8. Scooby-Doo Team-Up #2 by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela (DC)
How do you make the Scooby-Doo and Batman team-up book even better? By including Ace the Bat-Hound of course! In this issue, Velma and co. are attending a meeting of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham with Batman and Robin in attendance when Scarecrow shows up and doses everyone with his fear gas. While everyone fights off monstrous apparitions, Scooby and Ace, because they're dogs, are unaffected and, after dressing Scooby in a Robin outfit, the Dynamic Scooby-Duo head off to stop Scarecrow! I really love Dario Brizuela's art which is clean and clear, drawing Scooby and the gang and Batman and Robin perfectly and, because this is an all-ages comic, the nightmares aren't that scary but are comically so. Ace's inclusion is good on multiple levels, but especially so that Scooby's given full lines of dialogue rather than the ur-English he usually speaks - their speech is translated from barking! They make a great canine Batman and Robin too, parodying the famous Frank Miller Batman silhouette against lightning in one panel, even while Scooby remains in character throughout. The story is really fun and enjoyable, simple in structure and execution but not overly so and certainly not something only younger readers can enjoy. Unlike the first issue, this comic feels a lot more Batman-y than Scooby Doo-y, but Sholly Fisch still finds a nice balance to tell a good story that includes all of the characters. If you loved the first issue like me, the second issue won't disappoint. Scooby-Doo and Ace the Bat-Hound - what's not to like?