I Reads You Review: SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU #86

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? No. 86
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Ivan Cohen; Paul Kupperberg
PENCILS: Randy Elliot; Fabio Laguna
COLORS: Sylvana Brys; Heroic Age
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte; Travis Lanham
EDITOR: Robin Levin; Harvey Richards
COVER: Scott Gross
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (December 2017)

Rated “E” for “Everyone”

Several years ago, I had a subscription to the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? comic book series.  I let it expire after a year, but I had been putting off renewing it, which I did a few months ago.  I recently received the first issue of that new subscription.  Let me share some news about my first subscription issue with you.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #86 opens with “Medical Mystery Tour” (written by Ivan Cohen and drawn by Randy Elliot).  Mystery Incorporated has just solved a case and disaster strikes!  When Velma Dinkley is forced to stay awake in a hospital bed for 24 hours, Scooby-Doo and the rest of Mystery Inc., do their best to keep their resident super-brain occupied.  Are there schemes, however, keeping them from seeing the truth?

The second story is “It's a Mystery!” (written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Fabio Laguna).  It was originally published in Scooby-Doo #155, a 2010 issue of the Scooby-Doo comic book series that began in 1997.  This is another Velma story.  It is her birthday, and her Mystery Inc. pals have created a fake mystery based on the work of Velma's favorite mystery novelist, Cal Melvin Cullins, for her to solve.  But fate and bad timing throws Velma into a case that is real and is closer to home than the Mystery Inc. gang realizes.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #86 is a pointed reminder for me that I should have renewed by subscription to this series back in 2014.  I missed three years of a comic book that I really liked.  At the end of my review of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #50, I asked, “Should I continue past Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #50?  I am having a good time...”  I didn't continue.

Both of these stories are quite good, and similarly are about misdirection.  Although most readers will probably figure out what's going on midway through both stories, they are fun because they depict the closeness of the characters.  Mystery Incorporated is a family, and the cartoon series that have broken up the family into a smaller unit, such as “The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show” (1983) and “Shaggy & Scooby Get a Clue! (2006).  These two series are not the same as the series which feature the entire original cast – and are not as good as the ones with the full cast, as far as I'm concerned.

I like that the two stories that make up Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #86.  They put the family in “Scooby gang.”  Also, Scott Gross' cover art for this issue is one of the most imaginative visuals and striking designs that I have ever seen on a Scooby-Doo comic book cover.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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