The past few years have seen a flood of comics from Dynamite Entertainment based on classic cartoons: ThunderCats, Powerpuff Girls, and Gargoyles, just to name a few. It was only a matter of time before we got a crossover, because let’s be honest, there’s so much you could do with one of those! Joe Casey and Sebastian Piriz take that leap with Space Quest #1, which brings together the worlds of Space Ghost and Jonny Quest.
Following a trip into the future in his solo series, Jonny, his best friend Hadji, and his father Benton are called to Nevada to investigate a craft that’s not of this world. But a freak accident pulls Jonny and Hadji to the world of Space Ghost, and leaves the Ghost’s proteges Jan, Jace, and space monkey Blip on Earth! And it turns out that there might be even more alien activity on Earth.
Casey takes his time building up to the crossover, choosing to focus on events that happened in the Jonny Quest series to set up his story. On the one hand, anyone who hasn’t read Jonny Quest will probably feel lost since a large part of the plot depends on past issues of that series. On the other hand, the way Casey slowly introduces Space Ghost’s world into Jonny Quest’s world is a clever way of seeding the big reveal of Space Ghost and his friends – especially a last page that will send fanboy shivers down the spine.
If Casey’s art isn’t enough to hook readers, then Piriz’s artwork definitely will. Piriz draws a variety of locales, all rendered in vibrant color thanks to Lorenzo Scaramella. The streets of Marrakesh, where the Quest family’s bodyguard Race Bannon reunites with an old flame, are awash in golden light. Nevada’s nights are an emerald landscape dotted with stars. Piriz also deserves an immense amount of credit for delivering character designs that stick to each animated series’ respective visuals, and playing with negative space to emphasize Jan and Jace’s invisibility.
The real standout of the series is Taylor Esposito, who comes up with a new language for Space Ghost, Jace and Jan. It’s an alien script full of unique symbols, and it’s a neat touch that hammers home how otherworldly Space Ghost is. We assume he’s speaking English in the cartoons and other medias, but if you were from another planet and came to Earth you wouldn’t be speaking normally. It’s that level of detail that adds to the crossover.
Space Ghost #1 is a solid opening to a crossover series, laying all its pieces in place before diving into those crossover elements. Now it’s up to future issues to dig deeper, because there’s a lot you can do with this idea.
