Even I can tell that’s a fake dragon.
Scooby-Doo #57
DC Comics (April, 2002)
COLORIST: Paul Becton
SEPARATIONS: Digital Chameleon
LETTERER: Sergio Garcia
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Harvey Richards
EDITOR: Joan Hilty
“Don’t Be Such A Dragon”
WRITER: Robbie Busch
PENCILER: Joe Staton
INKER: Scott McRae
“The Devil And The Deep Boo Sea”
WRITER: Terrance Griep, Jr.
ARTIST: Karen Matchette
Our first story has the gang in Chinatown during a Chinese New Year event. While eating at a restaurant the owners’ daughter is kidnapped by a dragon. What follows turns out to be a Romeo & Juliet story and frankly I called that part but not how the dragon fit into it.
The second story has the gang visiting a friend who has become a successful singer but his latest concert is being haunted by a devil who hates noise. This one needed a bit more time with the subplots and I’m only guessing there’s a theme that just went south because of it. I see potential but this story didn’t live up to it.
I think I’ve figured out the biggest problem with the DC run on Scooby-Doo. I’ve brought up time and again the lack of mystery for the reader to solve, but after going through Scooby-Doo Team-Up I’m realizing bigger problems. This feels less like Scooby and more like something falsely listed as a “Scooby Clone” like Speed Buggy, just replace the mad scientists with crooks and occasional well-meaning folks in masks. The shorter stories also don’t allow for the exploration a longer story would. Like in our second story, where subplots surrounding the singer mistaking fans as friends, his girlfriend jealous that the singer gives Daphne a hug, the bodyguard who liked it better when the singer was still doing background because the crazy fans weren’t as big an issue…all stuff that could have been explored but not in this short a time.
That’s why I can’t recommend this run and why my reviews are mostly the same complaint every time. I think I’m going to take some time to read the rest of this series and Scooby-Doo Where Are You and if I find a story worth reviewing whether positively or negatively I will. Otherwise we’ll just finish off Scooby-Doo Team-Up because what it lacks as a Scooby-Doo story it at least works as a Hanna-Barbera anthology series Mystery Incorporated just get stuffed into.
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