DC FINEST DOOM PATROL DEATH OF THE DOOM PATROL TPB
The late 1960’s were a very confusing time in comic history. And DC’s secondary titles were feeling the brunt of it. The Teen Titans were gaining telepaths and cavemen as new members. The Challengers of the Unknown had just lost Red and were on the verge of straying into some really weird storylines. And over in Aquaman, we were about to meet Aquagirl and AquaBeast and then really jump off the deep end. But the Doom Patrol was really crashing through the guardrails. The storylines splintered off as Rita married Mento. They, in turn, adopted Beast Boy. Robotman was running into former girlfriends and getting his body destroyed left and right. The World’s Strangest Heroes were turning into a soap opera. Even with oddball villains like the Mutant Master and Kor the Conqueror, the team’s days were numbered. And so the creative team wrote themselves into issue number 121 A heroic sacrifice to save total strangers and all that was left was poor Mento dropping a flower into the scalding waters that were once the island the team died on and a threat to make the villians pay. And thus the title ended. At least until August of 1977 when another DC title not long for this world called Showcase had Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton recreate the team with new characters and a rebuilt Robotman. The collection shows the end of the classic team and the rebirth of the team. Amazingly, the team (in one form or another keeps reappearing in the DC universe to this day. 9 out of 10 Grahams.
TOMORROW GIRL #16 ANTARCTIC PRESS
Tomorrow Girl’s new storyline is straight out of my wheel house! Public Domain part 1 features a Golden Age bonanza of heroes including the Black Terror, the Ghost, Black Cat, Airboy, Merlin the Magician, and more. As this team gets ready to end World War 2, the embodiment of evil swaps out and escapes. Now, 80 years later, Tomorrow Girl is on her way to meet up with the Golden Age creator of many of these heroes’ tales. And along the way, we run into Davy Nelson’s granddaughter aka Air Girl. Which might come in handy when Valkerie shows up with the embodiment of evil in tow. Ben Dunn’s creations are used by Writer David Furr for making for a classic tale for fans of the Golden Age. At the end of this 6 part story, there better be a more to come. 10 out of 10 Grahams.
BACK ISSUE MAGAZINE #164 TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING
I have one main complaint about this issue of Alien Invasion. While Starro is cover featured in one of the most popular covers of the original JLA title, This issue seems to focus more on the independant alien comics. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Predator, Aliens, Men In Black, all had something going on. The trouble is that DC and Marvel both had extensive alien races and titles. In fact, I would point out that while the article about DC’s Invasion mini-series was interesting, it could have been easily been replaced by the tales found in My Greatest Adventure and Strange Adventures. I will admit that Alissa Marmol-Cernat’s article about DC’s old Super-Stars title was a favorite and did touch upon a few of those characters. All in all, a good issue but the theme demands so much more attention. 8 out of 10 Grahams.