Review: SCOOBY APOCALYPSE is the Adult SCOOBY-DOO Series Fans Want

A couple of months ago, I was at my local comic shop looking for a gift for my wife. She had expressed interest in some comics. As I was looking around, there was a comic that caught my eye: Scooby Apocalypse. At the behest of the shop owner who had read it and sung its praises, I purchased the first volume of Scooby Apocalypse as well as the comic for my wife. I’ve finished that volume and am here to report that it’s an incredible read that you should go read now.

Scooby Apocalypse was a comic series released starting in May 2016 and ran for 36 issues. It was written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Howard Porter, Dale Eaglesham, and Pat Olliffe and published by DC Comics. Each volume of the series collects six issues. The story is one that I think fans have been dying for and probably missed because of the comic format. It’s a reimagining of the Scooby-Doo universe that’s geared more for teens and adults. I don’t want to spoil too much, but in short it’s a story about an apocalyptic version of Scooby-Doo where the monsters are real and Mystery Incorporated must save the day. If you’ve ever wanted a more adult version of Scooby-Doo, this is fantastic! There are a lot of monster, killer weapons, heavy story components, and fantastic art. Here’s a description I found via the Scooby-Doo Wiki.

"Those meddling kids" and their Mystery Machine are at the center of a well-meaning experiment gone wrong and they'll need to bring all of their mystery-solving skills to bear (along with plenty of Scooby Snacks), to find a cure for a world full of mutated creatures infected by a nanite virus that enhances their fears, terrors and baser instincts. This time, the horrors are real in this apocalyptic near-future badland!

Now, I want to be clear that I’ve only read the first issue so far and so maybe after this the story goes downhill. I don’t think it will though. The owner of my local comic shop is pretty good at recommending solid comics and he raved about this one. This does bring me to one huge complaint I have though. I found that it’s not too hard to find physical versions of Scooby Apocalypse Vol. 1, but the other volumes seem to be impossible to get physically unless you are willing to pay $50+ per volume. My local comic shop went to order me copies of the other volumes and for whatever reason DC has decided to no longer print them despite the fact that my local comic shop owner says it’s still a great selling comic. What the heck DC? It’s not even that old! You could make a killing by releasing a nice hardcover collection. I know I’d buy that.

Now we’re going to enter spoiler territory, so be warned. If you stop reading here, I highly recommend you check if your local comic shop has any of the volumes you can buy, if your local library has copies you can loan, or worst case scenario: buy a digital version on your preferred platform (I personally like comiXology).

This story is freaking phenomenal! Daphne’s a reporter who used to work with big media companies, but after a couple of mishaps her show has been relegated to the knitting channel at an obscure hour. Fred’s her cameraman and if I’m honest, he’s the weakest link of the group. At least so far, he feels a little dumbed down, but he’s very genuine still. Shaggy is a dog trainer for a secret military operation that he doesn’t even know the half of, Scooby is a dog from a smart dog program at said military operation, and Velma basically runs the military operation with only the mysterious Four above her. She’s also a big reason why the world is now a living nightmare.

She was working with the Four to create nanites that infested everyone in the world. The idea was to use these nanites to remove negative qualities in humans and create a more peaceful world. Unfortunately, the Four then decided to change the plans to make people more docile and controllable. This leads her to contact Daphne in an effort to show the world the truth and stop these evil plans. Unfortunately, something happens as Velma is filling Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby in on this and the world goes to crap.

We still don’t know the full story, but something happened and now everyone except these four humans and Scooby have turned into monsters like vampires and ghouls. Daphne is pissed at Velma because as she sees it, Velma is responsible for it. Velma is trying to convince herself that she’s not to blame and it’s not the nanites that caused this but something else. Daphne breaks down because she refuses to give up on the humanity within the monsters she’s now forced to kill to defend herself. There’s a lot of heavy stuff in here. I think Shaggy might be my favorite in this iteration. He is probably the one doing the best at keeping it all together despite suddenly finding out what his employer has really been up to. I love this exploration! I also really appreciate that the group doesn’t know each other at first. Fred and Daphne know each other and Scooby and Shaggy know each other, but Velma’s a recluse and so Shaggy knows who Velma is, but they don’t know each other.

Scooby Apocalypse is a very compelling comic. The art is fantastic. The characters feel like people you’d find in a good post apocalyptic show (reminds me a bit of one of my favorites, Jericho). There are even exciting things like when you find out Scrappy-Doo is a character in this and he hates Scooby enough to want to go kill him! Please go read this comic. It’s absolutely amazing and worth your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read five more volumes of Scooby Apocalypse.