I was sold on the title alone, Scooby Apocalypse it is the Scooby Gang Vs. the upcoming apocalypse. As some one who loved the TV show and have watched the newer movies and tv shows with nephews I was looking forward to this graphic novel by DC comics.
This is a retcon version of the Scooby Gang, more like the recent Riverdale. It’s more adult and there’s murder and real monsters involved. I would say it’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Resident Evil.

Scooby is the first smart dog, a secret government project to make dogs smarter, Scooby Doo is seen as a failure because of his speech impediment, Shaggy is his doggie handler, who breaks the rules by sneaking Scooby out for snacks. Velma runs the smart dog laboratory, but is also in charge of a secret laboratory that may have lead to the apocalypse starting. Daphne was a once investigative journalist for the Washington Post, now she has her own mystery show on, of all places the Knitting Channel. Fred is her camera man and producer of show who is in love with Daphne and follows her like a dog.

The Plot: Velma who runs a secret lab training smart dogs, also she runs a secret lab that is working with nanobites to make to make people more docile, but she has learned that the group of four who are in control of the facility have been working on changing her technology to control people. When Velma finds out she wants to whistle blow, she fears the company influence on the bigger networks and reaches out to Daphne to tell her story to. They’re set to meet at Burning Man Velma comes up from a secret bunker and scares Daphne and Fred which they attack her. Shaggy snuck Scooby out to enjoy Burning man, and of course eat! Scooby’s technology alerts him to a threat on Velma and runs off with Shaggy chasing him. Scooby goes into attack mode on Fred which Shaggy stops. Velma comes too and has to include Scooby and Shaggy of the whistle blowing. Velma leads the gang to a secret base in the facility to expose, when they hear sirens and are locked in a safe room. When they come out all of Velma and Shaggy’s co-workers have morphed into hideous monsters out for blood, the gang now have to escape the facility with their lives.

What I liked: The new Mystery Machine is an awesome stolen government ATV. The work a lot of the old Scooby dialogue and make it fresh. Scooby’s speech is explained really well. Scrappy Doo is in this book and is so freaking awesome, I love what they did with his character, I can’t wait to read the next book because he gets a cliffhanger. The ending is is really great too big reveals. I love what they did with Velma’s character, she’s really the main character in this novel, and has an interesting arc. I’m not totally on board with Daphne’s character, but I like that she is not the damsel in distress, she gets very bloody and is kind of a hysterical badass. The art work is great the only new character design I did not like was Shaggy’s. The flashback’s are really excellent, I loved the story of how shaggy and Scooby first met, and the heartbreaking story of a misunderstood Velma from birth to adult.

What I disliked: The dialogue repeats too much, Not the exact words but the same conversations, that was a big one and it almost made me drop my review to three stars. Shaggy is a hipster, he has a beard, a curling mustache, and ear gages, the beard is okay but the curling mustache is a bit much. Fred is the only character that’s written really flat, I hope he develops in the next volumes.

Recommendations: For fan’s of Velma she gets a lot of development and story time. For people that wanted more adult version of the old Scooby Doo: where are you? cartoon. Fans of Scrappy Doo you will be pleasantly surprised about how crazy he is and that his story direction goes. If you ever wanted an explanation on why Scooby dog can talk and who can hear him, then this is the book for you, because the explanation is detailed and really great. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars for twist and turns .