Scooby-Doo Team-Up #50

This is it! The final issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up!

Naturally, Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela have selected Batman and Robin to pair with Mystery Inc. for this series' swan song. 

The story starts off with the teen detectives arriving in Gotham to answer a call for help. Only Batman and Robin didn't ask for help. But that doesn't mean that weird things hasn't been occurring around the Dynamic Duo.

All day, Batman and Robin have been approached by various incarnations of the Dark Knight. There's the Pirate Batman. The 1920s Mobster Batman. The Vampire Batman! It seems like the multiverse has gone Batman crazy all of a sudden. But when variants of a certain Great Dane start showing up, all of a sudden it's a CRISIS ON INFINITE SCOOBYS!

The cover spoils just who is behind the identity crisis. It's Bat-Mite and his 5th Dimension counter-part Scooby-Mite (last seen in SDTU #3). I think it's fitting to use the impish imp for this finale in many ways. For one, Bat-Mite is able to bring in characters from throughout the multiverse without destroying it. For another, Bat-Mite was the character who ushered in the end of Cartoon Network's amazing Dark Knight team-up series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. 

This was a double anniversary issue. It celebrated Batman's 80th birthday as well as Scooby's 50th. The two franchises have come a long way since their first meeting on the small screen back in 1972. I loved seeing all of the incarnations of the Mystery gang including the live-action movie cast and my personal favs- A Pup Named Scooby-Doo! 

This issue should also be considered an Elseworlds tie-in!

If you are a fan of just one of these franchises, you will love this book. If you are a mega-fan of both like me, this issue was a dream come true. I hate that this series ended. But I am glad that DC brought the magic back with the 12-issue maxi-series Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries; which is still in it's current run.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9.999 out of 10 stars, because I'm still upset this series ended!

Batman: The Black Casebook

Relive the stories that inspired Grant Morrison's Batman: R.I.P. 

This collection of Batman tales are from the much maligned period of the mid-1950s to early 1960s when Batman went sci-fi. Battling robots, aliens, and mad scientists, those episodes kinda went against the core essence of the Caped Crusader. 

Fans mostly hate that era. I for one am okay with it as a whole. My biggest complaint is that several of these stories cheat by using elements that weren't there but suddenly are now for Batman to solve the big mystery. Poor editing, rush jobs, or the writers praying that the readers were too stupid to know any better??? Your guess is as good as mine. 

There's a few classics in here such as 1964's 'Robin Dies At Dawn.' Plus the first appearance of one of my all-time favorite mischief makers, Bat-Mite, occurs within the adventures contained in The Black Casebook.

Featuring a foreword from the mastermind of Batman: R.I.P., I don't recommend that you skip it. It provided me with some much sought after answers to lingering questions I had after completing R.I.P. However, Grant Morrison tends to give away the plot to some of these classic stories. So, It might not be a bad idea to wait until afterwards to read Morrison's essay.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.