DC COMICS – @DCComic
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
PLOT/BREAKDOWNS: Keith Giffen
DIALOGUE: J.M. DeMatteis
ARTIST: Howard Porter
COLORS: Hi-Fi
LETTERS: Nick J. Napolitano; Travis Lanham
COVER: Jim Lee with Alex Sinclair
VARIANT COVERS: Howard Porter with Hi-Fi;Dan Panosian; Neal Adams with Alex Sinclair; Joelle Jones with Nick Filardi; Ben Caldwell
40pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2016)
Rated “T” for “Teen”
“Waiting for the End of the World”
Based on a concept by Jim Lee; Scooby-Doo created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and Iwao Takamoto
Scooby-Doo is a media franchise that began with the animated, Saturday-morning, television series, “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” in 1969, which was produced by American animation studio, Hanna-Barbera Production. The series featured four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers and Scooby-Doo, a talking Great Dane-ish dog. Together, they solved mysteries involving supernatural creatures that usually turned out to be frauds.
That first series basically gave birth to numerous follow-up Scooby-Doo animated cartoon series that used the original as a pattern to one extent or another. DC Comics recently launched a Scooby-Doo comic book that takes the characters introduced in “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” but largely reinvents the character relationships, personalities, histories, and their mission. Entitled Scooby Apocalypse, the new comic book is based on a concept created by Jim Lee. The comic book is written by Keith Giffen (plot) and J.M. DeMatteis (dialogue); drawn by Howard Porter; colored by Hi-Fi; and lettered by Nick J. Napolitano.
Scooby Apocalypse #1 (“Waiting for the End of the World”) finds Daphne and Fred at “The Blazing Man Festival.” Daphne is the host of a once-popular television series, “Daphne Blake's Mysterious Mysteries.” She hopes that an informant that she is supposed to meet at the festival will provide the lead to a story that will return the show to the big time. Fred, her long-suffering cameraman, thinks that he and Daphne should move on to bigger things.
Nearby is Shaggy, a dog-trainer at a secret facility, and his trainee, Scooby-Doo. A misunderstanding forces an encounter between Shaggy and Scooby and Fred and Daphne. Now, both parties are about to hear an amazing story from Dr. Velma Dinkley who works for a secret government program, the Elysium Project. What she tells them will change their lives.
I would not call myself a Scooby-Doo purist, but I probably am. I am not crazy about anything that strays too far from “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” (1969-1970) and the follow-up series, “The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries” (1972-1973) Thus, I am inclined to not like Scooby Apocalypse, and I had planned on not reading it. However, word that some of the early issues were selling-out in various places piqued my interests. I picked up some copies at a my local comic shop and turned to eBay for the ones I could not find there.
After reading the first ten pages, I was disgusted and even insulted, as a Scooby-Doo fan. Then, I found myself intrigued by the goings-on inside the Project Elysium facility, and then, I bought in to this comic book.
I'd be lying if I called it great, but I really want to see where this goes. I have the first four issues, and I think that will be enough to decide if I want to keep reading. Honestly, I would recommend this first issue to any adult who is or was a fan of Scooby-Doo, reading it as a lark or out of curiosity. Considering the creative team behind this, Scooby Apocalypse could be good. The bonus story, “When Shaggy Met Scooby!” about the first meeting between fiction's greediest boy-and-his-dog combo is a novel spin on the classic animated cartoon comedy duo.
I'll review a future issue, dear reader, and I promise to keep it real, one way or the other.
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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