[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artist: J.M. DeMatteis
You know when you hear an idea for a comic and you think, “yeah, that would be cool,” then you hear about the team working on it and you think, “Hell Yeah! I’m In,” and it should rock because of the cool idea and the great team? Yeah, that’s Scooby Apocalypse in a nut shell, except I’m not feelin’ it. This issue largely felt like a repeat of the last, in which the characters argue about the consequences of killing men turned monsters. The morality is touched on quite a bit just like last issue. Further, this issue keeps pushing the idea that the characters don’t know or frankly like each other.
In principle this works to be a great comic, and five years ago it would have been. Since The Walking Dead and the 1000 other zombie stories generated after it, Scooby Apocalypse feels stale. The creative team is relying too much on nostalgia and the typical changes in a reboot to make this fairly mundane story catchy. Unfortunately, those changes aren’t working.
The Positives
The creative team is doing some interesting things with weaponry and introducing secondary characters with enough twist to make them cool and exciting when you see them. I even raised an eyebrow and grinned when one was introduced this issue.
The Negatives
Because of the over-saturated zombie and apocalypse stories out there right now, this just feels old. taking the normally cohesive and friendly gang and making them dislike, or at least not know each other, feels like an old gimmick. Sadly the story feels pulled out of the Resident Evil movies.
Verdict
This comic may have set itself up with high expectations due to the nostalgia strings it hit. I’m finding this series uninspired and flat.
