For some time now, one of my most favorite comic book titles has been SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP, especially as written by the great Sholly Fisch.
The brilliance of what
Fisch does with this title is to take the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang and
plunk them down into adventures with characters from across the vast Time
Warner Communications Empire – meaning DC Comics, Warner Bros., MGM, and
Hanna-Barbera.
In each case, Fisch
knows his guest subject well – and trades in gags that revel in the specifics
and peculiarities of the visiting property.
DC Superhero gags, Flintstones gags, and Jonny Quest gags all meld
perfectly with the expected Scooby-Doo character and continuity gags.
Issues released so far
feature a great number of familiar and beloved guest stars.
Issue # 2: Ace the Bat-Hound.
Issue # 3: Bat-Mite.
Issue # 5: Wonder Woman.
Issue # 6: Super Friends.
Issue # 9: Superman.
Issue # 10: Jonny Quest.
As extremely enjoyable as these team-ups have been, notice that (to one extent of “realism” or another) they are all “Human” characters. If an animal character exists, it would be the “pet” or “mascot” of the guest starring character(s), as is Scooby himself.
Not once have we seen a SCOOBY-DOO
TEAM-UP with an honest-to-anthropomorphic funny animal character, despite the
legions of such creations that exist over Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., MGM, and sometimes
even DC Comics.
But, take a look at the
scheduled pairing for SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 11, scheduled for a July 01, 2015 release!
Yep, it’s SECRET SQUIRREL!
Debuting on NBC Saturday
Morning during the Fall Season of 1965 – and a direct response to the SPY CRAZE
that was ongoing at the time, Secret Squirrel ran for two seasons, and at least
one more complete rerun season.
But the character did
not have much of a run in comic books, the exception being this Gold Key one-shot.
I can't wait to see HOW Scholly
Fisch reconciles Secret Squirrel with Scooby and the gang! I've been wondering
how (or even IF) they would handle a TRUE "funny animal" character -
and not one analogous to Scooby like Astro, Dino, Bandit, or Ace the Bat-Hound.
Maybe SS is a REAL
secret agent in the guise of a squirrel, because HE'S THAT GREAT A MASTER OF
DISGUISE! Perhaps we'll even see Yellow Pinkie!
I'd have really bet on Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, or Pinky and The Brain as the first actual "funny animal" team-ups. But never Secret Squirrel! Wow!
Come, Pinky, we must prepare for tomorrow night.
Why, Brain... What are we gonna do tomorrow night?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky... Try to team-up with Scooby-Doo!
Maybe it has something to do with the upcoming SECRET SQUIRREL DVD release from Warner Archives, some unspecified time in 2015.
In any event, it won’t
be the first completely bizarre character come-together in a “secret agent”
comic book story…
 |
| Say, is that "William Conrad as Frank Cannon" teaming-up with Mickey? |
8 comments:
And it's not even Christmas! Wow, this really has me excited, Joe!
I'd have settled for the guest appearance in SDTU, which gets me jazzed enough, but a DVD release as well? That just puts it over the top! Bring on Morocco Mole, Yellow Pinkie, Winsome Witch, and yes, even Squiddly Diddly! I'll be first in line for that--at long last--DVD!
What's his name? Shh! Secret Squirrel!
To paraphrase Percy Shelley:
If Secret Squirrel is coming, can Atom Ant be far behind?
I'm still rooting for Johnny Bravo, the Scooby gang from "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", Vincent Van Ghoul and Scrappy Doo & Scooby Dum to show up. But Secret Squirrel opens this "Team-Up Universe" further...Tom & Jerry in their "The Cat and Mouse Detectives" guises from the current TV series, or Duck Dodgers? :)
‘Rehab:
I wonder… does a character or characters from Scooby’s OWN continuity qualify as a “Team-Up”? Seems to me they could show up in ANY Scooby comic. Though, I would LOVE to see how Sholly Fisch handles Scrappy-Doo!
Johnny Bravo (they have history) and Freakazoid! ( they SHOULD have history, but don’t – alas) are two I’ve been hoping for from the get-go. (…Or, in Shaggy’s case, would that be “get-going”?)
But, yes… Secret Squirrel opens up a whole new aspect to the wonderful stuff we’ve had so far in SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP!
I’d really have bet on Pinky and The Brain, because they would be such a perfect fit. They operate in a “human world”, and you can attribute the fact that they can speak to their being genetically enhanced experimental lab animals. Thus, only a minimally contrived explanation is required to team them up. Imagine, however, if the team-up is PINKY, ELMYRA, AND THE BRAIN… oh, poor Scooby!
…Then again, maybe Elmyra could disappear into “Bad Idea Land” with Scrappy-Doo, and fix TWO continuities for the price of one!
Scarecrow:
Atom Ant will NOT be “far behind”. He will be right alongside “The Secret One”, with a DVD release of his own!
A short time ago on “Stu’s Show”, Jerry Beck said we should see both Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel from The Warner Archive Collection (ABOUT TIME, sez I!), sometime in 2015. The unexpected choice of Secret Squirrel to be the first out-and-out funny animal character to appear in the SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP title’s July release, would lead me to believe that the DVD sets might be released at that time as well. …Kinda like maybe Jonny Quest is in the current issue of SDTU, in some coordinated consideration of the Tom and Jerry / Jonny Quest team-up DVD release!
When they are announced, I would hope that ALL H-B fans (certainly those that read my Blog) would buy them immediately. I will. Because if the reaction is good, maybe then we’ll get PETER POTAMUS – not to mention the other classic H-B series that I STILL can’t believe we don’t have after all these years!
And hey… What’s wrong with Squiddly Diddly that he rates an “even” from you?
He’s just another part of the great Hanna-Barbera continuum of “Loveable Wise Guy Animal Characters That Confound Eternally Frustrated Human Authority Figures”, that started with Yogi Bear and extended through The Hair Bear Bunch. And it was a rare H-B starring role for Paul Frees.
I will admit, though, that his design, with that big head and all those arm and leg tentacles separated by a sailor suit top, was somewhat unusual for H-B. But, he was a “good squid”! Heh! Get it? “Good squid”?
Even better: Scooby-Doo meets Shazzam (Captain Marvel) and Shazzan the genie! Holy Exclamations! :)
‘Rehab:
If the Scooby gang ever met Captain Marvel, imagine if the words “Zoinks!” or “Jinkies”, had some sort of effect similar to (or opposite of) the word “Shazam!”.
…Or maybe the inadvertent magic word would be “Ruh-Roh!”.
Oh, the possibilities!
I know it's probably silly that I'm commenting on a blog post that is almost a year old, but I feel the need to point out, Joe, that there were actually at least two other comic book issues featuring Secret Squirrel between the Gold Key one-shot and the Scooby-Doo Team-Up issue. They are Hanna-Barbera Presents #1 (which featured him teaming up with Atom Ant) and Cartoon Network Presents #22 (which apparently used the Two Stupid Dogs version of the character). He also had a one-page cameo in Cartoon Network Presents #3. Just an FYI.
That said, I too have hopes that (assuming Scooby-Doo Team-Up doesn't get canceled anytime soon) there will eventually be an issue featuring the Animaniacs or Freakazoid characters (and if they do, I hope James Silvano gets to draw them). Heck, I'm even willing to say that I'd love it if the cast of the woefully-neglected Histeria! got to make their comic book debut in this title.
Anon:
It’s never “silly” to do so because, with “Comment Moderation”, you are assured (at the very least) of MY seeing the comment! True, others may not often go back that far – but, when I review my Blogger stats, I find that all sorts of older posts continue to get “hits”, if not necessarily any more comments.
Yes indeed… I *did* neglect to mention those Secret Squirrel comics appearances! Oh, well… as this is an “older post”, fewer folks will know of my shame! :-)
Clearly, I want some ‘90s Warner Series team-ups – especially the woefully underappreciated FREAKAZOID!, which should have been the ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE of the ‘90s! But, you get extra-special credit for even remembering HISTERIA! Long live Big Fat Baby!
Post a Comment