Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Oh Yeah, That Forum: The Titans The New Doom Patrol! Spoilers!

See the cover to TT #36 here!

The line-up includes <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">The Chief, Beast Boy, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Herald, and Bumblebee</span></span>

I love that line-up! Definitely the best yet!

Plus there's apparently one more mysterious member, as yet unrevealed!

Maybe it is Raven? She has still not be revealed in any of the lineups for OYL has she?

No, but it's stated that she quit the Titans after she and Gar broke up. It would seem a bit weird for her to then join Gar's team.

My guess would be that it's a random member of one of the previous Doom Patrol line-ups.

Guess I need to catch up on my Titans reading. I hadn't see that come up.

My favorite of other DP characters is Crazy Jane. But I doubt it is her.

I think it might be someone like Flamebird, if she isn't part of Titans East.

Maybe Raven will start Titans East and they will HQ on the old Titans Island. I see Raven, Argent, Hawk and Dove, Zatara and the guy holding back Aquagirl as members. Off course Raven only started Titans East because Robin told her.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I wonder what happened to Herald in OYL. The latest issue hinted that something happened, and on this cover he has something on his face.</span></span>

And I wonder why Geoff started something between Gar and Raven if he wasn't planning to do something with them. Unless it was to set up some sort of angst. Seems like a shame to me.

Are the new Doom Patrol getting their own series? I can't remember if I heard for sure.

it would be so cool if there was a new Doom Patrol series coming....i love that the 'classic' DP lineup is back!

I couldn't resist the Spoilers-- MAN, I can't believe Mal and Karen didn't rejoin some form of the Titans, but DP is a favorite too.

I'm sure something happened to Mal to "freakify" him for DP membership.

From what I understand Morrison helped Johns come up with this line-up so the unrevealed member is probably a character he used.

Danny the Street?

Actually, what Doom Patrollers are even still alive these days?

It's hard to tell, given IC, and the new policy that "all versions are in-continuity".

Well, just to kinda make heads or tails out of Doom Patrol history:

We'll go on the premise that all Doom Patrol versions exist somehow. Thus, we can iron it out ourselves and see what DC does differently in their version.

We have Doom Patrol version #1, who died and then all came back in Byrne's version, and now still exist. The main problems are (1) the Chief, if he was the evil mastermind (I hope he was!) and (2) Negative Man, and how he connects to Rebus. Also, Beast Boy was introduced here (his continuity is fairly easy to follow) as did Mento. Mento, after a rough career, finally was killed in Deathstroke #50 in the 90's, after becoming an arch-villain.

The 1977 Doom Patrol consisted of [of course] Robotman, Celsius, Tempest and Negative Woman. The Negative Woman connection is problematic in that it relates to Negative Man/Rebus (on a side note, she sure was awesome in the first Crisis). I believe (but am unsure) that Celsius died at some point. Tempest was killed during the later Grant Morrison run.

In the late 1980's/early 1990's Doom Patrol revamp (Kupperberg/Lightle issues) there may have been more Doom Patrollers introduced, but I don't remember much of these stories until Morrison's run beginning #19(I didn't read most of the pre-Morrison). So if there are any missing here, they'd count. Of course, it was during this time that the Chief and Negative Man returned.

Morrison's run introduced Rebus (a Negative Man/Negative Woman concept that I can hardly remember in how it all worked out), Dorothy, Crazy Jane, and Danny the Street. Towards the end of the run, Tempest is killed and the Chief is revealed as the big bad. Following Morrison's run, some of his Doom Patrol were effectively 'written out' of the series, a la, no longer being alive in the DCU. Its hard to explain, but I got the sense that Danny the Street and Crazy Jane no longer existed in a way where they could interact with the Doom Patrol or DCU, and that Cliff (Robotman) was saying goodbye.

Then came Rachel Pollack's run which was too hard for me to follow, so I can't for the life of me tell what happened to (1) Rebus and (2) the Chief, b/c I could have sworn he lived on a disembodied head or something. Personally, I like him as the evil mastermind behind it all. I feel like there were other new members introduced here, but who knows?

At this point (end of Vertigo run) the only living Doom Patrollers are Robotman, Dorothy Spinner, Beast Boy (truly a Titan more than anything) and possibly Rebus/Negative Man/Negative Woman/who knows?/may not exist at all. Unless I'm wrong in that Celsius died earlier or any other Doom Patrollers had survived.

Enter the Arcudi series of the late 90's, and we get (4) new Doom Patrollers Negative Man II/Fast Forward, Kid Slick, Ava and Fever [btw, I definately had to look this up]. Robotman is of course there. Whats important is that at the end of this series, Dorothy Spinner dies and is no more. What I can't recall though is whether these four new Doom Patrollers lived, or even existed after all by the end.

Then John Byrne came in and messed everything up, complete with three new crappy characters and Faith, the latest in a long line of really shitty second rate heroes to have joined the JLA. Not sure if any of them have lived at this point.

So, all in all, I'm not sure if there are really many Doom Patrollers still alive, especially if all versions are in continuity! I guess if certain characters are 'written out' they can be 'written back in' (i.e. Danny the Street or Crazy Jane)...

The Negative Man/Negative Woman/Rebis Connection

OK, I've checked wikipedia and they say that Negative Woman had little to do with Rebis at all. Basically, while Neg-Man was in a coma/hospital, she became Neg-Woman, but then the 'spirit' of Negative Man left her and went back to Larry Trainer.

When it did, it merged Larry not only to itself but to Dr. Elanor Poole, and they both became Rebis. Even more confusing, Rebis mated with Coagula, who apparently was a DPer during Rachel Pollack's run. Rebis was then killed at the end of the run, although a new Rebis arose to take its place.

If this all is true, it kinda makes sense that (1) Negative Man was killed then (of course that all means little now), (2) Negative Woman was depowered and may still be alive, and (3) there may still be a Rebis. However, I can hardly see how a Rebis could exist if Larry Trainer is alive as Negative Man per the Byrne DP.

I also admit that the more confusing this is, the more amusing it is.

ask Grant Morrison, then. He was the one who created Rebis the Negative.

Supes, is there a place where you can ask Grant Morrison stuff? 'Cuz that would be an *awesome* website. (I guess there's the Dan Didio newsarama threads, which I think are supposed to still go on after IC...)

ehh...I dunno. I have never done that before. maybe can try google it....that's how I found Geoff John's message board...maybe he has one of Grant Morrison thread on his board?

i knew i was on it before...

http://www.grant-morrison.com/

not sure how much interaction you can get tho.

So I did some research. If you don't count the original members, there are absolutely NO LIVING Doom Patrollers from the beginning of the series to the end of the Vertigo run. More accurately, while some are not 'dead', they are virtually un-useable in that they were pretty overtly written out (Crazy Jane, Danny the Street, Rhea/Lodestone).

The one exception: Beast Boy.

Other members are the (4) during the late 90's Arcudi run (no idea if still alive) and the (4) additional ones under Byrne's run that actually hurt my eyeballs and brain when I think about them.

This knowledge, for some reason, excites me greatly about the new Doom Patrol. By the end of the Vertigo run, the only living DPers were Robotman, Beast Boy (hardly a DPer anymore, more of a Titan) and Dorothy Spinner (later deceased in continuity). That's some crazy shit!