Scooby Apocalypse #26 (DC Comics) gives us a time jump after the harrowing death of Fred Jones in issue #25. Yes, if you didn’t hear, Fred bought the farm saving Daphne, who had finally accepted his marriage proposal. Alas… the end of the world from nanite terror is not meant for happiness. Fast forward 6 months and the Scooby gang have secured the mall, brought in outside survivors, and are trying to move on. They even named their new settlement Jonestown to honor Fred (yeah… not the best name… some good dialogue on that within).
Moving on for Daphne is that of becoming the Sarah Conner of this universe. I have a sneaking feeling that she may be on a reckless path after losing Fred. For Shaggy and Velma, it’s a budding new relationship, which is odd if you ask me. Shaggy has been pining over Daisy (Velma’s sister-in-law) forever now, though I believe this is a new creative team, so it seems that they’ve made a story adjustment.
As of right now, I’m not too keen on it, but this book is so good that I’m willing to see where it goes. Scooby is spending more time with the child survivor named Cliffy these days, while Daisy is somewhat being the mother figure to them. Outside of moving on from Fred’s death, this issue focuses on the mall security and managing their resources for survival. We do, however, also get a much welcome return of a beloved character in the final panels page, one we’ve been waiting for with great anticipation.
As far as the end of the world goes, I’ve said it many times before, I’ll take the adult story of Scooby Apocalypse over The Walking Dead monotony any day. The art keeps popping and the story not only has adult moments but there is some fun to be had too. So… it’s all good?
Not quite all good… the Secret Squirrel back up story is still taking away pages from the Scooby Apocalypse story and honestly, they need to dump it, finish it, remove it. This backup story actually negatively affects my overall value for the core review score here because it just should not be included and has nothing to do with Scooby Apocalypse except for that of taking away pages that could be filled with the main story.
Scooby Apocalypse #26 was written by Giffen & DeMatteis with guest artwork by Tom Mandrake and cover design done by Kaare Andrews. There is also a variant cover which was designed by Mike Perkins and Andy Troy.
Wrap Up
So is this book for you? Do you like the apocalypse? Do you like Scooby and the gang? Have you ever wanted a more adult take on Scooby-Doo? If so then this is for you. I’ve liked it from issue #1 and it is in my comiXology monthly subscription. It’s a nice change of pace from the more “hero tinged” comic book norm. Try an issue and see how it sits with you. You never know, you might find yourself on board for the long haul.
