The Doom Patrol #2
Writer: Darcy Van Polgeest
Artist: Niko Henrichon
Publisher: DC Comics
The world's strangest "found family" of superheroes is having a rough go of things lately. When they finally get an opportunity to turn things around, will they all be able to get on the same page, or will tragedy strike?
Good Times Never Seemed So Good
Negative Man has developed a new power. After entering the mind of the cat-nabbing alien last issue, he emerged holding a stuffed cat that was pulled from memories. But why would an alien remember a plush animal?
Apparently it wouldn’t—the cat is actually from the Chief’s memories. Not that the Doom Patrol know that, since apparently their leader is back to keeping secrets again. The more things change…
The team is sent off on what should be an easy job: rescue a girl from a cult, and they’ll get paid lots of money. If only they could all get along…
I Hear the Secrets That You Keep
So far, this new Doom Patrol run seems to be an interesting mixture. We've got dialogue that is very Arnold Drake combined with Grant Morrison weirdness. Thus far, the focus is solely on the original three members—Cliff, Larry, and Rita—plus the Chief, who is back to his secretive and manipulative self. What about Jane and all the rest, you might ask? They haven't been mentioned yet, so hard to say.
The team has fallen on hard times, although we don't know how or why. They're living in an apartment, driving around in a beat-up van, and doing any jobs that someone is willing to pay them for. Things are so tough, it's got everyone at each other's throats.
Rita can't get over how far removed this current life is from what came before. Larry has gotten even weirder and more detached. And Cliff is depressed and angry in equal measure. Combined, they make for a very volatile team.
It's not that I expect them all to be happy and the very best of friends at all times. But it can be hard to read about a group of angry, mopey people that do nothing but snipe at each other. And knowing that the Chief is back to being his manipulative self isn't going to help things when the team finds out. I wonder who's reverted to a secret-keeping jerk more often at this point, Niles Caulder or Charles Xavier? Just one more thing that the Doom Patrol and the X-Men have in common...
Anyway, I don't want you to think that this issue is only about the team not getting along. There are also bad guys, such as Warp and the Children of the Ever-Void. The team is supposed to be quietly rescuing a girl from the Ever-Void cult for a big payday, but unfortunately, thanks to Warp (who's been observing the team from across the street), the cult knows they're coming. Oh, and the girl, Evelyn, seems to be the one that the Chief was having apocalyptic dreams about last issue. Didn't mention that either, did you, Niles?
So instead of getting the drop on the cult, the team gets dropped on by Warp instead. There wasn't much they could have done differently, since the villain literally appeared out of nowhere—but Cliff is going to blame himself just the same. If he hadn't been fighting with Rita over her Neil Diamond cassette (yes, really), maybe he would have been paying more attention to the road and could have reacted sooner... The scene of them fighting over the tape as Cliff refused to sing along to Sweet Caroline was too much bickering and sniping for me, although Larry continuing to repeat the "So good. So good" chorus from the backseat during it was entertaining. He really is just living in his own little world.
There's a lot to like here. I just wish there wasn't so much emphasis on the team's struggles with status, money, and getting along. I'm sure this is a "build them back up from nothing" story—at least I hope that's what it is—so I just hope it won't take too long to get to the building part. Another issue that's as focused on the team's misery as this one is might be too much for me. I can just turn on the news if I want misery, you know?
Diamond in the Rough
Darcy Van Polgeest clearly knows his Doom Patrol history, and he seems to have a strong take on the classic cast. It's just that he's placed them in the middle of "misery porn," so it's not always easy to tell. This issue is paced well, with no one scene wearing out its welcome (even if the content—mostly bickering and moping—is consistent across multiple scenes). The villains are interesting, with Warp, of course, being an old foil and the Children of the Ever-Void appearing to be an intriguing addition to the Rogues Gallery. I'm less sold on the Chief being all manipulative and secret-keeping again, especially since the team had moved past him in the last run but are back with him now—but I guess that's the "factory reset" setting for him since Morrison...
Niko Henrichon's art is amazing, and almost worth the price of admission alone. This is easily up there among the best the Doom Patrol has ever looked. There's a sketchier quality to the opening scenes inside the alien's mind, then as Negative Man returns to Larry's body, the art adjusts to fully detailed. The splash page of the fallen alien in the middle of a residential neighborhood is incredibly effective in showing the scale of what the team faced (while being there to tell an old lady about her missing cat, no less). Henrichon colors his own art, and everything has a darker tone that fits the "rock bottom" theme of the story so far. Each team member flashes back to their beginnings at one point in the story, and those panels are effective in how they convey the pain each person is reliving in just a few images. Warp's portals have a cool and otherworldly look to them, and the way his speech balloon travels through them with him is hilarious. The issue juxtaposes images of the team literally exploding while Chief burns the past, and that illustrates the overall theme of this series so far perfectly.
Group Therapy
The Doom Patrol #2 is a bit of a mixed bag—the characters are presented as their classic selves, but so wrapped up in their own misery and constant bickering that it's hard to like them right now. It seems like this is just the opening of a reconstruction story, so I am hoping that is indeed the case and that it won't take too long to get there. The creative team is hitting the right nostalgia buttons, and the art is amazing, but that won't be enough to keep me around forever.