This was a mostly fun little one-shot, with a couple surprisingly affecting beats, that probably couldn't have been told "straight" in the mainstream DCU: from 2018,
Nightwing/Magilla Gorilla #1, "A Shrewdness of Apes" Written by Heath Corson, pencils by Tom Grummett and Tom Derenick, inks by Cam Smith and Andy Owens.
Dick Grayson leaves the gloom of Gotham and Bludhaven behind today, for a trip to sunny Malibu, since agent Mel Peebles had been calling and calling to set up a meeting with his boss, one of the major actors of our time, none other than...Magilla Gorilla? Was he an actor in his cartoon? I can hear "Magilla, Gorilla, gorilla for sale" in my head; and that's all I've got. Dick is a fan, and likewise: Magilla has set up a circus tent, emblazoned with "the Flying Graysons," since he wanted to write, direct, and star in a Flying Graysons movie, as Dick's father John. Still, despite the promise of a producer's credit and back-end profits, Dick declines, saying he wasn't ready to see his family's story as a movie. Although he had seemed suave and refined, after Dick leaves he can hear Magilla lose his temper with Peebles...and later that night, news breaks that Peebles had been murdered, with Magilla Gorilla as the prime suspect! Nightwing has to work the case, which involves the usual Hollywood dirt like a sister with a drug habit, a visit to Madame Xanadu, and the realization that Magilla wasn't the only gorilla in Hollywood: there was also young upstart Grape Ape!
Dick sees a lot of himself in Magilla, mainly in his relationship with his adopted father Peebles and his mentorship of Grape Ape; while Magilla also can tell Dick was Nightwing just by scent. Also this issue: part three of a J.M. DeMatteis/Tom Mandrake Secret Squirrel serial, that would wrap up in
Superman/Top Cat #1.
3 comments:
You know, my initial reaction to DC doing this w/ the Hanna-Barbara characters outside of the kid-family Sholly Fisch, was to poo-poo on it. But honestly, you know what? Good on DC for taking a risk & trying something new-ish & kinda interesting by going this route. Playing these interactions straight as opposed to all for laughs was certainly a bold choice, that may have paid off, more or less depending on your personal tastes.
I wonder how long before Marvel does the same thing w/Disney.
I feel like Marvel’s done that with Disney a bunch of times already, though more with side characters and merchandise than the main characters. I know there was that whole line of miniseries based on Disneyland attractions but I don’t think it ever crossed over with other universes.
I mentioned this back in one of the Looney Tunes crossovers (I think it was Daffy), but the only Hanna-Barbera one that I thought worked was Jabberjaw/Aquaman. Future Quest was good too, but that was only between HB properties and that’s been done many times before by many different companies.
@H:
I can defintiely see Jabberjaw/Aquaman working. Maybe Sealabs 2020 too?
Snorkles?
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