Scooby Apocalypse Issue 1 Review (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel)

Title: Scooby Apocalypse #1 | Series: Scooby Apocalypse |  Authors: J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen | Illustrators: Jim Lee, Howard Porter | Publisher: DC Comics | Pub. Date: 2016-5-1 | Pages: 39 | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 5 out of 5 | Source: Self-purchased | Purchase on Amazon

Scooby Apocalypse Issue #1

Those meddling kids-Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and their dog, Scooby-Doo-get more ghost-debunking than they bargained for when faced with a fundamental change in their world. The apocalypse has happened. Old rules about logic no longer apply. The creatures of the night are among us, and the crew of the Magical Mystery Machine has to fight to survive because in the apocalyptic badlands of the near-future, the horrors are real!
This new monthly series takes Scooby and the gang to a whole new level and features character designs by comics superstar Jim Lee! – Goodreads

Scooby Apocalypse #1 Review

I had seen Scooby Apocalypse in my local bookstore, and the absurdity of it caught my eye. It was a few issues bound into a volume and the price was fairly reasonable, but I hate spending money on graphic novels. I just read them too fast. So spending over fifteen bucks on this was never going to happen. But then I was in the bookstore again the next week (is anyone surprised?) and I ended up looking at it again. Long story short, my library didn’t have it, so I ended up shelling out a couple bucks on an e-book version of the first issue just so I could make sure I liked the series.

I liked Scooby Apocalypse. Genuinely liked it. We’re talking ear-to-ear grin the second time I read it. (Though that was in part because I was reading it with my 8-year-old the 2nd time, and we were, um, excitedly voicing it out loud.)

This re-imagining of the Scooby Gang is definitely fitting for today’s readers. Scooby wears emoti-goggles, Shaggy’s a hipster, Fred gets punched…  What more could you want in a Scooby Apocalypse? The only thing one might bemoan is the absence of the classic meddling kids line at the end.  It’s science fiction fun with interesting, clear artwork. Almost all the characters are instantly recognizable. Shaggy is really the only one they changed to any great extent. (That mustache is…something else.) The dialogue is snappy, the plot is interesting.

In Scooby Apocalypse, Daphne and Fred are determined to uncover the truth and Velma is her usual intelligent, no-bullcrap self. Shaggy and Scooby are two peas in a pod, as one might expect. This issue smoothly brings the gang to the same location (although they’re far from being the Scooby Gang by the end of it.) And that last page is a “Holy crap! Now I gotta read the next one!” that will have you wondering how they’re going to manage their new reality.

Overall, I was shocked and pleased by how much I enjoyed this reboot of Scooby Doo in Scooby Apocalypse. I will definitely be checking out more of it! (On a side note: I checked out the Comixology app, and it is definitely a great way for a reader like me to experience graphic novels. They have this guided reading thing, so they show you one panel at a time (expanded so everything is easily readable even on your phone) and in the correct order. There is no second guessing. There’s just reading and enjoying the book.