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KC Carlson by Stuart Immonen
A RC Rolumn ry RC Rarlson
Scooby-Doo Team-Up #33
I’m going to wander over a bit to Wayne Markley’s part of the Westfield blog this time around — mostly because the current subject matter has finally wandered into one of my old corners of the comic book universe. (Wayne has discussed various times how terrific this series is.) I never thought I’d see it (or even dreamed that it could happen). But, yes… Scooby-Doo has now met (and teamed up with) the legion of Super-Heroes. (In Scooby-Doo Team-Up #33 — now On Sale!) and I’m SO pleased about it, that I’m only gonna be a little bit snarky about it — by saying out loud… At last, somebody at the current DC is interested in doing a new LSH story!!!
Those somebodies are writer Sholly Fisch (who’s written every issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up, covering a broad variety of guest stars) and artist Dario Brizuela (who has drawn many of them)! rather than re-write Scooby-Doo’s long publication history with DC, this here link will take you back to Wayne’s recent quick history of DC’s association with the Scooby Gang (through three different series!).
Scooby-Doo Team-Up #23
One of the much more pleasurable parts of the Scooby-Doo Team-Up series is how the stories alternate between team-ups with DC’s superhero characters and appearances by the classic Hanna-Barbera characters. Scooby himself started there, and all of them are now under the same Time Warner roof. In the past year alone, Scooby and the gang have not only teamed with the Atom, the Challengers of the Unknown, Jonah Hex, Plastic Man, green lantern & green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Harley Quinn but also Atom Ant, top Cat, Hong Kong Phooey, quick draw McGraw (as El-Kabong!), Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, and space Ghost.
Since I’m doing lots of lists this time around, here’s all the Legionnaires that appear in Scooby-Doo Team-Up #33: Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Princess Projectra, Matter-Eater Lad, shadow Lass, and the GHOST of Ferro Lad!!! Jinkies! (And even much more LSHers appear for last panel cameos!)
DO YOU speak “SCOOBY” like I speak SCOOBY?
Mystery Inc. (excuse me…) Rystery Rinc. Roll Rall includes Rooby-Roo, Raphne, Red, Relma, and Raggy. Of course it does…
The legendary Scooby-Doo.
The issue itself is quite fun. The legion comes back to our time in one of their Time spheres (which, at first, the Scooby Gang thinks is Rip Hunter’s Time Ship — from a story three issues ago — for a good bit of local continuity). Long-time LSH fans have come to expect lots of exposition in LSH stories because there are a lot of characters, powers, and strange names to learn ASAP. Shaggy thinks they are aliens, which Lightning Lad denies — and then changes his mind. “Well, yes we are (aliens). but we’re from the future.” and then the main LSH characters demonstrate their powers to the gang.
There’s lotsa old-school LSH stuff here. When they get to the 30th Century, we see the old-time legion HQ — the classic upside-down rocket ship — which, of course, Shaggy thinks has crashed into the ground. Plus, there’s even much more Scooby-related continuity referenced. “First the Jetsons, now this!” Shaggy screams after being attacked by the Ghost of Ferro Lad.
More Legionnaires join in.
Later, Velma suggests that the “ghost” could be a hologram, to which Brainiac 5 sniffs “‘Hologram’? Please. What do you think this is? The 23rd Century?” Of course, Shaggy breaks a tooth after sneaking one of Matter-Eater Lad’s snacks. (Which is a rock.) Later, both Scooby and Shaggy are frightened by the ominously hovering emerald Eye of Ekron, and Shaggy doesn’t “want to wait around to see the rest of his face to show up!”
There are some smart things as well. Saturn girl cancels out the emerald Eye by commanding the emerald Empress to fall asleep — and lighting Lad short-circuits Tharok’s robot half-body with a lightning bolt. A stylish martial arts relocation by Daphne triggers an invitation to meet the Legion’s Karate kid some day. My favorite panel of the story is Scooby and the enormous Validus interacting for a moment. As expected, everything is resolved in 20 pages (or 20-some minutes if it was an actual cartoon.)
Scooby-Doo Team-Up Vol. 2
This story was one of my favorites due to my history with the guest stars, but just about all of the Scooby-Doo Team-Up stories are fun, funny, and worth reading. If you’re coming in late, there are four paperback collections so far (volume 4 just came out), which implies issues #1-24 are all available, with six issues per volume, and at a significant savings. R’okay!?!
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RC RARLSON was too old for Scooby-Doo when it first debuted in 1969. now I’m in my 60s and reading the comic books? Jinkies! I also edited the legion of Super-Heroes (and Legionnaires) for what typically seemed like a thousand years.
RESTFIELD ROMICS is not responsible for the dumb things that RC says. especially that thing that really irritated you. Rokay, Raggy?!
REDITORIAL NOTE: Did you know that KC – sorry – RC had in hand in the origin of the “old-time legion HQ?” Google Fortress Lad if you don’t believe me.