Scooby-Doo Team-Up #44

Those flying fiends Dastardly and Muttley have tried for years to do away with the Yankee Doodle Pigeon. Their latest scheme has them calling upon the Mystery Inc. Gang for assistance. Playing the victim, Dastardly hires the detectives to protect his flying circus from a ‘ghost’ pigeon! Will those meddlesome kids figure out who the real villain here is? Or has Yankee Doodle Pigeon finally flown the coup?

The Hanna-Barbera crossovers are usually the weakest of the Scooby-Doo Team-Ups. But writer Sholly Fisch has really upped his game on them in recent issues. His Penelope Pitstop story answered several nagging questions I had always had about the character. Last year’s Yogi Bear adventure and the Dyno-Mutt reunion were some of my favorites of this entire series. Now I think this issue is going to rank among those top non-DC tales as well.

I knew that both Dastardly and Muttley were on Wacky Races. I did not know that the duo had gotten their own series like fellow competitor Penelope Pitstop had however. The flying foes’ solo series was set during WWI. However, with some very creative rebooting, Fisch manages to bring Dastardly and company into the 21^st century. He even does a brilliant job of explaining why Dastardly and the Pigeon are battling in a peace-time modern era! It’s got a great twist but it’s one I do not want to spoil.

This issue came out in November. I’ve been sitting on it for a while because this unfortunately is the last issue to be produced in 2018. Due to the Christmas holiday, DC decided to push the next issue (#45) until January. But fans, rejoice! As next month promises 2 new issues of Scooby-Doo Team-Up!

A super fun issue of an all-ages series that keeps getting better and better!

DC, you had better not cancel this!

Worth consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.