Mystery Date

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Mystery Date
Description
Part of	Scooby-Doo! #61
# of pages	10
Writer	Frank Strom
Penciler	Vincent Deporter
Inker	Vincent Deporter
Colorer	Paul Becton
Letterer	Tom Orzechowski
Editor	Joan Hilty
Chronology
Previous story	Scooby-Doo in The Dragon's Eye, Part 2, Russian into Danger
Next story	Scooby-Doo in The Dragon's Eye, Part 3, Beat the Devil

Mystery Date is a story in Scooby-Doo! #61.

Premise

Charlene, a contestant on the reality show Perfect Link goes on a date with Fred Jones and has quite a bad experience when the usual monsters and mysteries show up.

Characters

Main characters:

• Mystery Inc.
  • Scooby-Doo
  • Shaggy Rogers
  • Fred Jones
  • Daphne Blake
  • Velma Dinkley

Supporting characters:

• Charlene ^{(only appearance)}
• Smiley ^{(only appearance)}
• Coolsville Cineplex projectionist ^{(only appearance)}
• GoGo-A-GoGo Dance Club's twin cocktail waitresses ^{(only appearance)}

Villains:

• Fast-Food Werewolf ^{(only appearance)(disguise)}/
• Burger Drome short order cook ^{(only appearance)}
• Aztec Mummy ^{(only appearance)(disguise)}/
• Projectionist's evil brother-in-law ^{(only appearance)}
• Go-Go Ghouls ^{(only appearance)(disguise)}/
• GoGo-A-GoGo Dance Club janitor ^{(only appearance)}

Other characters:

• Burger Drone manager ^{(only time mentioned)}

Locations

• Coolsville
  • Perfect Link
  • Burger Drone
  • Coolsville Cineplex
  • GoGo-A-GoGo Dance Club

Objects

• TBA

Vehicles

• The Mystery Machine

Suspects

Suspect	Motive/reason
Burger Drone manager	"Crooked" as Fred called her.
Coolsville Cineplex projectionist	Was cheated out of owning the Coolsville Cineplex by his own evil brother-in-law.
GoGo-A-GoGo Dance Club's twin cocktail waitresses	Twin ghosts such as the Go-Go Ghouls could only mean they did all this.

Culprits

Culprit	Motive/reason
Burger Drome short order cook as the Fast Food Werewolf	Probably wanted to pay back the manager for treating him badly.
Projectionist's evil brother-in-law as the Aztec Mummy	A gimmick to bring in customers.
GoGo-A-GoGo Dance Club janitor and a robot as the Go-Go Ghouls	Was down on his luck as Daphne called him.

Notes/Trivia

• The fact that Fred was familiar with the suspect possibilities at each location suggests there was no coincidence -- Fred selected the date locations because they were the sites of ongoing Mystery Inc. investigations.

Coloring mistakes

• None known.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or oddities

• None known.

Reception

The first story offers the reader a pure tale of humor. Frank Strom puts Freddie Jones on a Blind Datetype of show with a hilarious name. His date may be impressed by Fred's good looks and physique, but she is not impressed by his thirst to solve mysteries.

"Perfect Link" is another story that plays with the concept of Fred and the others being eternal teenagers. The highly recommended Scooby-Doomovie does the same. Immediately the victim of the night comments on Freddie's dated ascot and the Mystery Machine.

As the date progresses, Freddie keeps bumping into "nut jobs in masks" as well as other members of Mystery Inc. who correct his inaccurate deductions. Even Shaggy and Scooby manages to hoist Fred on his own petard. Clearly this is not his night, and the evening just gets steadily worse.

Vincent DePorter who penciled and inked some fine The Adventures of the DCUdoes stellar work here. Fred's always grinning. Velma's characteristic walk is dead-on, and Charlene's reactions to Fred's seeming mental instability gives her more character than her curves would normally suggest. Mr. DePorter also manages to include some grin-worthy slapstick as when Fred reacts as if Charlene were Daphne and knows exactly what he is planning.