Free Comic Friday: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1: Halloween Special Edition
“Man Bat and Robbin'”
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artist: Dario Brizuela
Colorist: Heroic Age
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover: Brizuela
Assistant editor: Jessica Chen
Editor: Kristy Quinn
Special thanks to Leandro Corral
Published by: DC
Released: Oct. 25, 2014

So there's a big Batman-adjacent movie in theaters today, a sequel to a prestigious, nay, Oscar-winning film from a few years back. Couple that with the calendar turning to October, and we're marking this #FreeComicFriday with Batman teaming up with Scooby-Doo.

Look, I don't begrudge Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix their “Joker” success and accolades. The 2019 film was well made, and Phoenix earned his Academy Award for Best Actor. But after eventually watching the movie, something I delayed for a few reasons, I'm left with the same question: Who wants a Joker story without Batman?

Of course, only a Sith deals in absolutes, and I can think of one Dark Knight-less Joker tale right off the bat* that I did enjoy. But he still had someone striving against his evil madness and it wasn't remotely as dark as most modern Joker stories are. Don't get me wrong; the Joker is an excellent foil for Batman, chaos versus order, yada, yada, yada.

But I don't want just the Joker; I don't want just the darkness. I've read and watched lots of dark, disturbing stories that I've found to have value. “Watchmen” ain't exactly “Sesame Street.” “Irredeemable” almost lives up to its name. Christopher Nolan's “Dark Knight” trilogy is seriously lacking in rainbows and sunshine. But there's more to those than just relentless darkness.

Perhaps some people find the acting and social commentary of Phillips' “Joker” to have value. I mean, I don't need a semi-sympathetic profile of DC's most prolific mass murderer to convince me the world is often terrible, but, hey, different strokes.

All that to say, with a new, musical, presumably Batman-free Joker movie in theaters, I prefer to see Batman and Robin teaming up with those meddling kids and their dog, too.

Scooby-Doo and the gang from Mystery Inc. were foundational pop culture blocks of my childhood, right alongside He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Daphne was probably my first crush,** and I like the idea that problems can be solved in less than half an hour with friendship and the removal of a mask. The fact that they once crossed over with Batman and Robin, even if they weren't Marvel characters, was just icing on the cake.

That famous meeting is referenced shortly after Scooby and the gang arrive at a mall to investigate reports of a large, bat-like creature. Daphne spots a bat-shaped silhouette, but the group's flashlights quickly reveal it to be Batman, with the Boy Wonder at his side. They're in town – Coolsville, right? – tracking the Man-Bat, aka scientist Kirk Langstrom, who followed in a long line of pioneering researchers by messing around with animal DNA and testing on himself.

Screams from the nearby shopping center alert the group that their apparently mutual quarry could be nearby. Inside, they find three humanoid bats stealing jewelry, fur coats and electronics. Upon spotting the Dynamic Duo, they take off running, not flying, leading Batman and Velma to deduce that none of them are Man-Bat, just men wearing bat masks.

They spot a fourth figure lurking in the food court, this one with wings. Everybody else figures out what's going on pretty quick, but Shaggy decides he'll remove the mask that turns out not to be a mask at all.

Scooby tries to pull him down, but soon they're both airborne with the actual Man-Bat, and Batman gives chase. Robin, Fred, Daphne and Velma pursue the escaping trio of formerly masked thieves, with Daphne wielding a batarang with greater confidence than actual skill. Her projectile takes down one of the thieves, while Fred trips up another with the help of a giant skateboard, as one does. Robin catches the last one in the parking lot with an Adam Westian “Pow!”

Batman leaps onto the back of Man-Bat, finally administering an antidote after his foe initially knocks it away but Scooby catches it with his tail. As Langstrom reverts to human form, all four plunge to the ground, only to be caught by their allies with a net previously used to hold the thieves.

Batman invites Mystery Inc. to Gotham City for a detectives conference, which I think is shown in the next issue of the series from which this story was reprinted for Halloween Comics Fest, the annual fall Free Comic Book Day follow-up. Scooby scares Shaggy with one of the bat masks and we reach “the end.”

This issue is a fun romp, one that would have been worth the cover price of a lot less than it is now when it was initially released. I recognize Fisch's name from other DC all-ages offerings, but, while this is absolutely a fun read for kids, don't think for a minute it's only for them.

Fisch clearly wrote this with allegedly adult Scooby and Batman fans like me in mind. When the group spots the three bat guys, Fred exclaims “Holy Triple Vision” and Robin, with clear exasperation, says, “Please don't do that.” Kids might recognize the reference when one of the unmasked robbers says, “We woulda gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those meddling super-heroes,” but it will likely get a bigger chuckle from older fans. And when Batman describes criminals as “a superstitious, cowardly lot” and Shaggy says, “Hey – like us!” I laughed out loud.

I read at least the first six issues of “Scooby-Doo Team-Up” in a library collection, and looking through some of the covers on the DC Fandom wiki, I want to revisit it. Heck, issue 13 features the Phantom Stranger, Deadman and the Spectre. I'm very curious to see how that works. And I've had issue 25, featuring Green Lantern and Green Arrow, in various to-read piles for literally years.

Batman can work in all kinds of stories, and so, I suppose, can his villains. There's room for all types of stories, but I tend to prefer the joyful, wacky ones to those with little to no light.

* - It honestly wasn't intended but I'll own it.

** - Either her or Jo from the Barry Van Dyke era of “Airwolf.”