Summary
Warning! Spoilers forThe Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries (2024) #8 ahead!More than 50 years after their debut, the teens ofScooby-Dooare officially members of Gen Z. Created in 1969, the Mystery Inc. gang were a bunch of mystery-solving meddling kids that caught on big and have been a staple of pop culture ever since. Though there have been attempts to modernize and update the team, the original designs and personalities have mostly stayed the same. However, even though they still have ’60s aesthetics, they’re finally joining the 21st century.
InThe Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries(2024) #8 by Sholly Fisch and Erich Owen, the Scooby gang are out to crack the case of a mysterious giant who’s been attacking a novelty museum of giant items. When they see the size of a footprint left behind, Shaggy and Scooby start running scared. They find themselves leaping across the keys of a strange objectShaggy doesn’t recognize - a giant typewriter.
Funnily enough, Scooby-Doo DOES know what it is, telling Shaggy it’s a “Rancient Rword Rocessor.” Though this adventure seems right out of the 1960s, this gag places the gang firmly as youth of today.
Scooby-Doo Goes Full Five Nights at Freddy’s with Animatronic Pizza Party Horror
Scooby-Doo and Five Nights at Freddy’s are two franchises that just belong together, despite their differences, and Scooby’s latest mystery agrees!
ModernizingScooby-Doothe Right Way
One could be forgiven for assumingThe Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteriesseries takes place in the 1960s or 1970s. The kids are paired with Batman, but his colorful appearance suggests he’s from the Golden Age, or directly out of theAdam West TV series. In the currentBatmancanon, the Dark Knight has recently woken up from a coma, mourned his dead lover, and fought a mental battle against the darkest parts of his psyche.Not exactly the stuff one brings to an adventure with a talking dog.This point of reference is interesting because it establishes these stories in the modern day.
This also expresses one of the best ways to modernize theScooby-Doogang: just put them in modern times. Versions of the team where they just have access to smartphones are much more fun and enjoyable than some of Warner Bros' recent misses, likethe generally rejectedVelma. That show has tried to do so much all at once with the characters that they don’t even seem like the gang anymore.In this comic, everyone is identifiable- Shaggy and Scooby are scaredy-cats, Batman respects Velma’s detective work, and Fred loves traps. Even Daphne knows to get a birds-eye view to find clues.
Stop Meddling With These Meddling Kids
Panel fromThe Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries#6 by Amanda Deibert and Dario Brizuela
TheScoobygang have always been meddling kids, and that’s why they’ve stayed relevant for so long. The modernizing changes that work do so because they generally keep the personalities the same, but update the team from the malt shop, to the arcade, to the mall, to wherever young people today hang out. (Roblox?)This series has been a really fun readbecause there are light, silly stories, but still great character work that respects the best of canon from both franchises.The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysterieshas cracked the case on how to best modernize these classic characters.
The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries#8is available now from DC Comics.
The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries#8 (2024)
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Cast
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is a classic animated mystery series that follows the adventures of four teenagers - Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers - and their talking Great Dane, Scooby-Doo. Together, they travel around in their psychedelic van, the Mystery Machine, solving supernatural mysteries and uncovering spooky secrets.
