Since 1969, Scooby-Doo has been an iconic part of American pop culture, paving the way for an entire era of Saturday-morning cartoons. Like all the greatest franchises of its era, the mystery show quickly made its way to the comic book industry, where the gang’s adventures were translated into pencils and ink. Here, readers are given a whole new set of cases, monsters and settings for the gang to explore. While some of the stories remain true to form for the gang, others offer shocking changes to the gang’s origins and their adventures.
Scooby-Doo has been in near-constant print since the 1990s, and has been picked up by some of the biggest publishers in the business, including Marvel and DC. The comic book runs are must-have collections for die-hard fans of Mystery Incorporated, expanding their adventures beyond their television appearances. From formulaic monster-of-the-week stories to outrageous reinventions, the series helped make Scooby and the gang as entertaining in print as they were on screen.
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Gold Key’s Scooby-Doo (1970-1975)
Alpine Harper, Phil De Lara, Cecil Beard, Jack Manning and Dan Spiegle
As the first comic book publisher to acquire the Scooby-Doo license, Gold Key (later Western Publishing) holds a special place in the history of the gang’s printed adventures. The series serves as a direct continuation of the original show, capturing its dark, kid-friendly horror tone that made it such a success in the first place. Here, the gang takes on everything from pirates and masked crooks to witches and clowns.
Gold Key S Scooby-doo series remains one of the band’s most valuable sets, and the fact that it went to print right after the end of the show’s first season gave ’70s kids some much-needed fan service. For people who want to enjoy the gang’s adventures as the original series was intended, this series acts as a nice piece of supplemental material to the original show.
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Charlton’s Scooby-Doo (1975-1976)
Joe Gill and Alfred Owen Williams
Scooby-Doo was handled by a variety of publishers, but one of the stranger fits was Charlton Comics, a publisher that struggled to find direction in the 1970s and 80s. Despite some great characters, such as Blue Beetle and Questioning, it turns to licensed franchises, like Hannah-Barbera, to try to stay afloat. Scooby and the gang were written into their own anthology comics which, while delivering some great ideas, ultimately relied on short-form stories lacking much depth.
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Charlton Comics Scooby-doo The series actually came just as the publisher was beginning to decline, ensuring the company’s handling of the Hanna-Barbera license would be short-lived. While the series boasted some great villain designs and mastered a cartoon tone, its publisher’s roots ensured that it wouldn’t last long—lucky thought it moved to a comic book powerhouse immediately afterward.
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Marvel’s Scooby-Doo (1977-1979)
Bill Zeigler, Dan Spiegel and Mark Evanier
Scooby-Doo holds the rare distinction of being one of the few comic book properties published under both Marvel and DC, the latter of which currently owns the franchise. Under Marvel, the gang faced off against classic, universal monster-inspired foes ranging from Egyptian mummies to witches and phantoms. The series began with a return to an iconic episode, revisiting the band’s battle with the Technicolor Phantoms – incidentally, giving the band their most striking cover art by Dan Spiegle.
Marvel’s handling of Scooby-Doo was a combination of older stories from the TV series and fresh mysteries, offering an ideal style for younger readers of the series. Not only is the series treasured by fans of the franchise, it also features some of the band’s most stunning comic book covers, including everything from Greek Gods to Universal Monsters.
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Scooby-doo from DC, where are you? (1997 – present)
Terrance Griep Jr, Ernie Colon, Matt Wayne, Joe Staton, Andrew Pepoy, Chris Duffy, Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela and more
While many of the best Scooby-Doo comics change things up by adding new characters or darker tones, readers can always enjoy a standard series styled after the show. Since 1997, DC Comics has regularly published a bi-monthly Scooby-doo, where are you? series, which follows the gang in a never-ending series of mysteries. With most issues written by Scooby mainstay writer Sholly Fisch, the series is incredibly consistent in quality, never running out of fresh ideas for the gang.
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Scooby-doo, where are you? gave readers a combination of spooky stories, movie homages and slice-of-life stories. Great examples include the gang fighting sea monsters, ghosts of historical figures and reimaginings of ghouls from the original series. With around three hundred issues to get through, readers are spoiled by this iconic series.
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Archie’s Scooby-Doo (1995-1997)
Michael Kirschenbaum, Lee Weeks, Alfredo Alcala and Gordon Morrison
When it comes to finding the perfect match between character and publisher, there have been few licensed pairings as brilliant as Scooby-Doo’s migration to Archie Comics. Known for their publication of child-friendly slice-of-life stories, namely those set in the picturesque town of Riverdale, the company’s handling of Mystery Incorporated proved somewhat perfect. In fact, outside of DC, no company handled the band as well as Archie.
Archie S Scooby-doo Blends the company’s signature teen comedy formula with the gang’s mystery-oriented adventures. As they try to enjoy vacations, from amusement parks to ski resorts, the monsters of their senior series capture them, providing everything from ghostly riders to mossy sea creatures. Although it is not the first comic book run of the gang, it remains one of the most coveted and, Scooby Apocalypse aside, is the best-illustrated series of the gang under their original formula.
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Scooby Apocalypse (2016-2019)
Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Jim Lee, Dale Eaglesham, Howard Porter, Ron Wagner, Tom Derenick and Rick Leonardi
DC is no stranger to extreme character reinventions and parody, both of which were in the creation of Scooby Apocalypse. Here, the story of the band is reimagined as a response to the breakout of a hellish apocalypse, caused by scientific experiments gone wrong. With the world now full of monsters, the gang arm themselves and travel through the wastelands in the mystery car, looking for a way to make things right. From a monstrous scrappy to zombie hordes, the series never stopped delivering.
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Scooby Apocalypse Takes a beloved children’s cartoon and turns it into one of the best mainstream horror comics of the 2000s. The series succeeded where Max S Velma Failing that, delivering fans a complete change of pace for the characters aimed at older readers, while also respecting the core of what makes the franchise great. The series even features a shockingly stacked creative team, with DC veterans like Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Howard Porter and Jim Lee collaborating on the book.
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Batman and Scooby-Doo Adventures (2021 – Present)
Ivan Cohen, Shuli Fish, Dario Brizuela, Randy Elliott, Scott Geralds, Matthew Cody, Eric Owens, Amanda Deibert and Puste
The shared history of Batman and Mystery Incorporated dates back to the 1970s, when the detectives first met during The New Scooby-Doo Movies TV series. Their past has been honored by DC many times since, ranging from animated movies and video games to comics. The best of their team-ups can be found at The Batman and Scooby-Doo MysteriesWhat follows the gang in Gotham City. There, they work alongside the Caped Crusader to solve a series of mysteries, typically involving his most iconic villains, from Joker to Ra’s al Ghul.
The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries Combines the action of Batman: The Animated Series with the creative genius of Mystery Incorporated. The series makes a perfect entry point for younger readers into the world of Batman comics, delivering a non-stop plot of cases that use the formulas of the respective franchises incredibly well.
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Scooby-Doo Team-Up (2013-2019)
Shuli Fish and Dario Brizuela
Scooby-doo team-up Follows Mystery Incorporated on a series of adventures with the entire stable of kid-friendly characters owned by Warner Brothers. This ranges from cartoon versions of DC heroes, such as Batman, Atom and Jonah Hex, to Saturday morning icons, such as Space Ghost and Hong Kong Pooh. In each issue, the gang meets a new friend and is tasked with solving a fresh mystery, typically ones that incorporate various super villains into the story.
Scooby-doo team-up Handily the best comic book series the band has been given since they went to print, thanks to issue-length stories and whimsical mysteries. This series offers the same appeal to readers as titles like The brave and the boldKeep them guessing as to who the next guest star will be – and the nature of their ultimate fall.