Sunday, March 29, 2020

Scooby Apocalypse Volume 1

Scooby Apocalypse, Vol. 1Scooby Apocalypse, Vol. 1 by Keith Giffen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a Scooby Doo fan from way back and I've been enjoying DC's Hanna-Barbera line so far, for the most part. I got this as part of a trade-in at my now defunct LCS but didn't have time to read it until we went into self-isolation.

Scooby Apocalypse is a reimagining of the Scooby Doo gang in a survival horror scenario. The world has been stricken by a nanotech plague that turns people into monsters. The only people not effected are Daphne Blake, a TV reporter, Fred Jones, her cameraman, Shaggy Rogers, the dog trainer from the top secret facility that spawned the plague, Scooby-Doo, one of the failed subjects from the smart-dog project, and Velma Dinkley, one of the scientists from the installation.

I'm largely a purist when it comes to Scooby Doo but I really enjoyed this. Really, though, how could a team like Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Howard Porter put out something less than excellent? It kind of feels like one of those video game movies where there's not enough backstory to do much with so the team is forced to invent a lot of it. Velma's backstory was easily my favorite part of the book. I also liked that the issues are linked but largely self-contained, a result of decades of expertise on the part of Giffen and DeMatteis.

The action is fast and furious and the gang doesn't get a lot of breathing room. There's lots of monster killing action. It's a little lighter on humor than I would like but when the world is going up in flames, there's not a lot of time for jokes. I like the new take on the characters, although Fred seems really unnecessary now that Daphne is the leader of the group.

How are Giffen, DeMatteis, and Porter not on a higher profile book? Howard Porter's art is as great as it ever was and Giffen and DeMatteis haven't lost a step either. Scooby Apocalypse shows that a veteran creative team like Giffen, DeMatteis, and Porter can make a fun comic out of almost any crazy concept. Four out of five Scooby Snacks.

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