Review – Scooby Apocalypse #29: Undead Fred?

Scooby Apocalypse #29 – Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Writers; Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Artists; Chris Batista, Penciller; Andy Owens, Inker; Hi-Fi, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 5/10

Ray: Part of the problem with Scooby Apocalypse as a series is that it wavers between having no sense of forward motion, and putting its forward motion into fast forward. That’s the issue with Scooby Apocalypse #29. Last issue revealed that Fred Jones, in the form of some half-human revenant, was stalking Daphne. This issue makes clear that what was once Fred is gone and what’s left is monstrous. He wakes up after being murdered, and proceeds to wander around eating monster flesh. A group from the colony encounters him while rescuing a little girl, and after recognizing him they shoot him and leave him for dead. Velma and Shaggy get the report that Fred’s been sighted, but they decide not to tell Daphne because she’s already unstable enough as is. This is probably a good move, given that she’s currently wandering around the wasteland shooting monsters with Scrappy Doo and threatening to kill him at the first provocation.

That whole dynamic between the two monster-hunters just doesn’t really work. The series tries to show how Daphne’s slipping into her grief and giving up on her humanity, but she was never that human before losing Fred. She barely seemed to like him for most of the run, agreed to marry him right before he died, and since then seems like she was only living for him.

In fact, Scrappy seems far more genuine when describing his emotions, which is odd. Dogs are naturally pack animals, so the fact that even this surly mutt seems to keep on coming back to his family is something interesting to explore. Unfortunately, the series doesn’t really have the nuance for that.

The end of the issue reveals that Fred is heading for the compound, planning to kill his former friends, which means that Daphne will likely have to kill the boyfriend she just saw die four issues ago. The backup concludes the Secret Squirrel story, as Squirrel returns to the state, Morocco Mole gets a new position, and the adventure continues. As a whole, this story should have been funnier than it was.

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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.