Scooby-Doo #13
DC Comics (August, 1998)
COLORIST: Lee Loughridge
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Mike Brisbois
EDITOR: Brownwyn Taggart
“Welcome To Monsterville”
WRITER: Chris Duffy
PENCILER: Joe Staton
INKER: Andrew Pepoy
LETTERER: John Costanza
“No Bones About It!”
WRITER: Michael Kraiger
ARTIST/LETTERER: Tim Harkins
The main story is not the cover story. That’s the back-up. Instead the gang travels to Monsterville, a town that promotes a giant crab monster called Big Red that has supposedly terrorized the town for decades. However, the monster is an obvious fake and even the neighborhood kids think it’s lame. Is the reason this tourist trap is ignoring what’s blatantly obvious? Maybe the gang will have to take a new approach to this mystery. As a mystery the story is so-so but as a story it’s actually pretty fun and something different for the gang to deal with. Also Scooby-Doo is written like Scooby-Doo. The “R”s are properly done (“Rooby Racks” instead of “Scooby Snacks”, for example), which the back-up also has. It makes it feel more like a Scooby story and there is a mystery to solve when the story doesn’t distract you from it. A really good story overall.
In the back-up one of the gangs’ kerbillion other friends (one of Velma’s in this case) asks for help in finding a ghost in a museum. There’s no real mystery here, just some silly antics, plus a more cartoonish art style than usual, but it’s fun enough that I can overlook the flaws.
In the end this is a really good issue, trying something different and pulling it off. It’s worth checking out.