The Doom Patrol Archives, Vol. 2 by Arnold Drake

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The original Doom Patrol, DC's team comic book that looks like a Marvel magazine continues in this 2nd archive edition, collecting Doom Patrol Issues 90-97 for September 1964-August of 1965.

If anything, writer Arnold Drake stepped up in these eight stories. The Doom Patrol universe expands with the introduction of a Mento, a superhero with designs on Elasti-girl. Both Robotoman and Larry Trainor resent him. Though his amazing mental powers lead to an offer to join the Doom Patrol that one member votes down. Who is a bit of a surprise.

Elasti-girl continues to be the most interesting character in the book though Robotman has a few interesting stories as well.

The stories are very well-developed. Unlike most other DC books, of the era, seven of the eight issues had book length tales, which means that most stories are about five pages longer than the typical Marvel story of the same era. As such, there's great fight scenes, great plot twists, and some good character moments.

Through the first six issues, I was prepared to give this collection four stars for the simple reason that the villains were quirky and fun, but nothing really special or epic, however Issues 96 and 97 have a fantastic story with the Doom Patrol taking on its most dangerous challenge ever.

Overall, the Doom Patrol is action packed, thrilling, and with great characters that are just fun to read. This collection is highly recommended.



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