Dan Parent Brings His Style to Variant Covers For DC’s Hanna-Barbera Line [Exclusive]
It's rare to see Dan Parent working outside of Archie Comics, where he's the most prominent writer/artist of the last two decades. However, DC has unveiled variant covers drawn by Parent for their four Hanna-Barbera reboot titles: Scooby Apocalypse #7, The Flintstones #4, Wacky Raceland #5, and Future Quest #6.
"I'm so excited to do these four Hanna- Barbera covers," Parent told ComicsAlliance. "As a lifelong fan, and fan of the new series of books, it was a dream come true!"
What's great about these covers is the way that they take Parent's style, which is profoundly Archie-esque in the best possible way, and applies it to these four very different books.
Parent's Scooby Apocalypse cover is an extreme closeup of Dr. Velma Dinkley, wearing an expression of shock on her face. The other four characters --- Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby --- are reflected in her glasses, looking equally distressed. These are the redesigned versions of the characters, but Parent gives them an animated style that harkens back to their television origins.
The Flintstones cover is a romantic kiss between Fred and Wilma. Parent's Fred Flintstone is handsome while still exaggerated in his masculinity --- he is a caveman after all. His Wilma Flintstone is as attractive as that character always is, but unlike many depictions of her she actually looks old enough to be married to Fred, rather than being drawn like a cute teenager.
Parent's Wacky Raceland cover is pretty bizarre, but that's unsurprising since it's such a strange book to begin with. It appears to be a post-apocalyptic fashion show, featuring the book's main characters strutting down a torchlit catwalk in front of a punk audience that includes someone who looks an awful lot like Storm from X-Men. Parent's version of Penelope Pitstop is somehow both the most attractive and least fetishized take on the Wacky Raceland version of that character.
Finally, the cover Parent did for Future Quest highlights the sidekicks from three of the cartoons incorporated in that book's world. Hadji from Jonny Quest is front and center, surround by Jonny's dog Bandit, Birdman's sidekick Birdboy, and Jace, Jan, and Blip from Space Ghost. Check them out above and below!
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