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.

  

Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts Review

Marvel fans while the company isn't releasing any new movies or TV shows just yet there is something new from the company and this was something even I forgot was happening. I admit I forgot all about this but that's because i've had alot of reviews to do so something was always going to slip through the cracks and since i've reviewed the other projects from the Marvel Rising series it makes sense to me to review this latest one and yes I will also be reviewing the other special when ever that comes out so here is my review of Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts.

The basic plot of this special is Ghost Spider is still on the hunt for whoever killed her friend and in order to help stop the bad guy she needs the help of the secret warriors. Yeah there's not much in terms of plot here and that makes sense since this is a twenty two minuet special but it also means alot of the story gets rushed and that makes me think why wasn't this the plot to the Marvel Rising movie since it would have worked better there.

All of the characters in this special are played by the same people who played them in other Marvel Rising projects. So starring in this special is Dee Bradley Baker as Lockjaw and Tippy-Toe , Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson , Kathreen Khavari as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel , Kamil McFadden as Rayshaun Lucas / Patriot , Tyler Posey as Dante Pertuz / Inferno , Cierra Ramirez as America Chavez , Booboo Stewart as Victor Kohl / Exile , Milana Vayntrub as Doreen Green / Squirrel Girl and Dove Cameron as Gwen Stacy / Ghost-Spider.

Yes I know that's a huge cast list and I know that i've not listed the person who plays the main villain and that's because I can't find out who played her. As for my thoughts on the acting as a whole for a twenty two minuet special it wasn't that bad I get the feeling that every single Marvel Rising animated project was recorded at the same time because the acting here is alot better then what it was in the shorts that got released last year but I could be wrong.

Now I have no idea who did the animation for this special but logic dictates that it was whoever did the animation both for the movie and for the shorts. If that is the case then I can say that I prefer the animation in the movie just because with the movie I felt like they actually had a budget where as here that doesn't seem to be the case at all. It's not bad animation by any means but it's not the best animation that has the Marvel name to it.

I said this at the start of the review but I feel like this story could have been better told if it was the plot of the movie just because it would have allowed the story more time to breathe but as it is it has to get to all of these plot points pretty quickly. I understand that in the movie they had to set up the secret warriors but that could have been a story running along side this one but what do I know i'm just a guy who watches alot of movies and TV shows.

This special in my eyes was so poorly promoted I only found one teaser for the special and nothing else. That to me is a bad idea since it says that Disney is just banking on the Marvel name alone and as was proved with Solo you can't really do that you need to let people know that you have this thing coming out otherwise again as was proven with Solo they just won't watch it so i'm hoping that the next and so far final special gets more effort put into it's promotion literally anything will do just as long as people know that it's coming out on a certain date.

Now I don't know if you've noticed this or not but the above picture isn't from the special it's actually from the secret warriors movie. That's because there actually aren't any images from this special released I should know because as i'm writing this review i'm searching Google for more images I can use again this comes down to poor marketing if Disney marketed this special like they would a feature length film then all of what I said wouldn't be an issue at all.

Since this is a superhero special set in the Marvel world that means we have to talk about the action in the special. Honestly the action like alot of things in this special including the humour is very lacklustre it's not bad by any means but it's not good either not helping is the fact that we don't get to see alot of the action a fair amount of it happens off screen and that's not something you want in an action special. 

They spend a fair bit of the special building up this special move that the warriors are learning and in the third act when they start to do it even tho we find out that they pulled it of we never see it that's just bad story telling right there and it's something that should have been seen since it was part of a sub-plot.

Overall this special like the action was very lacklustre just everything about it that could have been average is average except from the acting so thank god the next special is going to be forty four minuets because it really does need to be close to an hour to tell a good story this special scores a 4 out of 10 from me.