It’s so hard to find a good mind-altering comic book read these days. That is unless you read DC’s Young Animal imprint of course, which has been curated by Gerard Way. That’s a good thing, as Way has always had great ideas. This issue of Doom Patrol is no different.
Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Nick Derington, Tom Fowler
Publisher: DC Comics
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
Our first arc concludes! The Doom Patrol is back together, and their mission to take out the Vectra brings them in contact with another old friend. Secrets will be uncovered, blows will be struck and, whether they win or lose, Casey Brinke’s existence will be altered forever. And yours just might be, too!
Why does this book matter?
It’s the final issue in the first story arc, so if you haven’t been reading this don’t start here! That said, the team is finally coming together (as you can see on the cover) and things wrap up (sorta).
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Get your pets spayed and neutered!
Gerard Way does a good job making this team act super and use their powers together. You get a sense of what they can do when working as one unit, but with all the weirdness and wackiness of their powers too. Broken down, this issue opens with the characters fleeing from the fight in the last issue, discovering some crazy cult shit going down, and then attempting to thwart what the cult has planned. It’s all a mad dash to the finish line, which gives it that climactic feel a finale needs. Super powers are used throughout, some in wickedly cool visual ways, and the team feels more or less cohesive. It’s a nice final issue in an arc that’s at times felt disjointed and too surreal for its own good.
Nick Derington draws the heck out of the issue too. His cartoony style (made a little more cartoony due to the color palette by Tamra Bonvillain) suits the powers of these characters. Not just anybody can make a rainbow-rocketing talking ambulance look cool! I continue to dig the Negative Man’s look, from mummy with jazzy sunglasses to yellow/black energy. You gotta marvel at how Robotman, though made of metal and hard edges, still manages to have so much emotion in his face. Props to the cover art, which uses a bright light glow to the title to shine a light on our team. It’s a fine way to cap off this first story arc.
What a magical ride!
It can’t be perfect can it?
Once again, I can’t wait to read this in one sitting. There are elements I’ve lost touch with, characters I forget exactly how they fit into things, and a general sense of confusion when reading this work. This requires the reader to pay attention, keep their head up, and truck on. Don’t read this if you want fluffy action fun; read this if you want thought provoking and weird science stuff mixed in with action fun.
Is It Good?
The team comes together nicely in a hectic, climactic last issue of the first story arc that dedicated readers should love.
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