I still remember reading the Doom Patrol, from issue #1 to sometime around issue #75, when I finally stopped reading because the new author wasn’t as weird as Morrison.

I got the chance to meet Richard Case at a comic book convention and managed to get him to sign a large number of Doom Patrol issues. I even asked him about why he wasn’t doing the covers any more, since Simon Bisley took over on issue #25 (which is also the first storyline with the Brotherhood of Dada). The only answer I got was that it was an “editorial decision”, though I’m sure he was being polite. Does anyone know the full story?

But for much of the rest…overly pretentious, if you ask me. That’s one issue I have with Morrison (and Alan Moore)…there are times where I feel that they are more interested in showing off how fabulously intelligent and literary they are, as opposed to telling a good story. And if you don’t ‘get it’…you’re some uncultured philistine.

And I did keep track of sales; before JLA, Morrison was something of a cult writer. Nothing he did up till that point really set the world on fire, sales wise, though he did have a great critical reputation. Ah well, to each their own.

My point of pride regarding Doom Patrol – and it is a dubious one – is that a letter I sent to DC regarding the first “mature readers” issue of DP which was published in the letters pages was (according to a couple of sources) the first time the word “fuck” was used in a DC comic.

Anyhow, I loved Mr. Nobody and have always wanted to see more of him. Alas.

Gimme the original Doom Patrol any day of the week. There’s more smart writing in one issue of “My Greatest Adventure” than in the entirety of Morrison’s output. Same goes for Alan “Please Be Impressed That I’ve Read a Few Books That Didn’t Have Illustrations” Moore.

Yeah, the Bisley covers are cool. And I think they STILL stand out, because not only are they bizarre, they often reflect what happens in the book. Imagine that!

Unlike some of the posters, I think Case’s art was wonderful, and perfect for the series. I believe that people don’t like it; but it had honestly never occured to me that people might mark the series down because of it.

Oh, and the covers by Bisley are worthy of note, as long as we’re on the subject of art. They may not stand out as much now, after 15 years or so. But they were utterly unique back then.

Frankly, I would say that the art is the only thing keeping this run from being in the top tier of history. Danny the Street could’ve been so much more fun and characterized, if he had been in the hands of someone more capable, for example. It’s no wonder that Morrison has a say in what artists he works with nowadays, after the art on DP and Animal Man.

As for the fact that Morrison didn’t become a superstar until JLA – well, maybe. I know nothing about the sales figures on Animal Man and Doom Patrol, but I do know that those titles (DP more than Animal Man, as he had left the title long before) were at the vanguard of Vertigo, and without Morrison, Preacher and Transmetropolitan might not have existed. He doesn’t get enough credit for Vertigo – most of it goes to Moore for Swamp Thing and Gaiman for Sandman, but Milligan and Morrison on Shade and Doom Patrol have as much to do with it as those two gentlemen. I also doubt DC would have allowed him to go nuts on JLA without knowing that he would be able to take the sensibilities of Animal Man and Doom Patrol and transfer them to their flagship book. He proved that he could take a moribund franchise and make it special, and that had to be a reason for him getting the JLA gig.

Your opinion may vary, of course. I hope you like my next selection – much less important in the history of comics, but loads of fun! Any guesses to what it is?

Two more points I’d like to make: part of my disenchantment with Doom Patrol falls on Richard Case, whose work I find nothing short of atrocious. I was always shocked and amazed that more people didn’t express that sentiment. To each his own, I guess. And I think, Greg, that you make a mistake that people often do in assessing Grant Morrisson’s career. After Animal Man and DP, it was not until JLA several years later that he again made a real impact on the comics community. His Vertigo work (primarily Invisibles) was never a big seller and failed to make the impact things like Sandman, Preacher, and Transmet did. And for quite a while, this was all he was really doing (illness had quite a bit to do with that). Hard as it is to believe now, but DC really took quite a chance in turning JLA over to him. And it’s that book that turned him into the Superstar he is today. After all, Aztek would run for more than ten issues if it were publisched today, don’t you think?