Writer: J. Torres
Art: Scott Jeralds and Carrie Strachan (colorist)
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 6th, 2024
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2 Review.
THE DISPATCH
This marks the second issue in the third volume of this fan-favorite series. In The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2, Fred takes the Mystery Machine down a wrong turn into Slaughter Swamp and the gang soon stumbles upon none other than Solomon Grundy! Shortly after that they encounter Batman and some tourists eager to get a #selfiewithsolomongrundy, as Grundy is considered to be the new Bigfoot to them. The main discrepancy with this one is that they make figuring out who the real villain is to be way too easy. It should be a little bit more difficult than this to figure out the villain. That was somewhat disappointing. Batman also mentions “the Gold family fortune”, a notable reference to Cyrus Gold, who was Grundy’s criminal alter ego decades before he became a monstrous swamp zombie. It’s too bad this comic didn’t delve into that a bit more.
ART
The art really stands out in The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2. Solomon Grundy appears similarly to how he appeared on the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon. Batman is similar to how he appeared on the Superfriends as well as The New Scooby-Doo Movies. There are also a couple of clever homages contained in this comic, the first being a spoof of the iconic image of the Dynamic Duo on the rooftop by the late Carmine Infantino.
It is pretty much identical to the original image except with Velma substituting in for Robin. Also, the panel where Batman descends upon Solomon Grundy resembles something out of the opening titles of Batman: The Animated Series. Scooby fans may also notice that one of the tourists kind of resembles an older version of Flim Flam, the boy from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo cartoon. Strachan makes good use of colors to give it that eerie, swampland feel, with a fog surrounding many of the characters.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While there are some fun homages in The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #2, the overall story is pretty lackluster, especially since there weren’t really any other suspects or red herrings besides the one character. They could have explored Grundy’s origin more or even cast suspicion on one of the tourists. If you like references to the classics, you may enjoy this one, but if you enjoy a good mystery, you probably will be disappointed.