Classic Jonny Quest
First Draft of Jonny Quest

The image on this page was contributed by Richard Pini. His wife, Wendy Pini, as you may know, was the penciller on a Comico Jonny Quest comic (issue #2, "Enter Race Bannon").

Richard wrote:"Way back when, my wife Wendy (who, by the way, was the artist on issue #2 of the Comico relaunch of the JQ comic book) had a bit of a correspondence going with Doug Wildey. We don't recall the circumstances but at one point there must have been one real good conversation as a few days later in the mail we received a 10x14 pencil sketch of Jonny, and the following note:(shown above to the left of the sketch - LPB)
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"Hey, Wendy -
The enclosed pencil sketch was the 1st draft concept of Jonny Quest. I later re-rendered same drawing and it was utilized as media publicity the season the show went on the air.

The cleaned-up version incidentally, was used on the TV Week cover of the San Diego Union of 1963 Jan 3.

The enclosed cel was final color model for the characters.

Hope this material gives you and Richard pleasure, as talking with you made my day.
Warm regards -
Doug"
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As the show debuted in fall of 1964, I'm not sure what the reference to early 1963 is about, unless the newspaper was talking about upcoming shows in the "far" future.

Anyway, this bit of JQ-iana has been stored in our collection for a long, long time, and I wondered if it might have a place on your site.

Sincerely,
Richard Pini"

Thanks from all of us here at ClassicJQ.com for thinking of us, Richard, and for sharing this one-of-a-kind part of Jonny Quest history.


You can visit Richard and Wendy's website, Elfquest.com, for a peek at what they're up to these days.

More on the image!
Susan Dundas, a fellow fan and visitor to this website, sent in an image that she cut from the cover of the San Diego Union's weekly TV publication in 1965. She wrote that she was a big fan of Jonny Quest and had taped the image up on her bedroom wall.

In addition to sending the image to us here at ClassicJQ.com, Susan wrote to Richard & Wendy Pini to chat about the image. In the Pini's reply they thanked her for helping answer a question they had for 45 years -- was that Wildey image of Jonny ever actually used anywhere? There had been some confusion regarding Doug's note about its use (see above image and discussion), and now the mystery has been solved: the image was used, but in 1965 not 1963 as written on the note. The Pini's thanked Susan (and we do, too) for making that connection.

See the B&W publicity shot on the 1960s Press Release Head Shots page.



Jonny Quest and distinctive likenesses © Hanna-Barbera. All other images, image designs and other image work on this site are © ClassicJQ.com, © Hanna-Barbera or as noted. Text content is © ClassicJQ.com, except where noted otherwise, and may not be shared or re-published without the consent of the author. This is strictly a fan-based site, and is in no way affiliated with or approved by Hanna-Barbera or any other organizations, unless specifically indicated otherwise.