It looks like after years of publication, DC Comics has quietly canceled the long-running “Looney Tunes” and “Scooby-Doo” comics. I say “quietly,” because for some reason, DC has never officially announced any publication change or cancellation. “Looney Tunes” #281, cover-dated January 2025, was sold in November 2024, while “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” #132, cover-dated April 2025, was sold in February 2025. Both series had become bimonthly by that point, but several more issues should have been released by now, or mentioned in solicitations. As such, others have concluded that these two comics have quietly been canceled.
While neither series were Batman-level sellers, I have to wonder why DC has been silent about their cancellation. They’ve released cancellation announcements for other comics, but there’s been zero remarks about these two titles. While there’s the possibility both titles are running extremely late or delayed, that seems unlikely. Thus, it looks like it’s the end of the line for two comics with very long histories behind them.
Looney Tunes in comics
Looney Tunes made its debut in comics in 1941 with “Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics” #1, published by Dell under license from Warner Bros. So yes, Bugs and the gang have been in comics almost as long as Superman and Batman. Along with the main series (its title shortened to “Looney Tunes” in 1955), several solo books starring Bugs, Daffy, and even the Road Runner were published. In 1962, Dell’s partner Western took over producing the comics, publishing them under the Gold Key and Whitman imprints until 1984.
Dell/Western’s Looney Tunes comics deviated from the animated shorts in various ways. Sniffles, a minor Looney Tunes character, had a long-running backup series, where he went on adventures with an original character, a human girl named Mary Jane. Suzanne, a one-shot character in the 1955 short “A Kiddies Kitty” (co-starring Sylvester), got her own backup series in the comics, which seemed to try mimicking the then-hottest new comic strip, “Peanuts.” Petunia Pig, Porky’s girlfriend, had a much stronger presence in the comics than in the animated shorts, staying continuously published through Dell/Western’s tenure. Honey Bunny, an original character (shown as Bugs’ girlfriend), also appeared in the comics.
A “Bugs Bunny” newspaper comic strip was also published from 1942 until 1993, which kept the same cast/style as the Dell/Western comic books for most of its run.
In 1990 and 1993, DC (who, like the Looney Tunes, are owned by Warner Bros.) published a pair of Bugs Bunny miniseries. Starting in 1994, DC launched the modern Looney Tunes comic as a regular series. Most of the stories, art, and characters more closely reflected their animated versions than the Dell/Western comics did.
DC also featured two crossovers between the Looney Tunes and the DC Universe superheroes: the 2000 miniseries “Superman & Bugs Bunny,” and the 2017-2018 crossover “DC Meets Looney Tunes.” The antagonists in the former are Superman foe Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Dodo from “Porky in Wackyland.” As for the latter, the crossovers, among others, include: Bugs Bunny and the Legion of Super-Heroes; Lobo (not the Flash?) and the Road Runner; and Batman and Elmer Fudd. The last one got acclaim from Batman fans.
Scooby-Doo in comics
Scooby-Doo debuted in comics in 1970, and has had a number of publishers through the decades. Gold Key published Scooby-Doo comics from 1970 to 1974; Charlton in 1975; Marvel from 1977 to 1979; Harvey from 1993 to 1994; and Archie from 1995 to 1997. Apparently DC is the sixth comic publisher of Mystery, Inc.’s adventures, but the longest-lasting one by far.
In 1997, DC started publishing Scooby-Doo comics, as by then, Warner Bros. had acquired Hanna-Barbera. The 2010s was likely Scooby-Doo’s high point in comics. Along with the regular title, DC also published “Scooby-Doo Team-Up” from 2013 to 2019 (crossovers with other DC or Hanna-Barbera characters) and “Scooby Apocalypse” from 2016 to 2019 (a darker comic about the gang dealing with a zombie apocalypse).
Between 2016 and 2019, all three of these titles ran concurrently, which gave Scooby-Doo more ongoing comics than DC superhero mainstays like Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash.
The future for Scooby and Bugs in comics?
Most of the aforementioned Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes comics, especially the pre-DC ones, haven’t been reprinted. Unlike the DC and Marvel superheroes, humor and funny animal comics tend to rarely get mentioned, reprinted, or even written about in coverage of comics history. The main exceptions: Archie; Walt Disney’s Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse comics; and DC/Marvel characters that get folded into the broader superhero-themed DC Universe or Marvel Universe. (For the last one, see Marvel’s Patsy Walker, or DC’s Peter Porkchops.) Otherwise, funny animal and humor comics seem to be viewed as disposable or less important, between their genre and kid target audience.
Unfortunately, I can think of reasons why DC might have chosen to cancel these two books. DC to Warner Bros., like Marvel to Disney, is exclusively viewed a superhero brand, despite both companies’ history of publishing non-cape material. Disney’s outsourced its non-superhero comics (particularly the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics) to other publishers for years, even after buying Marvel. Meanwhile, Dynamite is publishing comics starring “Space Ghost,” “Jonny Quest,” and “The Powerpuff Girls.” As such, publishing two non-superhero books like Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes doesn’t fit this narrow genre focus.
Kids also aren’t the target audience for DC’s single-issue comics anymore, and haven’t been for years, if not decades. As of the July 2025 DC solicitations, the only kid-friendly single-issue comic DC publishes is a “Teen Titans Go” comic. That said, kids comics have shifted from singles to graphic novels, which are now a dominant seller alongside manga, and eclipse Marvel and DC’s non-direct market sales by a mile. Fortunately, DC does publish some kid-friendly graphic novels.
Finally, there’s Warner Bros.’s treatment of both properties. Scooby-Doo is probably the better treated of the two, but the infamous shelving of a finished holiday-themed sequel to 2020’s “Scoob!” for a tax write-off still lingers. Meanwhile, since the Discovery merger, Warner’s current ownership clearly views the Looney Tunes as expendable (and a lower priority versus the likes of “Harry Potter”); their own streaming service, HBO Max, has even repeatedly purged the classic shorts.
Given the above, I could see Scooby-Doo going to another publisher like Dynamite, or shifting to a series of graphic novels. Unfortunately, I think the future for the Looney Tunes in comics form looks dim; on top of their current mercurial treatment by Warner Bros., today’s kids (and possibly some younger Gen Zers) might not even know who Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are, let alone want spin-off media featuring them. (Or at best, only view the Looney Tunes as “those characters in that basketball movie.”) I suppose there’s one corporate reason in favor of publishing a Looney Tunes comic: a way to maintain the characters’ trademarks?
Image: “Looney Tunes” #281 (January 2025), art by Derek Fridolfs; “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” #132 (April 2025), art by Randy Elliott. (DC Comics)
