Scooby Apocalypse Issues 1-7 Review

Scooby fans I thought that since we are a few days away from the release of the franchises next direct to DVD movie that i'd take a look at something that I had been reading when it first came and still from time to time pick up and that's the recent comic book reboot Scooby Apocalypse so let's get jinky with it.

The plot of these first issues is that an outbreak has happend and it's forcing together five unlikely people who must now try and survive in a world where the monsters are not only real but deadly. The concept of the monsters being real is nothing new but how it's done in this series to me feels really fresh and unique I of course cannot mention the overall story because it's still on going but the fact that it's a bout a bunch of people trying to survive an outbreak to me feels like a rip off of every zombie movie ever.

While this book isn't the first in the still on going Hanna-Barbera Beyond line started by DC Comics it is not only the only one still on going but also the most successful of all the books. To me that's not only due to how good not only these issues are but also the rest of the book is it's also due to the fact that alot of people still love Scooby-Doo and since this book treats the characters with a lot of respect that makes alot of the older fans happy and thus they buy each issue.

Currently this series has well over thirty issues but sadly it's due to come to an end this April with issue thirty nine. Given how good the storyline is it's going to be hard for the creative team to come up with an ending that not only makes alot of sense but also satisfies the many fans that this title is sure to have. It's not like The Flintstones comic book which didn't have a story line this one does and it's a good one at that so they'll have to come up with something great to end this series.

If your a fan of Scooby-Doo then you'll know that there are some things that need to appear in whatever Scooby media and one of those things is the Mystery Machine it's as iconic as Scooby himself. Here however is where I have a huge gripe with the series because the way they introduce it in this world feels like pure fan service and nothing more they even go as far to have Velma call it the mystery machine that to me just wasn't needed we would have known what it was just from looking at it.

Speaking of Velma she's really cold hearted in these early issues and when I say cold hearted I really mean it I guess that does make sense in terms of the story but she's still a main character she still has to be likeable. I do love tho that she and Daphne don't really get along at the start that's something that I don't think has ever been touched upon in various movies or TV shows so it's great to see that Daphne outright hates Velma.

What is also really interesting is the fact that none of the gang really trust each other at the start apart from Fred , Shaggy and Scooby who seem to get on from the first issue. To me that's interesting because we've not had something like that since Mystery Incorporated and even then it was more of a side story where as here it's a key story point since the gang have to learn to get along in order to survive.

As you can no doubt tell from the above image the gang have a different look about them in this series and these early issues. I have to say that some of the new designs work I like the new look they give both Velma and Daphne Fred's looks hasn't really changed that much and the same for Scooby but the one character redesign I don't like is Shaggy to me his original design was perfect it perfectly summed up his character without having to say what his character was.

The series is written by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen and as far as the writing for these issues goes it's alot better then what I thought it would have been I was honestly expecting the writing in these early issues to be pretty bad but it's actually really good and it makes me wonder if the writers were fans of Scooby-Doo because of how good the writing in this book is and the fact that all of the characters are treated with respect that's not something you'd see if the person writing the book wasn't a fan.

Providing cover art for these early issues is the great Jim Lee with the books artwork being done by Howard Porter. I have no idea who Howard Porter is but based on this book I really like the artwork to me it really fits the world that this book is set in and it also honours the previous character designs by having having things like Fred dressed exactly like his original design or by having Shaggy in the classic green and brown combination.

This book is gory as hell i'm not kidding it's really freaking gory even tho the people getting shot to pieces aren't human any more you still see alot of blood and gore. I'm not honestly sure if I like seeing gore in anything from Scooby-Doo to me the two just don't go well together at all since Scooby was something that I grew up with so to me it's always this kid friendly show and franchise but on the other hand it does help sell the threat that the gang faces in this world.

For me the character that got the biggest upgrade not only in this series but also in these early issues is Daphne she was always one of the characters with the least amount of personality and that's something which recent shows and films have tried to rectify. but my god is she great in this series. Here she's the host of her own mystery show and when push comes to shove she also serves as the teams go to action girl she always has a plan and I really like that it's actually kind of refreshing.

Overall these early issues are really good and if this post does well I might look into doing the issues which cover volume 2 just because I want to see more from this world and for the first time ever i'm not going to give out a rating because this is the start of the story so there's no point.