Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #115

(June 2022)

Ready Player Run! (Table of Contents: 1)

Scooby-Doo / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Derek Fridolfs (credited)

Pencils

Walter Carzon (credited)

Inks

Horacio Ottolini (credited)

Colors

Silvana Brys (credited)

Letters

Saida Temofonte (credited)

Editing

Courtney Jordan (credited) (editor)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Like, where are we, Fred? Not another creepy warehouse or haunted office party!

Genre

humor; anthropomorphic-funny animals; detective-mystery

Characters

Scooby-Doo; Shaggy; Fred; Daphne; Velma; The Grim Gamer (a virtual gremlin); president of Playtel Games; Steve (head of programming at Playtel Games); various staff at Playtel Games; three game-testers

Synopsis

Board game manufacturer Playtel Games decides to become "relevant" by creating virtual reality versions of their traditional board games. The Scooby gang and three teens have volunteered as "game-testers" to test the updated products. With the testers and the meddling kids inside "the virtual world", the testing goes awry when The Grim Gamer (a virtual gremlin) "games the system" from within.

Keywords

abounding oddities; board games; gremlin; mucking with tradition; mystery; product testing; virtual reality games

Indexer Notes

New story.

Among the games "virtualized" are checkers and chess, along with thinly disguised tributes to classic games "Operation", "Battleship", and "Mouse Trap".

The president of Playtel Games is drawn to resemble Miss Grundy of Archie Comics, but in more modern business attire. Perhaps a "visual metaphor" of the need to move ahead with the times?

To that end, the company's name, "Playtel Games", may serve a similar function in melding traditional "Mattel Toys" with "Play Station".

Endgame (Table of Contents: 2)

Scooby-Doo / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Sholly Fisch (credited)

Pencils

Robert Pope (credited)

Inks

Scott McRae (credited)

Colors

Heroic Age (credited)

Letters

Dezi Sienty (credited)

Editing

Chynna Clugston Flores (credited) (assistant editor); Kwanza Johnson (credited) (editor)

Job Number

DCCO24862

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Yes! I rule at Pie Fighter 2!

Genre

humor; anthropomorphic-funny animals; detective-mystery

Characters

Scooby-Doo; Shaggy; Fred; Daphne; Velma; The Pinball Wizard (ghost)

Synopsis

The World Video Game Championships are sabotaged by a "ghost-in-the-machine" calling itself "The Pinball Wizard".

Reprints

• from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (DC, 2010 series) #10 (August 2011)

Keywords

competition; ghost; inaccurate reprint information; mystery; video games

Indexer Notes

"The Pinball Wizard" is a direct tribute to the rock song of the same name by The Who. An additional irony is that "pinball" was largely replaced by the rise of video games.

Video game parody-tribute character names abound. SHAGGY: "Those two are the Tendo Brothers, MARIO and LUIGI! And ZELDA over there -- she's a LEGEND!"

There's also "Laurie Kraft" who runs the competition, and this...

GREAT BIT: Shaggy notices a familiar face at the competition:
SHAGGY: "Hey! Aren't you, like, XAVIER BACHSMAN?"
XAVIER: "Sure am. But you can call me X-BACHS!"

Reprint information is inaccurately described in the indicia as originating with "Scooby-Doo 10" (which would be from the 1997 series, and cover-dated May 1998), when it is actually reprinted from Scooby-Doo Where Are You? (2010 Series) #10 (August 2011). Though the copyright for this story, listed in the indicia as 2011, is accurate.

Enjoy a Special Sneak Peek at Primer (Table of Contents: 3) (Expand) /

Primer / preview (from the publisher) / 7 pages (report information)