Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1 // Review
Citizens on the street are yelling at a group of people coming out of a short yellow school bus. It would probably take a lot for the average person on the street in Gotham City to shout, “Go home, freaks!” I mean...there are so many of them living in Gotham City already. This particular group of freaks is different, though. They’re special. And this IS the first issue of Unstoppable Doom Patrol. Writer Dennis Culver takes DC’s most offbeat team to the DC Universe’s busiest city in an issue that’s drawn to the page by Chris Burnham. It’s new. It’s weird. It’s the Doom Patrol.
The team is in town to bring in a meta-human. Robotman is quick to point out that these things are never easy. He does so as a huge mass of hostile organic matter bursts out of a window high above the Gotham City streets. It has to do with a company called Metagenix. They’re a weird biotech company that’s been working with victims of the recent Lazarus Planet event. People with powers have been popping up all over. When they need money, they become Metagenix test subjects. There was a bit of a problem with a certain “Subject 99.” Now, it’s up to Doom Patrol to deal with it.
Culver is covering some very familiar ground with striking clarity. The new Doom Patrol is headed up by Crazy Jane in the role of Chief. They’re looking to help meta-humans who would otherwise be apprehended and weaponized by an essentially messed up and corrupt DC Universe U.S. government. The sudden introduction of Batman towards the end of the issue makes for a provocative exploration of some of the basic elements that the DC Universe has been dealing with for decades while simultaneously amping up the craziness. Doom Patrol deals with the monster while dealing with Metagenix goons AND Batman and Robin. It’s a wild and welcome energy pushing itself into a whole new series filled with familiar faces.
If Basil Wolverton had ever decided to settle down and do mainstream superhero comics, they might have ended up looking like Burnham’s work on the first issue of Unstoppable Doom Patrol. There’s a heavy detail to the work that mixes with a powerful weirdness that still manages to feel earthbound. It might be ugly in places, but it’s hideously...beautiful too. Gorgeous stuff, really. The action moves across the page with a lot of moving parts. For the most part, the issue is a big, crazy mess involving many different people on the streets of Gotham City. Burnham juggles it all in careful modulation without losing sight of the insanity of it all. The heavier end of the drama hits the page with a strong, solid resonance as well.
Culver’s new Doom Patrol makes a promising first showing in an issue that makes a strikingly distinct first impression. There are a lot of little elements moving in around the edges of the action that feel like they could turn into something interesting with the right momentum.
