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Who's Who In Scooby-Doo is a story in Scooby-Doo! #74 by DC Comics.
Premise
Mystery Inc is called into Kasem County to investigate a rash of strange monster sightings. When the gang arrives, they learn that the monsters are all villains from their past mysteries. They follow a map of sightings and stumble into an old museum where the attendent seems to be very suspicious as he packs up the items in the museum for transport to a newer location. The gang heads down to the new museum where they run into more familiar villains as they capture the villains and unmask them as the museum curorator and the attendent. They bought most of the costumes and props from the Mystery Inc villains in order to throw the gang off the real trail.
All names used in this issue are real people associated with the old cartoon. The issue contains bios on some of the original villains from the 60's and 70's cartoon.
Synopsis
Characters
Villains
Suspects
Culprits
Locations
Notes/trivia
- Throughout the story are profiles of villains the gang has encountered before (with the titles of the TV episodes in which they first appeared): the Indian Witch Doctor , the Hawaiian Witch Doctor, the Werewolf, the Giggling Green Ghost, the Telescope Ghost, the Man from Mars, Cutler's Ghost, and the Space Kook.
- The page on the Werewolf Ghost gives his real name as "Silas Long," although he was never named in the show.
- In an homage to the show, Scooby, Shaggy and Velma run past the same background over and over and Velma trips and loses her glasses.
Reception
John Rozum returns to Scooby-Doo with a clever mystery that alludes the previous antagonists who attempted to fence with Mystery Inc. Mr. Rozum treats the Gang extremely intelligent. They quickly come to the correct conclusion on the second page, and the little Secret Files splices describing the various goons the Gang has tumbled do not disturb the pacing. Some in fact are red herrings.
Mr. Rozum uses all the conventions of the Scooby-Doo mysteries to excellent effect. The van "breaks down" at an appropriate time, but the way in which Rozum disables the Mystery Machine moves the story forward and exhibits originality. Doors promising escape lead only to the place in which the escapees started. Velma loses her glasses and sets up a comedic highlight.
While the comic book's intended audience are kids, Rozum does not talk down to his readers. The comedy he creates through Shag's and Scoob's attempts to duck the call of ghostbreaking and danger prone Daphne's immediate exit will bring smiles to the readers' faces and may even instill aloud laughter.
The plot to this full-length Scooby-Doo mystery as usual keeps grounded to the real world. Scooby a talking dog with a speech impediment is the only fantasy element involved, and all of the story receives a crafty fairplay explanation.
Joe Staton also returns to Scooby-Doo. His pencils give the gang superb depth and dimension that often exceeds that in the cartoon. They look like real figures not flat cel designs superimposed on backgrounds. Mr. Staton has quite a bit of fun with Mr. Rozum's script. He enjoys embellishing a variety of attributes to the supporting cast such as a punky hair-do for the female officer and a caricature of Frank Drew for the face of the commanding officer. Inker Horacio Ottolini gives the book strong texture evident for instance on the carapace of a returning Scooby villain while outlining precisely yet still letting Staton's talent to issue from the pages. Paul Becton with a wide array of shades also uses color to better express different casts of light and heightens the mood as well as the realism. If not for some horrible inside jokes I'd say that this was a perfect issue of Scooby-Doo, yet even with those groaners it is far superior than practically any book not associated with a cartoon on the racks. [1]
- ↑ Ray Tate in Firing Line Reviews