In an unexpected announcement today courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, DC Comics has announced they will feature a new slate of Hanna-Barbera comics. This move will bring classic Hanna-Barbera characters back to the forefront with a modern comic twist as we can expect titles like Future Quest, Scooby Apocalypse, Space Ghost, and of course The Flintstones. DC has also got some stellar creators on board including Amanda Conner, Jeff Parker, Jim Lee, Mark Russell and many more. So suffice to say any Hanna-Barbera fan young or old should be really excited for this new line up.
Here is what DC Comics CO-Publisher Dan DiDio had to say to Entertainment Weekly about his relations with the Hanna-Barbera properties and the reason behind the new direction.
“From a personal standpoint, I was always a fan of the old Hanna-Barbera characters, having grown up on them. “I think what you find right now is there’s so much material on pop culture, and these characters resonate with so much of our fanbase. It was so fun to go out and look at them, but not just bring back versions that existed 40, 50 years ago and really look at it the way of saying, if these characters were created and interpreted today, how would they exist? So we handed off our materials to a number of top creators, and what came back was an exciting look that felt very true to the existence of the characters.” -Dan DiDio
We are still awaiting all the details but here is what we could fine on the creative teams that DC has chosen to reintroduce the world of Hanna-Barbera to comic fans. Thanks to comicbookresoures.com we have some information on who will be leading this awesome comics. As mention above on The Flintstones Amanda Conner will be handling the designs while Mark Russell will write. Wacky Race Land will feature Max Sexton and Ken Pontac, while Future Quest will be helmed by Jeff Parker and Evan “Doc” Shaner and will star not only Jonny Quest but Space Ghost. Finally the all-star team of Jim Lee, Keith Giffen and Howard Porter will be bringing us Scooby Apocalypse.
As you can see DC is really putting their best foot forward with this new slate. In the piece DiDio and Jim Lee elaborate on the creative teams, their vision and what he feels will be the standout or “crown jewel” of the slate, Scooby Apocalypse.
“What you’ll see is that Amanda Connor really looked at the Flintstones and found a way to move them forward, even though they’re set in the past, And then we have a great other creators: Doc [Evan “Doc” Shaner, Justice League Darkseid War: Green Lantern] is having a great time with the characters, and we brought in Mark Sexton, one of the designers from Mad Max: Fury Road to take a pass on the Rocky Races.” -Dan DiDio
“I’m a huge Scooby Doo fan, as I think most people are, I mean, look at these iconic series and they were cultural touchstones for everyone. All my kids know of Scooby Doo from the various cartoons and live action movies, and we’re in a period where you have people my age that are spending their days thinking about cartoon and sci-fi action movies. It’s a multigenerational obsession at this point, and we just thought it would just be really interesting to take the cartoon version of these characters and see where they would be if we took what existed in the very first iteration of the cartoon and moved it into this day and age.” -Jim Lee
As Always we want to hear from you! Are you a Hanna-Barbera Fan? And if so which of these titles most excites you? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, CBR