The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries [2024] #1 - DC Comics

THE BATMAN AND SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES No. 1, February 2024

Arguably taking something of a risk by having this opening issue of the “new ongoing series [which] teams up Gotham’s greatest detectives with Crystal Cove’s teen sleuths” focus upon Nightwing as opposed to the Dark Knight himself, Sholly Fisch’s “The Show Must Go… Away” still should have pleased the vast majority of its readers in January 2024. True, the twenty-page periodical’s plot will initially have quite a few bibliophiles rubbing their foreheads in consternation as the tale appears to portray super-hero Deadman as the villainous antagonist. But once it’s been made clear that the entire criminal operation is a ‘set-up’ to smear the deceased acrobat’s name, readers should settle back down to discover just who the costume-wearing imposter is.

Furthermore, there’s plenty of gags surrounding Mystery Incorporated to keep them entertained as Dick Grayson’s alter-ego decides to headline Haly’s Circus for one night only. Quite possibly one of the funniest of these is poor Fred Jones attempting to fool the customers into believing he’s every bit as good an escapologist as he is setting traps for crooks. Whilst Shaggy Rogers and his Great Dane dressed up as clowns will probably raise a smile or three too, especially as the pair are terrified of white-faced, colourful entertainers; “Didn’t I mention I’m, like, scared of clowns?”

Perhaps therefore the only disappointing element to this tale is Daphne Blake being depicted as a death-defying aerialist who “luckily… took a few trapeze lessons during the case of the haunted high wire.” Such a blatant, fortuitous break sadly smacks of Fisch simply creating a contrivance in order to give poor "Danger-prone Daphne" a pivotal role in his narrative, and would probably at least have been a bit more convincing if he’d tied her lucky special ability to the 1969 televised “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” episode “Bedlam in the Big Top”.

Helping to sell all the chaos of life under the Big Top of a travelling circus is Dario Brizuela, whose pencils quite beautifully match the look of the titular cast’s old “Hanna-Barbera” Saturday morning cartoons. The Argentinian illustrator is also very good at incorporating the likes of Nightwing and Batman into this style of drawing, providing the publication with a seamless blend of the two popular comic book franchises.

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