INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Scooby-Doo Goes Post-Apocalyptic In Controversial New Comic Book Series

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 04:41 PST, May 2, 2016

Scooby-Doo has a new look — and it might frighten small children! The classic cartoon character and his Mystery Machine gang will star in a dark new DC comic book series that has them facing the end of the world, according to TV Guide. The gritty new Scooby-Doo comic book series is titled Scooby Apocalypse, and it has been a long time in the making, but the final product is getting ready to roll out later this month.

The Scooby-Doo Apocalypse series is the brainchild of DC Comics’ Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, and the artwork is helmed by Howard Porter. In a new interview, Lee told TV Guide that when he was thinking about an update for the Scooby-Doo characters, who made their debut on a TV cartoon in 1969, he realized fans knew little about their backstory.

“We noticed there wasn’t really an origin story for the characters,” Lee said. “What if we refined who these characters are? They’re really cyphers in a way.”

While the original meddling Scooby-Doo kids were known for unmasking villains while combing the streets in their retro Mystery Machine van, for the new series, the monsters they’re chasing are real. Lee revealed that in the first few issues of the ongoing comic series, fans will find out “how the group gets together.” All of the usual Scooby-Doo players appear in the new series, including Fred, Velma, Daphne, and Shaggy, but this time, they come with a new look and a futuristic setting.

Scooby-Doo’s sandwich-eating partner, Shaggy, got the biggest makeover, and Lee said he knows some longtime fans of the series may have a problem with his new hipster look, which features full sleeve tattoos and a bushy beard.

“We knew it would be controversial,” Lee said. “It’s an unusual look, but it’s to show he’s visually distinct from the others, and not part of the mainstream.”

While the actual storylines of the new Scooby Apocalypse series are still top secret, one spoiler is that Scooby-Doo has a robotic eye and cyber-genetic implants to increase his intelligence. The cyber-genetics device also allows Velma and Shaggy to see what’s on Scooby’s mind via emoji bubbles, so it’s almost like Scooby-Doo can “talk” in the new series.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, DiDio joked that he expects some “outrage” over the new series. But he also explained that he wanted to show fans that classic cartoon characters don’t have to just be for kids.

“I think we think of these characters so much as our childhood, and I want people to kind of embrace these updated versions of the characters and really understand that at the core, these concepts are not just limited to little kids,” he said. “You have to have to remember that Jonny Quest and Flintstones were both primetime fare when they were introduced. They were already going for the older audience at that moment.”

While some fans are looking forward to the darker, revamped Scooby-Doo, others liked their Scooby just the way it has been for the past 47 years.

Scooby-Doo started out as a Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon in 1969 and went on to become a bona fide franchise. There have been dozens of theatrical films, both animated and live-action, as well as TV spinoffs, and direct-to-video features all starring the iconic Great Dane. In the late 1970s, there was even a Saturday morning cartoon crossover called Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, which had the Scooby gang interacting with characters from other popular cartoons of the era.

In addition, Scooby-Doo merchandise has been a big seller for decades and has never gone out of style, so the original look is ingrained in the public’s brain. So, it’s not surprising that some nostalgic fans don’t like the edgy new look and dark future of the revamped Scooby gang.

In addition to Scooby-Doo’s Scooby Apocalypse, DC Comics will also launch update book detouring with Flintstones, Future Quest, and Wacky Raceland. Scooby Apocalypse is penned by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen and it will be released May 25.

Take a look at the video below for more on the Scooby-Doo Apocalypse series.

[Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

Share this article: Scooby-Doo Goes Post-Apocalyptic In Controversial New Comic Book Series
DC Comics
More from Inquisitr