Scooby Apocalypse

Scooby Apocalypse
File:Scooby Apocalypse, DC Comics, Jan 2016.jpg
Date	2016
Publisher	DC Comics
Creative team
Writer	Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Artist	Howard Porter
Original publication
Published in	Scooby Apocalypse
Issues	8 (as of December 2016)
Date of publication	May 2016 – present

Scooby Apocalypse is a monthly comic-book series published by DC Comics, starting in May 2016. It reimagines the characters from the Scooby-Doo franchise, particularly the 1969 TV series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, setting them in a post-apocalyptic world.

Unlike previous titles, which are all-ages, this title has a teen plus rating.

The comic was conceived by DC Comics co-publisher and artist, Jim Lee, as part of a major reboot using Hanna-Barbera characters, in order to create a new Hanna-Barbera comic book universe. Jim Lee worked on the first issue's cover and several more after that (before interior artist, Howard Porter took over).

Premise

Official premise by DC Comics:

Those meddling kids—Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and their dog, Scooby-Doo—get more ghost-debunking than they bargained for when faced with a fundamental change in their world. The apocalypse has happened. Old rules about logic no longer apply. The creatures of the night are among us, and the crew of the Magical Mystery Machine has to fight to survive—because in the apocalyptic badlands of the near-future, the horrors are real!

Characters

Main characters

• Scoobert "Scooby" Doo – Scooby-Doo is a "smart dog" prototype, who is able to talk like a human being, thanks to a chip that was implanted in his cerebral cortex. This enables him to communicate with others, either by words or through the use of a pair of emoticon-goggles. He was treated poorly by the rest of the smart dogs in the Nevada Complex as the runt of the litter, being constantly attacked by them. Eventually, he ended up standing up against the other dogs, after Shaggy taught him how to defend himself. Unlike his cartoon counterpart, Scooby is quite brave and is not afraid of anything that stands in his way. His original name was 24062, having been named Scooby by Shaggy himself.
• Fred Jones – Fred Jones was the doting cameraman of "Daphne Blake's Mysterious Mysteries", hosted by his long-time friend, Daphne Blake. Having attended the same college as Daphne, Fred has always been there for her. Over the years he developed a crush on Daphne and as since tried to prove himself as a man worthy of her affections (he states that he proposed to her numerous times), even though Daphne states that she sees him only as a friend (which he does not believe). He acts as Daphne's moral compass sometimes, and is usually the voice of reason, whenever there are fights among the gang.
• Daphne Blake – Daphne Blake was a budding journalist. Her career plummeted after she failed to expose a story she had been working on for almost a year. After than, she was lucky to get a slot on the Knitting Channel, hosting "Daphne Blake's Mysterious Mysteries", which further contributed to her being seen by her peers as a laughing stock. As a journalist, she feels compelled to finding the truth, no matter the cost. Known for being extremely distrustful, she has a sharp-tongue and a sarcastic vein. Still, under a tough shell, Daphne is shown to be very caring and very fearful for the well-being of everyone in the gang, especially Fred, for whom she has a soft spot.
• Norville "Shaggy" Rogers – Norville Rogers, nicknamed Shaggy by his friends, was a dog handler in the Nevada Complex, where he was responsible for the treatment and training of the "smart dog" prototypes. On his first day on the job, he saved Scooby-Doo from being ripped to pieces by the other prototypes, making his mission to show the Great Dane how to defend himself against the others. Later, this earned the canine's loyalty and friendship. He also became an acquaintance of Dr. Krebs, the creator of the Mystery Machine, who taught him how to drive it. Normally, Shaggy is laid-back and is always hungry. He defends a philosophy of life, in which a person must be open-minded to the universe and to what universe throws at people. He also believes in numerous gods, and is very superstitious. Still, in moments of tension, he is the one that tries to keep the peace between the gang, reminding them that in order to survive, they have to stick together.
• Velma Dinkley – Velma Dinkley was a leading scientist in the Nevada Complex. Throughout her life, Velma never had any friends and considered herself as incapable of making them due to her extraordinary intelligence and low social skills. She would later collaborate in a top secret research project called Project Elysium, which through the use of nanites was supposed to alter mankind's DNA, eliminating mankind's bad and vile instincts. She was also the coordinator of the "Smart Dog" program, which created Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. Being quite shy and socially awkward, Velma does not speak very much. Still, with a brilliant and objective mind, and armed with doctorates in the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Math and Engineering, she is usually the one that comes up with theories and plans on how to deal with the numerous monsters that attack her and the rest of the gang.

Recurring characters

• The Four – The Four are Velma's former employers, who operate several underground facilities and perform weird scientific experiments. They are revealed to be Velma's older brothers, who positioned themselves in strategic places of a specific field (one in Politics, another in the Army, another in the Secret Services and the last one in a Research Medical Agency). Velma describes them as a unique mind that shared four bodies, when they were younger. Along with Velma, they created Project Elysium and unknown to her at the time, used Velma's research for their own benefit, plunging Earth into an apocalyptic nightmare.
• Scrappy-Doo – Scrappy-Doo is one of the test subjects of the "smart dog" program at the underground Nevada Complex. Scrappy has two objectives on his mind: upgrading his implants that give him human-like attributes, and to kill Scooby-Doo, the prototype of the smart dog program, whome he hates because he sees him as a soft-hearted weakling. He also hates humans, given the experiments they performed on him. He leads the Scrappy Gang, which is composed by some of the other test subjects of the program.

Reception

Scooby Apocalypse has had mostly postive reviews from critics.