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."
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 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?
5 comments:
That's one thing about DC comics today (at least their funny titles, like "Scooby-Doo" and "Looney Tunes"... I'm not too familiar with their purely superhero titles) that I find a bit tiresome at times: their covers always have to have dialogue, no matter how pointless or unfunny it can be (as in this case). I wish they would at least occasionally take a page from Dell/Gold Key and not have dialogue on their covers.
Heck, while I'm at it, it would be nice if they reprinted some of the old Dell/Gold Key "Looney Tunes" stories.
Yes, that's obscure, all right! By itself, Scooby's "I can't look" could simply refer to the fact that the two costumed individuals are so far above the ground. But Catwoman's comment is a mystery to me. She seems to be doing just fine climbing with the rope, not needing Batman's help. Is the idea that Batman supplied the rope? Perhaps one of your intrepid commenters will have a clue!
Wow! EIGHT DAYS it took me to get to these comments! So sorry about that!
Lots of writing and other comics work has consumed the time… but now I can breathe again! So, with deepest apologies, let’s get back into it!
Sergio:
I must agree with you, the dialogue balloons generally do little to enhance the cover illustration or gag – but what REALLY “sinks by boat” (that awkward phrase intended to be the OPPOSITE of “floats my boat” – forgive me… blame my severe case of writer’s lag) is when it drags down – or, in some cases, actually harms – said cover illustration or gag!
…And, in this case, it does exactly that!
Even worse, this unneeded verbiage is a not-too-distant descendent of those annoyingly unfunny lines used by Harvey Comics, particularly in the seventies! Those things would “talk-down” to the readers in a most condescending - and unfunny - way!
In DC's case, more often than not, the gag usually carries just fine. This cover specifically didn’t need any help – especially the sort of help that has you “asking questions” (…and, in MY CASE, writing Blog posts) instead of smiling or laughing.
HERE’S an old post that makes the point – with examples! See in particular what I mean about the Harvey cover pictured in the post! UGH!
Elaine says: “Yes, that's obscure, all right!”
Obscure? It’s downright unfathomable!
I thought long and hard… turned the cover upside down, right side up, at different angles, and at varying distances… painstakingly parsed each word for a murky meaning I might have missed… but nada!
And “my intrepid commenters” have offered no clues – and they probably got tired of waiting for me to show some signs of Blog-life! Again… Sorry!
But I hope some of the time spent away… just might… result in something unexpectedly great… if certain things can manage to come together… in just the right way… he says teasingly! Perhaps even multiple things…. I can dream, can’t I? …No, don’t ask… you might be sent to a prison camp with no wi-fi. Then, how would you read this humble blog? …Huh? (Gad! Writer’s lag of the worst bleary-eyed variety! That’s the only explanation for some of this rambling!)
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