“Where did I leave my hippie and his dog painting?”
Scooby-Doo #51
DC Comics (October, 2001; as posted to comiXology December, 2014)
COLORIST: Paul Becton
LETTERER: Jenna Garcia
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Harvey Richards
EDITOR: Joan Hilty
“The Revenger”
WRITER: Terrance Griep, Jr
ARTIST: Karen Matchette
SEPARATIONS: Digital Chameleon
“Scare Wear”
WRITER: Barney Topper
PENCILER: Dan DeCarlo
INKER: Dan Davis
SEPARATIONS: Zylonol
Yep, back to two mysteries an issue. Our first story has the gang called to a Chinese art gallery in San Francisco where a creature calling itself The Revenger is out to force the owner to leave the gallery. Meanwhile, the owner is arguing with his son, who wants to continue the painting legacy and not the Kung Fu legacy his father was forced to give up to become a painter after an injury. I really liked this one. Again, we have one of the clients being part of the investigation, and in fact solves the secondary mystery while Velma joins Shaggy and Scooby in dealing with the monster, plus we have a story about tradition, expectation, and father and son finding common ground. It was really good.
The second feature has the gang visiting Shaggy’s favorite musician (and oddly one he’s attracted too…and she’s not even carrying food–I mean it’s happened but it’s rare) but her new clothing is haunted. Not really much of a mystery to solve but some interesting alterations to the formula. What’s really strange is the art style. Not that it’s bad but it looks more like a classic Archie comic than it did during the Archie run, and it’s not like the artists haven’t done regular HB style art in the past. The singer looks like she’s be right at home in an Archie comic.
Overall though it was a rather good issue worth checking out. I’m just sad the full-length story was only for the milestone issue.
