Hanna Barbera cartoons have been touchstone for iterations of generations growing up, from the sitcom-antics of The Flintstones to the Horror-lite mis-adventures of The Mystery Inc. Gang in Scooby Doo. Barbara’s properties have seen numerous adaptations on Tv, Film and even Comic books, which now see’s DC about to bring some of our classic heroes into the modern day while retaining all the “Jinkies” and “Yabba-Dabba-Doo’s” of course.
In a story broken by Entertainment Weekly, Co-publisher of DC Entertainment Dan DiDio outlined the vision that DC has for the Barbera comics:
“From a personal standpoint, I was always a fan of the old Hanna-Barbera characters, having grown up on them,” assured DiDio. “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?”
The headlining comic in DC’s slate will be Scooby Doo Apocalypse which gives the impression that the Mystery Inc. Gang will be dealing with more than vengeful Janitors and money-grabbing Hotel Owners. “I’m a huge Scooby Doo fan, as I think most people are,” reveals veteran artist Jim Lee whose work at DC has made him a household name. “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.”
Other than the artwork revealed little is known about the comics other than the premises going forward. The Flintstones will remain largely unchanged when compared to Wacky Race Land that undoubtedly has been inspired by the success of last years Mad Max.
DC are even brining their long-history with superheroes into the fray with bringing together Barbera’s various superheroes under one banner. Future Quest will see superheroes like Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, the Herculoids, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio team up to stop various nefarious forces as a Justice League style super-team.
“You’re gonna have an epic adventure in the future stories with Jonny Quest and Space Ghost,” explains DiDio. “You’re going to have a scary, dangerous world in Wacky Raceland that is just as strange and dynamic as you hope it would be. I think Scooby Doo is going to excite people and challenge people, and I think that we’re going to use Flintstones to really bring out that voice and social commentary that they might’ve brought out in the ’60s and raise it back for today.”
Co-Publisher alongside DiDio, Lee just hopes that the new comics “put a smile on people’s faces. I think we think of these characters so much as our childhood, and I want people to kind of embrace these updated versions of the characters and really understand that at the core, these concepts are not just limited to little kids.” With DiDio promising that “when you see what’s going to happen with Scooby and Wacky Races, even if you were cynical about how we approached these things, you’re going to love everything once you see the finished product.”
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