The Faceless Phantom
SCOOBY-DOO — Issue no. 7, July 1978
Book: Scooby-Doo
Issue No.: 7
Published: July 18, 1978
Title: “The Faceless Phantom”
Cover Price: 35¢
Format: Digital scan
The classic Scooby Doo, Where Are You! cartoons sometimes had a subtle science fiction vibe. For example, in the episode “Foul Play in Funland,” there’s a humanoid robot that malfunctions and goes berzerk. But little bits of sci-fi like that tend to not be over-analyzed (at least not by me) because they’re in service of a fun mystery.
The first story in this issue of Marvel’s Scooby-Doo comic book goes hard-core sci-fi. A scientist has called in Scooby-Doo and the rest of the Mystery, Inc. gang to investigate the titular faceless phantom. And this scientist has invented an honest-to-goodness science fiction teleporter — a machine that can instantaneously transport someone from New York to L.A.
Scooby and the gang set a trap and capture the phantom. Turns out he’s a dude who is really into flight attendants (everybody has their kinks, I guess) and doesn’t want the scientist’s teleporter to catch on and replace airline flights.
But! There’s an extra twist here. It turns out the scientist is running a scam — he wants to get rich selling a bogus teleporter to investors. (So much for this being a hard-core sci-fi tale.) I know this is a story from 1978, but this is a very 2023 kind of scam.
The “B” story for this issue has a pretty fun twist — Scooby-Doo, who is generally not the bravest of canines, has insomnia. He’s dog tired (please pardon the pun). So tired, in fact, that the bad guy (a ghost scarecrow) can’t scare him.
This issue wraps with a Dynomutt word game and a Scooby-Doo crossword puzzle. I’ve read a few of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comic books, but this is the first time I’ve seen them include games like this. Fun!
(This issue’s “Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera” article is about animation cameras — it’s a reprint of the “Funtastic” article from The Flintstones no. 7.)
Next time — I’ll be back next week with Spidey!