I’ve read comic books all my life. Most of those tales are for other times. Today belongs to the Doom Patrol. I first discovered this series in 7th grade, on a summer trip to my aunt and uncle’s house in Iowa.
There wasn’t much to do at that age in the middle of the country. And then I discovered my cousin’s pile of these comics from the 60s. And, holy shit, my mind was blown. And then, a few years later, the title relaunched and 18 months later, Grant Morrison was writing it. This was about time I was in 9th grade or so and my mind was blown a second time.
The point is that I’ve a long history loving these comics. I don’t want to write all about them, that’s what Wikipedia is for. This is what you need to know:
1. they debuted in 1963 and ran until 1968.
2. the team was based around a bunch of misfits (not unlike the X-Men, though the Doom Patrol came first by a couple of months)
3. the team was a. Nile Caulder, the brilliant leader who was crippled in a wheelchair, b. Robotman (Cliff Steele), a racecar driver who lost his body and had his brain placed into a robot, c. Negative Man (Larry Trainor) the pilot whose body housed a “negative being” made of radio waves who could leave his body for up to 60 seconds and d. Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr) an actress who could grow and shrink her size.
4. Other characters included….man, I started typing and each sentence got more complicated and insane. Go to Wikipedia and dig. But let’s leave it at: any comic that includes super-villians of a brain in a jar and a French speaking super-intelligent gorilla as partners is the most awesome thing you might have ever read.
Don’t believe me? (This is all prelude for the awesomeness of the 4 links in the next paragraph.)
I submit for your approval, Matt Fraction’s list of awesome panels from the Doom Patrol. All 4 entries. And they are worth the read, my friends. Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.
And as a footnote, you can pick up the b&w reprints on the cheap now — and here’s a review which only reinforces how rad of a comic this really is.
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