The Mystery Inc gang are in Gotham and perturbed to find that while the franks joint they’d been recommended is closed, it’s nevertheless occupied.
The shadow of the Bat! Batman arrives just as the ghost – actually a Silver Age villain – vanishes into the waterfront development. The Caped Crusader is primed to follow, but Gotham Police put the kibosh on the idea.
Good Lord! Where will Batman’s enemies hole up if abandoned warehouses and fun parks are replaced by shiny new businesses? Is the developer, Jolene Harker, on the up? Time to split up.
After some darned good detective work, our heroes reconvene and find themselves on the ride of their life… and possibly death.
Of course Batman likes rollercoasters! And I like this comic which, month in, month out, is the perfect marriage of Scooby-Doo and Batman sensibilities. Seeing the respect Bats has for Freddie, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby is a joy. Mind, they team up so often nowadays I expect the Mystery Machine has a parking spot in the Batcave.
Writer Ivan Cohen provides another entertaining fair-play mystery, with plenty of action and gags and, unusually, a few captions of Batman having a PI-style inner monologue, which I rather like.
As usual, Dario Brizuela’s sharp visuals, coloured by Franco Riesco, are a feast for the eyes. The storytelling is first rate, with the above arrival of the Batmobile a typical example of how well Brizuela captures motion. Meanwhile, Saida Temofonte lays down the letters with style.
And how about that cover!
The in-continuity Batman stories are currently mired in one of those massive crossovers to which the line has been prone since the Nineties. Here, though, editor Kristy Quinn presides over a cracking self-contained Gotham tale every month, with the added charm of the original Scooby Gang. The smile on my face reading them is no mystery.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 