It was never a secret that Doug Wildey disliked Bandit, Jonny Quest's four-legged friend. The character was designed not by Wildey, but by Hanna-Barbera artist Dick Bickenbach instead. Wildey felt the idea of a dog sidekick was played out, and preferred to have the role be filled by something more unique, like a monkey.
While Wildey's opinions on Bandit softened over the years, he never grew to truly like the character. If you want proof, look at this fantastic sketch of Quest and Bannon Wildey put together. Where's Bandit? Jonny will answer that.
If you're curious who the fellow in the ninja mask is, it's "Sabertooth: The Last of His Kind." He's the creation of a man named John Fulce, who envisioned Sabertooth as the star of his own movie franchise. That never came to pass, but he interacted with many comic creators at a comic shop he owned, and several of them would sketch his character along with their own. Not quite the same thing, but that's certainly not a bad fate for your character, either.
As a bonus for this little post, here's another Doug Wildey piece. This is a Jonny Quest poster done circa 1986. A very nice poster that's got the entire core cast together. What more could a Quest fan ask for?
I'm always surprised there was never a live-action Jonny Quest in the '90s when Cartoon Network was on its Space Ghost-led Hanna Barbera '60s nostalgia kick and Macauley Culkin was the right age to play it. At least there was Warner Bros.' brilliant parody "Toby Danger," featuring Jules the cat.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Wildey and Barbera. Bandit was annoying, but Barbara said the series needed a bit of comic relief, so Bandit did his job.
ReplyDelete