Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Doom Patrol

Yeah, I dropped that like a needy college girlfriend.

Agree about the Chief and Mento. For some reason though it just works with these two characters acting this way, given their history. The Chief is, of course, one of the great diabolical hero/villains in DC history at this point, but Mento also has a crazy history like that. It just works.

So yeah, I've decided I like mean / crazy Chief. If they *had* to bring him back, then that's the one I wanted.

Anyone watch "Fringe?" The latest episode basically had the Negative Man as the villain with a little bit of the original 3-D Man thrown in because it involved brothers and even a little Negative Woman because they were Russian.

Interesting precursor to the upcoming DP issue featuring the various Negative Men on the cover.

Havn't read a Doom Patrol issue in a looooong time. Picked up the latest issue to get the ring offer.

Not a terrible issue, and not great either. Characters were fine...again, haven't read anything on them since the beginning of the Morrison run. So any odd personality quirks are not that noticeable for me.

The issue itself recapped enough to let me into the story. I just didn't find it that interesting to see Tempest fight Rite. The Chief and Celsius was interesting, and should be fun to see resolved.The Negative Man/Woman thing didn't really grab me, seemed forced...although Negative Woman always seemed forced as a character in my opinion.

The thing that may have me interested in the next issue is the Black Lantern that shows up on the last page. Watching Cliff squirm in in his metal shell is always interesting.

I'll at least give it a flipsy at the store.

Guys. February. Crazy Jane's back. F&CK YEAH!

http://i.newsarama.com/dcnew/feb2010/4/doompatrol_7.jpg

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/091116-dc-february-2010-solicitations.html

Wow... leave it to Giff to have the nads to bring back an 'untouchable' character.

I'll be glad to see more Crazy Jane.

I enjoyed # 4, though Justiniano's art seemed to lack much of its usual panache.

What Celsius did to the Chief-- pretty gruesome!

And the Metal Men continue to delight! The last page was hilarious. But-- what happened to Copper??!!??

Metal Men: the best example I've seen yet of a working 8 page story. Just perfect. This story moved along, was funny and emotional, characterized the good guys, brought in a new villian, told us who it was and their "disputed" goals and why, some bad guying and closed with a great cliffhanger.

Doom Patrol and BL: I read the first BL book, liked it and now two cross-overs. One didn't really seem to add a whole lot (.LEGION) and this one was just an interruption I'd wish hadn't happened. Giffen does seem to making the best of it, using it to tell the reader new to DM (like me) something about their past, but I still found it difficult to follow.

Ask away, BB, and I'll see what I can do to answer.

Basically, I don't know who all these black lanterns are and what they have to do with the DP cast. I know they're zombies of some sort. I don't understand how these rings work or where they come from. Do they have power like the green rings?

It's all probably in the story, but Giffin uses those text pages and the font is a bit small for me to read. I'm hoping to get some reading glasses in December, and go through my entire last year's worth of comics to read what I missed. I'm particularly looking forward to reading my Wednesday's Comics again.

Okay, no problem. The woman that was a BL is Arani Desai, I belive thats the correct way to spell her last name.

Arani was the leader of the 70's Kupperberg version of the Patrol. She was the chief's wife, but was basically ignored by him after the wedding. Things were not good between them. She is, of course, dead and buried to be a BL.

The Male was Tempest. His name was Joshua...I can't remember the last name. He was an awol medic from Viet Nam, if I am remembering his job correctly. I also remember HIM as being the one with temperature control powers. There was a switch somewhere in there and I lost tract when the character was killed.

The bandaged female is Valentina Vostok, basically a russian negative woman. I don't remember a lot about her, but she was also from the 70's team.

The last one was the body of Cliff Steele, Robotman. A very neat and nasty turn, I thought. To confront Cliff with his dead body...creepy.

All BL's have rings. These rings are put out there by Nekron. Basically, Nekron first appeared in the first GLC mini back in the early eighties. He ruled the dead. All dead. From the entire universe. Krona, the renegade Oan Guardian, created the rift that became the multiverse when he attempted to see the beginning of the Universe. Nekron got a little glimpse and wanted more. He wanted dominion over the living as well as the dead and attempted to cross over into the land of the living.

The entire corps couldn't stop him, but, in a last ditch effort, Hal Jordan had all the available living GL's center their power on him in the form of a life sustaining force field. He then entered the rift in an attempt to stop Nekron. He was almost lost when he realized that amound the dead were the past GL's. He rallied them to delay Nekron while the rift was sealed.

The forcefield was diminishing when Abin Sur, I believe it was, came to Hal, basically told him how proud he was of Hal, and shoved him through the rift.

Since then, Nekron has been biding his time and allowing dead heros to come back to life basically to have subversives amoung the living.

This is pretty simplistic, but I hope it gives you the jist. Please dont' think I'm being insulting with all that I have written. I dont' know how much or how little backstory you have at hand.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and the Black Lanterns are not really the dead risen. The rings take a sample of the dna from the dead and grow bodies around the rings. They have all the memories, and thus really know how to stick it to the hero's to generate emotion that feeds Nekron and the BLs.

I'm just enjoying this book so much. It has the real feel of the original run...weird, slightly twisted and bent.

The metal men is JLI nextGen and its fun. I don't have the "this isn't the way the real metal men act" thing going because I never really read them before. to me, its just more inspired lunacy.

The story, dealing with the BL's and the art worked for me.

Read the first part of the Blackest Night crossover and hoping to read the second tonight. I think its the best issue yet and Giffen is really hitting his stride here. I was worried during the first few issues the title would be too hard to follow but that is clearing up, while Giffen is also giving the comic its own unique 'feel'.

He's also keeping each main character interesting, while also hinting at tons of stories he can do with the rest of the cast. I certainly hope he gets to Bumblebee, and I like the Priest and Doctor Tyme's scenes thus far--it seems like each one is ripe for a story. Rita & Larry are great and just full of dynamics on each page; the Chief is the most interesting and exciting of the bunch (for me) and Robotman is just plain ol' awesome. He's kind of like the Thing of the DCU at times--"ol' reliable"; plus he's got tons of implied hang-ups but won't bore you with them because he's a tough guy. What's mroe likeable than that?

Metal Men is just pure craziness and I'm loving every minute of it. This is what the latest Ambush Bug was missing IMO: a little heart & soul that the dialogue of Dematties and actual story structure provides.

I'm really enjoying this Doom Patrol. A lot of the sense that they're freaks seems to come from outsiders, not themselves. It was an idea that didn't seem to fit at first - why should they be any more freakish than the JLA or JSA? It appears to be more their personalities and the type of events in which they're involved than their actual powers. Originally, they saw themselves as freaks - and the perception has transferred to the population at large. They all seem to have a lot of hang-ups, which just binds them more closely together.

And Metal Men - delicious. I still don't get the Copper thing, unless they're all in such perpetual chaos that they just haven't gotten used to her yet. I'd like to see Copper just explode (not literally) and demand respect - she's too much of a doormat. Most of the personalities are very well developed at this point, except for Lead and Iron - who may just not have much personality.

This new one wasn't one to miss for all you DP fans as "Larry" thinks about his backstory, and we see the original DP, Celsius's DP, Morrison's DP, mention of Arcudi's DP, and finally, the explanation behind their "return" in Byrne's DP and how Larry kept coming back to "Larry's" body.

Who do we see: Dorothy, Jane, Rebis, Scissormen, Rhea, Red Jack, Brotherhood of Dada, Orthodoxy, Candlemaker, Beard Hunter, Cliff's robot body that came to life, Damn-All, Candlemaker, Cliff's brain in the jar with Mallah's smoking hat, and the Man of Muscle Mystery.

I may be a little off in my Doom Patrol knowledge, but WTF is up with the Larry "clones?!?!" Why retcon Morrison's DP with "Larry clone" in the lineup? It seems like Giffen wasn't able to fully explain Rebis in his new timeline or conception of N-Man so he has "L" simply admit to not wanting to think about it.

He's trying to explain how "Larry Trainor" could still have a male body after he's died, been turned into a hermaphrodite, and died again, not in that order probably.

I think that even if he felt a need to invent the "Larry clone", he still acknowleged Rebis, so why mess with continuity and put the "clone" into the Morrison run? Why not just let the Rebis incarnation happen when it originally happened? I admit to being protective of the "Crawling From the Wreckage" story since that's what got me into DP in the first place. It just sucks that rather than working with what was published, Giffen felt a need to change those old stories.

This was the best DP story yet. Loved the narrative from Neg Man, loved Giff tying all the DPs together. Nice job.

METAL MEN continues to be a favorite. I LOLed at least twice. Well worth my $4.

I'm having an interesting experience with this title in that the Doom Patrol section of the story (which I started off loathing) is slowly growing on me, while the Metal Men section (which I started off loving) is gradually slipping down in my estimation.

The two Blackest Night issues started the ascent for the DP and this issue puts them over the top of the MM.

I enjoyed the Blackest Night issues mainly because they brought back the 70s DP (who are my favourite version of this team) and for the Justiniano art (which I much prefer to Matthew Clark's) but also because it quit with the morose narration from the leads and most especially with the unsavoury retcons like the fact that Steve Dayton habitually rapes Rita Farr while she's asleep (which - YUCK! Thanks Keith. You sure know how to assassinate a character!).

The latest issue's trip down memory lane for Negative Man was a well-written, informative and interesting explanation of this character for me and if Giffen keeps up this level of writing on this title then it'll be safe from being dropped from my pull-list (it's been teetering on the edge ever since issue #1).

One question though - since the energy being seems to have been the dominant personality in all of the 'Negative Men' over the years does that mean Larry Trainor (and the others) are all dead and the energy being has just been animating their bodies? If so, how does that explain Valentina Vostok who had been shown up and around after she lost her 'negative' powers?

As for the Metal Men back-up - I think it's just a case of too much of the same thing. There is the occasional slightly humourous moment (I did chuckle at the fate of Mercury's precious DVD) but too much of the humour stems from either the same joke they've been using since issue #1 (the Copper thing) or the same kind of dialogue-heavy witticisms that these writers have been falling back on since the 1980s. And what felt fresh back then feels very stale and old to this reader in 2010.

I hear they're dumping this back-up from the book and it's a good decision IMO. Judging by this (and what I've heard of the latest Ambush Bug) Giffen doesn't seem to have the comedy-chops he once did.

Oh no... Well, I will really miss the METAL MEN backup and am sorry to hear that news...

When I first heard they were dropping METAL MEN, I thought maybe a regular series might be in the offing, but apparently that isn't the case, as Didio has said the Metal Men will be 'resting' for awhile.

Too bad, as more often than not, I enjoyed the back-up more than the starring feature. I have liked the last couple of DP stories, and I am tired of the characterization of Gold and Platinum as well as the too-long Copper 'joke', but I still always got a chuckle or two out of the Metal Men.

I hope it isn't too long before they got another shot, and that a radical reimagining isn't in their future.

Guys, I just realized something. Thinking about Rachel Pollack's run, compared to Grant Morrison's run, was she, at times, COPYING what Grant wrote.

Grant's story about the Cult of the Unwritten Book, who tried to summon the shadow of God, the Decreator. And Rachel's story about the Master Cleaner, who was abducting everything and everyone and "cleaning" them.

Grant's story about the Orthodoxy Insect Mesh and the Ultraquist Geomancers, two feuding races who'd been fighting for so long for no real apparent reason. Rachel's story about the Fox and the Crow, two ancient spirits who were fighting about an arbitrary thing.

Grant's Danny the Street, a transvestite living street. Rachel's Coagula, a post-op bisexual transsexual who could dissolve and coagulate things.

Grant's Crazy Jane, with 64 superpowered personalities. Rachel's Identity Addict, who could keep shedding his/her skin and reveal a different superhero.

Rebis. George and Marion.

Rhea Jones. Alice Wired-For-Sound.

Grant's arc about the Men from NOWHERE, the Ant Farm under the Pentagon, and the Telephone Avatar. Rachel's story arc about the Builders, the Tower of Babel in the Pentagon, and the shapeshifting race of the Teiresias.

Grant's opening arc about the reformation of the Doom Patrol, heralded by a race of beings called the Scissormen and a fictional world called Orqwith invading the world, and cutting out everybody. Rachel's opening arc about the reformation of the Doom Patrol, and the invasion of something called the Book of Ice and Nannos, constantly changing everything and everyone.

I'm scared.

I read the first Metal Menless issue last night. Fortunately the DP continues to improve. I'm borderline incredulous that Giff is wanting to bring/has brought in Danny the Street, and is using Crazy Jane.

re: The loss of the Metal Men; while I don't feel the title has suffered for it, I do miss the backup terribly already. It was far and away my favorite backup and with it gone I am contemplating dropping all titles that have the backups. RAVAGER and HOURMAN/LIBERTY BELLE aren't doing it for me anymore...

From what I've heard, we're in for a real surprise next week.

Oh yeah-- totally forgot about the eye-shots for next issue.

So I’ve just caught up on the last three issues of Doom Patrol (#6-8) and I’ve got to say, the title feels like it just made a huge leap in quality! While before I thought Doom Patrol was simply “good”, I now feel like its actually “very good” and is moving up to the top of my reading pile.

These post-BN issues have worked really well in regards to pacing / energy: you have the follow-up to the massive battle and growing subplots which have mushroomed into another great story, *and* at the same time pulling in a lot of the residue of earlier stories in the series. I think Giffen is doing a great job at keeping the plots weird but fun and balancing the action with character moments. His dialogue is clever and its not overly confusing which is a worry I had early in the series. I actually think this is the best Giffen stuff coming out these days.

The recent issues have also brought in a plethora of characters from Doom Patrol and Giffen’s past that are exciting to see:

- First, is Crazy Jane and Danny the Street, which I’m beyond thrilled seeing. Great, great stuff and I had no idea how much I missed these characters until they returned. I love that Giffen is making sure Morrison’s run is firmly part of Doom Patrol canon but isn’t harping on the weirdness of it. He’s acknowledging it but not being a slave to it. I really hope Danny somehow finds a home on Oolang Island and Crazy Jane sticks around. I want her to become pals with Rita.

- Thayer Jost – I really love that Keith is including the short-lived Doom Patrol series from this decade as part of the strict canon, and using Thayer Jost. I think that Doom Patrol series (I believe it was by Arcudi?) had some great moments even if it wasn’t the best, and those characters still have some stories in them. Right now this is an interesting subplot.

- Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man – I’ve been dying for Giffen to use him. I can’t wait for more.

- Oberon – yes, yes, yes! Love the usage of Oberon and his latest business moving metahuman artifacts is classic JLI type stuff.

All these characters have increased my interest while at the same time, we’re getting a steady string of great moments with the main cast of stars. Robotman continues to have good scenes every issue, as does Elasti-Girl and her current issues with Mento. Negative Man has really been shining these last few issues and his spotlight issue a few back was terrific. It was a great summary of his long and complicated career. I’m pretty sure Negative Man has emerged as my favorite DPer and I’ve never really thought of him like that before.

The Chief continues to add a real dynamic to every page. I also like the various Oolang Island residents and the sense of crazy they add to the series. Oolang Island just may be the coolest setting in any superhero comic book. I hope we see some more of Mal and Karen though at some point soon.

The Priest character is good too, but for some reason I can’t remember him. Was he in a Challengers of the Unknown revival? I’ve kind of blocked out all Challs series besides the original because they’ve all been so bad.

I really hope Doom Patrol catches on with more fans because Giffen has really built up some steam and the book continues to get better.

The Metal Men Back-up
I’m sad to see it go but it won’t stop my enjoyment of the series. Still, I thought the most recent issues were the best of the back-up and it contained an ongoing sense of hilariousness. I actually don’t think I could handle a full length monthly comic of that brand of humor without getting a little bored, but by being a back-up it kept me wanting more each month. I liked Igor joining the cast. I hope we see more of it.

PS – is that really Ambush Bug in the next issue previews? If he shows up that would just be awesome.

PPS – I actually think a Lobo appearance could be really funny, and could be a great battle with Robotman, a la the classic Thing/Hulk battles and the Demon / Lobo battles of old.