Back in October, I mentioned the idea of looking at Scooby-Doo! comics and I did look at one Scooby-Doo comic as I looked at one from the Team-Up series, however, this holiday season I will be looking at three holiday-themed Scooby comics. Starting with one from 2000. We are starting with a story from December 2000 titled Nutcracker Not-So-Sweet. It is interesting to start with a story dealing with The Nutcracker as the earliest Scoob-Doo Christmas special I remember watching is The Nutcracker Scoob.
This comic is admittedly a bit basic in my opinion and there is nothing too special about the story. The Gang has been called to a theater as a Nutcracker Ghost is haunting the theater and that’s it, really.
The Plot
Well, I pretty much explained it to you as a ballet troupe is being haunted by a Nutcracker Ghost because they dare to put on a performance of A Christmas Carol instead of The Nutcracker. The comic makes the mistake of making the villain too obvious because as soon as you meet him, you know who The Nutcracker Ghost is.
It’s this pompous and arrogant guy that always refers to himself in the third person, he did ti because he was upset that the troupe wasn’t doing The Nutcracker and because he wasn’t cast as the lead. Honestly, I get the idea but man, there could’ve been a better motivation. If there is one thing I do like is how Freddy uses the troupe’s production to lure The Nutcracker Ghost out.
Just seeing these two dressed up this way makes me smile. There’s also a subplot about how Daphne has always dreamed of being a ballerina and that is put into practice here. It’s sweet but rather small. This story is okay but it would barely fill out an eleven-minute short.
Monster
Since there truly isn’t a lot to say about the characters, I want to take a look at the monster/ghost.
The Nutcracker Ghost
The design for the Nutcracker Ghost is alright as you do get a sense of evil Nutcracker from it, even though it also reminds me of Disney’s Toy Soldiers.
Though I don’t think that’s intentional still, I like the look and it does work as taking some that is considered joyous and twisting it on its head for the Holiday season.
My Final Thoughts
This story is just okay but nothing particularly special. It’s not I’d say that you’d need to go out of your way to find and read. Join me next time as I continue my look at Scooby-Doo Holiday comics as I look at…
The Fright Before Christmas
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