"Imagination is the Key."
The Scribblenauts Unmasked comic book series (A Crisis of Imagination), written by Josh Elder, is based on the video game of the same name and takes place shortly after the events of that game. It consists of 18 issues.
The plot starts off with The Phantom Stranger visiting Madame Xanadu, who foretells him that the heroes of his universe are nearing certain doom and the ones with the power to set things right are a certain scribblenaut (Maxwell) and a certain cartographer (Lily).
The Stranger promptly arrives to Maxwell and Lily's home universe (called Earth i) and enlists them to help save the Justice League from a hidden threat that seeks to destroy them all.
The Scribblenauts Unmasked comic book series contains examples of the following tropes:
- All Your Powers Combined: In #18, Maxwell and Doppelganger use their powers to turn themselves and their sisters into combinations of the strongest heroes and villains, so they can use all their powers at once.
- Adaptational Badass: Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch of all things got this treatment, as Superman revealed to Lily a feature in which pressing the start button causes it to unleash powerful high-frequency soundwaves that can shatter glass!
- And This Is for...: Maxwell, Lily and Doppelganger all give one to the Anti-Monitor in #17:Maxwell: This is for the Phantom Stranger
Lily: And for all the people you’ve hurt
Doppelganger: And for trashing my crib
Doppelily: Oh brother. - Ascended Extra: Doppelily only appeared in the very last level of the preceding game, but is a major player in the comic.
- Beam Spam:
- At the start of #8, the Green Lantern Corps, Blue Lantern Corps, Indigo Tribe, Star Sapphires and Larfleeze collectively use their rings against the Red and Yellow Lanterns.
- In #12, dozens of Heroes capable of firing beams (like the Lanterns and Superman with his Heat Vision), shoot them simultaneously at a cluster of Shadow Demons.
- Berserk Button: Doppelganger does not like to be called Maxwell's Copy, referring to it as "The c-word".
- Big Bad: The Anti-Monitor.
- Blank White Void: At the end of #17, Maxwell, Lily, Doppelganger and Doppelily end up in one when the Anti-Monitor destroys everything. #18 starts with the four regrouping here and realizing that they are all that is left.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: #4, Krypto rips away a section of Toy Man's pants ,exposing his undies (which are white with pink hearts).
- Enemy Mine: Quite a few villains have decided to lend the heroes a hand against the Anti-Monitor's forces:
- Lex Luthor, who as stated below, joined up with Superman when he learned that the people of Metropolis were being mind-controlled. Lex even convinced Brainiac to go along for the ride.
- Larfleeze of the Orange Lantern Corps appears alongside the Blue Lanterns, Indigo Tribe, and Star Sapphires to help the Green Lantern Corps fight off the Sinestro Corps’ and the Red Lantern Corps’ attempts to invade Planet Rann.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Lex Luthor was at first tickled pink when the people of Metropolis started turning on Superman and came to him for help in getting rid of the Man of Steel. But when Supes revealed to Lex that the humans were mind-controlled by Shadow Demons into hating Superman, Lex agreed to call off his campaign to temporarily side with Superman to free humanity from Shadow Demon control.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: The reason several villains, most notably Lex Luthor and Brainiac, are willing to help fight the Anti-Monitor is because the Anti-Monitor is also a threat to their existence.
- Exactly What I Aimed At: #2, when Joker uses his smilex venom on Batman, Maxwell fires a small projectile at Joker. He misses, but it turns out he was aiming for Batman since the projectile contained the antidote.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Issue #1 describes Earth Í (the Scribblenauts universe) and all the various creatures that live there; ninjas, monsters, pirates, robots, dinosaurs, robotic dinosaurs.
- Good All Along: Catwoman at first seemed to be working with Anti-Monitor, but after rescuing the Phantom Stranger, she revealed that she actually was spying on his forces for Batman.
- Happily Adopted: Doppelganger and Doppelily are officially adopted into Maxwell’s family at the end of #18. And they receive their own names to go with it; Doppelganger becomes Alexander, and Doppelily chooses Violet.
- Hate Plague: What the Shadow Demons do to the people of Metropolis, and later the entire Justice League.
- Helping Granny Cross the Street: At the start of #9, Maxwell interrupts a race between him and Flash to help a senior alien cross the street. He even states that a Scribble Scout always does so.
- Here We Go Again!: At the very end of #18, Darkseid arrives on Earth i to conquer it, and Maxwell and Alexander (Doppelganger) take out their sketch books to fight him.
- Heroic BSoD: Maxwell briefly had one after the Anti-Monitor defeated the Justice League, revealed to be invulnerable thanks to a Van De Graaff Generator, and the Phantom Stranger performed a Heroic Sacrifice to protect him and Lily and teleported them to Limbo to get them to safety. Fortunately, some pep talk from Lily and Madame Xanadu brought him back to his senses.
- It's Personal: In #16, Doppelganger is finally willing to join the fight when the Anti-Monitor's forces destroy his house and other belongings. He even namedrops the trope.
- Kneel Before Zod: The tropenamer himself appears at the end of #9, and the final panel shows him saying the trope.
- Knight of Cerebus: The comic as a whole is Lighter and Softer than the regular DC Universe, bit the Anti-Monitor is still played dead seriously as a terrifying and demonic foe.
- Moral Myopia: In #2, Joker calls Batman out for cheating when Maxwell gives Batman an armor as protection. When Harley points out the Joker himself is also wearing armor, Joker claims he’s supposed to cheat since he is a villain.
- Mr. Exposition: In issue #15, Madame Xanadu tells the History of The DCU from Crisis on Infinite Earths to Blackest Night.
- The Multiverse: Maxwell and Lily are from another universe than the one the DC heroes live in. #1 refers to their universe as "Earth i". In #5, Cyborg explains Maxwell and Lily more about the Multiverse, describing it as different dimensions that occupy the same space but on different vibrational frequencies.
- Mythology Gag: In #8, One panel shows Maxwell riding the polkadotted bathtub with wings that he also rode in the start screen of “Super Scribblenauts”.
- Pass the Popcorn: Maxwell sees the Batfamily and Superman family arguing with each other over whether respectively Alfred's cookies or Martha Kent's apple pie were the better desert, which escalates into a brawl. So what does Maxwell do? He conjures a bag of popcorn and enjoys watching the action (and Phantom Stranger even joins him!). Luckily, Batman and Superman both step in to break up the fight.
- Perpetual Smiler: Lampshaded by Alfred in #2 that Lily and Maxwell are hardly ever without a smile.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Lampshaded in issue #4 when the Superman family enters the fray to save Maxwell from Parasite, Bizarro, Toyman and Metallo:
- Red Sky, Take Warning: The skies in the DC universe have turned red due to the Shadow Demon invasion. In #5, Batman specifically cites this as a sign that they are under attack from forces from another dimension.
- The Rival: Doppelganger to Maxwell at the start of the series. Doppelganger may have done a Heel–Face Turn, but he still likes to compete with Maxwell about who is the better scribblenaut.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Phantom Stranger comes to ask for help in #1, Doppelganger refuses and leaves with Doppelily. They are not seen again till the end of #15, when Maxwell and Lily come to ask for their help.
- Shout-Out: During a Justice League's meeting, Wonder Woman quotes Conan the Barbarian (1982)... after a fasion.Wonder Woman: "It's the same thing every invader wants: to crush her enemies, see them driven before her, and to hear the lamentations of their men."
- Sibling Seniority Squabble: In #15, Maxwell is annoyed that Lily claims seniority over him since she's only 2 minutes older.
- Space Western: #6, Maxwell turns himself into a space cowboy, riding a flying, mechanical horse and wielding a freeze gun.
- Spoiled Brat: At the end of #15, we see that Doppelganger has used his powers to create himself and Doppelily a 24-karat mansion, a Solid Bronze statue of himself, a rollercoaster, a pool filled with diamonds, tricked out rides, dumptrucks filled with candy, and personal butler and stylist.
- Stranger Danger: Discussed; when Phantom Stranger first meets Maxwell, Lily, Doppelganger and Doppelily, Maxwell wonders if he is the kind of stranger they are not supposed to take candy from.
- Summon Bigger Fish: #18, when everything else failed to stop the Anti-Monitor, Maxwell summons the Monitor to fight him. The two fighting releases enough energy for Maxwell to restore everything the Anti-Monitor destroyed.
- Took a Level in Badass: Lily in the game spent most of her time as part of Mission Control for Maxwell and didn’t have much time in the field. In comic however, she’s a plucky Action Survivor who even helps fight the bad guys on a few occasions.
- Wire Dilemma: In #13, while browsing through her photos, Lily comes across one of Maxwell trying to diffuse a time bomb, and clearly having trouble deciding which wire to cut.
- Women Are Wiser: Lily and Doppelily go along well, and don’t approve of their brothers rivalry. They also frequently call their brothers out on other immature behavior (like in #12, Lily is annoyed by Maxwell cheering on the fight between the Superman and Batman families, and in #15, Doppelily criticizes her brother for only using his powers to give himself a luxurious life, and being a jerk to Maxwell when the latter comes to ask for help).
- Zombie Apocalypse: #5, Maxwell helps Hal Jordan stop one caused by Black Hand.
