“Look, Zandor. 10 cents deposit!”
Cartoon Network Presents #13
Featuring Toonami
DC Comics (August, 1998)
COLORIST: Dave Grafe COVER ART: John Pound ASSISTANT EDITOR: Mike Brisbois EDITOR: Bronwyn Taggart The Herculoids: “Bother From Another Planet” WRITER: Michael Kraiger PENCILER: Graham anley INKER: Jorge Pacheco LETTERER: Clem Robins Shazzan: “Kaboobie’s Prize” WRITER: Papo Martin PENCILER: J.J. Birch INKER: Bob SMith LETTERER: John CostanzaThis issue also features credits for the Moltar and Clyde bumpers thus far. I’m going to go back and add them to the credits in those reviews but oddly they still forgot to list for this issue.
In the first story, Clyde sends Moltar the Herculoids as they deal with some punk kids joyriding in their father’s spaceship. They’re also tossing their empty cans and spent fuel rods all over Amzot and taking pop shots at Tundro. As you can guess, our heroes aren’t too happy about this and act to stop them, sending them off to the Galactic Patrol, and most likely a very angry father.
What they got right: The art is great as always and this is a different threat. Outside of shooting at Tundro they’re more punks that evil.
What they got wrong: This is something that’s never been explained: how does Zandor know so much about machines, outer space, and technology? Tara doesn’t seem to know much about such things, not recognizing a fuel rod like Zandor does, and neither does Dorno. There’s an interesting backstory about Zandor that’s never been explored.
The second adventure for once isn’t Birdman, but Shazzan, a genie trapped in a broken ring found by two teenagers. He gifted them a winged camel named Kaboobie, and often get into trouble in their travels. However, this time it’s Kaboobie in trouble when he’s captured by traders of exotic and mythical animals, where he falls for a unicorn. With Shazzan’s help the kids rescue their friend and the other animals, just as the unicorn is bought to be served as dinner.
What they got right: I do like that they tried branching out past the usual two (although insisting they still had to have the Herculoids) and exploring the rest of the Hanna-Barbera “super adventure” shorts. It was also a good story making use of the space available and giving a decent introduction to everyone, at least enough to follow the story, minus where Shazzan came from.
What they got wrong: Part of that origin is the fact that Chuck and Nancy, siblings, aren’t supposed to be in the normal world. Scroll in at 43 seconds.
And yet they make it seem like they’re in the regular Arabian desert, where a flying camel is rare and Chuck can find Iranian bus tokens at a flea market. I think a little more research was in order.
Recommendation: A fun adventure and I wish they had changed things up more like this. Give it a look.
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