This is what you need to know about SCOOBY APOCALYPSE. Velma is a member of "The Five," a super-secret cabal of siblings who've used their money, influence, and intelligence with the original goal of purging humanity of its baser instincts using nanites. She had a change of heart and sought to expose this project to fallen reporter Daphne and her cameraman Fred. Meanwhile, Shaggy worked as a low-level dog trainer for the organization's "smartdog" program alongside his favorite smartdog, Scooby-Doo. Velma's effort to expose this plot came too late. The nanites were activated and everyone worldwide -- except for the Scooby Gang, who were tucked away in safety -- was transformed into blood-thirsty monsters.
Now the Scooby Gang is just trying to survive in an apocalyptic world filled with vampires, ghouls, werewolves, and freaks.
The previous storyline ended with Freddy suffering from a severe leg-break, which forced the group to go to the nearest hospital in SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #8 to set his leg and obtain medications. They were able to treat Fred's injuries before discovering a ghoulish Dr. Moreau who was torturing untold number of un-transformed people.
That's right. Un-transformed people. We've slowly discovered people besides the Scooby Gang who haven't been transformed into monsters. Velma has hypothesized that those with pacemakers and other forms on transplanted tech weren't transformed like the rest of humanity into monster. They've just become easy prey for the monsters.
SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #9 lacked monsters and instead focused on the Scooby Gang as they hid out and foraged for food. More importantly, Velma was finally able to hack her way into the Five's computer system. She found evidence of her involvement with the group's nanite experiments -- which we already knew. She took off late in the night and left evidence of her involvement for Daphne to find when she wakes.
I'm still confused about this. It seems that Velma was still unaware of the monstrous effects that the nanites. So I'm really not sure why she is so guilt-ridden now and why she ended up leaving a confession and running away. Either she's confessing to her deeper involvement in the organization than the group had already known or she's confessing to even more evils than we the readers already know about. Or maybe the editors at DC Comics forced some last-minute script changes. Either way, I'm confused as a reader.
Issue #9 also reintroduced us to Scrappy-Doo. He's a more successful part of the smartdog program, but he's not as nice as Scooby. He's using his nanotech to track Velma, with plans to force Velma to reinforce his nanotech. Meanwhile, he's running around slaying monsters to feed his fellow smartdogs -- who all possess defective nanotech, which is diminishing their smarts.
Not only has his smartdog nanotech made Scrappy into a deadly fighter, it's also had an effect on his digestive system. He cannot stomach kibble anymore. He can only eat and digest fresh meat.
But the saddest panels in SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #9 contained the discovery that Scrappy made in the back of a pet store -- cages filled with puppies who'd been left to die horrible deaths when the apocalypse began. This is the forgotten toll of an apocalypse -- domesticated animals who find themselves caged and forgotten without food or water, or even the quick merciful deaths of being eaten by monsters.
The next storylines will feature the Scooby Gang searching for the missing Velma, while running from an a certain powerful puppy!