The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Sholly Fisch

Illustrated by Randy Elliott

Coloured by Silvana Brys

Lettered by Saida Temofonte

Scooby and Batman team up to solve the mystery of a ghost…who’s haunting the Batcave! Even if the ghost turns out to be a fake, that still doesn’t solve the real mystery: How did someone get into the Batcave to stage the phony phantom -- and does that mean Batman’s enemies have cracked the secret of his true identity?!

This is the best new series of the year. This is the epitome of an all-ages book because just the way Sholly is able to layer it in ways that adults pretty much see everything and can enjoy the tongue-in-cheekiness of it while kids of varying ages will see different things and be thrilled by it. It is also has the perfect blend of Batman the Animated Adventures and the 60’s television campy show to it and that’s pretty amazing to actually witness as I never thought that i’d actually live to see the day this happened and let alone this damn well. For another added bonus we see some old school goodness within the Bat-Cave with all these trophies they’ve collected.

I am really enjoying the way that this is being told. How the story & plot development constantly moves forward thanks to how we see the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development is phenomenal! Each character is fleshed out exactly how we know them to be from their looks and to see the character interaction, dialogue and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter is sensational. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story it’s easy to get caught up in what we see, though I did miss the standard Scooby chase scene.

How we see this structured and how the layers within the story work to showcase the characterisation and to really make this feel like a cartoon episode. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceedingly well achieved. I have to say the overall flow of this story is utterly amazing and that the full story is a one and done is kind of awe inspiring to me.

I love the interiors here. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail work that we see is sensational. I really am impressed with how much like the cartoon this is and how seamlessly the Scooby gang fits into this, and yes it still reminds me of the first time Batman & Robin met the gang in the cartoons. That started the longtime fandom which has culminated in this current series and the fact that it’s inspired from the Batman Adventures is fanboy heaven. The way we see backgrounds utilised throughout makes me a happy camper and how they work within the composition of the panels to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous eye for storytelling. The colour work is absolutely perfect and so true to the cartoon style that it could not get any more perfect than it already is.

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This really one of the absolute best comics on stands right now and it needs to go from a maxi-series to an ongoing monthly or bi-monthly title. The world needs to see this on a regular basis because it’s not only nostalgic but let’s face it in this crazy world of social distancing and arguing about everything this is the PERFECT escape from reality if only for a little bit.