Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The All-Doom Patrol thread

^^Well said, Cobie, altho I'm not as sold on Morrison's Chief as you.

Have you read Morrison's "Flex Mentallo" mini-series yet? I see that as the culmination of this fruitful era for him.

I haven't yet! In fact, I haven't read a TPB or OGN in like over a year. I'm about half way through reading War and Peace right now but when its over, I may do one of my patented mega-TPB buys and Flex is at the top of the list.

Regarding the Chief, I want to clarify: I didn't like the Chief as a person. In fact, I basically couldn't stand him. But I loved the way Morrison wrote him. The "twist" just felt so perfect and so batshit crazy to me. And for the time it was so cutting edge (unlike now where every character in every medium is basically evil all along and you never knew it).

But I loved them all in their own way. I don't really have a favorite. I also like that this was a "moment in time" that can't be replicated. One of the things that was nice about Rachel Pollack's run was she took the ball and ran in her own direction, without trying to replicate Grant's work.

Something else else I wanted to point out: I've always felt there is some nice similarity between Robot Man and the FF's Thing. Both have a "lovable tough guy" quality to them; both have tempers, both can be caring people who are loyal to their family & friends, and both have been put through some serious shit. Cliff may not ever be my #1 favorite character at any given time, but he's the character I always want on the team, because he's kind of Mr. Ol' Reliable.

And I've heard great things about We3, but I'm afraid to read it in case one of the three animals dies; I don't think I'd be able to bear it.

Without getting too spoilery:
We3 is pretty amazing, beautiful, disturbing and heart-wrenching, BUT there's a fair degree of animal-on-human, human-on-animal and animal-on-animal violence that doesn't always end well for the 3.

...I like the Brotherhood of Dada!

My favorite DP story ever is the journey thru Crazy Jane's mind conducted by her personality of Driver 8. This is easily one of my favorite Morrison stories, if not one of my overall favorite stories ever.

I came back to Doom Patrol when they re-entered the DCU proper, largely because of Celsius. And I hated how that turned out.

If I hadn't been so anti-DC and so anti-Vertigo at the time, and if 1996 hadn't been such a horrible year for comics in general, I might not have missed this masterpiece the first time around. There's some parallel universe out there where a young Fanfie read this in 1996, and her life was altered for the better.

For this is genuinely a life-altering comic, the first thing I've read by Morrison that truly lives up to the hype. Oh, I've enjoyed a few other things of his -- 7 Soldiers, All Star Supes, and especially Animal Man. Really, if you liked Animal Man, you'll love this -- guaranteed. Because Morrison explores a lot of the same themes -- superheroes before they became tainted by pseudo-realism, the elusive nature of reality -- but in a much more self-assured way, and, crucially, with art that is more than merely functional. Yes, Frank Quitely is an acquired taste, but here he and Morrison achieve that rare kind of creative chemistry which can only be called transcendental. Quitely's combination of indie quirkiness and abundant detail fits Morrison's story like a hand in glove.

The incorruptibly sweet-natured titular superhero, who looks to me kind of like a muscle-bound Morrissey in a loincloth (Morrison is definitely a Smiths fan, I don't know what he thinks of solo Morrissey) sets out on a quest to find his former teammate and best friend, The Fact (a Question/Batman analog), which leads him through the grimy city and beyond, into worlds of both horror and wonder. Running parallel to Flex's quest is the emotional breakdown of a drugged-up loser and wannabe rock star as he babbles on the phone about superheroes.

If you're rolling your eyes and thinking, "Typical Morrison," hang on a second, because as a former Morrison skeptic, I came into this with zero expectations. What's most amazing is not that it delivers, but that it delivers because of Morrison's self-consciously cerebral meta-commentary, not in spite of it!

As I was typing this rave review, I had to bring myself back down to Earth with the sobering reminder that Morrison followed up "Flex Mentallo" with the bombastic mediocrity of what I call "The Infallible Batman featuring the JLA."

Thus the question for me is no longer, "Can Morrison deliver 100%?", but rather, "Will Morrison ever scale these heights again?"

The original Dooom Patrol was a pretty unique property for a DC Comic. In fact, it comes across as one of the most Marvel-like comics Silver Age DC ever did. Cliff, Larry, and Rita were heroes without secret identities-- heroes who wanted to be recognized by their real names instead of codenames. Consistently in the comics they referred to each other by their first names-- and often feuded and fussed with each other.

I DO think he's trying a bit too hard to homage Morrison, ....
My favourite page was the seemingly non sequitur one of Niles Calder out in the wilderness tuning his keyboards. It made me laugh.