Venture Bros. and American Culture

The funny thing about the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. is how it does nothing but reflect on American culture. Yes it is well respected for its incredible humor and loony character development, but when it comes down to it, almost every single aspect of the show is a reference to American pop culture... whether that pop culture be contemporary or originating from the 60's. Besides the show being a blatant satire of the 60's cartoon Johnny Quest, there are far too many to talk about here so I will stick to some characters specifically.

Colonel Hunter Gathers: A secret agent who is always alert and always paranoid, never believing anything he sees. His appearance, mannerisms, military rank, actions and even his name and the way he speaks all lend his influence to the Journalism legend Hunter S. Thompson... he's also got a bit of Nick Fury (a popular secret agent from Marvel comics in the 60's).

Brock Samson: An agent and body guard (and Swedish-murder-machine) who observes more than he speaks and can kill you with your own finger. His appearance can be lent to dozens of actors and musicians, but his mannerisms, abilities and willpower he displays makes him the show's Race Bannon (from Johnny Quest) and perhaps even a contemporary Doc Savage (from the old Pulp Comics of the 30's). Note: Race Bannon, as well as the other Johnny Quest characters actually exist in the show as well.



Doctor Jonas Venture: The late grandfather of the Venture Bros. is a character who really defines the entire show and represents an old forgotten time (the 60's). The Venture family is a contemporary of the Johhny Quest family, whereas Jonas represents a mix of the 60's Quest family and maybe even a bit of the A-Team. Other than filling the role of the former Dr. Quest, Jonas Venture is, for all intents and purposes, Doc Savage, and perfectly fits into everything Doc Savage is ever depicted as.

I could keep going but honestly you could write a whole book on this subject.