adds a new vehicle to his Army racing team.
174 pages. Color graphic novel. Author's Backward. Character profiles. Gallery of variant art.
The original Doom Patrol comic ran from 1964 to 1968, written by Arnold Drake. I was a huge fan. In fact, though I didn't realize it at the time, all of my favorite comics were written by Arnold Drake.
Historically, Doom Patrol was DC Comics' answer to the newer-style comics coming from Marvel, featuring superheroes that were imperfect but funny as hell – Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, led by wheelchair-bound Niles Caulder (AKA The Chief).
This graphic novel is a compilation of the first six issues of what I believe to be the sixth reboot of the franchise in comic form. The author intends it as more of an experience than a story, as he throws lots of characters and subplots at the reader. There's a large cast of characters, including Danny the Street, Flex Mentallo, Casey Brinke, Crazy Jane… and Robotman and Negative Man. (The Chief is separate from the main plot, and is a megalomaniac superscientist; Elasti-Girl is not present.)
Note that this reboot is not the same as the Doom Patrol cable series; many characters overlap, but the story is different. The cable series has an LGBTQ element missing from the graphic novel.
I thought that the presentation was choppy, and I had to force myself to read through this one. As a fan of the original comic, I wanted to see more about the original characters, rather than the Casey Brinke/Danny the Street subplot. The Negative Man subplot would have been more interesting if the reader had any idea why the dual-being was disintegrated in the first place.
Can you wargame it? Some of the fights against the robot-like Vectra could be turned into game scenarios.
The series continues with Doom Patrol, Vol. 2: Nada.
Recommended only for hard-core Doom Patrol fans who must read everything.