ANI-MOVIES, *Scooby Doo & Batman: The Brave And The Bold

While there's been several crossovers of the Scooby Doo gang meeting up with DC Comics superheroes(most of the focal point of the Scooby Doo Team-Up comic series), there were also two episodes of the 70s New Scooby Doo Movies where they align themselves with the Dynamic Duo, this is the first full-on animated film where the Hanna-Barbera characters take place in the DC Universe. Although for the purposes of this made-for-video production, its a follow-up to Batman: The Brave And The Bold animated TV show.

Mystery Inc. try trapping a "ghost" in Gotham City, which turn out to be Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp, who are working with Batman to initiate the meddling kids into Mystery Analysts of Gotham, also composing of Plastic Man, Black Canary, and The Question, along with occasional appearances by Aquaman. Scooby and the gang get caught up in trying to solving this version of Batman's only unsolved case, the disappearance of Professor Milo's old assistant lost in a lab accident, although Milo's other assistant turns out to be The Riddler. A new villain called The Crimson Cloak shows up to haunt Batman over his past mistake, and it all leads up to the Dark Knight along with Mystery Inc. being framed while being hunted down by the Gotham Police, resident supervillains, and their fellow heroes. It all turns out to be a scheme between Riddler and the shapeshifting Clayface to gain access to Milo's old tech to terrorize Gotham.

This works as a Scooby Doo production, and even in the campy world of Batman: The Brave And The Bold, but a lot of things don't add up based on regular DC Comics story dynamics. One example is Martian Manhunter's serious downgrade as someone more powerful than Superman having problems catching a single 40 year old van, or The Question getting taken down by the Riddler was done only for story convenience. Despite its shortcomings, the Warner Bros. animated project is visually groovy, and a real treat for Silver Age comics fans.