DC Comics Announces Hanna-Barbera Crossover Annuals

DC Comics has been publishing various comics featuring Hanna-Barbera characters. We've seen some that are close to the original animated series and others that have ventured off with different interpretations.

On March 29, 2017, your favorite cartoon characters will be teaming up with DC's superheroes in a series of annuals.

ADAM STRANGE/FUTURE QUEST ANNUAL #1

Written by Marc Andreyko and Jeff Parker

Art by Steve Lieber

Backup Feature: TOP CAT

Written by Dan DiDio

Art by Phil Winslade

Following the events of the DEATH OF HAWKMAN miniseries, Adam Strange is blasted through multiple dimensions only to land on Earth! But instead of super powered beings and legendary crime fighters, he encounters a boy adventurer and his scientist father – and they’re the only ones who can help him return home. Jonny Quest, Hadji, Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon have a plan, but it’s going to involve a dangerous trek through Dino Boy’s Lost Valley of prehistoric threats!

And in the backup feature starring Top Cat, breaking out of prison is challenging enough for an anthropomorphic cat, but what happens when it means stumbling through a cosmic portal to planet Earth, right into the hands of Batman?

BOOSTER GOLD/THE FLINTSTONES ANNUAL #1

Written by Mark Russell

Art by Rick Leonardi and Scott Hanna

Backup Feature: THE JETSONS

Written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti

Art by Pier Brito

Welcome to the 25^th Century, where the Earth is a polluted, post-industrial nightmare, most animals are extinct and reptilian aliens are invading cities across the planet! In their time of need, the world’s citizens turn to the time-traveling Booster Gold to save the day. To learn why these aliens are attacking Earth, Booster dives deep into the prehistoric past to see what happened when they first came to the planet. In this bygone era, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble must help Booster learn the truth and return to his own time armed with the information that will bring down the invaders – if Booster can convince them to help him out.

Harley Quinn’s Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti put a new twist on an old twist about our future in THE JETSONS! The Jetsons live in a world of robotics and gadgetry. But how does dying change when grandma’s brain can be digitally imprinted onto a housecleaning robot?

GREEN LANTERN/SPACE GHOST ANNUAL #1

Written by James Tynion IV and Chris Sebela

Art by Ariel Olivetti

Backup Feature: RUFF AND REDDY

Story and art by Howard Chaykin

Trapped in a strange rift in time, Green Lantern and Space Ghost are forced to battle a variety of foes – and each other! And even if they manage to survive, they will be thrown into a world with no concept of interstellar travel – or even what an alien is! Stripped of their weapons by a xenophobic culture, the duo will have to battle to regain them – but what happens when Space Ghost dons the Lantern Ring and Hal Jordan puts on the Power Bands?

Iconic writer Howard Chaykin puts a modern spin on one of Hanna-Barbera’s earliest animated animal teams! Ruff and Reddy were once the toast of nightclubs, variety shows late night chat fests and Broadway. Learn how they became the comedic duo of yesterday… Before they hit rock bottom today!

SUICIDE SQUAD/BANANA SPLITS ANNUAL #1

Written by Tony Bedard

Art by Ben Caldwell

Backup Feature: SNAGGLEPUSS

Written by Mark Russell

Art by Dale Eaglesham

“Suicide Splits” pairs up Saturday morning’s animal rock band with Amanda Waller’s Task Force X, the dirtiest players in the game! Mistaken for metahumans and thrown into the bowels of Belle Reve Penitentiary, the Banana Splits are recruited by Amanda Waller for a secret mission: Save the Suicide Squad! What follows is quite possibly the weirdest team up ever; how will Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky stand up to Harley, Deadshot, Katana and Killer Croc?

Mark Russell brings his hilariously satirical style to this backup feature, where Snagglepuss is a Southern gothic playwright working with an ensemble cast of cultural figures, exploring an intensely creative time in the New York City theater scene of the 1950’s.

Which ones are you most excited for?

This seems cool. The last one came out of nowhere though. The backups also seem interesting.

I'm suprised they aren't tryin to do a Scooby crossover since it's their flagship book

I'm all about that Space Ghost/Green Lantern team-up!

Yeah, but who would you team him up with that'd fit the same tone? I don't think DC has Detective Chimp anymore and Batman's gotten too dark to team-up with Scooby again.

@aros001:

They could re-introduce Detective Chimp. Constantine would be hilarious. Lol

Well this was unexpected

I hope they are good.

Are these crossovers actual canon?

@aros001: Well they are doing a Top Cat/Batman crossover and those two are about as polar opposite tone wise as you can get.

Green lantern and Space Ghost crossover is so perfect

The last one seems a little odd.

@_reynard_: @aros001: Funny you should mention Detective Chimp, they're actually reintroducing him in this week's DC Rebirth Holiday Special

@lvenger: Wait...really? ;p Top Cat and Batman?

@aros001: Scooby-Doo/Teen Titans.

@_reynard_: Now I really want a Scooby Doo/Constantine cross over!

Green Lantern my man

It was only a matter of time till this happens. I'd like a Space Ghost series too. The previous mini was pretty good.

@the_stegman: that'd be in testing to see to say the least. I wonder how the titans would interact with this version of Mystery Inc

@eto:good to see Hal being in on the fun

@lukehero: it's so strange but also makes sense in a weird way.

@avenging_x_bolt: So these crossovers are canon? Weird...but ok. ??

@aros001: Scooby Apocalypse can be dark at times but if not Bruce himself then maybe Nightwing or Batgirl? Or maybe something in the weirder corners of the DCU. Maybe even Swamp Thing?

@lukehero: I'm not sure if they're canon but it could be posssible.

@roaris87 said:

Constantine would probably try sleeping with the whole gang and doing drugs with Shuggy.

@nightfang3:

I know. It would be great, right?

@lukehero:

And in the backup feature starring Top Cat, breaking out of prison is challenging enough for an anthropomorphic cat, but what happens when it means stumbling through a cosmic portal to planet Earth, right into the hands of Batman?

The only one which seems to make sense to me is the Space Ghost/Green Lantern one, and the Banana Splits/ Suicide Squad one will likely sell well because anything featuring Harley Quinn does at the moment! Some things that are great separately just do not work together. The Adam Strange/Future Quest one could be O.K. but if it included the Impossibles, (who it dosen't mention here), I'd want them back to their original line-up, (no new member, original Big D and Multi Man's original costume back); Scooby-Doo team-up 22, out in January, includes them , (and Franky Jr)., in their original form so I'm going for that!

Will space ghost interview green-latern ,drink some coffe, tell some jokes and then fire lasers at Zorak for fun?

The Adam Strange Crossover makes sense because it spins out of the Strange/ Hawkman mini series. The Space Ghost/ Hal Jordan crossover is the most thought out idea of the four annuals.

Isn't Swat Katz Hannah Barberra too?? Man, when DC doing that??

@_reynard_: Yep.

That Space Ghost/Green Lantern crossover might be surprisingly good.

Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast needs to be an ongoing. Every week, just interviewing someone new, from D-Listers, to the Justice League, to the actual editors at DC.

I'd love to see a Space Ghost interview with Deathstroke.

It's about Time for Space Ghost to be brought into the DCU as Team up Hal Jordan ,I hope to see more of Space Ghost in the DCU may be with Batman or JLA?

Nice, I'd like to see Batman team up with Space Ghost or Quest and Booster Gold with Jetsons in future.

They all look fun but Space Ghost/Green Lantern is the that most looks like it could really occur in regular DC continuity. :)

Looks kinda silly. Who can take these seriously?

DC getting desperate

@apg103: Holy shit, you are one stupid idiot.

All I can think about is, where are Snork's shades? Everyone else has at least one of their trademark articles of clothing.

@apg103: comics are meant to be fun not every comic book is to be " Magnum opus." beside if you ever watch Space Ghost from 1960s you might see why it's big deal.

Every one of these looks like comic book gold to me. Please skip this if you don't like long posts, but I wanted to overenthuse about each of these individually...

1. Adam Strange/Future Quest Annual #1

- Main story:

It sounds like Adam Strange will mostly be interacting with the Johnny Quest characters, and Johnny Quest was the absolute gold standard of the Hanna-Barbera adventure toons. This story is co-written by Jeff Parker, who wrote my favorite Aquaman run of recent years and is drawn by Steve Lieber, a favorite of mine from so many things over the years, but most recently Image's The Fix, hilarious comic about very bad people. Great pedigree this comic has.

- Top Cat backup story

Top Cat, embracing his street cred persona with actual prison experience sounds like a natural progression for the character, but then making him meet Batman sounds like a good laugh or two. Phil Winslade is drawing this, which is a pretty good match - I remember some of his older experience with anthropomorphic characters when he worked on an old Marvel Max Howard the Duck series. These days, silly, clever fun often trumps eye-rolling attempts at the same darkly serious stuff I've been reading for 30 years, so I expect to like this.

2. Booster Gold/Flintstones Annual #1

- Main story

The main Flintstones title might honestly be my favorite DC comic going these days. I expect to enjoy seeing Booster Gold introduced to their world of perplexing weirdness. I imagine him playing the comedy duo straight man, the only one who notices just how nuts everything around him happens to be.

- Jetsons back-up

Are the writing duo of Conner & Palmiotti a good match for the weird humor of the Flintstones comic? I think so, and the synopsis sounds like the heart of the story will revolve around a potentially serious topic, but be wrapped in a bunch of silly jokes and satire, a perfect complement to the Flintstones series itself.

3. Green Lantern/Space Ghost Annual #1

- Main Story

Yeah, I know a lot of folks grew up only knowing Space Ghost as a joke, but in his day, that character was no less serious than the Hal Jordan comics that were coming out at the same time. When looked at through that lens, this team-up seems so perfect, it's amazing it hasn't already happened. Also: Ariel Olivetti is drawing it!

- Ruff and Ready back-up

A Howard Chaykin experiment is always worth checking out. No, he doesn't hit it out of the park every time, but the synopsis of this story sounds like classic Chaykin at his best, portraying jaded and beat-down protagonists who, against all expectations, still nurture an inner, snarky, entertaining gumption.

4. Suicide Squad/Banana Splits Annual #1

- Main Story

Certainly this is the least obvious of the team-ups, the one that makes everyone shrug, but the way that DC has handled all of these Hanna-Barbera weird ideas, the way I know Tony Bedard can build off of the bizarre ideas of others (see his underrated Great Ten mini-series), and the way I know Ben Caldwell's art can boldly animate a page (see Wednesday Comics' Wonder Woman and the recent Prez series), I have faith that even this unexpected, counter-intuitive idea can blow my socks off.

- Snagglepuss backup

Mark Russell attempting to imagine Snagglepuss as Tennessee Williams is an idea that by itself gives me the shivers it sounds so good. This is the single element I most look forward to from the entire announcement. Please spin this off into a mini-series. I'll commit to a subscription today.

GREEN LANTERN/SPACE GHOST ANNUAL #1 Getting!!

@hatutzeraze: I wonder if Chaykin's Ruff and Reddy will draw some inspiration from Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Also, I seriously chuckled when I saw the Suicide Squad/Banana Splits solicit. I swear, it's like the creative team watched Yellow Submarine before the idea hit them.

@apg103: Afraid I tend to agree to a great extent - The Emperor's New Clothes comes to mind. I can see the Green Lantern and Space Ghost cross-over working, and the Adam Strange/Future Quest perhaps - but I'm put off FQ because of the changes to the Impossibles, (although they are not mentioned in this); really feel they should have had more realistic looks for FQ, new stage wear, basic origin story and left at that.

I am all for the SUICIDE SQUAD/BANANA SPLITS ANNUAL team up

Out of all of these the Green Lantern/Space Ghost team up seems like the coolest one. I will be checking it out :D

awesome!

they already did that with Scooby Doo meets Batman

@shadowmoon522: but that was a cartoon. I'm talking about the Scooby Apocalypse version.

@avenging_x_bolt: He may have meant the "Scooby-Doo Team-Up" title.