The partnership continues for another generation

Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries No. 3 of 12
DC Comics
Creators: Ivan Cohen, Dario Brizuela, Franco Riesco, Saida Temofonte and Michael McCalister
Release date: June 2021

A little shorter post today, but be sure to read to the end for a small announcement.

The Caped Crusader and the canine crime-buster have worked together on many occasions. Batman and Robin first teamed up with Scooby and Mystery Inc. in two episodes of “The New Scooby-Doo! Mysteries” in the early 1970s. The pairing made sense as Hanna-Barbera, the creators of Scooby and the gang also owned the rights to the Super Friends. The reaction was so positive that Batman and Scooby have continued to cross paths on television in more recent shows, including “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” (2009) and “Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?” (2019).

These team-ups have also happened in the comics. Batman and Robin were the first guest stars in the Scooby-Doo! Team-Up comic book that began in 2013, which I discussed on the blog here. The title paired Mystery Inc. with a variety of DC superheroes and other Hanna-Barbera characters during its 50 issue-run, and members of the Bat-family appeared in several of those issues.

Is it any wonder that DC has returned once again to that very popular idea for this new 12-issue limited series?

To be sure, these are simpler stories than one might typically find in a modern Batman comic book. Keeping things fun and light is the entire point. But that doesn’t mean these are childish or dumbed-down stories.

Ivan Cohen does an excellent job capturing the voices of each of the familiar characters, even making this Batman seem to be a believable mix of all past interpretations. Dario Brizuela’s art maintains the cartoony look of the Scooby gang while not making Batman look out of place. Also, Brizuela was the artist on many of the Scooby-Doo! Team-Up issues, so he’s no stranger to this task.

This issue centers around Scooby-Doo and Ace the Bathound being invited to serve as honorary guess judges at a Gotham City dog show. The abundance of two-themed items in the story make it pretty clear for any long-time readers that the villain of this issue is Two-Face, but readers are left to wonder how the heroes will thwart the villain’s schemes.

My only complaint with this issue — or the series so far — is hinted at in the page above. Fred and Velma are missing from the events in the beginning of this issue, although they show up before the end. Read Daphne’s explanation to Batman on the pair’s absence and tell me that wouldn’t have been the perfect moment to at least name-drop Swamp Thing. But sadly, that isn’t the route the writers take.

I have no problem recommending this series to fans of either property as a fun, enjoyable read. And who among us couldn’t use a little more fun in our lives, right?

And now, briefly, to the announcement: I’m going to switch the blog’s frequency to every other week rather than weekly. When I started the blog back up a few months ago, I had a number of comics I wanted to write about, making for a nice backlog of possible posts. But my time to read of late has been a bit more limited. Rather than having the posts become sporadic, I thought I’d try to post a little less often, but still maintain a regular schedule.

So, I hope to see you back here in two weeks for another, somewhat lengthier post. Until then, happy reading, and make sure you are enjoying the comics you are reading. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Speaking of Saturday-morning cartoons

Future Quest 1-12
DC Comics
Creators: Jeff Parker, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Ron Randall, Steve Lieber, Ariel Olivetti, Veronica Gandini, Dave Lanphear, Marie Javins and Brittany Holzherr
Release date: 2016-17

People of a certain age hear the name Hanna-Barbera, and they are taken back to when they were children, sitting in front of the television on a Saturday morning, eagerly absorbing all these two creators had to offer. The same happens at the mention of Filmation Studios and Sid and Marty Krofft. But William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the most prolific.

I've met a lot of DC Comics' recent reboots of the old Hanna-Barbera properties as modern comic books with some trepidation. My only exposure to "The Flintstones" reboot was that property's pairing with Booster Gold for a recent forgettable annual one-shot. The Space Ghost-Green Lantern pairing in another one-shot annual was much better, while the Suicide Squad-Banana Splits team-up annual one-shot had some funny moments, but that was about it. And I haven't tried the Scooby Apocalypse ongoing title for fear it will permanently ruin my love of the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" show.

The stand-out exception to all of that is Future Quest, mixing and combining all of the Hanna-Barbera space, sci-fi and adventure characters into one massive story. That one I was also nervous about, but I simply had to try it. "The Herculoids" and "Jonny Quest" were some of my favorite shows as a kid. I also enjoyed "Space Ghost." I confess I didn't know much about the more cartoony "Impossibles" or "Frankenstein Jr.," although I was aware of those shows. And I had never seen an episode of "The Mighty Mightor" or "Birdman."

I was not disappointed by this 12-issue maxiseries.

The story wasn't perfect. My favorites, the Herculoids, weren't as central to the plot as I might have liked, and half the team was sidelined early on. But this is a massive amount of characters to service, so I can understand that decision. Dr. Zin, a frequent foe of the Quest team, seems to very quickly join forces with the heroes and act a little out of character while doing so, to my mind. And the story has a few slow points along the way, making me think it could have been a tad bit tighter.

But overall, this was a phenomenal story bringing a huge cast of diverse characters together with very little tweaking to make the plot work. Most of the characters with which I was already familiar seemed to be spot-on in this series. The ones I wasn't familiar with before, I now want to know more about.

Whoever had the initial idea for this series: kudos to you and this fantastic team of creators who brought it all to life! Whether or not you are a fan of these characters from television, give this series a try if you enjoy sci-fi adventure. You will not be disappointed.

Remember The Time .... ?

Welcome to a special second post this week; and in honor of this being a special post, here's a special comic!

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up No. 1
DC Comics
Sholly Fisch, writer
Dario Brizuela, artist

I didn't know anything about this title a few months ago when I was doing my monthly comics pre-order. But it looked like a fun title that maybe harkened back to the old "Scooby-Doo Movies" cartoon show. This animated classic took the original Mystery Incorporated gang of Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred, expanded their initial half-hour adventures into an hour-long program and paired them with a different guest-star each episode. Sometimes the guest was a real personality such as Sandy Duncan, Don Adams, Don Knotts, Jerry Reed  or Jonathan Winters animated for the show. Other times, the guests might be real people starring in their own animated shows, like the Harlem Globetrotters, or fictional characters like the Addams Family and the Three Stooges. Some episodes even starred other cartoon characters such as the casts of Josie and the Pussycats and Speed Buggy.

Two episodes of this series teamed the Scooby gang with the Caped Crusaders, Batman and Robin, and pitted their combined forces against both the Penguin and the Joker. Those episodes of "Scooby-Doo Movies" were so popular and fondly remembered by fans, that the much more recent "The Brave and the Bold" animated Batman series included a tribute to them. In that episode, Bat-Mite, the imp from another dimension who idolizes Batman, tells of some of the Dark Knights strangest team-ups, one of which includes Batman and Robin crossing paths with both the Scooby gang and "Weird Al" Yankovic in a "Scooby-Doo Movies" style mystery.

Back to this comic, the advance solicit information promised that the team-up in this first issue of this comic series would again pair the Scooby gang with Batman and Robin. Sign me up!

And what a romp this issue is! It fully acknowledges the previous team-ups from "Scooby-Doo Movies," as well as including a number of other "in jokes."

The Mystery Incorporated gang travels to an unnamed mall to investigate reports of a "giant bat creature." Once there, they see Batman and Robin. Daphne greets the Caped Crusaders with, "Long time, no see, Batman -- ever since our run-in with the Joker and the Penguin!" Fred, shaking hands with Batman, adds, "Yeah, we kept running into all sorts of people back then. Singers, basketball players ... It felt like we were teaming up with someone different every week!" And Batman responds with, "I know the feeling."

In the few months between ordering this issue and receiving my copy, I have since learned that Scooby-Doo! Team-Up is scheduled to be a three-issue bimonthly series. You can bet I've pre-ordered issue Nos. 2 and 3 and am anxiously awaiting them, too!