Who's This? DC's weirdest team.
The facts: The Doom Patrol premiered in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, with artist Bruno Premiani, a few months before the somehow similar X-Men. My Greatest Adventure was eventually retitled Doom Patrol, and surprisingly, when the book faced cancellation in 1968, the team was killed on panel. Robotman survived for obvious reasons and a new Doom Patrol was tried out in Showcase #94-96 by Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton. Though that group started appearing here and there, they wouldn't get their own series until 1987. As of issue 19 of that series, Grant Morrison took over and gave a bold new, surreal direction that would make the team weirder still, and become the template for most future series, despite offering a different mix of classic, 70s and new members. This version, by Morrison and then Rachel Pollack, lasted until issue 87. There would be 4 further volumes of Doom Patrol, the latest on the stands now.
How you could have heard of them: Unbeatable Doom Patrol is the current ongoing, but there's also a very well received TV series that's astonishingly based mostly on the Morrison era.
Example story: Doom Patrol #89 (August 1964) "The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace" by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani
The DP are a favorite, and I could have picked from almost any era (almost because the Arcudi era is missing too many classic characters and I don't care about the Byrne era). So I'm going classic and looking to confirm just how weird the strip used to be. Why this specific issue? It's a crime that the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man didn't get his own entry, so he deserves some love too. And the red and white uniforms premiere here, which is a surprise unto itself. But back to the AVM Man, AKA Dr. Sven Larsen, a former professional rival of the Chief's who wrote Niles Caulder and told him he'd love to meet the Doom Patrol sometime. On his flight to America for a lecture, his wish is granted, with the DP kidnapping him for dinner.
A lovely time was had by all, we assure you. The next day, the Patrol are present at the "State University" to see his demonstration of a big Tesla coil-lookin' thing, which Larsen claims can create life by reproducing the mood lighting of primeval Earth over a vat of amino acids. A VAT, you say? You guessed it, he slips and falls into it.
It's not surrealism, but Arnold Drake always tries to go for the strangest possible idea, and a giant paramecium fits the bill (ANIMAL!). Larsen's first transformation starts destroying the campus and the Chief sends Negative Man to fetch a tank of liquid oxygen ("the coldest substance known to man" - oh, IS IT?!) at light speed and Robotman gets close enough to trap the creature in a block of ice. Great team work--hey, where's Rita? Next, the creature turns into a giant made of sulphur (MINERAL! - wait, who's going to tell them minerals aren't a type of "life"?), which melts Larsen out of the ice. Giant must meet even bigger giant, and finally, Elasti-Girl is sent into action.
But it's 1963 and she must be directed by a man, or else just doesn't know what to do. From sulphur, to creepy ivy (VEGETABLE!), to bird and Larsen's outta there. Quick to understand his powers? Not even. Negative Man flies to Stockholm for his notes and the Chief quickly ascertains that he'd been running these experiments for a while. So he DIDN'T slip. What's his game? Note how the Chief is played as the "guy in the (literal) chair", figuring things out and advising the heroes, but he's right there in the action too. An important distinction when comparing these strange heroes with the X-Men. Anyway, the AVM Man is rampaging through the city as a dinosaur, firemen set their hoses on it (water, a well-known dino weakness--????), so it turns into a giant sponge and absorbs it...
Larry uses his radio energy avatar to contain it, but it turns into lead so he's trapped. Cliff starts punching, frees the Negative Man, and finds himself on a giant dandelion, whose seeds are blowing away and that's another escape (so AVM Man shed the bulk of his plant body?). Don't ask too many questions. Back to kaiju action, this time in the subway tunnels.
It's starting to become clear to me that the prime inspiration for the Doom Patrol was 50s sci-fi B-movies. From giant spider to swarm of gnats and you'd think Robotman wouldn't be stymied by that, but the Chief reminds him of his one weakness, a human brain, and he starts to FREAK OUT!
I know Negative Man is a radio energy creature, but he's so often used as a tarp, it makes me question reality. The Chief, normally speaking through Cliff's chest piece (he must love that) is once again brought into the action. He's figured out AVM Man's motive. The Chief once invented an anti-decay ray that halts all changes in living cells, scooping Larsen on his own identical discovery. He now wants revenge by killing the Doom Patrol who are near and dear to the Chief's heart (later stories will strongly imply Caulder never had a heart). ironically, the ray is the only thing that can stop AVM Man. He has Rita attack AVM as a diamond man, which makes him turn into a tiger, a much better size and weight for carrying once he's zapped by the raygun.
And so Larsen is returned to normal, and look at the big empathy on Niles! Or is it just a scientist bro thing? After all, the Chief is going to commit his own crimes against nature (and according to retconned continuity, already has) so he may be laying the groundwork for his own "rehabilitation".
The power dynamics are dated, and there's very little characterization because early 60s, but the Doom Patrol is a strange group going after even weirder threats. You can see how these early stories inspired later, much stranger takes. The weirdest was yet to come and college-age Siskoid, for one, had his mind blown.
Who's Next? The reason superheroes didn't win World War II singlehandedly.
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