Hoping to study up on future escape techniques, Fred and the Mystery Inc. gang attend one of the extravaganzas of the reknown escape artist, Mister Miracle. Backstage, the detectives meet Scott Free, his apprentice Shilo Norman, hype-man Oberon and Scott's wife Big Barda. It's here that minions from Apokolips attack Mister Miracle and wind-up kidnapping Daphne, Velma and Barda.
Despite knowing full-well that the attack is a trap and that Darkseid wants Scott Free back on Apokolips for good, Mister Miracle returns to his home world to save his wife. Shaggy and Fred make the Boom Tube trip as well in hopes of rescuing their missing partners. However, it all appears too late as the girls appear to now be under the power of that dastardly task master, Granny Goodness!
There is a very large chunk of Fourth World characters appearing in this issue. However, other than a few images of Darkseid on posters and other media, don't expect the baddie to be in this issue. I thought having Shilo in the story was another one of those faithful nods to the original source material on the part of Sholly Fisch. But in terms of other New Genesis heroes like Orion and Lightray, it appears that Fisch may be saving them for a future issue! One can only hope.
Let's talk about something else that was curiously missing: Jack Kirby. Kirby was the creator of all things Fourth World, including Mister Miracle. While a large portion of those characters, settings and tech were used in this book, there was no legal mumbo-jumbo acknowledging Kirby's creation of said characters.
I double-checked on this. In the DC's Nuclear Winter Special, there's a blurb on the inside cover stating that Kamandi was created by Jack Kirby. It's right under the list of credits given to Siegel and Schuster for creating Superman, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson crafting Batman, and so forth. Those such honors have been in other Scooby-Doo Team-Ups past. But somebody forgot to honor The King in this book!
After a one-month holiday absence, I was so eager for this series to come back. It did not disappoint. Dario Brizuela's art was as perfect as always. The plot and jokes were fresh. It didn't feel like a typical Scooby-Doo comic book. It felt like a missing 1970s script of Mister Miracle with directions by Kirby, script by Fisch and finished by Brizuela.
A must for fans of DC's Fourth World!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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