I forgot about Batman and Robin! I really need to check it out. Was this Quitely’s last issue?

I thought about getting Doom Patrol for the Metal Men backup, but they have been collecting them separately, and it was four dollars. I spent 50 cents on an issue of JLI instead.

You used nine semi-colons; my guess was two (it could have been a trick question!).

Full disclosure question: do you receive anything of value for from HeavyInk or DCBS? That plug at the beginning seemed odd.

Similarly, the death of Nudge wasn’t meant for angst, it was meant to illustrate how dark the book is that the teen girl could be KIA and the others simply view her death as an occupational hazard. It also offers one bit of connective tissue to the recent past that keeps this Doom Patrol from being yet another complete reboot, but if you don’t know who Nudge is, she works fine just as cannon fodder.

Good luck to Giffen, tho’.

Have a good day.
John Cage

They weren’t the nicest of chaps, but I’d read more of them – they were downright creepy.

(Although it may be a bit much if not contrasted by Flash and his kids).

2.) Obviously, no one cares. It seems like a meta-commentary. I’d just as soon have them not appear at all, however, then exist just for an excuse for some blood and moping.

3.) If you like the DC house style, go for it. I do not. The art tells the story in a capable manner, however.

I pre-ordered the first three, so it’s not like I’m going to turn my back on the series just yet. The cliffhanger indicates a sentient black hole as a new threat, which is inspired enough lunacy to keep me reading. The classic Doom Patrol books– let’s face it, the Drake and Morrison stuff, though I also enjoyed Arcudi’s run– were about inverting stereotypes and being weird and fun, optimistic despite all the freakishness. They have every right to piss and moan, and maybe they do a little, but they also kick ass and save lives. I hope the first arc of this book takes us in that direction.

It’s not that I think all the Doom Patrol comics should read the same way– I mean, they sure as shoot haven’t– but there’s a core quality that is still missing from this new series. If the pilot episode is indicative of the series as a whole, I don’t see this one lasting too long. Then again, maybe it will be a crazy hit. I clearly don’t have the taste of the masses.

1.) When were the Doom Patrol ever NOT self-pitying? The whole point of the team was that they were the disabled, deformed roughnecks of the DCU. Even in the original Arnold Drake strips, they bickered constantly and bemoaned their outcast status. And Grant Morrison made them even more disgruntled, replacing Rita with a rape survivor that displaced herself into 50 different personalities, making Negative Man into a creature completely detached from humanity ( especially human gender ), and taking the Chief’s manipulative nature to villainous heights. What makes Giffen’s somehow different from any other Doom Patrol?

2.) Why should Giffen be bothered about the death of one of John Byrne’s Doom Patrol creations when nobody besides Byrne himself cared about the character in the first place?

3.) Is the fact that Clark’s art fits the DC House style an indictment of its lack of quality? Is Clark a poor storyteller because of his scratchy, detailed figures?

From your list, I received Batman and Robin and Frankenstein’s Womb, but haven’t read either yet. I did read Doom Patrol, but while I share some of your criticisms (I too guessed the priest is Rocky from Challs, but that was never clear) I think I enjoyed it much more than you did. I’m a sucker for Giffen though, and the Doom Patrol. Loved the back up feature. Not classics, but just fun.

Keep up the good reviews and thanks for being one of two sites that turned me on to DCBS.