"Did Someone Say 'Team'-Up?"
Written by Sholly Fisch
Art by Dario Brizuela
Scooby and the gang team up with the Challs to battle the villainous Multi-Man, with help from the Sea Devils, Cave Carson and his pals, the Secret Six and Rip Hunter and his pals.
I'd never read this book before, but picked up this issue on a whim. It's a gently humorous look at some of DC's non-super hero teams from the Silver Age. It's well-written and the art makes the characters looks like you would expect them to look if they teamed up with Scooby-Doo. As far as I can tell, these are the traditional versions of the characters, from before various writers started screwing around with their back-stories, although there's a funny bit where Freddy says to Cave Carson that he thought he had a cybernetic eye, and Carson responds, "I don't know how that rumor got started."
Oh, and for those of you who remember the Commander's comprehensive investigation into Mockingbird's true identity, Velma tricks him into revealing himself towards the end of the book. In this case, it turned out to be August Durant!
All in all, fun stuff, a nice lightweight break from all the angsty nonsense floating around these days.
Replies
The Baron said:
Oh, and for those of you who remember the Commander's comprehensive investigation into Mockingbird's true identity, Velma tricks him into revealing himself towards the end of the book. In this case, it turned out to be August Durant!
Aha! A Deck Log I missed. Will read it now.
You should read his follow-up as well. That's the part that actually discusses Mockingbird's identity.
This is one of my favorite books DC publishes -- particularly when the Scooby gang teams up with a DC property (although their HB teamups are fun too; I wonder if there'll be any Loony Tunes teamups at some point?). The art's always pitch-perfect for Scooby's world, and Fisch is SO good at finding fun commonalities with Mystery Inc. and their guest stars, (such as, say, how Daphne and Poison Ivy rock the same hairstyle). I'm surprised there hasn't yet been a JSA teamup, if only so Velma and Dr. Miid-Nite can both go crawling around, feeling around on the floor for their glasses.
It's a sharp, self-aware book that always brings a smile to my face.
I should add: I'm so psyched for the Legion team-up in issue 33 -- investigating the Ghost of Ferro Lad!
One of my favorite titles today!