The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9 - DC Comics

THE BATMAN AND SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES No. 9, August 2023

Despite being a direct sequel to the classic November 1969 aired television episode of “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” entitled “Bedlam In The Big Top”, debatably the vast majority of this comic’s readers were probably soon wishing for the Ghost Clown to entrance them so they could easily forget Matthew Cody’s disinteresting script and bewildering reinterpretation of Mystery Incorporated’s characters. Furthermore, the twenty-page periodical’s portrayal of Batman is far from convincing, even for a book seemingly based upon the crime-fighter’s more tongue-in-cheek “Filmation” incarnation, as it depicts the World’s Greatest Detective becoming utterly fixated upon the Joker being behind a group of mind-controlled citizens attacking “some silly old award ceremony honouring a bunch of teenagers”, simply because the unsuccessful raid’s mastermind dressed them up as clowns.

These anomalies increasingly become frustrating, and lead to some truly implausible moments where the likes of Daphne Blake and Batgirl have to physically defeat Harry the Hypnotist and his ridiculous minions, whilst the ordinarily dependable Fred Jones unexpectedly cowers behind a chair and the Dark Knight inexplicably speeds off in the Batmobile for sources of Smilex Gas rather than “comb this crime scene for clues.” To make matters worse though the Missouri-born writer’s script also suddenly has Crystal Cove’s Madam Mayor and Sheriff Stone arrest “these meddling kids” for causing all of the town’s problems without a shred of evidence or arguably basic logic and throws them all straight in front of a clearly unimpartial courtroom so they can be later tossed “into the deepest, darkest cell you can find in Arkham.”

Similarly as disconcerting is debatably Scott Jeralds’ artwork, which appears to repeatedly encapsulate a handful of different drawing styles all within the same panel. This bizarre-looking technique, coupled with the illustrator persistently reusing identical drawings from one frame to another, has caused the likes of William Martin of “Batman-news.com” to believe that “there is a strong chance that most of this comic is traced” by the “Marvel Studios” animator. Whatever the explanation actually is though, it is probably safe to say that the contrast between Commissioner Gordon looking exactly as he does in the 1992 “Batman: The Animated Series” working alongside a slender-looking Batman, who is much more reminiscent of his 1977 Adam West-voiced cartoon portrayal, must have badly jarred with even the most devoted of Batfan bibliophiles.

Written by: Matthew Cody, Drawn by: Scott Jeralds and Colored by: Carrie Strachan