Even though Grant Morrison’s adventurous run on Doom Patrol (vol 2) had only just begun, it got off to a unique and excellent start. Crawling From The Wreckage (issues 19-22, read my review of it here) brilliantly introduced, or re-introduced a great selection of characters, making them all feel real and interesting, in what is a strange and unrealistic world. Other stories followed, such as the Butterfly Collector (23-24) and Imaginary Friends (25), both of which told creative stories while presenting incredibly real characters to us, such as Dorothy Spinner. By this point, Morrison had become very popular among both fans and DC Comics. Not only was his run on both Doom Patrol (vol 2) and Animal Man (vol 1) successful, but Morrison was given the task of writing a prestige format book, named Batman Arkham Asylum, A Serious House on a Serious Earth. This story increased Morrison’s popularity more so, with most seeing the book as the greatest thing since sliced bread (apart from me and a few other sane readers). Eyes were on Morrison and especially after the excellent Crawling from The Wreckage, could Doom Patrol remain great?
In the second of six reviews covering Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol (vol 2), I will be reviewing:
Nowhere Man/The Painting That Ate Paris/Labyrinths/The Kingdom of No --- Doom Patrol (vol 2) 26-29
Going Underground --- Doom Patrol (vol 2) 30
The Word Made Flesh/Decreator/The Puppet Theatre --- Doom Patrol (vol 2) 31-33
The Soul of a New Machine --- Doom Patrol (vol 2) 34
Doom Patrol (vol 2) 26-34 were published usually monthly from September 1989 to June 1990 (with the exception of issues 27 and 29, which were bi-monthly for some reason). The creative team is as the norm, with Grant Morrison writing every story, with all art by Richard Case and John Nyberg. I have read these stories in their original issues, but like before, the paperback is as cheap as mud. Also, for each
individual story, I won’t be reviewing the art, since every story is done by Case and Nyberg, meaning everything looks the same. Plus, these issues are when the covers are now painted and abstract, meaning that they are indecipherable and usually have nothing to do with the actual story inside…
Nowhere Man/The Painting That Ate Paris/Labyrinths/The Kingdom of No --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Richard Case and John Nyberg
THE STORY
In Japan, a superhero named Sunburst visits a hospital to visit a super-powered woman he has just fought, where is followed by camera men for a TV show. After being told by a doctor that the woman has every superpower that you haven’t thought of and also has a phobia of dirt, Sunburst speaks to the distressed woman. However, they are interrupted when two supervillains arrive, named Sleepwalk and The Fog, who easily defeat Sunburst and take the woman away. This is watched on the TV by Mr Nobody. Meanwhile, Robotman, Jane and Rebis has come back with Rhea Jones, who is still in her coma. However, the Chief believes that Rhea is not in an ordinary coma, but in fact a chrysalis state, which will one day end with her physical metamorphosis. At the same time in Paris, Sleepwalk and The Fog return to Mr Nobody, who gives their new recruit, The Quiz, a protective suit with a gas mask, to protect her from the dirt. Mr Nobody tells Sleepwalk and The Fog to sit down, while he tells them a story. Meanwhile, Robotman struggles to try and list all of Jane’s personalities. Jane tells him, as Driver 8, that some personalities remain hidden, since they are deep in the underground. Suddenly, Jane becomes angry and begins to trash the room, before curling up into a ball and warning that something bad will happen to Jane. Elsewhere, Mr Nobody begins his story. He explains that he was once known as Eric Morden, a member of the Brotherhood of Evil. He had been hiding in Paraguay from Monsieur Mallah and The Brain, meaning that his identity had to be hidden. However, he wanted freedom and a man named Doctor Bruckner told him that he could become a new man by using forbidden experiments devised by the Nazis. Morden agreed and Bruckner locked him in a white room, injecting him with a needle, causing his whole body below the neck to become paralysed. Morden was forced to stare at a small black dot, causing him to become insane. After a very long time, he imagined the dot was coming closer to him, causing a mental breakdown and the room to explode. Morden transformed into Mr Nobody and killed Bruckner. After finishing his story, Mr Nobody states that he has been collecting supervillains in order to form a new team, known as the Brotherhood of Dada.
Mr Nobody reads from a book by the writer Thomas De Quincey, who once saw a painting that could devour a person. Interested, Mr Nobody wants the painting and although it was destroyed years ago in the days of Napoleon, he is aware that a duplicate was created. Over the years, the duplicate fell into the hands of numerous people, including the Nazi’s, before falling into the hands of Horst Eismann. Mr Nobody gives the Brotherhood of Dada the task of stealing the painting. Meanwhile, Rebis is in a dark empty room playing with Matryoshka dolls when Robotman finds him. Robotman wants to know what is going on under Rebis’s bandages, due to the smell. Although angry that Rebis can’t tell him anything, he himself has difficulty understanding what’s happening. All he knows is that the aenigma regis is about to occur. Meanwhile at Eismann’s collection, he is showing his strange friends around when the guards notice The Quiz, The Fog and Sleepwalk have broken in. The guards are defeated when the Quiz turns them to glass, before stealing the painting and walking out with it. Later on, in Paris, Mr Nobody presents to the public the idea of dada, which he calls a state of mind. He then explains that shortly the world will be changed for ever, before presenting to the public the painting that ate Paris. At the same time, the Chief tells Robotman that something strange is occurring in Paris, where The Quiz turns a police officer intro a toilet. Mr Nobody then speaks a poem, which activates the painting, taking in both Paris and the Brotherhood of Dada.
In what was once Paris, Justice League International Heroes Blue Beetle, Booster Gold and Animal Man are confused by the painting and the Brotherhood of Dada. The Doom Patrol then arrive, who pretty much ignore the other heroes, before using Rebis’s powers to enter the painting, leaving the others even more confused. Inside, Rebis senses The Brotherhood of Dada, but not Mr Nobody. He also senses something is wrong and that a mysterious inhuman intelligence is present. After exploring around the painting for some time, the group somehow get back to the original room with the painting. This makes Robotman believe that they may never leave the painting. Suddenly, Frenzy, of the Brotherhood, smashes through the wall and attacks Robotman, throwing him into the painting further, where he finds Mr Nobody, who quickly throws him deeper into the painting. Elsewhere, Rebis travels deeper into the painting and finds a multicoloured city, along with the Quiz. Robotman ends up in desolate looking city, where he finds Sleepwalk, who at first isn’t aggressive. However, this changes when she sends him flying with a punch. The two then begin fighting, with Robotman getting beaten. Elsewhere, Jane ends up on a beach with floating rocks and other strange objects around. Jane is then shocked when see notices The Fog, who begins to chase Jane through the strange area. At the same time, Rebis fights the Quiz and begins to think of superpowers, ensuring that the Quiz will lose them. After losing numerous powers, the Quiz is attacked by Rebis in his negative spirit form. Although they continue to fight, Jane and Rebis and Robotman are all defeated by the Brotherhood of Dada, causing them to celebrate. However, Sleepwalker panics, screaming of the buried rider and how the fifth horseman is coming.
While Frenzy rules the painting from the top of a tall building, Sleepwalker and the Brotherhood of Dada notice a giant footprint in the sand, before The Fog randomly appears from nowhere, explaining that after failing to absorb all of Jane’s personalities, witnessed a horse appear, warning of the coming of the fifth horseman. Jane then appears and explains that the fifth horseman will bring oblivion and death. Although Mr Nobody ignores what Jane is talking about, the gigantic fifth horseman appears from the sea. In order to defeat the fifth horseman, Mr Nobody and the Brotherhood decide to revive the defeated Doom Patrol members. When the fifth horsemen appeared, Jane instantly transformed into a new personality, Flit, who believes it is her duty to save the world from the fifth horseman. Jane disappears and manages to appear inside the creature’s heart, but it is too big for her to control. Theorising a method of defeating the fifth horseman, Mr Nobody works out that as it takes it power from the worlds inside the painting, to defeat it it must be taken to the world of Dada. Meanwhile in the real world, Superman looks into the painting and warns the other JLI heroes that a gigantic horse is coming out of the painting. However, the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Dada manage to pump dada into the fifth horseman due to Jane’s presence in its heart, so when the horseman begins to enter the real world, it is defeated and the Doom Patrol arrive back on Earth, greeted by Superman and the others. However, after Rebis confirms that the Brotherhood are still stuck in the painting, Superman gets their attention when he carries Jane in his (continued)
arms, seemingly dead. In the end, Eismann does get the painting back, but doesn’t realise that its captors are still inside it.
MY THOUGHTS
Since the near-start of Morrison’s Doom Patrol run, teasers have been cleverly placed about what the next big story was going to be. For instance, we saw Mr Nobody break out of his prison and we witnessed him collecting a number of different villains. This sets up the story very well and when it does begin, we feel like we know something about the villains, yet very little at the same time. The first part of the story pretty much sets up the Brotherhood of Dada, led by Mister Nobody, who’s origin finally gets explained. Mr Nobody actually once fought the Doom Patrol long ago in the Silver Age, but when he was still Eric Morden. After the experiments, he became Mr Nobody, setting up the main villain. The members of the Brotherhood aren’t as prominent, but they work well too. An example of this is The Quiz, who is probably the best of the other villains, mainly due to her unique power of she has every superpower that you haven’t thought me. This is a very unique idea and it works with Doom Patrol’s usual criteria of that the story and characters have to feel strange, but not over the top. Mr Nobody’s origin is another example. It feels so weird and strange, but believable, obviously not possible in the real world. I think the story is very good for the first half, mainly due to the build up and the interesting scenes featuring the Doom Patrol. As previously mentioned, the introductions to the main villains is done well and the stealing of the painting is a great action sequence. On the other side, the Doom Patrol seem to be doing nothing, which I think is good. This is because it shows us what their casual lives are like and what they do. For instance, Robotman attempts to list all of Jane’s personalities, which is great as it makes the characters and their friendships feel real, plus the personalities of Jane play a big part in the next story and latter stories as well. There is an update on Rhea Jones, again, teasing us for a future story, conveying that Morrison constantly likes to keep readers in suspense. The same goes for Rebis, who seems to have locked himself in a dark room with some dolls. Yes, this is slightly pretentious, but it tells us more about Rebis and what his future could be. Morrison cleverly makes it so Robotman is the character we follow. The main reason for this (apart from his realistically constructed character) is that quite often, he doesn’t know what’s going on around him, like us. Therefore, we follow everything from his eyes, which actually makes the run much more enjoyable to read. Then, things begin to change. Mr Nobody unleashes the painting on Paris, eating it. I like (continued)
this idea because it is nonsense, also known as dada. In fact, dada is the reason this story works, and it can only really work in this story featuring the Brotherhood of Dada. Morrison obviously had so much fun working on this story, that later stories in Doom Patrol (vol 2) and The Invisibles (vol 1-3) lose their unique nonsensical storytelling. The Brotherhood of Dada is nonsense and it should be like that. The story should feel nonsensical. The more Morrison does this, it becomes less interesting and more boring. Anyway, after the painting, we get arguably the best scene in the story, the JLI confused by the painting. This whole sequence is so well written and funny, that it can actually sum up the Doom Patrol. Heroes like Blue Beetle and Animal Man don’t fight against the unexplainable, but the Doom Patrol do. They just enter the painting, ignoring the JLI. A fantastic sequence. The second half of the story feels very different, but I do like the third part, where we see the Doom Patrol face off against the different Brother of Dada members. It makes the story feel more classic while showcasing the new villains. Plus, I think the ending of the story is very good too, with Jane seemingly sacrificing herself to save the Doom Patrol from the fifth horsemen. Its such a great teaser for the next story, that you just want to read it straight away. Apart from that, the concept of dada should be limited. The more it features; the more annoyed readers are going to be.
I hinted at this before, but the second half of this story is nowhere near as good as the first. Why? Because of the fifth horseman stuff. Everything becomes too confusing and cluttered incredibly quickly. At the end of Part Three, the Doom Patrol are beaten by the Brotherhood. That makes sense. However, then the fifth horseman turns up, the Doom Patrol arrives, and the most confusing and boring fight ever begins. Jane just disappears and then Mr Nobody shouts a load of rubbish at it in order to make it disappear. I like the concept, but it doesn’t feel logical. The fifth horseman takes its power from every level of the painting. Therefore, surely the combined power of all levels of the painting make it so much more powerful than the nonsensical words coming out of Mr Nobody’s mouth. Also, the whole idea of the fifth horseman and the usual “OH NO IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD” is incredibly overdone. There’s far too much of this in everything now, whether it be comics, tv or film. It just feels generic and tired, like the fifth horseman, another boring bringer of the apocalypse. It comes across as too fairy-tale and dull. Actually, why did the fifth horseman need to be in this story at all? You could have just had the Brotherhood as the main villains. Sure, the ending fight may not have been as major or dramatic, but does that really matter? Part Four just feels lazy, which is a shame since it really makes the story worse. Apart from that, I thought the story was nonsense, but most of it in a good way, due to the unique presence of the Brotherhood. However, some parts I was just bored by, such as the stuff about Thomas DeQuincy and the collector who had the painting. I get that these details are important, but for god’s sake, make them interesting.
Story: 7/10
Art: 6/10
Going Underground --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Richard Case and John Nyberg
THE STORY
A week after defeating the fifth horseman, Jane is still in a coma. Rebis explains that she has retreated deeper into her mind and that Robotman must enter since he is the only one, she can trust. Despite the dangers, Robotman’s brain is taken out by Rebis,
who mentally connects the brain to Jane. Inside Jane, Robotman falls onto a map of Jane’s personalities before arriving at a train station. Robotman meets Driver 8, who says that damage has occurred at every station due to the fifth horseman, explaining why no personality wants to control Jane. Together, Robotman and Driver 8 head deeper into Jane’s mind. Through the underground, Robotman learns of K-5, also known as Kay, the original Jane personality, who mysteriously disappeared. Driver 8 also explains that many personalities inside Jane were created in order to protect her from childhood trauma. However, some years ago, the dominant personality before Jane, Miranda, visited a church which reminded her of her abuse as a child, causing Miranda to be destroyed and Jane putting herself in hospital. Suddenly, Driver 8 tells Robotman to close his eyes, since they are passing the ruins of Miranda’s station. After passing the station, Robotman and Driver 8 walk the rest of the way, meeting other personalities of Jane like Sylvia, Baby Doll and Black Annis, who refuses to allow anybody to see Jane. Although Robotman tries to debate it with Black Annis, she attacks him, causing Driver 8 to try and convince Black Annis. Then, all the other personalities of Jane appear, who all tell Robotman to leave since he’s a man. However, their decision is overruled when the Lady Purple personality decides to let Robotman see Jane. After searching deep, Robotman finds Jane about to jump into a well, but Robotman rescues her. Suddenly, Jane’s abusive father appears from the well, scaring her and attacking Robotman and biting his legs off. This causes Jane to scream at her father, telling him the she hates him. This causes Jane to wake up from her coma, but Cliff’s brain is inactive.
MY THOUGHTS
Undoubtedly, a fantastic character piece which is constantly interesting and certainly unique. The start of the story really tells us something, which is that Robotman genuinely cares for Jane. This is not a romantic relationship, but one of friendship, since the two are very similar, yet different. Robotman is prepared to throw himself into hell in order to get his friend back. This conveys how well Morrison writes character. I know I keep going on about it, but its true. Morrison’s greatest strength as a writer is character. Whether it be Animal Man, Doom Patrol or Batman, the relationships between characters is excellent and realistic. Anyway, the plot of Robotman travelling around Jane’s convoluted mind, full of different personalities, is brilliant and unique. I really like how Morrison decides to present Jane’s mind as a train line, meaning that each station is a different personality. Robotman is guided throughout Jane’s mind by Driver 8 and as a whole, the experience is so memorable and is definitely one of Morrison’s best Doom Patrol stories. It really hits home how dangerous Jane is, whether it be her personalities or her past, which haunts her. Speaking of which, her past involving her father obviously plays a big role in the story, adding new information about the character, making her feel three-dimensional. For instance, the personality of Miranda is a very interesting once, mainly due to when Robotman and Driver 8 pass her station, Robotman has to shut his eyes and as we see events through Robotman’s perspective more than any other character, the suspense and mystery of what the station looks like stays with us. In the end, Jane is rescued by Robotman, but at a price, since his brain is inactive at the end of the story. This is good as it is as if he is returning the favour, since she nearly killed herself to save him in the last story from the horseman, rounding off everything and proving that the friendship between the two characters is strong. Apart from that, its great to see the other personalities of Jane a bit more, such as Baby Doll and Black Annis once again, who is just as fearsome as she was in Crawling from The Wreckage.
It’s a nit-pick, I know, but I would have loved to see more of Jane’s personalities, or at least discovered more about them. An example of this is the Lady Purple personality, who is mysterious and well done due to the fact we know nothing about her, but I think something was needed, as it could have added more interest to Jane’s seemingly unlimited number of personalities.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
The Word Made Flesh/Decreator/The Puppet Theatre --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Richard Case and John Nyberg
THE STORY
A man named Willoughby Kipling puts numerous clocks around his hotel room, waiting for them all to stop at the same time. When they do, the Cult of the Unwritten Book appear. The members of the cult who appear call themselves Fear the Sky and they threaten to cut of Kipling’s testicles if he doesn’t answer their questions. However, he traps them in a book illustration when reading a poem, before asking himself questions about the poem. Meanwhile, Robotman wakes up to the Chief, Will Magnus and Joshua all staring at him. Robotman then stares in a mirror and notices that he has a brand-new advanced body. Jane then runs into the room and hugs Robotman, before backing off embarrassed, saying that her Baby Doll personality took over briefly. Elsewhere, Kipling sees a talking bleeding horse which haunts him, making him think he needs help. Later, Dorothy is surprised when she finds Kipling staring at her, asking her to take him to her leader. In other places, people are attacked by the Cult of the Unwritten book, who appear as kites and gas-masked bicycle riders. Meanwhile, Kipling explains to the Doom Patrol that the cult is after the fifth window as it will aid them in summoning the unmaker to end the universe. In Barcelona, a strange bald man is chased by the cult. He manages to escape by jumping out a window, but when he runs around a corner, he runs into Kipling and the Doom Patrol.
While the man is sceptical of Kipling and the Doom Patrol, the cult appears and charges at them. However, thanks to Rebis’s negative spirit, the Cult is defeated by the Doom Patrol. Later at a hotel, Kipling explains that he has been looking for the man since he has been covered in tattoos since birth. The words on his body are those
which the Cult need to destroy the universe by summoning Antigod, who came into existence when God created light, creating shadows as well (what a crock of sh*t). Then, Robotman decides that everyone should split up as…. padding reasons probably. To cut an overlong story short and to save both mine and your sanity, the Cult end up kidnapping the boy covered in tattoos and the decreator is summoned, when loads of strange events occur. Cliff then enters the hidden city of the Cult’s headquarters and he gets beaten pretty easily. However, the day is sort of saved when it turns out their city is inside Joshua’s snow globe and although he tries to destroy it, the city disappears, and everything gets back to normal. It is also worth mentioning that throughout the story, Robotman’s new body has some technical faults, causing the Chief to blame Magnus. However, while speaking, nobody notices that Rhea Jones’s vitals shoot up, despite still being in a coma.
MY THOUGHTS
Okay, sorry about the shortish summary about this story, but I just couldn’t do it. Before I explain why, I will first present the one good thing about this story, which is the new suit that Robotman gets. Throughout, Robotman experiences problems with the suit, which at first, he was very happy with. This adds a great sense of sadness to the story funnily enough, since it tells us that Robotman may forever be trapped in that rusty orange old suit, let alone every return to a human body…
From the moment this story begins, it is just unbearable to read. It starts off with Willoughby Kipling waiting for some cult to arrive, who then threaten to cut his balls off, until he reads some stupid poem to them. Things get worse from there, when a baby was born with tattoos and they are the words that the Cult of the Unwritten Book want since they unleash the f*cking Anti-Christ or something, before Joshua (yeah, remember him?) discovers that the cult live in his snow globe. What a load of w*nk. I mean, the plot is totally unreadable, full of naff characters, pretentious villains and a resolution which you’d only except to find in a really sh*tty early 2000’s Disney film. Right, aside from the Doom Patrol, the main character of this story is Kipling, who is pretty much a budget version of John Constantine. Yeah, they both smoke and live miserable lives, but Constantine was funny. He was a likable bastard that, despite hating most people he came across, has morals. Willoughby is just a plain old cardboard cut-out, one which lacks any real character or emotions. The same goes for the cult, who are strange and weird because the story says so. It’s kind of reminds me of the Ossuary priests from Crawling from The Wreckage, but if they lacked any interesting features. Honestly, this is probably the worst story of Morrison’s Doom Patrol. Its evidence of what I said earlier about the Brotherhood of Dada. Using dada as a plot method can only work once, since its unique, but the more you use it, like in this story, the more unreadable and annoying it is. Yeah, there’s an explanation of why everything happens in the story, but its far from clear from the reader's viewpoint. The whole thing is just pretentious and to anyone who wants to read Morrison’s Doom Patrol run, avoid this story. Don’t read it. There isn’t anything else to say, just don’t read it.
Story: 1/10
Art: 6/10
The Soul of a New Machine --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Richard Case and John Nyberg
THE STORY
While repairing Robotman’s faulty body, the Chief rambles on about how Will Magnus is useless and an imbecile, while Joshua helps with the repairs. After fixing the body, the Chief tells Joshua that he wants him to accompany him up to town as he has run out of chocolate. They leave Cliff’s brain in a tank and after a few seconds, Robotman’s body gets up and speaks to the brain. The body admits that he is worried that if his brain is placed back into the body, then the body will lose its independence. Therefore, the body turns one of its fingers into a drill and makes a hole in the tank, causing it to leak fluid. Although the brain screams for help, the body ignores it. Elsewhere, Monsieur Mallah pushes the Brain around in a buggy, unintentionally freaking people out. The Brain remembers the first time he met Mallah. The Brain’s henchmen kidnapped Mallah when he was a primitive ape and over time, the Brain made Mallah into a genius. The Brain then admits that he was going to put himself into Mallah’s body but couldn’t bring himself to do it after noticing his intelligence. They later became members of the Brotherhood of Evil. However, during the Brain’s story, Mallah realises that they have arrived at the Doom Patrol headquarters. Together, they head into the headquarters. Meanwhile, Robotman’s brain continues to argue with his body, which has feelings of its own, since it wants to dance and sing. Suddenly, the wall explodes and Mallah and the Brain confront Robotman’s body. Despite their weaponry, Mallah cannot defeat the body and stupidly decides to throw the Brain at Robotman’s brain. While the two brains argue, Mallah manages to trap and defeat Robotman’s body, before rescuing the Brain. Then, Mallah decides to put the Brain inside Robotman’s body, which works. However, after Mallah says that the Brain looks good in his new body, the two admit their love for each other, before (continued)
they kiss, Robotman’s suit suddenly explodes and Mallah’s beret lands on top of the tank holding Robotman’s brain.
MY THOUGHTS
This story isn’t just great, but probably the best story of the whole run. This is primarily for the reason that it is just fun. After a pretty unreadable and confusing story, we get one which is simple, yet fantastic because its so simple. Morrison brings back two old foes of the Doom Patrol, Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, both of whom are brilliant characters mainly due to the fact that they fit right at home with the Doom Patrol. An intelligent talking gorilla and an evil talking brain, what’s weirder and better than that? With the exception of the Chief and Joshua, who head out to go and get some chocolate, Robotman’s the only hero in the story… and he is just a brain in a jar. The Chief basically badmouths Will Magnus before heading out, not realising that Robotman’s new body is actually alive and has its own feelings. I love this concept. Its comical, yet tragic at the same time. The robot suit is a metaphor for how Cliff Steele cannot control his life anymore and how fate has other ideas for him, which works very well. However, after the brain and the body have an argument (which is a sentence you don’t hear often), Mallah turns up the Brain, which makes sense since the Doom Patrol once fought Mallah and the Brain long ago. But, the funniest, yet best part of the story, is when the Brain puts himself into Robotman’s suit and he confesses his love for Mallah. This moment throws you off completely and it works so well because of it. Think about it, the story basically is a man’s brain having an argument with his body, while another brain admits his love for a talking gorilla. Name a better idea for a story than that. Apart from that, there really isn’t much else to say. As opposed to the last story, this story is worth your time and I’d strongly recommend that you read it… then read it again… and again… and again… and again…
Story: 10/10
Art: 6/10
I’d thought I’d leave this to the end, since every issue looks the same anyway, but like before, the art by Richard Case and John Nyberg is just okay. I still believe that Case is suited to the book, mainly because his sense of storytelling can tell a strange and unusual story, but the finishes by Nyberg aren’t anything to celebrate about. I guess the point is that I don’t really have a strong opinion on the art. It isn’t good enough for me to jump out of my chair and write an essay about how each individual panel adds something special to a story, but it isn’t bad enough for me to type furiously about overuse of feathering or crosshatching which can often ruin a piece of art (Denys Cowan, I’m looking at you). I’m happy that Case did stay with the title though, as opposed to some when the penciller and inker seem to change every two months…
VERDICT
Overall, Doom Patrol: The Painting That Ate Paris is quite enjoyable, but not at the same time. It features two excellent one-off stories, Going Underground (30) and The Soul of a New Machine (34), along with the good four-parter featuring the Brotherhood of Dada (26-29), which does have numerous flaws in it. However, the three-part mess of a story (31-33) just lets everything down. It is just unreadable and borderline “I’m going to put the book down” b*llocks”. It seems at this point; Morrison clearly loves writing nonsense. Let’s hope he tones it down with the b*llsh*t stories and writes comprehensive ones, which are full of great characters and unique villains.
Stories: 5.5/10
Art: 6/10
Next Week: Green Arrow by Jack Kirby (Stories from Adventure Comics 250-256, Stories from World’s Finest 96-99). Written by Bill Finger, Jack Kirby, Dave Wood, Ed Herron and Robert Bernstein with art by Jack Kirby and Roz Kirby. Expected to be published by 16/02/2020.
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