POBB May 1, 2021

Pick of the Brown Bag

May 1, 2021

by

Ray Tate

Bon Jour and Bon Soir.  Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag, your go to blog for comic book reviews.  I'm Ray Tate, the meilleure banane. Should my in depth look at comic book history and critique be too much too soon, I can also be found on Twitter for briefer judgements: #PickoftheBrownBag.

Batman teams up with his old chums Freddie, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for a new series christened The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries.

According to wikipedia, Batman and Robin first appeared in the Scooby Universe on the second episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mystery Movies.  

Mind you.  I remember them debuting on the first series Scooby-Doo Where Are You! 

I have a distinct recollection of watching the opening to Scooby-Doo followed by a skeleton caper with Scooby and the Gang, Batman and Robin.  I believed the Dynamic Duo to be canonical to the original series.

John Nathan Turner the producer of Doctor Who in the eighties coined a profound saying: "The memory cheats."  

The thing is I swear I never saw Scooby-Doo Mysteries until syndicated.  I only saw on VHF Scooby-Doo Where Are You!  I remember sitting in front of the TV, wearing my Phantom jammies and eating...

Okay.  I'm done.  

Whenever Batman and Robin guest in a Scooby-Doo related project, the creative teams go above and beyond.   Ivan Cohen, Dario Brizuela and Franco Riesco carry forth this honorable tradition of quality.  

Brizuela of course is the master illustrator behind the previous comic book series Scooby-Doo Team-Up.  He backed up writer Sholly Fisch, who unfortunately isn't involved in Batman Scooby-Doo.  That's all right.  Cohen proves himself to be an ace Batman and Scooby-Doo writer.

Batman Scooby-Doo begins with Batman asking his friends and colleagues Mystery Inc. to investigate the disappearance of his original purple gloves.  

For those not in the know, Batman's more familiar gauntlets didn't manifest until September 1940.  DC also now apparently recolors the purple gloves blue in every reprinting of Batman's Golden Age adventures.  A bizarre practice, since they returned in Scott Snyder's modern run of Batman to recapitulate the Dark Knight's historical origins.

The enigma of the purple gloves grows more complicated.  Nobody could have switched the gloves.  Since they were always in the Batcave.  Batman furthermore doesn't remember what happened to the gloves.

Unlike Batgirl, Batman does not possess a photographic memory.  It's near photographic, but this kind of personal lapse would worry any detective worth his salt.  As would an infiltration of Batman's headquarters.  

So, far, Batman Scooby-Doo has a reason to exist.  The mystery demands Scooby and the Gang's involvement.  The puzzle is solid.  It's solution twisty and textured.  

There's a lot more than just Scooby-Diving in this story.  Suffice to say, any more intel would be spoiling a quite splendid time spender.  Some things I can reveal.  Alfred makes a critical appearance.  Robin is Dick Grayson, and a flashback encounter with Scooby and the Gang early in Batman's career impacts his demeanor and his life in the present.  For these reasons, the premiere of The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries is a lot deeper and meta than what one may expect. 

Scooby-Doo and the Gang are archetypes.  Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys predate them, yet Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc. touched the hearts of children and influenced pop culture far more.  Everybody continues to redo Scooby-Doo Where Are You! or offer their versions of the sleuths.  The latest of these attempts include Proctor Valley Road and Specter Inspectors.

Proctor Valley Road  hails from Grant Morrison, Alex Child and artists Naomi Franquiz and Tamra Bonvillain.  Specter Inspectors springs from the minds of Bowen McCurdy and Kaitlyn Musto.  Both fall under the Boom aegis.  So, they're not so much in competition.  Rather, they're in the same book section.

Set in the seventies, Proctor Valley Road, explores some of that periodicity.  For instance, the Selective Service and Vietnam looms in the dialogue.  The story however centers on the cover quartet: August, Rylee, Jennie and Cora.

The female protagonists aren't really attempting to unravel enigmas.  Their goals are much more in tune with the times.

By hook or by crook, they seek to raise money for Janis Joplin tickets.  This goal ultimately leads them to the mystery.

Please note the VW van.  When you see a bunch of kids in a van heading into the unknown, you're halfway to Scooby Country.  

However, the girls are not detectives.  More like grifters, completely sold on the money-making aspect and lacking curiosity about the strange happening that occurs in the prologue of Proctor Valley Road. 

Word of the happening spreads quickly and becomes an urban legend.  That's why all the girls know about it and why August is keen to exploit it.  

Objectively, Proctor Valley Road is fine, though to date a little light reading for the typical layered writing of Grant Morrison.  That said.  Some genuinely good comedy can be found from the diverse cast of female protagonists. 

The art is welcoming, and there's something to be said for making the youths ethically challenged but innocent none the less.

These girls are rule-breakers, frequently in trouble with authority figures and even petty thieves, but they're not racists.  They're not terrorists.  They're not villains.  They're not Republican.

By the end of Proctor Valley Road, you'll see what's behind the prologue.  This is the only time Morrison appears to be making an allusion.  A cinematic one from the classics of horror.

Noa, Astrid, Ko and Gus comprise the Specter Inspectors, their official name  The Inspectors are Youtube ghost-hunters.  

The story begins with the Inspectors traveling to Cape Grace to investigate a haunted house.

All seems well, and the Scooby-Doo vibe is strong in these young ones.  The darker skinned Noa, a true believer, leads the team.  What's more she thinks she's psychic.

I hate psychics.  Psychics are charlatans.  When I see one in a straight up detective story, my suspension of disbelief snaps.  However, I'm willing to accept psychics in a fiction where the supernatural exists or science fiction aspects play out.  

Until the films, Scooby-Doo only went the skeptic route.  Mystery Inc. uncovered countless real estate scams by crooks in chilling costumes.  Specter Inspectors is at first as vague when noting Noa's psychic ability.  So, at this point, the book could go in either direction.

It's funny how psychics never seem to be able to focus on a clear picture of the future.  Noa learns some hard truths about her girlfriend Astrid.  She's not above chicanery.

Astrid's willingness to succumb to corruption is the surprising catalyst in Specter Inspectors and it comes to a head in the bell tower where Astrid confesses something to Noa.

I won't give anything else away.  I will say that unusual things develop and in inventive ways.  The artwork enhances the entire project and the dialogue, creatively lettered, at times creates an outré ambiance.  Best of all Specter Inspectors breaks from Scooby-Doo to convey a feeling of originality.