🟢 The Magic People Behind the Comic 🟢
Sholly Fisch – Writer
Erich Owen – Artist
Erich Owen – Colorist
Saida Temofonte – Letterer
Kristy Quinn – Editor
🟢 Publisher / Date🟢
DC Comics / May 2023
🟢 Non Spoiler Spew 🟢
This issue gave me a good chuckle! It was a fun read. In this issue Batman faces a Bat Spirit, but he is working with a different mystery solving team.
The only downfall with this issue is that Batman is not in the center of it all along with Scooby and the Gang. In this one Batman is off doing his own thing and the Gang are trying to solve the mystery. Although, Batman is not completely gone. You see there is a good explanation as to why he is not in the forefront. But this is what makes it a fun comic because it left the door open for the Scooby Gang to do the thing they are great at. Since the Scooby Gang and Batman are great detectives, this lead to a little bit of tension between them.
Once again Erich Owen does wonderful artwork. They truly do capture the spirit of these comics, but with still putting their own flair on it. It is a Scooby Doo comic, so I am happy Erich does keep that in mind and does not try to stray too far.
Overall, this was a fun, light hearted issue. The artwork was wonderful and the tension between the characters worked out perfectly. This paved the way for the comedic aspect of the issue. I continue to love this comic series because you do not need to know the issue that came before to know what is happening. Each issue has their own beginning and end.
🔴 Spoiler Summary Spew 🔴
Gotham Stadium. Everyone is running out of the baseball game because there is a bat spirit taunting people. Batman and Robin are there when the Scooby Gang shows up. Robin tells them they wish they called first because they already have a paranormal team on the case, the “Raith Wranglers”
The bat spirit talks about getting rid of a false bat everyone realizes the spirit took a historic baseball bat that was used to make a historic baseball play. Scooby Gang wants to help figure out who is behind the bat spirit and why they wanted the BaseballBAT, but Batman tells them to go home.
The Gang is upset about this but realize they have gotten in Batman’s way and understand why he told them to leave. So they all agree to solve the case on their own to prove to Batman they are worthy. All while there is a mysterious shadow lurking across the street. The Gang knows this will be difficult because Batman is an amazing Detective.
Before the bat spirit left, it said they were after a mighty bat that rides the water. The Gang realizes they were talking about a BATtleship. Fred sets up a trap on the bridge to the battleship so no one would sneak up behind them.
They realize Batman and the Raith Wranglers are already there. Batman realizes they took a BATtalion and he sees a nearby boat. He thinks the person projecting the bat is there so runs across the bridge. Fred tells him to stop and Batman falls into the water thanks to Fred’s trap.
Batman is so mad he yells at the Scooby Gang and tells them to get out of his city. The Gang questions why Batman would yell at them that way. They think the Raith Wranglers are controlling him. On the way out they find a newspaper clipping that says Gotham Zoo is going to get the rarest bat in the world. So they think the bat spirit is going to go and liberate them.
Velma realizes since the bats just got there they will not be at the Zoo and they would be in quarantine. We see a dark figure with a cape on top of the Mystery Machine but the Gang thinks the noise they heard is nothing to worry about.
The Gang get the quarantine facility and realize the others are there already. They also come to the conclusion Batman is being setup. They realize because in Gotham City if your store has a cat name or a bird name then Catwoman and Penguin are most likely to rob it. So having a bat spirit would capture Batman’s attention.
The Gang start to run in to warn batman when Robin stops them. He tells them Batman told him to keep an eye on them so they won’t get in the way. Robin tells them to not help out yet. They hear an explosion and they see Deathstroke come out. Batman helps Robin defeat him.
Batman reveals he knew about the trap. He just wanted to save the bats and reveal that is was Deathstroke. He reveals to the team he wanted them out because Deathstroke threatened to defeat the “Meddling kids”. He also reveals the Raith Wranglers were robots.
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