Author Archives: dreager1

Unknown's avatar

About dreager1

Ultimate Battles is what this site is all about! Always wanted to see a battle? Request it and see who would win!

Scooby Doo Team Up Volume 8: It’s Scooby Time! Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at the final volume of the Scooby Doo Team Up series. It was definitely a series that had a pretty solid run. 50 issues certainly isn’t anything to sneeze at and it’s always fun to see how the gang handles teaming up with the various DC heroes. This time we even mix it up with some villains as the gang gets on the wrong side twice. Finally we have an excellent issue to close things out. This is certainly a series I’ll miss and hopefully they come up with another title that can capture this one’s energy.

The fist issue has the heroes meet up with Dick Dastardly and his crew. I’m not familiar with these characters but basically they’re always laying out traps for a bird the way that Wile E Coyote tries to catch the Road Runner. They’ve had no luck as usual so they decides to trick the Mystery Gang into helping by pretending that the bird is a ghost. This makes things tricky for the heroes since it means that for once we have to root for them to lose. It was a pretty fun story and seeing such obscure characters is nice because they may not get to appear much otherwise. While this issue can’t keep up with the rest, it was a good opener.

Next up we have the big issue with Mr Miracle. He is performing his daring escapes as usual until Granny Goodness shows up with another plot. The Mystery Gang get roped into this pretty quick and now they have to find a way to get Mr Miracle out of this situation. He can escape out of anything but with hostages involved he can’t act carelessly. This issue isn’t so much a mystery as it’s about the gang having to find a way to outsmart the villains. Fortunately the Mystery Inc are excellent at disguises which really comes in handy here. When you can change your appearance so easily it definitely means that you’re ready to foil these kinds of plans. This was a pretty solid issue for sure.

This third one was definitely the strongest from the opening issues though. The mystery gang head to a school where it turns out that the bullies have really started going overboard. They’ve turned into full fledged gangs who are picking on everyone nonstop. Then they get attacked by a ghost gang who seem to be defending the students but the heroes have to get to the bottom of this. Black Lightning shows up as well to help defend the school. He’s always been able to stop the gangs before, but bullies will make things a little more difficult. I liked the use of the school setting here. It was a pretty fun backdrop and one that you don’t see very often. Definitely a very relaxed feel to this story.

After that is a story about Mr. Peebles and how he has finally found someone to buy Magilla the Gorilla off of him. He’s been wanting to get rid of this animal for a very long time and this is his golden opportunity. The Gorilla seems nice enough here but I can definitely picture him causing a whole lot of trouble. The gang quickly realizes that the buyer is a little suspect though so they get into action. This is another case of guest stars where I didn’t really know the characters so that was pretty fun. It’s a little similar to the first issue although this time the heroes are on the right side from the start. Of course the Gorilla kind of got lucky here because usually once you make the transaction it’s not like you know what happens afterwards. It’s a little hard to sympathize with Peebles as a result since he didn’t do any vetting before accepting the money.

Following that is one of the highlight adventures of the book. The rogues gallery is being haunted by the ghost of a dead teammate. They have tried taking him down on their own but he’s proven to be too skilled. Every attack they launch is promptly countered and crushed. So as a result they are forced to rely on help from the Mystery Inc. After all, the gang is pretty well equipped to deal with ghosts. Usually the heroes wouldn’t help villains like this but they aren’t exactly given a choice and are forced to participate. That’s really what helped sell this adventure to me. I like the idea of the villains taking them hostage because it just makes sense. It’s not like the Mystery Gang could stop them. The villains also have a different dynamic than the average hero as they actually talk tough to the ghost and aren’t running away the whole time. The twist of who the ghost was at the end was definitely really solid.

Then we have the return of Metamorpho. Basically he has come to terms with his new elemental forms even if he and Stone are constantly insulting each other. Well, another monster has appeared and the gang have to find out who this is. Usually they could get to the bottom of this rather quickly but all the bickering among the guest star characters definitely puts them in a pretty tricky spot. This comic is mainly strong because of the dialogue. You don’t really see such intense arguments and sarcasm from the guest stars like this. I can see why Metamorpho resents what has happened although the powers are pretty awesome you have to admit.

Finally we get the big finale of the series. Batmite has returned to spin a little chaos in the heroes’ way. Batman and Robin show up and try to put a stop to this but then a bunch of alternate Scooby Doo personas appear. You’ve got guys from the comics, movies, and a whole lot of other incarnations. This isn’t Batmite’s doing so who could be messing with the heroes like this? Well, with this many detectives on board it should be a fairly easy case to crack right? It’s definitely pretty fun nostalgic to see how many different ways the Scooby gang has been presented over the years. The gritty version of the characters from that recent comic get to show up trying to shoot everyone down. Then you’ve even got the kids from a Pup Named Scooby Doo. There’s a new reference on every page and it really is the perfect way to end the saga. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This might even be the best issue in the series.

As always the artwork in these stories were all very good. The pages really pop out at you and makes for easy reading. The writing is also on point which is part of what makes the format work so well. The stories all feel like they could be something right out of a crossover episode or something like that. A good deal of effort goes into these comics to be sure. At the end of the day it’s just a very fun read so I have no real issues with it. There has been a lot of variety in these past 50 issues and the Scooby Doo franchise lends itself well to guest stars.

Overall, Scooby Doo Team Up ends on a pretty high note here. This is definitely a volume that I could recommend to anyone. It’s got a good blend of humor, adventure, and mystery solving within. When you’ve got that level of balance you’re definitely in good hands. That final issue was definitely a goldmine of references. I’m not sure how the franchise will follow this series up but I’ll definitely be interested in seeing what adventures await the main characters. I feel like one thing we haven’t seen them do much is compete against other investigators or against themselves. A free for all competition within the group would be a blast. Well, that’s an idea for the future at least.

Overall 7/10

They Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at a horror film from the early 2000s. This one is definitely a very by the books kind of horror film. It throws in all the usual elements like some quick jump scares and spooky visuals. Ultimately it doesn’t do much right though and between the poor characters, lackluster writing, and unimaginative villains; They is a film that you will quickly forget. Even the title doesn’t seem very inspired but it does very quickly give you that horror film kind of vibe so I’ll give the film some credit there.

The film starts with some monsters pulling a kid into there world like something out of Stranger Things. These monsters aren’t all that powerful though and the kid escapes back to the real world. Fast forward almost 20 years later and the monsters show up again. The guy decides to destroy himself to beat the monsters to the punch. He invited Julia over to see this though and now she is scarred for life. Two of the guy’s friends show up (Terry and Sam) and explain that these monsters are here to destroy everyone who has their mark one by one. See, these monsters claim their prey when they’re kids and show up to finish them off once they’re full grown. Julia thinks this is all messed up but eventually is unable to deny this possibility. Is she going to be the next to disappear?

So there are a lot of issues here. One of them is that the monsters don’t get to appear much. Maybe it’s because the director knew they wouldn’t be too fierce looking? They sort of look like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. They’re very frail and most only seem to be about the size of a kid. Sometimes they can be a bit larger though so it seems to vary quite rapidly. Without a monster to fight what about our fight scenes? Well, the issue is that there aren’t really any fights because the monsters are too powerful. I mean, they’re not strong enough to drag a grown person down until there’s a bunch of them but since they have unlimited numbers and cannot be defeated it’s ultimately pointless for the humans to fight back.

That’s why it’s always preferable if you have an opponent that you can really fight off. As powerful as Freddy and Jason are, at least you can theoretically get into a fist fight with them and hope for the best. With these guys they’ll overwhelm you with unlimited numbers. Their only weakness is the sun and since they can create large scale blackouts that won’t help much either. I feel like a sequel about them trying to take over the Earth would have had more potential. As it stands, it just seems like nobody has a shot here and that’s a shame.

Julia isn’t a great main character. She starts getting spooked by the monsters real quick but ultimately doesn’t do much about it. At most she plays along with the gang for a bit but still makes a lot of questionable decisions. At the very least I’d say that staying with Paul would have been better than running to an abandoned Subway station late at night. I’m wondering if the gates actually do shut off at that time. In the movie she gets locked in but if the trains are still running that would be odd. I’ll assume the gremlins were causing this as well. So Julia’s pretty standard for horror protagonists but if anything is a little slower on the ball than the others.

Then we have her boyfriend Paul. The guy seems reasonable for the most part but also way too soft. There’s no way he should be letting these two guys crash at his place without paying rent or anything for so long. Particularly since they break his one and only rule of barging into his room. Paul can definitely do a lot better than this. I’ll give him some points for standing by Julia in the end but that’s about all I can do for him. He’s still better than Terry and Sam though. Terry decides that even though she is going to be one of the next to go…she is going to head to a swimming pool where it gets fairly dark out. She should have made sure she was near the exit for when everyone else was leaving.

I just have a problem with her going at all. Now, it’s true that you can’t just live in fear and hide inside all day. I definitely agree with that logic for just about everything in the real world. That said, if a supernatural demon is after you and you know that it’s been bumping off people as soon as the lights go out, why would you head anywhere without a flashlight or something? Why put yourself in a position to be eaten so easily? It just wasn’t smart. Sam isn’t much better. I guess the guy was home but he’s drawing everything in black paint to make the room even darker. Why? It doesn’t make any sense and naturally the monsters close in on him as well. The guy was always pretty grim by nature so maybe he was taking it in stride. To an extent these aren’t massive details because the film assures us that they were doomed to die either way. Still, it would have been nice if they handled things a little better.

Beyond that the film forces in a lot of the typical romance scenes you would expect in a horror title. There’s quite a lot of fanservice here throughout that brings the film down and the scenes don’t actually add anything to the experience. It’s even used for humor once or twice. Once again I have to take a shot at Julia here. When she’s trying to figure out if she has the mark, it’s literally a life or death matter. Wouldn’t she be a bit more thorough? Later on she has a “whoops” kind of moment when she realizes where it is and you can’t tell me that you wouldn’t have noticed this earlier. When it comes to looking for a mark you had better be detailed. The scene where she tries to deactivate the beacon is pretty brutal but that would have been a little more helpful earlier. Either way I bet she was doomed though.

Overall, the whole movie is really just a lesson in futility for the characters. Nothing they do has any real effect and the monsters are just too strong. The film can be fairly violent and dark the whole time. It’s pretty much mandatory that the characters all have some kind of dark element in their background. The character shooting himself was certainly one way to start the film. There’s just not a whole lot of quality to be found here. It really underperforms in every area. At least it does throw in the token twist ending to the film so you should be ready for that. At the very least I feel like all the horror titles gotta end with that because at least it gives you something to remember the film by. Again, I think there could be potential for a sequel where the aliens wage war on Earth even if that might shift genres a bit. It’ll at least be a good way to shake things up. In the meantime I’d advise skipping this horror flick.

Overall 1/10