Issue No. 3 of Future Quest is fantastic in a creative, surprising and unexpected way. 

The first thing most will notice, is the absence of illustrator Evan "Doc" Shaner missing from No. 3. Not to worry, as artists Steve Rude and Aaron Lopresti handle seperate fun, informative and necessary origin/explainer Birdman and Herculoids short-stories. 

Yep, that's right. This issue is split in two short-stories, there is no Space Ghost or Quest fam and this book was still creative mastery from start to finish. 

I literally spoke with these guys before this series came out, and they basically told me this was going to happen; meaning Birdman sungod origins and deeper dives into characters that haven't received this level of attention. 

Parker wrote both of these shorts in a manner that left the reader satisfied at the end of each. Neither felt rushed or overflowed, and managed to develop a voice for these characters and a reason to care for the readers. 

While Rude and Lopresti do a great job in seamlessy transitioning into such character-centric roles, I was blown away by the color work in each issue. Not to pick favorites or anything, but especially so in the Birdman book. Fantastic work from Karl Kesel, Steve Buccellato and Hi-Fi. 

To give The Hercuoids story a little love, that book felt like it was straight of the 60s and that's exactly how it needed to feel. 

The brightness of that book absolutely set the tone. It was the perfect pair to the sugary bowl of cereal that was Parker's plot and spot-on dialouge. 

What a fun book. 

Rating: 9.5/10 A book about Birdman and The Herculoids is my favorite release of the week. Go figure. Writer Jeff Parker doesn't miss a step even as Evan "Doc" Shaner goes away for an issue as FQ3 splits into two short-stories.