welles tells him where to find the murder weapon. Benton reacts to the name. He is hunting George Welles. Roger says they may be related. Bento goes on to continue the hunt, because he doesn't want to face his son, knowing he ran away from people needing help, despite what the future holds. They part. Benton pays the bartender, who reveals he has been dead, since 1938! Benton and Roger say goodbye, as they notice the bar is gone. Roger says whatever brought them together is dissipating. They both needed to talk to someone, at a critical time. Roger tells Benton his last name, Bannon. He departs and Benton hits the trail, again. He thinks of something that Roger mentioned, about the Welles family having land that dated back to the California Gold Rush. he checks county records and finds the plot of land and then goes there, to Mundens Corners. Benton goes there and finds a ghost town and George Welles, with a shotgun, as well as his young son. George is mentally unstable, believing that microwaves are being used to control people. Benton disarms George, but, the son, Herbie, hears his father tell him to stop Benton or he will hate him forever, for not supporting his father. He grabs the shotgun and clubs Benton on the back of the head. The Welles men flee and benton recovers, then finds the secret, the plutonium rigged to explode. He works feverishly and disarms the bomb. Later, Benton contemplates the whole experience. Welles was killed in a shootout, with the state police. Herbie was institutionalized. Benton has information to send but tries to figure out how to get it to the right person, at the right time. He hits on the answer. In the future, Roger Bannon is on his way to court, when a fruit vendor offers fresh oranges, which surprises Roger. They come from California, which was supposed to have been rendered infertile. he buys some and goes to his office. He realizes that Benton stopped George Welles and California wasn't irradiated. Then, in court, he receives a document, from the Marston Papers, his other case. It is a letter from Benton, explaining what had happened and that Jamie is descended from George and Herbie Welles. He is covering for his father and grandfather, just as Herbie did for his father. Roger reveals the content to the court and Jamie reacts, claiming he never said such a thing and his grandfather, cries out that Jamie has double-crossed them. The grandfather coerced Jamie into confessing and Jamie's father turns on his own father. They are subdued and the judge demands to see Roger in chambers. Roger doesn't care, because he saved an innocent, thanks to the info Benton sent him, from the past. Thoughts: Interesting mix of sci-fi and mystery; but, that is what Jonny Quest is all about! For the unfamiliar, Mundens Corner and the Ostrander Bar & Grill are an homage to the series Grimjack, written and co-created by John Ostrander, published by First Comics. Grimjack lived in Cynosure, an urban environment that existed at a nexus point of realities. He owned a bar, called Munden's Bar, where various people from various realities might cross paths (including a certain set of Turtles). Loebs is brining it into the Jonny Quest reality so that Benton Quest of 1988 can meet Roger Bannon, of 2312, the descendent of Roger "Race" Bannon, Benton's close friend and bodyguard. Together, they stop dual tragedies from occurring, preventing a nuclear holocaust int he 20th Century and the conviction of an innocent man, in the 24th, as well as saving the career of a man who works for the betterment of his fellow man. Like the best sci-fi story, Loebs moves you past the unlikeliness of the situation and makes you care enough about the characters to want to see how things play out. Some force causes the paths of Benton and Roger Bannon to converge, at Munden's (or Ostrander's) and help one another to solve a separate, but linked problem. This is part of what also made Quantum Leap such a good show; discovering the piece of the past that will set the course of history along the right path. Episode Review: "The monster in the Monastery" Synopsis: Somewhere in the Himalayas (implied to be Tibet or Nepal), a village is attacked by Yeti, who have occupied the old palace. Dr Quest and the gang are coming there to visit his old friend, Raj Guru, at the same village. He tells them of the trouble with the Yeti. Later, rocks are thrown down ont he village. Race & Dr Quest go to investigate, while Hadji and Jonny lag behind. When they are dressed, they spot a Yeti and Bandit chases it across the ancient rope bridge, to the palace. The boys follow and find Bandit and discover that the Yeti are men, in disguise, attacking the village to destroy Raj Guru's status. They are spotted and escape. Meanwhile, the men search for the boys, then the fire attack ont he village begins. Raj Guru spots it is coming from the old palace, not the fireworks from the monastery, for the festival. They encounter Jonny and Hadjji, who reveal the secret of the Yeti, by showing them one of the masks, made of antelope hide. They go to the palace and find the bodies of the men strewn about. They also find strange animal tracks. off in the distance, a Yeti howls. Thoughts: This episode is censored, in rebroadcasts and on the dvd. The basic plot suggests that the Quest are meeting the Dalai Lama, with Raj Guru as a stand-in, and that outside aggressors (Communist China) are plotting to take over the region. The Yeti are use to frighten the villagers and to make them lose faith in Raj Guru. In reality, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet, in 1959, after the people of Tibet rose up against Chinese rule. The rebellion was suppressed and the Dalai Lama fled to India, with the aid of the CIA. Since that time, he has lived in exile and has been a symbol of Tibet's rejection of Communist rule. This episode was broadcast March 4, 1965, just 6 years after the Chines suppression of the Tibetan uprising and the exile of the Dalai Lama. The episode is marred by some substandard character work. Because of the various productions going on at Hanna-Barbera, the animators and artists were stretched thin. There was a very small group who were experienced in the more realistic style of illustration used in Jonny Quest, compared to the more stylized Flintstones and Yogi Bear. Doug Wildey lamented some of the substandard work that ended up on screen. The yetis bear the brunt of it, as several shoots have a very "bigfoot" look to them (no pun intended). The backgrounds, however, are stunning, capturing the look and feel of Tibet, in Western imaginations. The episode gets rather violent, with gunplay and fire, leading to the censorship (though for a line of dialogue, rather than an adult firing a pistol at a child) and is notable for the gruesome ending, with the Quests finding the twisted bodies of the invaders. It's a rather scary episode and one that I don't recall turning up, as often, in reruns and syndication. I wouldn't trust my memory on that, though, as I often played with toys, while my less favorite episodes were on. Aside from that, 50 year-old memories are questionable. This episode also features Jonny and Hadji using old shields as saucer sleds, to flee from the fake Yeti. Here is the layout of the dead invaders, after being attacked by the real Yeti.... There are two episodes left; but, I will be holding off on The Invisible Monster, until we get to the adaptation, within the comic. So, next time, we will cover the final episode, The Sea Haunt."
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 12, 2022 17:36:03 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #21Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Dan Spiegle-art, Carrie Spiegle-letters, Joe Matt-colors, Diana Schutz-editor Synopsis: Since Dr Quest was out West, Race gets orders to check out unexplained phenomena around a place called Lansdown Corners, where there are stories of sea serpents. There are also satellite tracking stations and the government needs it checked out. Race tries to refuse, after hearing the name of the place, but ends up going, with Jonny and Hadji. Race reflects on his past here, where he grew up, under his uncle's care, after his parents died. It was all rather Dickensian.... Race explains to Hadji what a hellish childhood he had, under Uncle Ezra, who maintained a foster home for Race and two others. They are interrupted by their transport, a bus with a fake dragon on it, driven by Race's old friend Tim, from the home. He still lives on the farm, with Ezra, running a tourist attraction, revolving around the alleged "dragons." Race is reunited with his uncle, who seems cordial and talks about how they have prospered, with the tourist stuff, vs the old farm. Race recalls the old farm and Ezra's harsh discipline.... Race still bears the physical and emotional scars of those beatings; but, Tim denies they ever happened to anyone else, despite the scars on his own hand. Ezra is telling the boys about the monster he saw and Race starts his investigation, questioning whether they are big enough to threaten the tracking stations, which Ezra affirms. Tim has never seen them; but, Monty, the other boy Race grew up with has. Race recalls Monty, a big bully whose side Ezra always seemed to take, belittling Race, in his memories. Race mentions this to Ezra, who denies it and says he raised Race because he was "kin," but Monty was always a "winner," which counts for something. Race's memories are different and the investigation becomes contentious, as Race an Ezra start arguing over past and present..... Ezra leaves and Tim tries to cover for Ezra, though Jonny asks some pointed questions and Tim backpedals. Later, race finds Tim putting up Race's old punching bag, in the barn and mentions the charity boxing match at the local fair. Monty still fights and Tim asks if Race will be around long enough to maybe box against Monty, like old times. Race knocks the punching back down and says he would look forward to that. The next morning, Jonny and Bandit look for a ball or something for Bandit to chase and run into Ezra. Ezra is trying to fix a fuse box and thinks Jonny is going to mock him, like Race. Jonny is respectful and says he wants to explore and find signs of the old pirates and smugglers that Tim told him about. Ezra laughs, saying that was a hundred years before and there is only one remnant, which Bandit finds: an old smuggler's tunnel to the beach. Jonny and Ezra goin into the tunnel to find Bandit. Ezra mentions he boarded it up after Monty got lost in it, saying Race had locked Monty in there. Jonny says he can't believe Race would do that and mentions all of the times Race has saved the Quests. Ezra seems to think that is out of character for Race and Jonny suggests maybe he doesn't know him that well. Race and Hadji walk over to see Monty and Race tells him of his past with Monty. Ezra always shamed him into boxing against Monty, at the fair and Monty, who was older and bigger always won. Race was tired of being Ezra's whipping boy and ran away, 4 years later, lied about his age and joined the Navy (Hoorah!). Everyone considered Race a coward but he plans to show them the truth. Race is surprised by the warm reception from Monty.... Monty know owns the local video store, as movies were always his real passion. They talk of having a match at the fair, but Monty sees it as a friendly bout. Race brings up the past and Monty admits that he picked on Race because Ezra would then treat him more favorably and he had nowhere else to go. Race questions him about the monster and Monty says he saw something, in the fog; but, he doesn't know what it was an Ezra believed immediately that it was the monster. The farm was failing, so Monty went along with it to help attract tourists and save the farm. Race figures it was just a tourist trap gimmick. As Race and Hadji leave, Deb, Monty's wife and an old friend of race's, asks if she can talk to him in private. Meanwhile< Jonny and Ezra look for Bandit and Ezra doesn't like the condition of the support beams and suggests they get out quickly. Jonny spots Bandit and the roof starts caving in. Ezra pushes Jonny through, but becomes trapped under rubble. He tells Jonny to get out; but, Jonny tells Ezra that Race taught him to never leave someone in danger and he shows how Race taught him to use leverage to move heavy objects and frees Ezra. They make it outside, to safety and find Bandit. As Ezra rests, Jonny finds an odd skull. Ezra overhears talking and we learn that Race, Hadji and Deb are walking along the cliff, above. Deb tells Race that Monty shouldn't fight anymore, that he has suffered head trauma from the fights, but will keep doing it to please Ezra. Race admits that everyone is different from how he remembered things and realizes that he wasn't seeing things clearly, because he was so focused on his hatred of Ezra. Ezra and Jonny overhear Race promise that he won't fight Monty, but will keep what he knows a secret. Race and Hadji return to the farm and Tim and some others say Whitey is acting reluctant to fight and wonder what's up. They ask Race if he will still fight and he says no and acts like he is too scared to fight Monty. The others think Race hasn't changed and leave and Tim says Race is a coward, as Ezra always said and Ezra, who walks in, tells him to shut up. Later, Tim goes out to check on their supplies and discovers a fire. He runs to call help, losing his ballcap, at the scene. Race is having a nightmare, about fighting dragons, when Jonny awakens him, telling him Bandit woke him up, barking about the smoke and fire. They go down to check it out and Race tells Jonny to stay back, as the smoke is toxic, from burning plastic. He finds Tim's ballcap and runs into the barn, despite the danger. Race is overcome by the fumes. Ezra rushes in, face covered by a cloth, to filter the fumes. He finds Race, but Race is afraid of him, locked in the hallucination of the past. Ezra realizes what he did to young Race has scarred him. Ezra gets him out and is proclaimed a hero, by Jonny and Hadji. Later, after the fire is out, Ezra finds Race talking on a mobile phone (old school bag phone) to a university, which confirms that the skull Jonny found is from a plesiosaur, of less than 50 years in age. That is Ezra's dragon and there might be more. He apologizes to Ezra for thinking he was a liar and not investigating properly, but Ezra apologizes to him and reveals why he was so harsh to him..... The next morning, Jony, Race and Hadji get loaded up to leave and Jonny questions why Ezra isn't seeing them off. Race tells him the hard truth, that some wounds run deep; but, some good has come of this as he realized he came there with bitterness and anger and it colored the way he was seeing things. He was able to let the past go and is the better for it. So, even if he and Ezra will never be warm and loving towards each other, there is no hatred and Race has buried that "dragon." Thoughts: This is why I contend that Jonny Quest was one of the best and most under-rated series of the 80s. Too many overlooked it as just a sentimental book about an old cartoon, that everyone outgrew, except those who actually read it and understood that William Messner-Loebs was one of the best writers working in comics and was far too overlooked by a market that only cared about big flashy superhero battles, by superstar artists and writers. Loebs wrote some fine Flash comics and got much attention for that; but, his own wonderful Journey series, about a frontiersman in the early 1800s, was greatly overlooked and this series had a small, but faithful following. I'll admit I didn't pick it up initially, as I figured it was just Comico trying to milk and old property; but, I loved the Jonny Quest cartoon and eventually picked it up, out of curiosity, when I had the time to hunt down the back issues. Loebs understands humanity and he writes human stories. He uses Jonny and the rest to explore human stories and the human condition, planting fables and philosophies about life and things in the guise of a good yarn, like the best writers. Here, we learn why Race was so driven to prove himself capable and courageous, racing into dangerous situations. he was horribly abused as a child and ran away from it, building himself up along the way. He has a good family, in the Quests and he now comes back to his boyhood home, to face the past. In doing so, he drudges up painful old memories and is embroiled in hatred and walks around with a chip on his shoulders. It is understandable his resentment to Ezra, but it carries over to others, until he is shaken out of that by their realities, as adults. It reminds me of my 20th high school reunion. I ran into a classmate who was a bit of a bully to me. My father was a teacher in our small school system and was a no-nonsense instructor. You were in his class to learn something, not fool around. There were some who resented that and tried to target me and my siblings as payback, since they couldn't confront my father. My sister was young enough she never really dealt with it and my brother's way of dealing with it was to try to buddy up to some of the jerks and gain their acceptance. I stood my ground against the bullies and generally told them off, verbally, since I was smaller than all of them, and recognized they were more interested in trying to intimidate me than actually inflict any real harm. This classmate was one who talked a good game, but never actually tried to attack me. He did try to provoke me, as did a few others, but, I was just hurl a smart-ass crack and walk away. As a kid, I sometimes was mad at myself for not swinging at them; but, I was smart enough to know I was too small to win and, as an adult, I knew it wouldn't end things. The verbal response tended to do enough damage that they would grow bored and move on. When I ran into this person, he was very relaxed and friendly and said hello and then immediately asked how my dad was. I was a bit taken back; but, I could see he was genuinely interested and seemed at peace with the world. Whatever went on in childhood, he had moved on. We had a good time talking. I came from a small town and had a small class (47), most of whom had known each other since kindergarten. We didn't have much in the way of cliques; but we did have people we gravitated towards. As adults, we were all pretty happy to see one another again and share our families. Most of my classmates asked about my father. They had all respected him, because he actually taught them useful things and didn't let them screw around. They didn't all like his classes; but, they all said it was one where they felt they really learned things. I read several testaments like that after he passed away, as former students sent messages to the family. Race us reunited with old friends and extended family and comes to see them for who they are, that they had grown beyond the past and it helped him leave some of his demons in the past. The ending shows that life is complicated, that somethings are easier to forgive and forget than others, especially abuse; but, Race has grown because he confronted his past. In this period, you heard people cooing about Byrne & Perez, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland or whoever was in vogue; but, most of them couldn't hold a candle to Dan Spiegle, as a storyteller. Spiegle captures real life superbly, while still handling action and adventure with a dynamic style that keeps the story exciting. Whatever the needs of the story, he can provide it, whether it is a con artist cowboy, a mystery being solved by some meddling teenagers and a talking Great Dane, a bail bondsman in Hollywood, or a group of six special agents, blackmailed by a mysterious benefactor into undertaking missions. Spiegle can handle it all and give you a great visual story, to match the writing behind it; and, especially, the emotion. The body language of the characters is so superior to the bulk of the industry, at the time. Too many young artists followed the lessons of Stan lee's How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, emphasizing dramatic moments, and grandiose poses; but mostly overlooking the more subtle elements of storytelling. That book was a good starting point (though not so much for learning anatomy); but, it was hardly the most comprehensive work on comic storytelling. Spiegle delivers a lesson in using subtlety to tell an emotional story; one that grandiose shots and poses who turn into satire. Episode Review: "The Sea Haunt." A Dutch freighter, in the Java Sea, has engine trouble. While they try to repair it, the ship is attacked by some kind of sea creature...... Dr Quest is flying through the area and receives a radio alert about the missing ship. They manage to locate it and land their VSTOL jet on the deck. They find it deserted but find the captain's log book, with entries about the monster. Bandit spots the monster first and alerts Jonny, who sees it after it has wrecked their plane. The team looks for food and finds the ship's Chinese cook, hiding in the freezer. he says the rest of the crew is gone and only the monster remains. He fixes them food, after warming up, but he knows nothing about the ship's cargo, as mentioned in the logs. The creature then begins attacking different compartments, on the ship.... Bandit jumps into the ship's hold, to escape the monster and Jonny and Hadji go after him and discover the cargo, coffins with gold bars hidden in them. The team learns the monster fears fire and bright lights and uses flashlights and acetylene torches to hold it off. They force it to climb the ship's mast and Charlie fires a harpoon at it, wrecking the mast and sending the creature back into the sea. The team is eventually spotted by a search lane and rescued. Thoughts: This is largely swiped from The Creature From the Black Lagoon, right down to the design. However, it is also one of the creepier episodes, as the monster is treated as real (and we can assume it is) and the Hoyt Curtain music is used effectively. Also, bullets don't seem to harm it, as the ship's captain unloads a pistol into it. Henry Corden voices the captain, early on and Keye Luke voices Charlie, the cook, and voices actual Chinese when Charlie is hysterical. The rest of the time he uses pidgin English and Charlie conforms to stereotypes, including the serving of fortune cookies, which are not authentic Chinese food, but where created in the West, for Chinese restaurants (as was chop suey). Also, the episode refers to the capital of the Dutch East Indies, Batavia, rather than the modern nation of Indonesia, whose capital was and is Jakarta, on the island of Java. The city was known as Batavia, during Dutch colonial rule; but, the nation gained independence in 1949, well before this series. This was the final episode of the series and it shows that far less care was going into things, at this stage. We are never given an answer as to why the creature came onboard the ship or why the ship was carrying a gold shipment and whether it was a legal transport or if they were smuggling. It seems like a subplot that was abandoned for more shots of them fighting the monster. Also, the monster's motivation was considered less than fighting it without guns. The most likely and logical reason for it to attack would be the ship being a threat to its young or habitat, such as the ship removing eggs laid by the creature. A smuggling angle would explain the gold and the presence of something like animal eggs, which might draw the creature. Usually, more care was given to the script than this; but,, I suspect deadlines came into play. The name is a play on the Lloyd Bridges underwater tv series, Sea Hunt; the one that provided so many jokes for MST3K ("It was then that my lungs were aching for air.") Visually, its a pretty exciting and atmospheric piece, though some of the character work is rather wonky (they were using artist from the regular cartoon series and they were not as adept at realistic characters); but, the script needed work. Charlie is the usual stereotype, much like Connie (Terry & the Pirates), Hop Sing (Bonanza) and Charlie Chan (not so much in the Werner Oland films, though there are things that became cliched because of the character's popularity). There is one more episode to the series; but, it will wait until I get to the comic issue which adapted its story, so that I can compare and contrast the two.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 29, 2022 16:23:59 GMT -5
Johnny Quest #22(RIP Stephen Furst) Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer; MarcHempel, Mark Wheatley & Kathryn Mayer-art, letters & colors; Diana Schutz-editor Synopsis: Dr Quest is preparing a recording system to capture modern culture, to then pack into a time capsule, that will be sent into an elliptical orbit around the Sun, to return a couple of thousand years into the future. Jonny and Hadji start mugging for the camera and Dr Quest chastises them for not taking its importance seriously. He tells them to ignore the camera and just act naturally. The Race turns up to demonstrate that it isn't just the boys who are camera-conscious... The next day, the camera records Dr Quest dealing with late deadlines for projects, an excited Bandit, and strange visitors, turning the whole place into some sort of Tintin adventure! The visitor is Orville Guttenstein Wattenberg, who proceeds to claim to have invented a machine that amplifies brain waves until a person can read other thoughts and then rails at the camera about everyone plotting against him. Race shoos the nut out, then Dr Quest decides they need a secretary, to deal with all of this. Race replies that the Doc just scares them off by being too honest with their adventures and Dr Quest isn't swayed. The next day, he starts interviewing applicants for the position. The next applicant is an adventure seeker and Dr Quest thinks he is perfect, until he mentions the actual adventures they have had and the guy decides that reading about dangerous adventures is better than living them. That is pretty much the end, until a young inventor turns up, looking for help with his 3-D camera device and Dr Quest offers him the position, , in exchange for helping with the invention. The kid proves to be a help, except he forgets to tell Dr Quest about appointments with pretty women, who believe their fathers have been kidnapped by Dr Zin. Meanwhile, he becomes distracted in examining the evidence that he doesn't quite hear Jonny ask if he can keep a kitten he found on the beach, until "someone claims it" and tells Jonny that, yes, he can stay up late. Hadji says he doesn't think Dr Quest heard them and Jonny says he didn't say "no" and prepares a bed for the kitten. Dr Quest's girlfriend, Kathy, turns up for their date and Doc is asleep. Race says that the Doc has been working on a case and notes that he doesn't know how to tell people, "no." The next day, he mentions to Hadji and Jonny about some wild animal getting into the bathroom and tearing it up, as they sit down for a geography exam. Miller, the new secretary/inventor, runs in, saying he has double-booked Dr Quest and needs to find him. He tears out of the lab looking for him and Jonny and Hadji offer to help and follow, abandoning their exam. Dr Quest returns to the empty lab and starts to work on a speech, when he is interrupted by an electronics salesperson. They are soon joined by her rival, each claiming an appointment. Another salesperson turns up, then the woman with the missing father, then a general's aide and it turns into chaos, as the kitten pokes around the camera. OG Wattenberg turns up and tries to steal the camera, but is discovered by Jonny.... It stops being funny, when he pulls out a pistol. However, Miller comes through the door, having found the kitten, who immediately leaps onto Wattenberg and starts clawing and attacking him! The camera gets dropped; but survives. It turns out that the woman whose father is missing is the daughter of Wattenberg and she was hiding in a closet. Her story was meant to distract the Quests so that her father could steal the camera. Miller is still oblivious to the fact that she played him like a fiddle. Later, Dr Quest is in the lab, working on Miller's invention. Jonny comes in and tells him they gave the kitten to Miller, for his new apartment. he goes off to watch a movie with Race and Hadji and Dr Quest starts messing with the top hat and cane, that were Wattenberg's, used as part of the kidnap ruse. He then starts mugging for the camera.... Thoughts: This is probably my single favorite issue of the series. Oh, others may briefly replace it, depending on the mood (the story of the death of Jonny's mother, the Bandit story, told from his POV); but, this one is just pure fun. The whole issue is pretty much a series of "blackout" gags, as we get one or two page sketches, all seen from the perspective of the recording camera. Everything is framed through its lens and we see how everyone acts in front of the camera. It is also filled with great character comedy. OG Wattenberg looks like a cross between a Tintin character and a Popeye character, which is why I mentioned Tintin in his first apeparance. His look, mixed with boy adventurer Jonny and white dog bandit running around the scene just felt very "Tintin," to me; plus, Hempel and Wheatley's art was very ligne claire. This whole thing is a hoot and it demonstrates how good Bill Loebs was at comedy (amply demonstrated in the Epicurus the Sage GNs, as well). As an artist, he though visually and knew how to time a gag. Hempel and Wheatley's looser style is a perfect fit for comedy (look at Hempel's own Gregory and Tug & Buster). You also get a shot of Hadji, sans turban, proving he doesn't sleep in the thing. Just loads of fun! The issue also features a great house ad for the series....
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 13, 2022 16:33:39 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #23-24This one may sound familiar, if you have read my recent Jon Sable reviews. Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley & Kathryn Mayer-art, letters & colors, Diana Schutz editor. Anthony Hope-inspiration Synopsis: The Quest team are loading up their jet for a trip to the Pacific, to map the ocean floor and survey some islands. Race and Kathy rib Benton about his idea of adventure and his predictable nature..... Gee, everyone is making fun of how steady and predictable Dr Quest is....wonder what is going to happen? The jokes continue as Dr Quest tries to make out like he doesn't live by a schedule, yet they still depart exactly on the planned time and he calls for lunch at exactly 12:35 pm. The ribbing continues until Dr Quest starts to get mad and decides to forgo lunch, to show the others, but legitimately notices tree species from a temperate climate that had to have been planted there, specifically. he starts to explore them and then runs, literally, into a twin..... The man is Anthony, Prince of Starkgrau (cute). He then calls companions, Hopely (cuter) and Fritt (ugh....). The prince invites them to his hunting lodge, where they are fed items more interesting than turkey on rye or peanut butter and mint jelly sandwiches. Prince Anthony is friendly and boisterous, but describes himself as the unworthy heir to the throne. He has been trained since birth, but fails at mathematics, science and physical pursuits. Lt Hopely relates that the king relocated Starkgrau to the island, after WW1, as he saw that they would be swept over by the rest of Europe. He planted the hybrid trees Dr Quest noticed, to give a feeling of home. Hopely chastises Anthony for being self-depricating, while Fritt speaks of the kings idea that rulers should be philosopher-kings. Anthony and Benton square off in a friendly fencing match and the prince easily disarms Benton and laughs about it, then disappears in a flash of blue light... Hopely and Fritt believe Duke Hubert, the prince's cousin is behind it, but wonder why he would be so bold, then bells ring out, tolling the death of the king, which had been expected for some time. Hopely fears Hubert would claim the throne and pleads with Dr Quest to masquerade as the rince, until he can be found. Dr Quest hesitates and says he doesn't believe in the rule of a monarch, until Race makes a crack about being glad that Dr Quest is so cautious, as the plan is insane and Benton's bruised ego gets the better of him and he agrees. Riders appear to capture the prince and Race and the boys create a diversion, while Dr Quest and Lt Hopely escape, on horseback. Fritt believes Hubert is about to create a civil war which will destroy the land. He fears for Dr Quest's safety, as well as the prince. Dr Quest and Hopely stop so that Hopely can do a bit of cosmetic work to make Benton look more like Prince Anthony. She then fills Benton in on the nobles of Starkgrau and he memorizes details, to pass and Anthony. They arrive at the city. We cut to the palace and meet Duke hubert, as he fences, then is surprised by Prince Anthony, though it is actually Dr Quest. Benton mocks Hubert, who challenges him to settle with swords and Dr Quest knows he is in trouble. He thinks quickly and angrily attacks Hubert's suggestion, upon the death of the king. Hubert starts laughing and tells "Anthony" to attend to his father and walks away. Benton and Hopely soon learn why Hubert was laughing... The king is alive! He is fine and is working on tree hybrids and Benton questions the bells. The king said it was Hubert's idea, to call in Prince Anthony, as the council of Barons have decided that succession must be settled before the king passes on and have moved "the test" forward. Benton doesn't like the sound of that. While this goes on, Jonny and Hadji sneak into the city. Hopely fills in Benton about the test, a series of questions, on all subjects, posed by the greatest minds of the kingdom. Anthony was trained for this; but a failure would lead to Hubert gaining power. They have to find the prince. Jonny and Hadji locate the prince, as we learned who was behind his abduction, for Hubert.... Dr Zin! Jonny & Hadji spy on Hubert as he mocks his cousin; but, they are unable to get the prince out of his cage. meanwhile, Benton continues his masquerade and finds himself beset with sycophants, until Hubert turns up and scares them off. he says his strength is what they respect and that is what is needed, for the kingdom. Dr Quest bluffs his way through, then talks to Hopely. She loves the Prince, since they were young; but, she is just a commoner. She shows Benton the books from which the test will be drawn and he sees that they are woefully out of date. He refuses to lie, using old, erroneous information to pass the test. Race, outside the city, comes across a peasant and learns that only the nobles left Starkgrau, then some were made peasants, until a lottery raises them, if they are lucky. race buys the man's clothes, for a disguise. Prince Anthony has Hubert guessing as to whether he has captured the prince or Dr Quest and Dr Quest does the same in the palace. Dr Zin soon shows Hubert who the true master of Starkgrau will be, if Hubert's plot succeeds.... Benton spots Hubert speaking with conspirators and tries to spy, but is caught. Hubert has plotted to make the test unpassable. He threatens Benton to learn who he truly is, but they are interrupted by the king and Benton makes his escape with him. The king tels him everything e has worked for rests on his passing. Hubert is scheming with the barons, who want to prevent another lottery, which might remove their privilege. At a reception, Dr Quest is introduced to Duke Gregor, head of the Council of Barons. He complains about the peasants refusing to work past Ten O'Clock and begging food for their children. Benton tells him off... Benton proceeds to tell off other barons, as well. Race sneaks into the palace and bluffs his way to the dungeon, where he finds Jonny and Hadji and the prince. The lock on the cage is fused, so he can't be freed. The prince wallows in self pity and Race chides him, but also learns the Doc is in danger, as part of the test is physical. Race hatches a plan and sends Jonny and Hadji scavenging. Dr Quest wakes and is attended by servants and can't take it and runs them off. He refuses to be attended by Hopely and Fritt, saying this is why the prince lacks confidence. meanwhile, race disguises himself as the prince, for the physical tests, while Jonny and Hadji try to see if they can figure out how to use the matter transmitter of Dr Zin to get the prince out of the cage. The test begins, as Dr Quest answers all ten math questions in one go and then proceeds to make a mockery of the astronomy expert, as he relates the debate on the moon being a planet or not (suggesting Earth and the moon are a double-planet) and that Pluto's status is open to debate and its moon Charon might mean it is also a double-planet, while also bringing up that Neptune and Pluto had exchanged positions, in 1979. This astounds the king. The physical portion is suddenly advanced, by Hubert. Meanwhile, Jonny tries a switch, labeled "reverse," and Anthony disappears from the cage. He reappears at the hunting lodge and grabs a horse, to return to the palace. Dr Quest makes a quick exit out of the room, on a pretense and switches with race, who kicks the crap out of a group of men who attack.... Hubert leaps in with sword drawn, but Anthony turns up to face his challenge. He fights off Hubert's attack and counters, while appealing to him to stand with him, or be Zin's puppet. He disarms him, but says he needs him to safeguard the kingdom. The King demands to know what is going on and Hubert says he staged things to show the king the error of his thinking, that a good leader needs moral courage and can't be expected to be an expert in all things, but can guide those with the expertise. The crisis is ended and the Quests prepare to depart, as Hubert has joined with Anthony and seek to lead the kingdom to better times, as they strip the barons of their power. As they say goodbye, Anthony confides in Benton that he has noticed a change in Hopely and wonders if marriage were possible and Benton tells him anything is possible, as they have shown. Anthony asks Hopely if Dr Quest would have been a good king; but, she says he would be terrible, as he was too unpredictbale. Thoughts: I swear I had no idea that these two issues were another Prisoner of Zenda pastiche, after the Jon Sable one I just reviewed. serendipity, I guess. Loebs is a bit cuter about it, as the prince is named for author Anthony Hope, as is Lt Hopely, standing in for Col Zapt, from the novel. Fritt is named for Fritz, the young officer who aids Rassendyl in his disguise and his rescue of Prince Rupert, though some of his role here is Col Zapt's. Hubert is a mix of Rupert of Hentzau and Black Michael, the rival prince who plotted the poisoning of Prince Rupert, in Hope's story. Fritt is drawn with a flamboyant moustache and the character was played by David Niven, in the 1937 classic movie version. Hubert, visually, looks a bit "Kryptonian," with a spitcurl, though he doesn't really resemble either Douglas Fairbanks Jr or James Mason, the most famous Ruperts, nor Raymond Massey, the more noted Prince Michael. The conceit of moving a Balkan kingdom to a Pacific island is a bit too hard to swallow. Any island large enough to encompass what is shown would already be inhabited and would have been of strategic value, during WW2. This is why the old idea of a desert island, ala Gilligan's island doesn't really work post-WW2. Any island that was habitable was mapped and used during the war. Humans lived on all of the inhabitable islands. Those of strategic value were conquered and the population put to work or removed, as bases were built, by the japanese, then retaken by the Allies (or cut off, like Rabaul). Islands like Wake had been used for logistics purposes early in the 20th Century, as first a coaling station, for the Navy, then as a waypoint for Pan-Am clippers, en route to Asia. Still, the conceit was necessary to explain the Balkan kingdom living in isolation, given the European war which crossed the Balkans. We learn that the kingdom was made of mostly the nobles, that the peasants were left to fend for themselves. Whether that aspect was a liberation to them is not explored. However, the king implemented a lottery, which turned some nobles into peasants, forcing them to work for the nobles. On the surface, it seems fair, as it was random; but, it strips the freedom from those chosen. It is still slavery, no matter how it is determined. In the end, we see that Dr Quest, race and Jonny & Hadji sway Anthony into standing up to the king and gain Hubert's alliance, to change the state of the kingdom into something better. Together, they can strip the barons of their power and bring equality to the people, though there is no talk of elections or representative government. Loebs doesn't push it that far. This was fun, though a bit predictable, apart from throwing out the ending of the novel in favor of a compromise that is better. Hempel and Wheatley make it look great, as usual and there is a nice mix of action, humor, and thought. In the end, the story shows that brains and reason triumph over brawn and coercion, if you have the moral courage to stand against tyranny. As we near the end of the series, I continue to be amazed at how this series slipped under so many radars. It was dismissed as nostalgia and promotion for the new cartoon (which sucked, compared to the original, both in story and visuals) and was ignored in favor of the bigger names and usual suspects. However, William Messner-Loebs demonstrates how great a writer he was, far more than The Flash or Wonder Woman ever allowed. He handles every aspect of storytelling well and only lacks the flash and noise that won praise for the Alan Moores and Frank Millers of the day. Loebs writes complex characters, terrific plots, actual humor and captures reality, even in a heightened realism; yet, he is overlooked. maybe it is because his comics have fun, rather than seem deadly serious, or are filled with shocking violence. Frank Miller was praised for what was mostly him swiping characterizations and plots from crime fiction and applying it to superheroes. Nothing wrong with it; but, it was hardly original. Moore took his influences and applied them in new ways. Is Loebs doing any less? Is it the fact that the book "stars" a kid? Is it because it was from a smaller company and wasn't an exploration of the destructive nature of violence, like Grendel, or an examination of heroism, like Mage? Is it because it had to create entertaining comics and still please Hanna-Barbera? All of that, to me, suggests Loebs is a far better writer than credited. Certainly than acclaimed. Whether or not you are a Jonny Quest fan, these are damn good stories!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2022 19:40:52 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #25Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Hempel, Wheatley and Mayer-art, Dian Schutz-editor This is another adventure, from Bandit's POV. Synopsis: Bandit is busy keeping the Forces of Evil at bay, at the Quest home.... Jonny & Kathy are inside, fixing food for the great protector, oblivious to the danger around them. Bandit chases the evil squirrel away and follows it, as it leaps onto a truck, from a lumber yard. The truck starts moving, before Bandit can jump down and is going too fast to do so, safely. As the truck pulls away, Bandit can hear his friend call, but he can't jump down. He goes further and further, until he can't hear the voice. Jonny finds his dad opening up a parcel from Starkgrau, which has Dr Zin's matter transmitter. Dr Quest is trying t see if he can get it going again, to help stimulate Starkgrau's economy. Jonny then asks if Dr Quest is going to marry Kathy, which gets a moment of stunned silence, then a promise of a long answer, if Jonny will help his father. Bandit is finally able to jump off the truck, at the lumber yard, but does not know where he is. The scents are different and he can't smell his friend. He walks around; but, nothing looks familiar. He finds other dogs, but they fear him and snarl at him, with their pack names and warnings to stay away. Bandit has no pack name. He came from a group of puppies and has known no other dogs, to earn a pack name from them. It is hot and Bandit is tired and thirsty, but he doesn't have his white rug, to take a nap, or his squeaky mouse. He wanders on and hears cries of distress. Another dog is trapped in a car and can't get out of the hot box. Bandit can't open it and searches for help. he finds a child and attracts his attention, then another, then some big humans. They see the dog inside, lying on its back, tongue hanging out, wondering what to do. Everyone says someone should do something and its the owner's fault. Finally, someone does something.... The old lady smashes the window, with a brick and opens the door. The dog comes out and she pets it and bandit licks his face. The dog's human comes out and yells at the woman for smashing his window and trying to steal his dog. She runs off and Bandit follows her. She stops, with her shopping cart f stuff and tries to catch her breath, saying she shouldn't run, without her pills, but she doesn't have any pills. She gets acquainted with bandit, who she calls Butch. She sees his tag and the letter B, in Bandit and says his name must be Butch and says he is a nice doggie and takes him with her. They go off to an alley, to play games and bandit loves games. He is very good at "Fetch stick." The woman, Beth runs into a friend, a man named Bennie. he tells her that Red died the previous night. Someone cut him. Bad. He asks if she has any money, to wet his whistle and she says no. She and Butch move on. At the Quest compound, Jonny is worried, because Bandit is missing. Dr Quest asks if he would like help in looking for him. Jonny says he knows his father is busy. Dr Quest says not to worry, he put a homing transmitter in Bandit's collar, after the last time he went missing. They are shocked when the computer indicates that Bandit is 127 miles away! In the city, it starts to rain. Beth shows Butch her favorite alley and a sheet of plastic, to make a tent, like when she was married to George. She tells Butch about George. When George died, Beth was taken to live in a hospital. It wasn't a nice place. There was a man there, who did something horrible to his family and he scared Beth. He hurt a nurse. The hospital was closed down and Beth was told she could live wherever she wanted, but she didn't have any place to go and she couldn't find the clinic that had her pills. She has been living in the alleys ever since. The bad man was also let out and she worries that he might be around; but, she doesn't have to worry, with Butch to protect her. Bandit feels warm and safe with her, despite not having his white rug. She will protect him. Race and Jonny search for bandit, but interference keeps blocking the signal. They check with the locap police precinct and the officer on duty tells them about the commotion, with a bag lady and a dog. He and Race talk about how she was dumped out of a hospital, for "reform," but that it was really about saving money. Many of the people on the street were displaced from the hospital, and others, without proper care. He says Beth has never been violent. What makes matters worse is that someone has been killing the homeless and the public doesn't seem to care and police resources are stretched thin. It isn't a pleasant picture. Beth and Butch find more bottles, then Marie, a friend of Beth's sees them. She tells Beth that Brownie and Jake got it last night. She is going to the soup kitchen, on the East side, to no be alone. A figure watches them. Beth takes Butch and decides to head for the shelter, after cashing in the bottles, to get bananas. She thinks she spotted the bad man and should tell a cop, but doesn't know which way he went. She follows the alleys the way Benie showed her, but then finds Benie, dead. Someone has scrawled "Everyone must die!" in blood, on the wall. Beth sees the bad man and runs, with her cart and Butch following. She finds an unlocked door and goes in, dragging her cart up stairs. The doors of apartments are locked and she must continue, to the roof. Her heart is aching and they try to hide. The bad man comes onto the roof. Race, Jonny and the police officer follow the homer and eventually key in on the building, where Beth is hiding, after the rain lets up. They go to investigate. The bad man has Beth cornered. Butch sees his mortal enemy and attacks. He trips the bad man and Beth runs at him with her cart and the collision knocks him over the side of the building, where his screams are heard by Jonny and Race. He hits the pavement. Race tells Jonny to stay back, but Jonny rushes into the building to find Bandit, having heard the barking. The cop tries to stop Race, but he pushes him aside and runs after Jonny. Jonny finds Bandit, on the roof, tending to Beth, whose heart is in a bad way. Beth wakes up in a hospital and Dr Quest, Jonny and Bandit are there to great her. Jonny thanks Beth for taking care of Bandit and Beth says he was a good poochie. She sees the room and says she has no money to pay and Dr Quest says it is all taken care of. He also says he has a friend, a caseworker, who is going to help her find a nice, safe place to live and get her pills. Later, Jonny and Bandit are asleep, in the back of their vehicle, as they make the long ride home. Jonny is happy to have found his dog and Bandit is happy to be back with his human. He is especially happy, because he now has a pack name. Scuse me; my eyes suddenly got a little blurry. Must have dropped from the ceiling or something. (*sniff*) Thoughts: This is getting repetitive; but, this is another favorite. I know I said the time capsule is my favorite of all of the stories; but, the two Bandit POV stories are on another plane. I don't care what anyone else says; William Messner-Loebs was one of the best writers in comics, in the 80s. Certainly the most under-rated. Once again, he tells us a story of Bandit, through the dog's eyes and dammed if he doesn't get you to care more than if it were Batman saying goodbye to Silver St Cloud or Maggie and Hopey comforting each other. People threw out names like Alan Moore, Los Bros Hernandez, Art Spiegelman; they weren't saying Bill Loebs. They should have been. Go read Journey and tells me that is isn't top notch; or Epicurus the Sage and tell me it isn't brilliant and funny. Go on, I dare you. I triple Dog Dare you to pick up Jonny Quest and read these and tell me anyone else was better at humor, adventure and drama, in one terrific package. Once again, Loebs introduces a new character and gives us a whole world, in two pages of their history. Even more, he highlights a problem that arose in the 80s and is still with us today: the homeless population. In the 1980s, many mental institutions were shut down, for a variety of reasons; but the biggest was funding. Instead, patients were given prescriptions and sent out into the world to live. Not everyone ended up homeless, but a large segment of the homeless population had mental health issues that went untreated. There were not enough care workers and clinics to keep track of them and treat them. They were not placed in adequate housing or care facilities and were left to wander the streets. they were supposedly healthy enough to care for themselves, with the proper medication, except no one made sure they had access to it, regularly and took it. People would complain to government and the newspapers about people sleeping on streets, but did nothing to help fund more care for these people, or try to find them homes, or even food. Others did what they could; and, in the absence of government or "market solutions," people worked together to create homeless shelters, food pantries, soup kitchens and the like. It was and is something; but, it wasn't and isn't enough. While other people were getting grim and gritty, or giving a modern makeover to someone in long underwear, Bill Loebs was reminding us of our brethren, just as Charles Dickens did, a hundred years before. Also within the message of humanity is one about the relationships we share with animals. When we bring animals into our lives, they give us affection and comfort. We take it upon ourselves to care for them and return that love, and give them protection, since we take them from their packs. We give them silly names we dream up or heard or because of something about them; but, we don't know their pack names. Only other animals know that and bestow them upon one another. William Messner-Loebs reveals to us Bandit's pack name. The art in this is terrific. Hempel and Wheatley have always been good; but, their work, in conjunction with Kathryn Mayer, really lends the right atmosphere for this tale. They alter figures and colors to add tension, or bring lightness at the proper points. The characters are human, with expressions that convey much of the story. They really capture the emotion present in the writing. This is such a great team, in both writing and art, much as Loebs and Sam Keith. Next time, Bill Loebs and the gang reveal just how much of a badass Dr Quest is. Dr Quest? The science guy? With a bodyguard? Yup! Come back and see.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 4, 2022 22:44:41 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #26Reputation? Joan Jett; the best thing that ever happened to Tommy James' career! Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatly & Kathryn Mayer-art, letters and colors, Diana Schutz-"gossip", according to the credits. Synopsis: Race Bannon is in the clutches of Magyar Dentress, soon to conquer the world from his base, hidden under an island. He has 300 of his followers on guard there and it is all pretty James Bond. Race seems rather relaxed about it all..... Race yawns and says this is the third time he has heard stuff like this, that year. He decides to kill time by telling Mags a story. Race speaks of being recruited for intelligence work, fresh out of college. he became a top agent, then decided to try being a private eye and nearly died of boredom. he returned to espionage, but found himself working for thugs, against other thugs. Then he was assigned to wetnurse some scientist and his brat (my words) and arrived on the day of the death of the doctor's wife. He then proceeded to have astounding adventures, protecting the doc and his son from madmen, bent on conquering the world and their strange devices and monsters. He said Dr Quest seemed so calm, so assured, so perfect, until he saw him lose it, one day, over a tie.... Really, he just missed his wife. Mags is amused to find that Dr Quest has a weakness and he claims none for himself, that his army of dedicated followers will be victorious. Race just says unh-huh and proceeds to tell another story about a party of Jonny's. Dr Quest and Race go off to do some surveying and leave Jonny protected by the compound security system. Jonny is bored and he walks along the beach, with Bandit, behind an electro-magnetic fence and runs into a kid, named Stevie, who is on vacation, but is also lonely, as his parents are busy. Jonny tells him he can't come out or Stevie in, but then decides Stevie is too young to be a foreign spy and lets him in. Jonny shows Stevie around, but tries to keep him out of trouble, out of the lab and out of his dinner, but Stevie lets in his brothers and sisters and throws a party. A tv repairman turns up, to fix the broken tv, while Stevie orders pizza. A cat follows him in and Bandit goes nuts. The repairman goes through the wrong door, into the lab and sets off a biological alarm which seals the compound. The computer queries for a deactivation code or else a sterilization agent will be released. Stevie tries to hack it and enters a wrong code, which locks the keyboard (tough system!). The repairman tries to disconnect the power and the system switches to battery back-up. The clock is ticking down and there is no way to stop the system. It is sphincter puckering time and the count reaches one, when...... Stevie makes a hasty farewell and leaves. Jonny talks to Race, fearing the impending punishment. The Dr Quest really sticks it to Johnny.... Mags starts ranting about how he will mind control his slaves and cleanse the world. Race smiles and continues with a story about Hadji. he briefly tells how Hadji saved the doc in Calcutta and how Dr Quest repaid him by putting up with bureaucratic nonsense and calmly and politely filled out forms and reasoned with officials until they approved Hadji's adoption, by a foreign national, who wanted to give a boy a home and his son, a brother. Mags isn't impressed and boasts of how his slaves will be obedient to his every command. Race tries it out.... Race continues telling about Hadji. They are visiting a zoo, when an earthquake causes structural damage to buildings, including the reptile house. A group of people is trapped by poisonous and dangerous snakes. EMTs can't get to them. Hadji calmly asks for a forked stick and a bag and enters the reptile house. Slowly but surely, he trapped each of the snakes and emptied his bag into a container, for two hours, before it was safe for EMTs to get to the injured and get them to safety. Mags boasts he is too intelligent for such sentimentality and Race tells him that Dr Quest is so smart, he solves the New York Times crossword puzzle, in his head. Mags loses it and puts a gun to Race's head, about to pull the trigger, when the cavalry arrives, in the form of Dr Quest...... He points some exotic looking weapon at Mags and he immediately surrenders. They secure him, then round up his mindless followers and Dr Quest figures out how to reverse the brainwashing process and it turns out they were a bunch of schmoes who answered ads about getting ahead. Race asks how Benton got out of his cell and he says the mindless followers forgot to lock it....'cause they are mindless! oh, and that exotic weapon? A spray nozzle for a garden hose! Magyar believed it was a raygun because of Dr Quest's reputation! Thoughts: This was a hoot! Basically, Race fills his captor with stories of Dr Quest's brilliance, calm reasoning, stout trust and patience with his son, shining example and ability to face and defeat a crisis and then Magyar practically s@#%s himself when Dr Quest turns up holding something that looks vaguely like a pistol. He was defeated by psychology, without anyone getting hurt. That's brilliant! In a way, it reminds me, a little, of the O henry story "The Ransom of Red Chief." It's not a close similarity, but the results are similar. In that story, some thugs kidnap the son of a prominent businessman. The kid enjoys his predicament and dubs himself Red Chief and proceeds to torment his captors with pranks. Meanwhile, his father refuses to pay the ransom. They start to try to bargain and lower their price. After more torment, they are really motivated to negotiate and the father says he will take the boy back if they pay him $250 dollars. They hand over the money and he takes the kid home. The father turns out to be rather strict and is able to control the boy, which is why he enjoys being with the kidnappers, who are out of their league. In much the same way, Race torments his captor, until Dr Quest turns up and Magyar quickly surrenders, just like the kidnappers (except he doesn't have to pay Dr Quest to take Race off his hands). This is why I love this series. Bill Loebs makes every issue fun. Sometimes it is with adventure, sometimes it is with humor. Sometimes it is with characterization. He really fleshes out these iconic characters, without ever deviating from what we saw in the classic cartoons. He makes seeming perfection a benefit, rather than a flaw. He shows that reason can trump emotional over-reaction. He shows that patience and wisdom are better than authority. he also shows that Dr Quest is a badass, when he needs to be and that is why he was such a man to be feared, by those who would seek to conquer or destroy. I really wish Loebs had gotten to write the Superman series, though he did a fine job, on The Flash. He understands the type of character Superman is and can write virtue and still make the character relatable. He also handles mischief beautifully, as can be witnessed in his Epicurus graphic novels, with Sam Kieth, in the form of young Alexander, and even the various philosophers and gods. he also writes some damn funny stuff! Bill Loebs wrote rings around his contemporaries and did it with one hand....literally. It is unconscionable that he found it hard to get writing work, in comics, after a while. The rest of the team are right there with him and Hempel and Wheatley have fun with the visuals, as they did in their own work. Hempel gave us his own wonderful and absurd creations, Gregory and Tug & Buster. Highly recommended stuff. Wheatley was more of a technician and worked as an art director and created some color process technology. The coloring on this is superb and greatly adds to the emotion of the scenes. The letters page features a thoughtful counter-attack by a writer, after a previous letter by the infamous David Malcolm Porta, a fan who was a bit of a pain in Diana Schutz's side, as he wrote some venomous letters that applied a ultra-conservative religious viewpoint to several works and used some inflammatory language, wrapped in a pseudo-intellectual tone. Schutz was a definite liberal and they sparred a bit; but, she was also shrewd enough to let the thoughtful writers that she encouraged in her columns do the talking and many did, quite eloquently.. One of the things I miss from this period were the letter columns from the books with editors who cared about intelligent and mature discussion, as well as how cool the story was. Diana Schutz was one of these editors and Comico benefitted greatly from her presence, both for that fact and the ability to spot and foster real talent for stories beyond the usual adventure fare. Comico had some highly literate stuff and some pure adventure and some great humor; they just made some bad business decisions. Still, it was an exciting time to be a reader and when you actually had to compose thoughts to comment on comics, not just hit a like or dislike icon and make a sarcastic or negative tweet. Those were the days! Next up, Jonny and Race crashland in the Canadian wilderness and Race is injured. It's up to Jonny to take care of Race and find a way to summon help, during a blizzard.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 19, 2022 22:31:18 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #27Easiest cover creation of the series! Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley & Kathryn Mayer-art & letters, Diana Schutz-Canadian That's the credit she has. The story is set in Canada; so, there is a reason for that credit. Synopsis: Dr Quest has landed at a remote airport, while avoiding a blizzard, during a survey mission. However, the Quest 2, with Race and Jonny, is missing. There is no word from them and Dr Quest grows immediately concerned. He has good reason to worry..... The plane is badly damaged and cannot get airborne again. Race is also injured and delirious. Jonny talks to bandit to steel his own courage, but the picture is bleak. They only packed minimal food and cannot light a fire, as Jonny smells fuel, which means leakage. They are under blankets and in winter gear; but, that alone isn't going to keep them warm and food and water are going to be an issue. The radio is out, so no contact with the outside world. They wait for the storm to clear in the morning; but, it is still going on and Race has not improved. Jonny decides he must do something. Jonny reads through a survival manual and takes steps to address their water situation and gather important survival items. It is clear he has learned his lessons well... Meanwhile, Dr Quest is told that nothing can fly and it is too dangerous to continue the search. The team was there to locate a weather satellite that was measuring the depletion of the ozone layer, to correlate with areas of extreme weather, to help predict storms. It is still transmitting signals, but they can't get to it, either. Jonny gives water to Race and Bandit, but Race is still delirious. He mentions the satellite beeping away and Jonny hits on an idea. Their tracker equipment is still receiving the signal and it appears to be close. Jonny puts together equipment and makes a travois, then puts on layers of clothing and snowshoes and heads out to track the satellite. he intends to bring it back, so that its signals will lead a search team to them. Jonny and Bandit set out to find the satellite and bring it back, before dark. Meanwhile, the storm has let up at Dr Quest's locale and the search can continue, but pilots are tired and the search group is halved, so others can sleep and recover. Dr Quest discovers that Wild Jim Cannon, Race's old flying partner, is there and asks him to pilot Quest One... Bandit has trouble with the snow and Jonny pulls him out of a bank, when he starts growling. There is a wolf and Bandit puts himself between Jonny and it. Jonny grabs Bandit and slowly backs away from the wolf, to leave its territory. It doesn't follow; but, Jonny falls backward down an incline, but makes a vital discovery.... Jonny climbs back up to get the travois; but, the wolf is still sniffing it. Jonny remembers that Race said wolves rarely eat people and slowly moves toward it. It backs away and Jonny gets the travois and loads the satellite on it and starts to head back. The wolf follows, at a distance. Jonny follows his tracks back to the plane and the wolf, eventually, disappears. Then, it starts snowing again. The trail is getting covered. Jonny looks for his compass, to check their heading, but it appears he lost it when he tumbled down the incline. He spots a cave and heads to it to take shelter from the storm. Dr Quest and Wild Jim search, but the storm is picking up and the radio calls and says to return. Dr Qest and Wild Bill jointly decide they would rather die in the storm than give up the search and continue flying. Jonny and Bandit crawl into the cave and discover old pelts and leather bags. Jonny finds some paper with the last will of a trapper who got lost in a storm and took shelter, but his food was giving out. He mentions seeing sunrise in the cave mouth and Jonny is able to confirm that the cave mouth faces East. He can use that as a reference point to get back to Quest Two. He huries aong, dragging the travois; but hears the transmitter dying away. It stops and Jonny looks back, then collides with something.... Jonny checks on Race, then hears jet engines. It is the Quest One; but, the transmitter is dead and it can't see them. It is moving away. In desperation, Jonny hits on an idea. he gets Race out of the plane and uses a flare gun to ignite the leaking fuel of the Quest Two. It explodes and the glow of the burning aviation fuel can be seen from the sky and Wild Jim spots it. The Quest One lands nearby and father and son are reunited. The storm keeps them on the ground; but, they have plenty of supplies and the worst danger is over. Dr Quest tends to Race, while Jonny shows Wild Jim the trapper's belongings. Thoughts: This is why William Messner-Loebs was nominated for an Eisner for his writing on the Quest comics. This is a great old school "wilderness survival" story, right there with things like Jack London. It also lets Jonny show how smart he is, like his father, rather than just being a trouble-finding kid. Jonny uses his brains to get them out of their situation, showing great maturity and resource. At the same time, Loebs knows his survival skills, as everything in the story is textbook material. He should be familiar with it, based on his research for his own series, Journey, about the frontiersman Wolverine MacAlistaire. In fact, the trapper whose goods and kit that Jonny finds signed his will as "J." Wolverine MacAlistaire's first name was Joshua. Kind of an unofficial crossover. The art crew does their usual bang up job and the coloring really reflects the various moods, while the setting sells the drama of survival. The faces capture the emotions of the characters perfectly, as you see anger and desperation in Dr Quest, as well as worry. The joy on his face when he finds Jonny can bring a tear to your eye. This is such a great series and longs to be collected. Next time, Race gets to play Hopalong Cassidy.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 30, 2022 22:56:11 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #28-29Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley, Kathryn Mayer-art, letters & colors, Dian Schutz-editor Synopsis: After last issues wilderness survival experience, Dr Quest orders Race, who has had two head injuries, in the past several months, to take a vacation. He sends the boys with him, to keep up their studies and they take a train south, from Canada, to a western desert town, called Rio Diablo, for a rest.... Wild Jim is also along, with the hopes that he and Race can patch things up. The guys all talk about cowboy dreams and movies and western story cliches. Race laments that the real west is just romantic fiction, now, until someone actually tries to hold up their train, only with Uzis instead of Colts. One of them sticks their weapon in Race's face and gets a boot to his own, in response. Wild Jim swings into action, tossing Bandit onto one of them, who thinks a mad dog is attacking him. Race decks him and they give chase to another, but he heads up to the roof of the car, where a getaway helicopter is hovering. Race tries for the rope ladder, but drops off and nearly goes over the side, but Wild Jim grabs him in time. They arrive at Rio Diablo, which looks like a quiet town, until a buckboard runs amok, with an agitated horse pulling it. Race jumps into a tax and tells the driver to follow the wagon. They pull alongside and Race jumps onto the horse and halts it. the driver of the buckboard is Professor Grayton James, an archeologist, who just retired . Wild Jim makes a joke about Race saving the new school marm. The professor is actually starting a dude ranch, but has been experiencing strange accidents, including the theft of supplies that were on the train. He offers the men jobs, but they turn him down. A bystander mentions "Switch" Monroe, a singing cowboy with a western theme park nearby. The men head to get kitted out for some cowboy fun and Race goes for a Randolph Scott-meets-Paladin, while Wild Jim goes for Bronco Lane. Trouble is a brewin', outside, as Switch Monroe and his goons accost the professor. Race swings into action, Western style... Race disarms them, with some fancy (and accidental) shooting and Monroe threatens more trouble, when "Swenson" hears about it. The goons slink off and Race smiles. Wild Jim follows the goons to the theme park and runs into Jezebel Jade. Race and the professor talk about the West and the professor gives him the reality of things.... They see a grave, marked Swenson and wonder if it has something to do with the name Monroe mentioned. Jonny overhears someone plotting to rustle some cattle. Jade turns out to be working for Swenson, whose family bought up the land, in recent years. They were originally swindled out of theirs, in the 1800s, by "the company." Swenson wants everything, including James' ranch. Wild Jim is his new hired hand. Meanwhile, back at the ranch..... Couldn't wait to say that! Race is going to try to break a bronco, but gets tossed off in 15 seconds. Hadji goes up to the horse, speaks calmly to it, mounts and rides the docile animal. Race says he does this sort of thing all the time. Jonny tells Race and the professor about the rustlers and they set up an ambush, while professor James reveals his first name is Jesse. Turns out, they aren't rustling horses, but employees. Race interrupts, decks a goon who tries to assault him, then sees Wild Jim with the rest. The professor is able to sway his people back and they part, with race wondering if he can trust Wild Jim. Race observes the show at the western park and sees Switch Monroe's gimmick, though not Wild Jim and Jade on a roof to make sure he doesn't miss any skeet, with his shootin' iron. They mention something about him humiliating some rube and Race steps out to challenge his shooting. The pistol has gimmicked sights; but, Race doesn't use them, shooting instinctively and accurately. Security turns up to hustle him out and Race tears them apart. switch Monroe threatens with his pistol and misses Race with 5 shots, to the crowd's amazement. Johnny and Hadji find Jade and Wild Jim... Race is taken to Swenson and they debate the past and the present.Swenson admits to hating the West, but is determined to succeed where his family failed. Later, Race ponders what is really going on. Most of the hired help has quit, yet professor James isn't upset. swenson hates the place but is determined to stay and run James off. Something is behind it. Jony mentions Professor James taking the buckboard out into the desert, every day. They track him to see what he is up to. They find him excavating the original Swenson sod house. he plans to exhibit it and drive Swenson nuts. however, he digs into the underground river and water starts pouring into his hole and Race has to get him out. Someone starts shooting at them, but is deliberately missing. Race counter-attacks, but gets ambushed. He is saved by Chester Ironeagle, the professor's attorney. he has papers for the professor, to wind up Swenson. They have been buying up proxies and stock in the theme park and are going to force a stockholders meeting about what has been going on. Swenson is alerted to the presence of the water and the failed ambush and calls the ranch and has Race challenged for another shooting contest. he accepts, though the professor tries to stop him... Heck, Race Bannon eats chairs for breakfast...with sliced bananas, juice, some yogurt and whole wheat toast, for a balanced breakfast! Switch Monroe quits, rather than face Race, as do other goons. Swenson plans on taking him on himself. Wild Jim overhears and calls Jonny, but gets caught. Jonny and Hadji run to warn Race. Jim is hogtied in a storeroom, where he finds masks linking Swenson to the train robbery. Jade turns up and reveals she is working for Swenson's rivals, to take him down, with the IRS and SEC. She leaves Jim in his situation, though provides a lit candle with which he can free himself. Jonny turns up and frees Wild Jim and they go to warn Race, taking a mask as evidence. Race and Swenson face each other for a duel, but Swenson disturbs a rattlesnake. Race tells him to stay still and moves in. He isn't certain he can kill it with a shot and stares at it..... Until Hadji intervenes. Swenson is relieved and calls off the duel, but Monroe shows up, intending to kill both of them. Wild Jim rides in, tackles him and they tumble over the hill. All is well and Race and Jim are reunited as friends. Thoughts: This was fun! Loebs pokes fun at western cliches, while adding modern twists and plenty of in-jokes. There are references to western figures and heroes and cliched phrases and everything is played lightly, but still with intrigue and excitement. The art team makes it all look beautiful and it ends up a sort of tribute to Doug Wildey, whose own Rio was one of the best Western comics, ever, not to mention that he spent several years doing the Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip. Along the way, Loebs throws in some of the real west and nice character moments for everyone, such as Hadji upstaging Race, twice. Jade's appearance is fitting, but brief, though she was appearing in her own 3-issue mini-series (with Race guest starring). At this point, Comico knew their license wasn't being renewed, as sales had dropped off from the first year. They decided to go out with a bang, in terms of content, while they had the rights. There are two more issues, with next issue adapting a cartoon episode (one of the best and scariest) and the final wrapping up some storylines. Then, there are two Jonny Quest Specials, featuring an alternate universe Quest Team, pluse, the afore-mentioned Jezebel Jade mini, featuring art from someone name Kubert. So, stick around for more fun and excitement.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2022 17:39:19 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #30Creative Team: William messner-Loebs-adaptation, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley and Kathryn Mayer-art, Dian Schutz-editor Based on the screenplay by William Hamilton and Doug Wildey Synopsis: Jonny and Hadji are putting together a scrapbook, as an assignment from Race. Kathy sees what they are doing and the boys relate the adventure they had, with living energy. On a remote island, Dr Isaiah Norman experiments with controlling energy. The experiment goes wrong and his equipment explodes. Something emerges from the explosion and lumbers away, leaving smoking footprints in the ground. Dr Norman radios Palm Key for help. They here Dr Norman scream and the transmission cuts out. Race gathers the boys and they load their "new plane." Meanwhile, a village on the island is disturbed by strange howling noises.... The Quest team heads out in the new VTOL Quest One aircraft, headed for Cape Island. The boys and Bandit sleep during the long journey and wake up to find that they have arrived at Cape Island. They land near Dr Norman's lab and survey the damage and the strange craters.... Dr Quest remains in the compound to look over Dr Norman's notes, while Race, Jonny and Hadji don rocket belts, to survey the area, from the air. They come across the destroyed village and check out the wreckage, then hear the strange howling. Race tells them to get airborne and the witness a path clearing through the jungle foliage, leaving destruction in the wake... They try to warn the villagers, but no one is around. Something moves towards them, as a hut explodes. Race fires a rifle at the noise, but nothing happens. they take back to the air; but, Hadji's rocket belt has cut out. Race and Jonny swoop down to rescue Hadji from whatever is headed towards him. They report back to Dr Quest, who has finished checking over the notes and tells them what has happened.... Dr Norman sought to control molecular energy and somehow created an energy being, which consumes other energy and grows. It can consume living things, electricity, sunlight, any form of energy. They have to destroy it and Dr Quest thinks he knows how; but, they must see it to trap it. Jonny suggests paint and Dr Quest and Race thinks it is a brilliant idea. After checking out the rocket belts and gathering supplies, they take to the air and follow the path of destruction. They see something moving and drop down to bomb it with paint balloons, revealing the form of the creature.... They move off to a cave and set up electrical equipment. They set up a system of lights to lure the creature, as the sun goes down, hoping to lead it to the cave. They hear the creature and Dr Quest takes off for the cave, but Bandit chases after him. He runs out and barks at the creature and Jonny chases after him. he grabs the dog and runs back with him, yelling for Race to turn on the first light. Race throws the switch and the energy draws the creature. He switches it off and turns the next switch. It follows to the cave, where Dr Quest tries to lure it in deeper, until it is in position and Dr Quest tells Race to throw the main switch.... The monster is destroyed and they clean up and take reference photos, then head for home. They boys finish their story and the scrapbook, and it is very late. Kathy has conked out on the floor and Bandit is asleep on top of her. Thoughts: This was one of the spookiest, most legitimately terrifying episodes of the series. The use of sound effects, music and character reactions is very effective, allowing your mind to conjure all kinds of terrors. Then you see things like large swaths of jungle disappear and the unseen creature moves through it, leaving destruction behind. The screaming effect really gets under your skin and Hadji's close call and Jonny & Bandit running from the creature are very tense scenes. The paint idea is a work of genius as it is a logical step in marking the creature and it slowly reveals its form, of a hideous mass with a glowing eye and the howl. It is drawn by the lights to the cave and then the electrical equipment destroys its form, releasing the energy and its consciousness, in a terrifying display of light and sound. The episode ends with a light moment, as the boys try to make Bandit unafraid of monsters and put a sheet over themselves to scare the dog. bandit leaps at them, knocking them down, then stands on them, barking, while Race and Dr Quest laugh. Dr Normal is voiced by John Stephenson, the original voice actor for Dr Quest. It was felt he sounded too similar to Mike Roads, who played Race and he was replaced by Don Messick, a veteran Hanna-barbaera voice artist (and voice of Scooby Doo). This allowed Stephenson to return for an episode. In a poll of fans, this was ranked as the #1 favorite episode of the series. It's not mine (Q Missile Mystery); but, it is one of my top 5. For my money, The House of Seven Gargoyles is its only rival for atmosphere and real scares. Both unnerved me, as a kid. The gang does a great job of adapting things, with the framing sequence of the boys relating the story to Kathy, as they work on the scrapbook, adding a nice touch. they are pretty faithfull to things, though they use some different angles and add the SR-71 version of the Quest One, instead of using the original design from the series. At this point, Dian Schutz announces that Comico has been losing money, keeping the series going. It did very well, its first year; but, sales steadily eroded until it was no longer profitable. They believed in the book and kept it going; but, it was decided not to renew the license. However, Comico was determined to end on a high note. With that, we have one more issue of the series, which puts a nice cap on the Comico adventures. Meanwhile, two Jonny Quest Specials were put out and a 3-issue Jezebel Jade mini-series. We will cover those, after the final issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 11, 2022 20:49:38 GMT -5
Jonny Quest #31Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley & Kathryn Mayer-art and letters, Dian Schutz-editor Synopsis: Kathy and Benton have been together for a year now, and Kathy wants to talk to Benton about where they go from there and he is more concerned with another projects and she lowers the boom and he doesn't handle it well.... He puts his foot, shin, and leg into his mouth and she storms off to go to work. She walks the beach, where Jonny & Hadji are studying for a test on English history, as Bandit snoozes. Kathy stops to give Bandit a belly rub. Race turns up with more stuff to add to their misery and Kathy takes pity and tells Race That she wanted to teach the boys about social work and this would be a good day. He hesitates; but, the boys seeing an escape route, gush at the idea. Hadji cheers, but Jonny cautions him that it might be more boring than the Kings of England. They go with Kathy to her office, where two other caseworkers are out sick and Kathy has to take up the slack. Meanwhile, Race accompanies Dr Quest to try to get a computer on-line for a patron. Kathy has Jonny deliver some papers to a co-worker and Jonny overhears him advocate for a client, over the phone, for a necessary operation. He takes the papers Jonny gives him and breaks down into tears. Kathy takes the boys out on her rounds and she tells them about job burnout, which is very high for social workers. who do important work, in a system that doesn't seem to care about people. Kathy starts having second thoughts about bringing the boys, as they enter a rough neighborhood, when they are accosted by a gang. They apply some of race's other lessons to the situation.... The boys & Bandit kick as......ide their tormentors and send them running. The see a storm brewing to the south. Dr Quest and Race traveled in a hovercraft and run through said storm and arrive at Waldrop Industries soaking wet and find the people there less than engaged in getting the computer working. Dr Quest grumpily asks for towels, specs and technicians. The boys and Kathy meet up with Danny Klews, a homeless man who prefers the streets to the center that Kathy registered him at. He was a carpenter, but lost everything in a drop in the housing market. He has a daughter out west, but doesn't get along with his son-in-law and she doesn't need him around to trouble her, he says. Kathy and the boys go, but she calls into the office to try to trace the daughter and asks a colleague to check about an apartment rehabbing job that they might be able to get Danny a job. She then goes on to check on a Sophie Holly, a client of one of her sick colleagues. She is an elderly woman, living on her own. She says she is baking cookies and her husband will take care of the overgrown lawn, when he gets back, but Kathy saw in the files that he died 5 years ago. The boys smell gas and discover that he has the stove on, but not lit. Jonny struggles with the window, which has been painted shut. Kathy grabs a rolling pin from a drawer and they use it as a lever to pry up the window and are able to get fresh air into the room. The woman is obviously suffering from Alzheimers or dementia. Kathy calls into the office and is told that Mrs Holly tested in the acceptable range. She argues what she observed and her boss is more concerned about media coverage, if they take her out of the environment. She hangs up and they go to check on another client, a Mrs Kyle, who has a bruise on her cheek. The husband is elsewehre and she has two boys. One of them lets slip that their father is mean to their mother when he is drubk. The mother becomes terrified, then the door bursts open and in comes Mr Kyle, with a revolver... Kathy talks him down and gets him to put away the gun. However, he turns it on himself. Kathy leaps at him and moved his arm enough that he wounded himself, but will survive. Jonny tries to console her with that fact and she says maybe they should eat lunch. Kathy unloads some of her frustrations with the seeming hopelessness of her job. Elsewhere, Race regales a tech with stories of their adventures, while Dr Quest pours over schematics, looking for an answer as to why the system won't come on-line. Race asks about Kathy, saying she looked pretty grim and Dr Quest says they had a fight. he then lets slip that he is thinking of marrying her. He is worried about the danger of their lives and Race says to let her decide that. The tech says something about racoons and Dr Quest recalls Kathy's suggestion that he called "stupid," and realizes that it is the source of the problem, when the tech says they get into the air vents. He tries to call Kathy and tell her, but she is out of the office, at the hospital and something about a gunshot wound. Dr Quest is stunned. Kathy is fine, checking back in with the office, asking about the carpentry gig and Mrs Holly, then learns she is being taken from her home, with tv cameras present. She rushes over. Kathy arrives in time to get a camera in her face and aggressive questions that ignore the context of the situation. They leave and Kathy leans against the house, depressed. She wonders if she mis-read the situation and feels guilty. Jonny has just the right words to cheer her up.... Dr Quest and Race arrive in the hovercraft and Dr Quest starts talking to Kathy about reassessing the parameters of their relationship, as Race takes the boys aside. The boys realize it is back to the kings of England and actually recite the progression perfectly, realizing they knew it, they just had test anxiety. meanwhile, the body language of Kathy and Dr Quest tell us everything we need to know...... Thoughts: This was the final issue of the regular series, as Comico decided they couldn't continue to lose money on it, but were proud of the work they did. They did not renew the license and let William Messner-Loebs end the series with a bang. The series began, (well, second issue) with a recollection of how Jonny's mother died and it ends, with Dr Quest proposing to Kathy, right after Jonny told her he would be proud if she were her mother. It's a nice circle and the end to one of the best written comic series of the 80s; and, for all time, in my book. This story highlights the tremendous burden put on social services in most communities. Communal societies do not come with equalities, no matter the politcal system and those who work to help those left out of the benefits of society often fight an uphill battle, with both hands tied behind their back and completely unarmed. Yet, there are still people who try to step up and make a difference. Often it is small victories and job burnout is extremely high. When I left the military, I took some course towards the idea of obtaining certification to teach. One of my instructors was a counselor, in her day job, dealing with situations where the law was called in for cases of child abuse or neglect. One evening, she arrived at class and told us about the case she had dealt with, of a young girl who was being abused. She spoke to the child alone and the girl said she could take the physical abuse but couldn't handle the mental abuse any longer. The adults claimed the child was out of control and abused them; but it was obvious that the child was abused and she told the police she wanted the girl out of there, immediately. However, the girl then recanted her story and she was stuck, legally, as she didn't have the evidence to force the situation and knew that child was staying in an abusive household out of fear of the unknown and she couldn't convince her other wise. She told us she was cancelling class, as she just couldn't spend two hours trying to teach adolescent psychology, after that. We understood. I later met her at Barnes & Noble and she recalled me from the class. We talked for a few minutes and she confirmed that she left that job, as it was tearing her down. She still worked to help people, but was doing so at a women's shelter, helping women and children escape from abusive environments and be able to live on their own. It makes anything I ever did in the Navy or otherwise as completely insignificant. William Messner-Loebs was a tremendous writer, who brought great humor and caring to his work and wrote real characters, whether they put on spandex to punch criminals, explored the Michigan wilderness, taught philosophy in ancient Greece (while occasionally dealing with the gods) or went on adventures with their scientist father. It is unconscionable that work should dry up for him, with that level of demonstrated craftsmanship; and, yet, it did. He made some good money, working with Sam Keith, on The Maxx, but health issues ate a lot of it up and hew was, at one point, working part time for Panera, and was nearly homeless at another. Some reprinted work helped send some money his way and a bit of comic scripting; but, it should take circumstances like that to provide work to a great writer, especially when mediocre ones, with steady gigs outside of comics, get paid to write stories that don't even approach the level of work of Bill Loebs. That's my soapbox, anyway. This wrapped up nearly 3 years of terrific stories, from a series that had every right to be just repetitive junk, based on an old cartoon series. However, Jonny Quest was not just some old cartoon series and it inspired greatness in the people who decided to create new adventures for the characters. It was both a great homage to a classic and a continuation of what made that series so beloved, to my generation and that of the 60s. Jonny Quest gave us thrills, with some real science at the heart of it, with well developed characters. It didn't entirely escape the prejudices of the period, but it did more to show good and bad in all cultures and showed how brains and determination trumped brawn. The comic continued that and allowed the world to be expanded, to give us an idea about the woman who married Dr Quest and bore the titular hero. In just a couple of stories, Bill Loebs concocted Judith Quest and made us care about her and we understood more about Jonny and Benton. He brought a new love interest into things, with Kathy Martin and used her to showcase the important work of caring for less fortunate, in society. He made Dr Zin more than just the evil villain and he gave us stories of the family dog, a valiant creature if there ever was one. He was aided by a who's who of the industry, before Marc hemp[el and Mark Wheatley became the regular art team, along with Kathryn Mayer. They had to follow on the heels of series creator Doug Wildey, Dave Stevens, Steve Rude, Carmine Infantino, Dan Spiegle, Murphy Anderson, and a few others, yet they held their own. The back cover gives a tribute to the creative team..... This isn't completely the end, as we have two Jonny Quest Specials, both written by Arthur Byron Cover; and, a Jezebel Jade mini-series, written by William Messner-Loebs and drawn by Adam Kubert! I will be covering those, before we put this thread to rest.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 25, 2022 16:31:53 GMT -5
Jonny Quest Special #1-2These were both by Arthur Byron Cover, with Richard Howell doing the art of the first one, and John Hebert on the second. The first issue featuresa story of time travel, as Dr Quest is visited by his grandfather, who had developed a time machine and taken it to the future, where he met and fell in love with a bipedal feline creature and tried to take her back to the past, to live; but, her presence creates time paradoxes and suddenly various people, including alternate dimensional Quests, turn up chasing the couple. It takes time, but Dr Quest figures out that the feline woman's presence is causing the disruption. As the couple tries to escape into the timestream, Dr Quest gives Jonny a kaleidoscope, the Quenton Quest gave him, as a child, and tells him to hurl it into the timestream, as the machine starts to enter it, which sets everything right. I never thought much of the story, as it never really explains the woman or the effect she has on others (they see her as different people) and never really handled the evil Quest doppelgangers well. The art wasn't particularly memorable, either, though it isn't bad. The story needed a major re-write and it just kind of sits there. The second features the Quests in Moscow, while the USSR was still in existence, as they try to assist a Russian counterpart to Benton with a problem of meteorites, which he claims came from Phaeton, an alleged planet between Mars and Jupiter that exploded and created the asteroid belt. Dr Quest poo-poos the idea, but learns that the meteors carry a hive mind intelligence, one of which was found and kept by Lenin, as a good luck charm. It reanimates his corpse and spreads a zombie-like effect over people. The Quest's are resistant to it, because of the individualistic nature of American society (un-huh) and Bandit's bite cures a KGB agent (counterpart of Race) and they figure out that is the secret of undoing the influence of the meteors. bandit gets the meteor away from lenin and they are able to get the other fragments and end the Phaeton influence. This one is a bit better, as it is a more developed story, though the art is rather middling. There is nothing especially memorable in either of these books and they are probably the weakest of the Quest material at Comico. Michael Eury edited these, though Diana Schutz was still with Comico (but not for long). I think these might have been better pitches than finished stories and, with the license expiring, they just decided to milk it for everything they could. It lack's the sharp writing and humor of William Messner-Loebs and Cover was never a major name in comics, though he did write a few comic-based novels (including adaptations of J Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars). The last Quest project does have William Messner-Loebs; so, we will switch to something more positive. Jezebel Jade #1-3Creative Team: William Messner-Loebs-writer, Adam Kubert-art, Dian Schutz-editor Synopsis: Jonny and Hadji have been assigned cleaning duties, in exchange for accompanying Dr Quest to a conference in Jamaica. They start in Race's closet and find a manuscript, for a spy novel, dated from 1976, which Jonny says was a "long time ago, (a decade before this issue, creeping on 50 years ago, now, which makes me feel so old I am just going to cry, for a moment......SNIFF...okay, that's better). Race is sent to Hong Kong to track down a kidnapped scientist, working on endorphin research, which may provide a block against the aging process. The Russians are keen to get their hands on his work. Meanwhile, in Hong Kopng, Jezebel Jade is hired to recover tapes which would be used to blackmail a German official, revealing his treason. She consents to stealing them back, for a price... She runs into a French dominatrix, who is in the business of blackmail and they have a discussion... Jade whoops her, ties her to her bed (of course she does) and then steals her wig an eyepatch to masquerade as the woman, to get the blackmail money from the German and then deliver the videotapes he seeks, for her fee. She gags Lily Martel, the dominatrix, then goes to answer the door and is nearly killed by the German. She is saved by Race and George Wittenby, his Hong Kong contact. Wittenby has worked with Martel before, but does not seem to notice Jade's subterfuge. They offer her money to help them locate the missing scientist; enough money to give up the extortion racquet. She agrees. They sugegst leaving the place, as it isn't safe. jade grabs some stuff and they see the trussed up Lily, who Jade had put in her own clothes. Jade claims that Lily is her and that she was in league with the German and Wittenby shoots and kills her. race is surprised but Wittenby says you can't show weakness to the foreign types. Jade stays with Wittenby and Race and loses her disguise, while convincing them that she has created a disguise, by reverting to her actual appearance, making them think she died her hair black and inserted a glass eye. These guys must be morons. Wittenby believes Dr Zin is at the heart of things. That night, Jade is affected by the wounds she got from a poisoned whip (Martel's) and Wittenby thinks there is something wrong. They try to contact their superiors for back-up and find out the other two agents, following up on possible lead, are dead. Wittenby takes them to see a man about Dr Zin and are introduced to Chou Sen Ping, aka Ernie, who has info on Zin. of course he does, he works for him.... Jade kills a guard and grabs his weapons, then drags race along as she crashes out a high rise window, shooting back at their attackers, as they fall. Issue two opens with Jonny and Hadji reading on, as Race and Jade fall from high up in a building. They are saved by a fountain below and escape. A high speed chase ensues, with Jade hanging onto the roof of the car, while firing an Uzi at their pursuers, until she eliminates them. They go back to Wittenby's to retrieve some gear and meet up again, while Jade tries to maintain the ruse that she is Martell. Race is attacked by an assassin of Zin's and saved by Jade. They go to the Floating City, the interconnected maze of junks, moored in the harbor, where Jade has friends. She acquires her disguise kit and fixes Race up to, at first glance, to appeara Chinese. She also learns that the woman she entrusted her kit to is the mother of the assassin. he was working for Zin. They go on to consult a feng shui expert, to learn about the building they escaped and he says the top 3 floors had been forbidden to him. he also says there is something odd there and it is said that the Bones of Galahad rest in Hong Kong. They move on, but are followed. race sets up an ambush and discovers it is Wild Jim cannon, his partner, who was sent to search Jamaica, one of the three leads. he defied orders and headed for Hong Kong. They pool info and resources. Wild jim takes them back to his hotel and says he signed Race's name. Jade realizes that he blew their cover and tries to stop him opening the door to the room, but it is a trap. Wild Jim goes down from an electrical shock and an assassin emerges. race and Jade go on the run again. Jade has had enough and she and Race split, her thinking he is soft and him thinking she is cold blooded. As they go their separate ways, jade runs into Ling, the other son of the woman on the junk. he is dying and tells her Zin's people came in search of them, but they resisted and didn't tell them where they hid her kit. he dies and Jade swears to rip out Zin's heart for their deaths. Race, who came back when Ling spotted Jade, sees a different side of her. Jade is still reeling from the poison and leads race below the city, to the ruins of the older city, where resides the one man she trusts, a criminal who stole from a crime boss..... The man says he has an antidote from the poison and he further tells Race that Lily Martell is Jade, to which he replies, "Well, duh!" Race knew she wasn't Martell and since Jade was supposed to have been killed by Wittenby, when he shot Lily, Race figured she must really be Jade, since she identified the woman. He further tells Race that they could turn her into her enemies for a big reward, turn her into the authorities for her crimes, or turn her over to people who traffic in attractive women. Race says she needs someone to depend on and she has been his partner, so no. The criminal suggests he could make it happen and Race points his gun at him, showing it won't. He gives Race the antidote and he gives a shot to Jade, who turns out to be sort of awake and aware. Race admits he figured things out when he saw both her pupils, including the one of a supposed glass eye, dilate, in the alley. Jade kisses him after learning he stared down their host, with an empty pistol. She likes his style. Issue 3 has Race and Jade, disguised as an American tourist (her) and a rickshaw driver (him) go to a temple, where she betrays Race to Zin. He meets Fu Manch, who is actually the survivor of three Crusaders, who found a Jewish alchemist, who had an army of golems, who taught them (after being tortured) the secret of the Elixir of Life. one poisoned the other two and stole the secret, hiding in Hong Kong, the living "Bones of Galahad." His serum is about gone and he needs the scientists discovery. race is thrown in a cell, with the missing scientist (who looks a lot like Joe Kubert), who says he sweetened the results of his research, falsifying data to relieve pressure to find a breakthrough. There is no endorphin serum. meanwhile, Jade didn't betray Race, just got him on the inside, while she snuck in. They find help in the form of Race's boss, who turns up, as does Wild jim, who is in Zin's custody. meanwhile, Fu's stooges think he is nuts and want out and betray him. It ends up with a bomb, a fight with Zin and his backers and the reanimated corpse of Lilly Martell. Of course, the good guys win. Thoughts: This shows why the mini-series was in a whole 'nother league than the specials. Messner-Loebs concocts a great spy thriller, mixing in elements of the pulp novels that preceded the spy novel, along with nods to things like Terry and the Pirates (whose Dragon Lady inspired Jezebel Jade and her relationship with Race) and Fu Manchu. The Crusader is never called Fu Manchu, but is dressed as him and the Elixir of Life is the translation of Fu's Elixir Vitae. The Crusader made himself a power, setting East against West, for centuries, but had reached the end of his extended life. Joke was on him, as the endorphin serum was a fake. Through all of this, we learn of Race and Jade's past, as they maneuver through a great spy mystery, filled with action and intrigue and way more suggestive things than the cartoon could even imply. Adam Kubert was relatively unknown, apart from his surname and was relatively fresh out of his father's school; but, he was a chip off the old block. You see more of his father's style in his work than his brother Andy, though both have always shown elements of his influence. The brothers would work together, after this, on Adam Strange, as DC. When I interviewed for the Kubert School, there was a display of artwork from notable graduates, in the waiting area, which included one of Adam's covers from this mini. At that point, I hadn't even seen it, but would soon buy it. As with his regular series work, Loebs demonstrates a terrific grasp of the characters, while giving them new facets. he also demonstrates his skill as a writer and wide range of influences and experiences, which he adds to the story. The mini and the specials were released in conjunction with the last few issues of the series, so everything came to an end, together. This was it for Jonny Quest and Comico. The original impetus for the series, the new Jonny Quest cartoon series, had already come and gone, to general indifference. It was marketed as part of the syndicated Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera package, as The New Adventures of Jonny Quest. 13 episodes were produced, to go along with the edited original episodes, though these were less violent and more sedate than the originals. A stone man, Hardrock, was introduced part way through the series and joins the team. Jonny Quest would disappear for a while, apart from two movies, Jonny's Golden Quest and Jonny Quest vs the Cyber Insects, after Turner Broadcasting had purchased the Hanna-Barbera studio and properties. The first was shown in 1992 and the second in 1995. In 1997, a new series premiered on the Turner channels (Cartoon network, TBS and TNT), The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. It was a new series, with no continuity to the past ones, with a teenaged Jonny and Hadji, plus Jessie Bannon, Race's daughter. It also featured a cyber world (Questworld) where the Quests appeared in digital form. The production was plagued with troubles and cost problems and was retooled after an initial block of episodes, with the remaining done in more in keeping with the original series, but with continued mixed results. It has its fans and I sampled a bit and it was okay, but never as well written as the original, nor as exciting, due to heavier restrictions on things like violence and weapons. Dark Horse put out a licensed comic; but, as I was neither a fan of the later cartoons, nor thought the comic was anything special, I skipped it then and will not review it now. Thus endeth Jonny Quest. William Messner-Loebs would write for DC for several years, including a long run on The Flash and a stint on Aquaman, as well as two Epicurus The Sage graphic novels, with Sam Kieth and a further collaboration with Keith, writing his series, The Maxx. Kieth had already done a Maxx story, in Comico Primer #5, but this was a slightly different version of the character. Mark Wheatley did some writing for DC, as well as his own Insight Studios projects, as well as the color production techniques that Insight helped pioneer. Marc Hempel produced 4 volumes of Gregory, for DC's Piranha Press (which also published William messner-Loebs' Epicurus books), about a delightful kid in a straightjacket, in a mental institution, whose best friend is a rat, named Herman Vermin. They were great anarchic a nd slightly scatalogical fun. Hempel also produced Tug & Buster, through his own company and contributed to Mad, in the 00s. So, we say goodbye to one of the best written series of the 80s and one that sailed under most radars. Even if you are not a fan of the original cartoon, this is a great series to read, both for the quality of the work that went into it, but also for the sheer love of adventure it provided, as well as some poignant moments.
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