Distributed by Whitman, Inc.
Copyright 1965 Hanna-Barbera
128 pages
Drawings by "Jason Art"
Whitman released a Jonny Quest coloring book in 1965 with two different covers and two different prices.
The one with the scooter was 39 cents and the other was 29 cents. The scooter cover has embossed artwork,
so maybe it was considered a deluxe edition.
Despite this being an "authorized edition" (as stated on the inside title page)
and the fact that the "Jonny Quest File O37" official trademark appears on the same
page, this publication is interesting for the technical flaws contained therein.
The most glaring is the misspelling of Hadji's name as "Haji," which is how his name
appears on early model sheets for the character.
Also, Hadji spends
the entire episode in his Indian street urchin garb, and Dr. Kareem (another misspelling)
looks a lot like Dr. Quest instead of the Egyptian national he's suppossed to be.
In fact, if it weren't for the hat Kareem wears, it would be very hard to tell them
apart! Race's shirt is subtly wrong -- it closes down the front instead of off to
one side. And the costuming on the cover is a radical departure from classic JQ
-- Jonny's shirt is bright red, Race is wearing a black turtleneck with a jacket,
and Dr. Quest is sporting an ascot!
The book is a re-telling of the TV episode "Curse of Anubis" with some twists. For
instance: there is NO MUMMY! Also: the scene on the TV episode where the boys try
to sneak up on Race is depicted, but Race is in his street clothes (on the beach!)
and he only manages to catch Jonny and Bandit; Hadji is relegated to "enjoying the
tussle" from the sidelines. At the desert hotel, Race merely captures the scorpion
with the whip rather than destroying it. Kareem's associates are Egyptian soldiers
rather than local nomads. The door into the tomb where Dr. Quest and Race were trapped
was brick and stone instead of wood. There were no poisonous adders for Dr. Quest
and Race to worry about. There are numerous other omissions and other changed details,
but you get the picture...to me, it just seemed a little...um...sloppy,
especially for an "authorized edition."
Below are pictures of the original artwork for the covers, including various overlays,
copied from the Heritage Auctions website.