Jonny Quest - The Comico Comics!

I do not know why after so many years that Jonny Quest finally at long last got a comic book series, but thanks to the little company Comico he did. And it's a cracker too. Doug Wildey was involved deeply with the early days of the strip, drawing amazing covers and even giving Quest fans three lush and beautiful adaptations of vintage Quest episodes in Jonny Quest Classics. Oh that he had been able to do a comic adaptation for all of the original twenty-six, but I'll enjoy what I have in all its beauty and be thankful.

The main comic book was handled by a who's who of comic book talent from the era with covers by Dave Stevens, Ken Steacy, Dan Spiegle, Ernie Colon, Wendy Pini, Carmine Infantino and others gracing the comic. The interiors were done for the most part by the team of Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley. I'll confess that at the time their offbeat and kinetic style was not my ideal of how to present the Quest universe, but over time I have more and more appreciated the light and fresh approach they brought to the book. They managed to tap into the luster of Wildey's world without mimicking it in a mawkish or constrictive way. The series ran for several years, thirty-one regular issues with two special editions. All of it had at least a mote of the classic Quest magic and it opened the Quest universe up in a number of creative ways. It's astounding that these comics have never been reprinted in any way, especially in a world in which nearly all comics have been reprinted. They certainly deserve to find a new audience. For now, we have only the back issue bins. Me, I was lucky enough to be there when they arrived on the stands and I was savvy enough never to let them leave. They are worth the quest.

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Life On Mars!

Mars is a smart sassy sci-fi tale which blew across the comics landscape in the midst of the early 80's Indy burst, made a mark and then disappeared. That was the case until a few years ago when IDW put out a rock solid trade of this idiosyncratic story of life on Mars. This was one of First Comics most idiosyncratic comics, and alas one of the few which didn't latch onto a sufficient audience to run its full fourteen issues, but sadly the initial story was squeezed into twelve. All twelve are here and more.

The scenario is this, a striking redhead named Morgana Trace motivated by her genius and her profound injuries leads a scientific mission to begin to terraform Mars. Morgana lost the use of her legs when young and her father was killed also by by an act of violence. She grows up to create technology which contributes to the terraforming of Mars and which under that lesser gravity might restore her own mobility which is assisted by mechanical means. But after starting the mission the team loses contact with Earth and fearing the worst, goes into a ten thousand year hibernation while the Martian landscape beneath them changes to meet their needs. But when Morgana revives she finds herself alone save for the ship's computer and she goes to find her comrades.

What follows is a raucous and sometimes hallucinatory adventure as she discovers much about her surviving comrades, the planet , and herself. This volume is loaded with background information by Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel on the creation of this story and gives real insight to the rather deep meaning of it all.

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