Last year DC Comics wound up a maxi-series using characters from Hanna Barbera’s action heroes. Everyone from Space Ghost, Team Quest, Mightor, and even The Impossibles got in on the act. Titled Future Quest, this series received positive reviews and showed that the potential for crossovers and contemporizing these great characters was indeed possible.
With the success of this series and the ongoing Future Quest Presents monthly DC comics produces, perhaps now is the time for these animated superheroes to come back to the small screen.
Funko vinyl of these figures are regular sellers at comic shops and shows, and action figures ranging from Lego style, “block figures” to 8-inch action figures with full uniforms and accessories are regularly sold out online.
Even though Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman were comedic sendups of the main and guest characters, such as Mightor as a judge on Harvey Birdman, the audience for these shows were quite amazing. However, there was quite an outcry by older fans for these characters to be put back into the adventures that made them fan favorites years ago.
In recent years Space Ghost has had a short animated return to adventure with a cold open team up with Batman on the Cartoon Network series Batman: The Brave And The Bold. With this duo teaming up to stop one of Space Ghosts villains and dialoguing over sidekicks, this short foray back onto adventure based animation, although light-hearted, showed that there is indeed a precedent for the Hanna Barbera cast of super characters. From the family with the monsters-as-friends vibe of The Herculoids to the secret agent as the superhero of Birdman, these shows would have something for everyone. Also, the Future Quest series also has shown that diversification with these characters can be done, so that some of the old school sensibilities and stuffiness of the originals need not bog down these characters franchise potential.
With the wave of nostalgia of older fans, and as new fans of these animated characters are being discovered, WB/DC Animation/Hanna Barbera could do worse than bring these heroes back to TV.
