Some comic pages right out of history.
Of course the first thing I thought of when I first heard about the then-forthcoming Flintstones revamp from DC Comics:
…was John Byrne’s “realistic” version of the family from Sensational She-Hulk #5 (1989), as seen here in this detail from the cover:
…and here’s a bit from inside that book:
Now, so far from DC’s Hanna-Barbera retoolings, we’ve had Future Quest (which everyone expected to be good), Scooby Apocalypse (which surprised people by being good as well), Wacky Raceland (bit of a misfire, but we’ll see how it goes), and now this, The Flintstones. I…I’m not quite sure what to make of it. My initial response to it I posted on Twitter, where I said it was “weird,” and I was asked “good weird or bad weird?” My reply was “weird weird.”
There’s stuff in here about Fred and Barney being veterans of “The Paleolithic Wars,” there’s Slate wanting to exploit Neanderthal workers, there’s the unpleasant fate of one of the characters shown in the modern day framing sequence…and that there even is a modern day framing sequence is a bit strange period. Tone shifts around quite a bit, from the expected dinosaur jokes to the poignant backstory for one of the cast. It’s definitely an interesting read…I didn’t know what to expect from writer Mark Russell on this, since I’d not read his work (though I understand Prez is good), but I’ve enjoyed Steve Pugh’s art in the past (on Grimjack and Hellblazer) and he did a fine job here, though trying to reconcile this version of the Flintstones cast with the permanently-embedded mental image we all have of the cartoons is quite the task.
Anyway, I’ll certainly be back for the second issue. It’s not often a comic catches me off guard like this, and that’s something I can very much appreciate. Don’t quite know if it’s good as such, but it has my attention.
I… I…
Yabba-dabba-don’t.
Prez is quite good.
The new Flintstones is one of those new DC Hanna-Barbera where it seems that the gimmick is twisting the original concept, and it remains to be seen how effective that;’s going to be before the book gets cancelled. Flintstones twists it a little bit by adding serious themes to the cartoon adventures of a big lug; Scooby Apocalypse twists it fairly far; <I<Wacky Raceland extremely far. Future Quest doesn’t stretch the concept — it gives us a Crisis on Infinite Earth of the Hanna-Barbera action heroes, but it all (so far) fits in perfectly what we’ve seen on the screen before.
For the record, I liked The Flintstones and I really enjoyed how OTT Wacky Raceland was. The market’ll sift through these all and eventually declare its verdict.
Now where’s my raw, naturalistic-look adventure comic of The Hair Bear Bunch?
I’m holding out for Shirt Tales 2099
I have no intention of buying this comic, but I am loving Pebbles’ hair on that cover. This book deserves to exist for that reason alone.
Also, I intend to pick up Future Quest when personal finances allow. I hear that those guys’ run on Flash Gordon was good, so I’ll be picking that up, too, when I can find it.
oh man! i agree mike! totally caught me off guard…in a good way.
I wouldn’t have bought this on a bet, but looked through it at my LCS. The fact that not one appliance says “It’s a living” confirms their lack of understanding of the series.