This needs a stretch. (Feel free to remove when satisfied of completion.) |
Don't Play Dummy with Me is a story in Scooby-Doo! #66.
Premise
A circus has its payroll stolen and a missing ventriloquist is blamed. But why did he leave his dummy behind?
Synopsis
Characters
Character |
---|
Scooby-Doo |
Shaggy Rogers |
Fred Jones |
Daphne Blake |
Velma Dinkley |
Ralph McLooney |
Boris the Dummy |
Mertron |
Sal Lasparie |
Lon Strenousko |
Villains
Suspects
Suspect | Motive/reason |
---|---|
Sal Lasparie | Disappeared nearly the same time as the money. Lon Strenousko said he was a strange person. |
Mertron | Seems quick to accuse others. He was the number one attraction before Sal and Boris came to the circus. |
Culprits
Culprit | Motive/reason |
---|---|
Boris the Dummy working with Ralph McLooney. He was a midget ventriloquist and Sal was his dummy. | To steal the payroll and split the money. |
Locations
- Circus
Notes/trivia
Coloring Mistakes
Inconsistencies/Continuity Errors and/or Oddities
Reception
The dummy or vent figure has a long history associated with horror, and why not? It’s a ghoulish looking modern-day twist on the homunculus. The Dummy— an enemy of the Vigilante—was a villain who pretended to be one such floppy-legged demon. In Doctor Who the Doctor faces a creature named Mr. Sin who uses the dummy as his disguise and whose evil intelligence derives from the cerebral cortex of a pig. On Superman the Animated series, the Toy Man wears a head in homage of the vile mannequin. The dummy has been featured as the nasty in The Twilight Zone and films such as Devil Doll. Alan Grant is the creator of Batman’s most memorable pre-Crisis foes: one of them being Scarface who is the manifestation of the Ventriloquist’s darker personality.
Normally in the genre, the plot is simple: evil ventriloquist’s dummy takes over ventriloquist or ventriloquist is oblivious to the fact his dummy is a supernatural murderous swine. The last show to use the dummy in its plot was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Naturally, it wasn’t what was expected. Following such an exalted example, Robbie Busch in Scooby-Doo puts his own twist on the traditional plot. It’s a twist that can only work plausibly in a cartoon, and you may see the surprise coming, yet you must admire the ingenuity. Within the story, readers will also see another subversion of cliché. Women of stereotype tend to be frightened by furry little animals. Not Daphne or Velma. Indeed, they express concern for the little creature that is not only in a historical sense wonderful but also exemplifies their winning personalities.
Vincent DePorter is known for his inking, but this time he tackles the entirety and does so with aplomb. Mr. DePorter’s style while suiting the animated books sharply contrasts his partner’s work. Fans will see some DeCarlo in his faces, and take on the stars is more angular than the model but never the less a valid interpretation. There’s an extreme clean-ness to the work that combined with his choice of design leads to an almost art-deco version of Scooby-Doo and the Gang. [1]
Quotes
References
- ↑ Ray Tate in Line of Fire Reviews