Happy New Year 2025!

 Happy New Year 2025!  

...Or should I, as that famous TV game show goes, phrase it in the form of a question?  

 ...Happy New Year 2025?  

As far as my answer goes... I DUNNO!  

I see some very bad things (or, at the very least, norm-shattering, chaotic things) ahead for 2025 for both our country and the world as a whole! Most of you can probably guess what, as I nonchalantly sidestep the specifics of a topic that is out-of-bounds at this humble Blog.   

Of course, I'm referring to the sudden and unexpected cancelation of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES...

...An unfortunate occurrence not to be confused with, or mistaken for, any "real world" events of a political nature - though some of those could stand to be suddenly and unexpectedly canceled too! ...Batman and Scooby, we need your team-ups now, more than ever!  ...There, was that nonchalantly-sidestepping enough for you?  If not, I can try again... Oh, you just want me to move on?  Yeah, I think I should too!  

On the other hand, looking inward (as opposed to the increasingly ominous view "outside", with no more BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES to enjoy every month), things are looking very bright - and that's where I will tend to keep my attentions focused!  

Like HERE! 

And HERE!

And the all-great, all-new, all-exciting things comics-wise that are coming in 2025... that, darn it all, I STILL can't talk about!  ...Sorry (at least for now!) 

Happy New Year 2025!  ...For Real!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: A Great Cover Image with a Muddled Meaning!

Check out this wonderful cover image for THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES (2024 series) #3 (DC Comics; Cover Date: May, 2024 - On sale as I write this!)... 

...Which is a near-perfect send-up of the "Celebrity Window" running gag from the Batman TV show.  

Or, as I described it at GCD: "The cover is a parody/homage to the oft-seen bit on the Batman TV show (ABC TV, 1966-1968), where Batman and Robin scale a tall building and a celebrity leans out of a window to address them in mid-bat-climb."

LEFT: The Green Hornet and Kato (Van Williams and Bruce Lee). RIGHT: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I say "near-perfect" for one reason... the homage is very clear but, quite frankly... the GAG ITSELF is NOT!  

It seems to me that either something FUNNY, or at least a CLEVER REFERENCE, should be coming from Catwoman's or Scooby's dialogue balloons - BUT IT ISN'T!  

Or, perhaps Batman - or especially Shaggy - SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN SUCH A LINE... but no!  

How about Shaggy unintentionally doing something dumb 'n' dangerous to inadvertently imperil our courageous climbers - or maybe leaning out far enough to fall -  if only to justify Scooby's line: "Rhi can't look!"

As it is, it wastes a great image by making it, like... incomprehensible! 

The best I can do is describe it as I did in my GCD index of the issue: "As Batman and Catwoman scale a tall building to return stolen jewels to their rightful owner, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy pop out of the "Celebrity Window."  You can see the entire GCD index HERE! 

Indeed, it would have been better with NO dialogue balloons at all!  Just perfectly conveying the fine homage it was intended to!  

On the plus side, the open window nicely obscures a small corner of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES logo, as one might expect a glass window to do!  ...Don't they have window screens in Gotham? 

 ...If only the window was large enough to obscure the dialogue balloons as well! 

An "Ongoing" Mystery... At Last!

To kick off 2024, let's hit the ground running with some great news...

...Although I'll expect Shaggy and Scooby to do most of the "running" - and occasionally "hitting the ground", for that matter!  

THE WAIT IS OVER! THE HIATUS HAS PASSED! 

WHY, EVEN THE WAIT FOR THE HIATUS TO PASS IS OVER!!!

After TWO 12-Issue limited series starting in 2021 and 2022 respectively, one of the best and woefully underrated comic titles out there is FINALLY BACK AS AN ONGOING SERIES!!!

Of course, I'm referring to the one... the only (...unless you count the previous two such series)... THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES with its THIRD issue #1 from DC Comics, released on January 02, 2024!  ...Talk about celebrating a new year!  

And back it is, with its most iconic team of writer Sholly Fisch and artist Dario Brizuela - who've been bringing Batman and Scooby together since SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #1 back in late 2023!

And have alternated over the runs of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES Series 1...

...And Series 2!

And now it's back... EVERY MONTH (unless Warner Bros. Discovery cancels it because they've lost too much money on executive compensation, streaming overexpansion supplanting reliable-and-always-there-for-you physical media, and an almost endless list of bad decisions that have made this mega-merger a joke)!  

I sometimes lament my no longer doing my monthly comic reviews, as I did for SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP, but, in their place I've indexed (with the level of detail I'm noted for) every issue of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES at GCD.  Not exactly a substitute, but worthy as my contribution, among the contributions of so many other dedicated individuals, toward making the Grand Comics Database THE best comics indexing and information site there is!  

Series 1 HERE!

Series 2 HERE!

New Series 3 HERE! 

Go take a peek at all of the great issues of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES to be found there. If you haven't read them all before, perhaps you will after this!  

You won't regret it!  Now, I can start looking forward to reading and indexing the next issue... Same Bat-Scoob Time, same Bat-Scoob channel! 

R.I.P. Keith Giffen.

In recent times, I’ve shied away from “R.I.P. posts”, for no more a reason than to reduce the sadness at this humble Blog… but this week was just too much to ignore for such a flimsy reason!

Keith Giffen, one of the most unique writer/artists ever to work in comics passed away on October 09, 2023, at the age of 70.

To say that Keith Giffen was a huge part of my comics-reading life would be an understatement... and, if anything, that would be the ONLY "understatement" applicable to the work of Mr. Giffen.  

One could easily say that he helped define DC Comics of the '80s! 

He had a long and very popular run on THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES... but that was a title I mostly didn't read, so I'll take general fandom's word on that. 

But, oh the characters and concepts he created - or co-created - was a wondrous mix of (Overused Word Alert) "legendary", beloved, and some just a little ahead of their time! 

Perhaps his most revolutionary concept was his completely unique take on the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, which (hard to believe) was then sputtering and petering-out with the infamous and ill-advised "Justice League Detroit".

Out with the old, in with the new... Detroit? 

Keith Giffen then swooped-in to save us (the readers) by "giving Detroit de boot" and unleashing a then-unheard-of spin on the superhero team!

Out with Detroit, in with ... ? 

Writer David Barnett, online for theguardian.com describes the series thusly:

"[Justice League (1987)] with co-creators JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, perhaps best showcased Giffen’s gift for comedic writing and injecting an almost soap opera mentality into superhero books.

"Justice League, later Justice League International, had an almost prescient, real-world tone, with a maverick millionaire capitalist, Maxwell Lord, essentially staging an Elon Musk-style takeover of the superhero team, getting them United Nations funding and government approval.

"The personal interactions of the characters were just as important, and the series came across more like Friends than the usual superhero fare."

Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Black Canary... and Guy Gardner became the new focus as laughs and dangers mixed in ways rarely seen before! 

Even further out-there than JUSTICE LEAGUE (which became JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL with issue #7, 1987 - and JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA  [no "of"] with issue #26, 1989), was the "still (Overused Word Alert - again) legendary after all these years" AMBUSH BUG!

First appearing in DC COMICS PRESENTS #52 (1982) Ambush Bug "became legend" as a result of some truly zany appearances in various issues of ACTION COMICS (1984-1985) and one issue of SUPERGIRL.

Ambush Bug heckles Superman! 

With this character, TRULY anything goes! As did The Bug himself, with scattered mini-series from 1985-2009!

Then, there were a few short-lived series that were (as mentioned above) "just a little ahead of their time" such as THE HECKLER (1992-1993), an outrageous series that had me laughing out loud! 

And VEXT (1999), both lasting only SIX ISSUES EACH! 

But, for me, Keith Giffen's Crown Jewel is none other than The Main Man himself... that fragger of bastiches on a planetary scale... everyone's favorite comic book character (...and if he's not yours and you value your life, PLEASE  don't tell him!)... LOBO!  

 

Below: An early Lobo with Guy Gardner in Keith Giffen's Justice League International.

Is it any wonder that Lobo and Guy Gardner were two of my most favorite DC characters of the '90s? 

...With THIS GUY to guide them, how could they miss?! 

Lobo transcended comic books with his appearance in SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (1996), and another in the subsequent JUSTICE LEAGUE animated series. 

I met Keith Giffen at one of the many New York cons in the '90s, and he autographed this LOBO issue for me!

 

My last encounter with a Keith Giffen comic was an unlikely one... yet somehow fitting for Mr. Giffen.  He reunited with his JUSTICE LEAGUE / JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL / JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA co-conspirator J.M. DeMatteis for SCOOBY APOCALYPSE which, unlike some of his tragically cut-short titles, ran for 36 issues (2016-2019)! 

Aw, c'mon folks, Scooby had a lot worse done to him (cough!) "VELMA" (cough!) 

Rest In Peace, Mr. Keith Giffen, and THANK YOU for all the great comics you've delighted me with!

 

...Especially the ones with LOBO! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Scooby-Doo and (I'm asking you to) Guess Who!

From SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU? #56 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June, 2015), we present the following nice panel...

Awww... It's Scooby's birthday (I wonder if they count it in "dog years"?) and lots of folks turned out for the festivities... including (at top center) Joe Barbera!  

But, aside from "Mr. B" and, of course Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma...

...WHO ARE THE OTHER GUESTS?!  

Unless they are from the various "made-for-DVD" Scooby-Doo Movies (...as opposed to "The New Scooby-Doo Movies") of which I've only seen the first few... 

...Or one of the more recent Scooby TV shows that I might have passed on like "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue"... 

...Or, even worse, (SHUDDER!) "Be Cool Scooby-Doo"... 

....which we can RULE OUT because the characters are actually drawn quite well... 

...I haven't (if you'll pardon the expression) a CLUE! 

So, my challenge to you is to help in identifying the remainder of Scooby's party guests - or confirm to me that they are just random background characters there to "fill a scene" like a pen-and-ink collection of Hollywood extras!  

...What say you?