DC and Hanna-Barbera Reboot 'The Flintstones,' 'Scooby-Doo' and 'Jonny Quest'

Perhaps piggy-backing on the success of 2015’s Archie Comics reboot, DC Entertainment has announced plans to release four new series featuring classic Hanna-Barbera characters. Scooby Apocalypse, DC’s Scooby-Doo millennial reboot, in which the characters sport updated outfits, tattoo sleeves, and (in Daphne’s case) scowls, looks similar to Afterlife With Archie in tone.

DC told Entertainment Weekly that it considered Scooby Apocalypse the “crown jewel” of its reboot lineup. Since Scooby and the gang have already seen several reboots, both in animated films and live-action features, the comics will have to carve out a new personality for itself to feel fresh.

Future Quest, the updated Jonny Quest, will do well to acknowledge The Venture Bros. on Adult Swim, which has been lampooning the original boy wonder’s adventures for years.

In a similar vein, the updated Space Ghost comic might benefit from some dark humor. Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, both Adult Swim programs, succeeded as memorable reboots and satirical commentary on the Hanna-Barbera universe, years ago. It remains to be seen if DC Entertainment has anything left to say about these characters that Adult Swim hasn’t already covered.

Rebooting The Flintstones will be an interesting task, considering the conceit of the original cartoon was telling the story of a 1960s-style nuclear family in an imaginary world full of cavemen and dinosaurs. Will rebooting the Flintstone family revive the show’s light satirical commentary on domestic life, or will the comic focus on something new? DC told Entertainment Weekly, “we’re going to use Flintstones to really bring out that voice and social commentary that they might’ve brought out in the ’60s and raise it back for today.”

The news always comes with DC’s promise that these reboot titles are only the beginning.

“There’s a deep, deep bench of wonderful characters in the Hanna-Barbera library we’d love to get involved in,” Dan DiDio told EW. “So this is just the first step into a very steep pool.”