Scooby Apocalypse Vol. 2

by Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis

[Jennifer | Pushing Pages]

I finished this volume while at the cafe earlier, and I have a lot of feelings - pretty much all positive. Scooby-Doo was not my favorite cartoon as a kid. Classic? Yes. But it was always that show that I enjoyed kinda, and mostly only watched when there was nothing else on TV. Having said that, when I found out some months ago that Scooby Apocalypse existed, I knew I wanted to check it out. I'm always up for new takes, and throwing the gang into an apocalyptic, chaotic world is my kinda story. When I found these volumes sitting at the library, I knew I wanted to give it a shot.

Overall, I love the plot. The creation of these nano-monsters, the way the technology mutated and responded to every organism just a little differently was incredibly fun to learn about. There's a lot going on with this story, but it is much easier to break this down into how each character contributed to the overall plot. Also, it's just easier for me, because I'm a little tired right now.

Velma:
Velma plays a scientist who helps create the nanobyte program that ends up being the world's undoing. Beyond that, though, she is someone who very earnestly wished to better the world - though naive and short-sighted as her goal may have been. Her continued pursuit to close the gap on the truth of what the Four did with her program, Project Elysium, is endearing and worth following. She is easily a new favorite.

Daphne:
I won't lie, I was beginning to grow tired of how frequently Daphne laid the worlds burden on Velma's shoulders. She spent a good portion of her time essentially bullying the other woman because of how frustrated she was. But what that did show was her tenacity and impassioned care for what was happening. She was desperate to find solutions, lead the gang to victory and save those closest to her. When Daphne and Velma finally came together in support of one another, you started to see more dimension and understanding from Daphne. It was very much needed.

Fred:
A Chad.

Sha-- Okay, like Fred was a loyal friend, but my God.

Shaggy:
Shaggy was one of my favorite character designs, because it was realistic, and he also was just a treat. He was the same Shaggy you've come to expect, food-crazed, Scooby-lovin', with jokes about being a coward. But he wasn't just the weird lanky guy from the original cartoon. He was a full-rounded adult. It was nice to see him as a character in this particular story, and I can't wait to see more of him.

Scooby:
The goodest boy. Like seriously, Scooby showed bravery, the same silly speech patterns, and an adorable closeness to Shaggy. But he really took the spotlight of every scene when he got the chance. I do wish that when he went missing briefly and he had to find his way back that we had actually gotten to see that. It's my one regret with these issues so far. You saw him realize he had to find his way back, but then the very next issue he had already returned. We really deserved a just-Scooby issue that really just focused on him and how he functions in this world alone.

Scrappy:
Oddly enough, as much as I spent the whole time completely enraptured in the gang's story, the two Scrappy-Doo issues were the most compelling for me. The first issue of this volume that he appears in, he is regaling the audience with his story: how he came to be this muscle-bound Scrappy from the former pup he once was. When he found the emaciated puppy at the pet store, just soon after finding that he was disgusted by dog food (which came after he lamented how much he missed just being a happy-go-lucky dog before Project Elysium did their experiments on him), the pain that you saw him reveal as he put the dog out of its misery actually really got to me. His vengeance quest against Scooby will be very interesting to see come to fruition.

Anyway, give it a chance. It's great.