So recently I learned that there’s a new Scooby-Doo project coming out: an origin story for Velma. And while I’ve adored certain versions of the Scooby characters, I’m left wondering what kind of “origin story” you give someone like that. I’m most familiar with that term in a superhero context… rocketed to Earth, parents killed in alley, great power and great responsibility, died and came back to life with a demonic suit, inherited power from one seeking a worthy soul… but the development of a human identity, as opposed to a costumed one, is more holistic.

So what’s the moment where Velma became indelibly herself? First mystery solved, without the rest of the gang (it’s not like she really needs any of them, honestly)? First pair of glasses? First logic textbook, read at age nine?

Similarly, there’s a sense in which HR’s story begins here, before he’s even taken on his most familiar name, as he acquires a set of ideas that will inform his later goals. But we’ll have to check in with him at a later point or two before we can really say we know how he got where he is today. One thing’s for sure: that professor is not gonna be right about philosophy students having no future.