The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries #5 - DC Comics

THE BATMAN AND SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES No. 5, April 2023

For those Silver Age connoisseurs who enjoy nostalgic trips back to the days of “wealthy Gotham City heiress and former circus performer” Kathy Kane wearing the colourful costume of Batwoman, Sholly Fisch’s script for “Rat’s All Folks” surely brought them a lot of rosy reminisces. In fact, arguably this twenty-page-periodical’s greatest strength is its incredible ability to educate its audience with the history of Edmond Hamilton’s co-creation and then bring the partially greying crimefighter back out of retirement, alongside sidekick-turned-professional tennis player Bette, for one final adventure.

However, for those bibliophiles who require at least some sort of explanation as to why a pack of ferocious Rat-men are ransacking the antique motorcycle collection of the Caped Crusader’s former-love interest, Issue Five of “The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries" is probably going to be something of a disappointment, especially once Professor Achilles Milo’s masterplan to create an unstoppable army of the “monstrous minions” is revealed; “Who were you expecting? Hugo Strange? Tell me, what do you think of my new serum’s ability to transform bikers into quite literal lab rats?”

Admittedly, the “renowned chemist who turned to crime” does concede that his despicable concoction is only partially successful, and it is also clear from Batwoman’s stark concern at having to restrain Shaggy Rogers after he inadvertently consumes some, that Milo’s cocktail detrimentally affects the behaviour of its victims. But seeing as the perfidious pseudoscientist is supposedly just a day away from achieving his grand aim, it seems somewhat bizarre that he’d allow his guinea pigs to attract the attention of the local authorities by repeatedly terrorising the local highways and roads with a spate of burglaries.

Luckily, what this comic debatably lacks in logic or depth, it more than makes up for with Dario Brizuela’s drawings and Franco Riesco’s colours. The flashbacks to Aunt Kathy’s heyday when she “trained her mind and body” to become Batwoman are superbly sketched, with the sequences being greatly enhanced via the washed-out pigmentation of publications printed during the Sixties. Furthermore, there is definitely something distinctly uplifting about seeing the likes of the original superheroine riding a motorbike alongside her trusty Bat-Girl and alter-ego’s latest modern-day incarnation, whilst the Mystery Machine brings up the rear.

Written by: Sholly Fisch, Drawn by: Dario Brizuela, and Colored by: Franco Riesco