We’re three episodes deep into season four of The Venture Bros, a cartoon parodying some of Hanna Barbera and Marvel Comics’ finest characters. The show follows Dr. Venture, a failed super-scientist who, with his two sons Hank and Dean as well as his bodyguard Brock Samson, go on bizarre adventures that show just how terrible life can be when you mess around with clones, supervillains, and dogs that are actually Hitler. As always, the show is doing amazing things for the sake of illustrating a series of disgrace and misery the cast is forced to deal with. It’s on a train of hilarity and it never seems to be derailing.
By the end of season three, we were left with the uncovering of Dr. Venture’s clone farm, Brock was forced to face how he felt about who he was working for and what they were doing, and a rather tragic death hit a lot of fans hard. Now we need to see how Brock is going to straighten everything out regarding his old bosses, how Dr. Venture is going to deal with his now-aging sons, and what the next step for their arch-nemesis The Monarch is going to be. Of course, if this season is anything like seasons prior, it could leave a lot of questions unanswered. I’m still wondering what Dr. Girlfriend told The Monarch at the end of season two.
Much of the humor lies in the fact that these are characters who cannot seem to get their lives on track because nothing goes their way. Often they are upstaged, humiliated, or just physically harmed to the point of absurdity. Clever and sometimes vastly obscure references are strewn about, while still managing to reach a lot of viewers who could enjoy all of the Jonny Quest jokes and Dr. Strange jabs. It’s been pretty great how the show never really seems to lose its pace or fall behind comedy-wise. The humor and action manage to keep a pretty solid pacing throughout.
Already this season we’ve seen a sidekick-obsessed superhero who takes Hank in, a crazed clone of Dean that tries to replace him, and a bunch of Nazis trying to bring on a little baby Hitler. May this show never change. Trust me when I say that it’s never too late to get into the show, because you can always appreciate a good parody of Scooby-Doo or the Fantastic Four. Give it a shot, I’m certain you’ll like what you see.
