I Reads You Review: SCOOBY-DOO, Where Are You? #45

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #45
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Georgia Ball, Darryl Taylor Kravitz, Robbie Busch
PENCILS: Dave Alvarez, Karen Matchette, Robert Pope
INKS: Dave Alvarez, Karen Matchette, Scott McRae
COLORS: Dave Alvarez; Heroic Age
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte, Randy Gentile, Brian Durniak
EDITOR: Kristy Quinn
COVER: Dave Alvarez
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (July 2014)

Rated “E” for “Everyone”

Via subscription, I continue my journey through the current Scooby-Doo comic book series with the forty-fifth issue of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?  Why is this happening, those of you who are new might ask?  I bought a subscription to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? via a fundraiser held by my nephew’s school last year, which involved selling magazine subscriptions.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #45 opens with “Scooby Slides into Danger” (written by Georgia Ball and drawn and colored by Dave Alvarez).  The Mystery Inc. gang visits the water park, Pudelnass (“the World’s Greatest Water Park”), for a day of sun without a mystery to solve.  The kids actually get to have the water park all to themselves.  Of course, it’s not that easy.  They have to solve the mystery of the mutant creature known as “the Primordial Ooze.”

As “The Freeloading Ghost” (written by Darryl Taylor Kravitz and drawn by Karen Matchette) opens, the Mystery Inc. kids have just solved a mystery.  However, there is some blowback because of their actions.  They have made a ghost homeless, and he expects housing from his accidental evictors.  Also, reality show shenanigans have the gang trying to capture “The Great Lire of Lagoona Beach” (written by Robbie Busch and drawn by Robert Pope and Scott McRae).

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #45 features the return of one of my favorite Scooby-Doo comic book artists, the fantastic Dave Alvarez.  There is a 3D quality to the combination of his compositions and coloring that remind me of my childhood experiences with “View Master.”

Of course, Scooby-Doo and friends have an established visual appearance, but Alvarez shows off his talent for cartooning the human head and face on the other characters.  Expressive and odd-looking, the supporting players of “Scooby Slides into Danger” have a striking visual look.  Plus, the story is also fun, and it is one that I would like to see adapted as one of those Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD animated films.

The other two stories are reprints from the Scooby-Doo comic book series previous to this one (entitled, Scooby-Doo).  I love “The Freeloading Ghost.”  Can we get a revisit on that one?  As for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #45, it is one of the favorites of my subscription.  More Dave Alvarez, please.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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