superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

Arnold Drake Arnold Drake (March 1, 1924 – March 12, 2007) was an American comic book writer and screenwriter best known for co-creating the DC Comics characters Deadman and the Doom Patrol, and the Marvel Comics characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, amo ...

Bob Haney Robert Gilbert Haney, Jr. (March 15, 1926 – November 25, 2004) was an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons. ...

Bruno Premiani Giordano Bruno Premiani (January 4, 1907 – August 17, 1984)
at the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

copied the basic concept to create the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

, which debuted a few months later, but other fans also speculate that they share similarities with another Marvel superhero team, the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 (cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first s ...

. Doom Patrol are a group of super-powered misfits whose "gifts" caused them alienation and trauma. Dubbed the "world's strangest heroes" by editor

Murray Boltinoff Murray Boltinoff (January 3, 1911 – May 6, 1994 in Pompano Beach, Florida) was a writer and editor of comic books, who worked for DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1980s, in which role he edited over 50 different comic book series. Biograph ...

), the original team included the

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

(Niles Caulder), Robotman (Cliff Steele),

Elasti-Girl Elasti-Girl (also known as Elasti-Woman) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Doom Patrol. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani, the character first appeared ...

(Rita Farr), and

Negative Man Negative Man is a superhero from DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, and Bruno Premiani and made his first appearance in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963). Negative Man has appeared in numerous cartoon telev ...

(Larry Trainor);

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

(Garfield Logan) and

Mento Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Mento typically ...

(Steve Dayton) joined soon after. The team remained the featured characters of ''My Greatest Adventure'', which was re-titled ''Doom Patrol'' as of issue #86 (March 1964). The original series was canceled in 1968 when Drake killed the team off in issue #121, last of that series, (September–October 1968). Since then, there have been six ''Doom Patrol'' series, with Robotman as the only character to appear in all of them.

Publication history

''My Greatest Adventure'': ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 1)

Doom Patrol first appeared in 1963, when the DC title ''

My Greatest Adventure ''My Greatest Adventure'' was a DC Comics comic book that began in 1955 and is best known for introducing the superhero team Doom Patrol. Publication history The title was originally an anthology series with adventure stories told in the first ...

'', an adventure anthology, was being converted to a superhero format. The task, assigned to writer Arnold Drake, was to create a team that fit both of these formats. With fellow writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani, he created Doom Patrol, a team of super-powered misfits who were regarded as freaks by the world at large. According to Drake, editor Murray Boltinoff told him ''My Greatest Adventure'' was in danger of cancellation and he wanted him to create a new feature which might save it. Boltinoff was enthusiastic about Drake's initial pitch with

Elasti-Girl Elasti-Girl (also known as Elasti-Woman) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Doom Patrol. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani, the character first appeared ...

and Automaton (changed to Robotman by the team's third appearance, issue #82), but Drake wanted a third character and enlisted Haney's help in coming up with

Negative Man Negative Man is a superhero from DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, and Bruno Premiani and made his first appearance in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963). Negative Man has appeared in numerous cartoon telev ...

. The team was initially announced as "The Legion of the Strange". Doom Patrol were announced on the cover art of ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 ( cover dated June 1963). Drake and Haney devised the plot for the issue together, and then each scripted half the issue independently (Drake the first half, Haney the second). Doctor Niles Caulder motivated the original Doom Patrol, bitter from being isolated from the world, to use their powers for the greater good. ''My Greatest Adventure'' was officially retitled ''The Doom Patrol'' beginning with issue #86. In an interview, Drake discussed the conception of Doom Patrol. The members of the Doom Patrol often quarrelled and suffered personal problems, something that was already common among superhero teams published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

such as

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 (cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first s ...

, but was novel among the DC lineup. Doom Patrol's rogues gallery matched the strange, weird tone of the series. Villains included the immortality-seeking

General Immortus General Immortus is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also been called "The Forever Soldier" or "The Forever General". Publication history He first appeared in '' My Greatest Adventure'' #80, the first ...

, the shape-shifting Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and the

Brotherhood of Evil The Brotherhood of Evil is a group of DC Comics supervillains, archenemies of the original Doom Patrol and the Teen Titans and enemies of the Justice League. The Brotherhood of Evil appears in the third season of the HBO Max series ''Doom Patrol ...

led by the

Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

, a disembodied brain kept alive by technology. The Brotherhood of Evil also included the intelligent

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

Monsieur Mallah Monsieur Mallah is a fictional character, a Superintelligence, superintelligent anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic gorillas in comics, gorilla supervillain in the . He is the loyal servant of and, in time, the partner to Gorilla Grodd, and the Brai ...

and Madame Rouge, who was given powers similar to those of Elongated Man, with the extra attribute of a malleable face, allowing her to impersonate various people. The Doom Patrol had two crossovers: one with the

Challengers of the Unknown The Challengers of the Unknown is a fictional group of adventurers appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The quartet of adventurers explored paranormal occurrences while facing several fantastic menaces. The characters' provenance is ...

, teaming up to fight Multi-Man and Multi-Woman; and second with the Flash in ''

The Brave and the Bold ''The Brave and the Bold'' is a comic book series published by DC Comics as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983. It was followed by two mini-series in 1991 and 1999, and was revived as an ongoing title in 2007. The focus of the series has varied ...

'' #65. As the popularity of the book waned, the publisher cancelled it. Drake killed off the entire Doom Patrol in the final issue, ''Doom Patrol'' #121 (September–October 1968) where Doom Patrol sacrificed their lives to Madame Rouge and General Zahl to save the small fishing village of Codsville,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. This was the first time in comic book history that a cancelled title was concluded with the death of its cast. Artist Bruno Premiani and editor Murray Boltinoff appeared at the beginning and the end of the story, asking fans to write to DC to resurrect Doom Patrol, although the latter was supposed to have been Arnold Drake. According to the writer, he was replaced with the editor because he had just resigned over a pay dispute and moved to Marvel Comics. He finished the script only out of friendship for Boltinoff. A few years later, three more issues appeared, reprints of earlier issues (#89, #95 and #90 appeared as #122, #123 and #124 respectively). A proper ''Doom Patrol'' revival did not occur until 1977, nine years after the original's demise. Some similarities exist between the original Doom Patrol and Marvel Comics' original

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

; Marvel acknowledged the similarity in its humor title '' Not Brand Echh''.''Not Brand Echh'' #4, November 1967 Both include misfit superheroes shunned by society and both are led by men of preternatural intelligence who use wheelchairs. These similarities ultimately led series writer Arnold Drake to argue that the concept of the X-Men must have been based on the Doom Patrol. Drake stated: In an interview shortly before his death in 2007, Drake took a more moderate position, stating that while it is possible Lee took his ideas from Doom Patrol, he could also have arrived at a similar concept independently: "Since we were working in the same vineyards, and if you do enough of that stuff, sooner or later, you will kind of look like you are imitating each other." They also share the same writers such as

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

and John Byrne as well. Though the Doom Patrol and the X-Men do share some similarities, there are major differences, such as the Doom Patrol tends to go on bizarre and weird adventures, while the X-Men share their own bizarre adventures they tended to be more focus on the themes of racism, prejudices, and hate crimes. Both have stories that shows them to carry their heroics and are family oriented with internal problems that are disputed or resolved as well as finding common ground with their morals and so forth but while the X-Men still do heroic stories somewhat with certain social political themes, the Doom Patrol was more centered to focus on wacky and bizarre stories more akin to the Fantastic Four.

''Showcase'': Paul Kupperberg's ''Doom Patrol''

Writer

Paul Kupperberg Paul Kupperberg (born June 14, 1955) is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for D ...

, a longtime ''Doom Patrol'' fan, and artist

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of ...

introduced a new team in ''

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

'' #94 (August–September 1977). DC was then lining up features for the ''Showcase'' revival—the series was initially an anthology that would debut new characters who could springboard into their own series if they proved sufficiently popular, and ''Showcase'' #94 was the first new issue of the series in almost seven years. Editor

Paul Levitz Paul Levitz (; born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn ...

instructed Kupperberg and Staton to do a Doom Patrol feature. Kupperberg opted to create a new lineup because he wanted to respect the story in which the Doom Patrol met their deaths, and was inspired by Len Wein and

Dave Cockrum David Emmett Cockrum (; November 11, 1943 – November 26, 2006) was an American comics artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Mystique, as well as the antiheroine Black Cat. Cockrum was ...

's then-recent "all-new, all-different X-Men". Kupperberg has since said he is not proud of the reboot, remarking that " wasmissing the point of the Doom Patrol. The original group were outsiders and freaks, while my new guys were just comic-book superheroes. I was young and inexperienced and new to writing, with about two years under my belt before getting the gig." The new team is led by Celsius (Arani Desai), the Chief's previously-unseen wife, who recreates the Doom Patrol to protect herself from General Immortus. Robotman is the only survivor of the original Doom Patrol, and his ruined body is replaced by a new, futuristic one built by Dr. Will Magnus. The Negative Spirit now possesses Russian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Valentina Vostok, making her Negative Woman (although its presence does not render her radioactive), and she is able to transform her own body into its form rather than sending it out under control. The final member is Tempest aka Joshua Clay, a Vietnam veteran/deserter who fires energy blasts from his hands. This new version of the team did not receive its own series following its three-issue tryout. Kupperberg said this was most likely due to poor sales, as even in the months prior to the

DC Implosion The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cut it back. The DC Explos ...

he heard no word of a new ''Doom Patrol'' series. However, the team did receive a series of guest appearances in various DC titles, such as ''

Superman Family Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (cover-dated June ...

'' (in a three part arc in the

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

feature that was intended for the recently canceled '' Super-Team Family''), ''

DC Comics Presents ''DC Comics Presents'' is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four ''Annual''s. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring back ...

'' (teaming up with

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

in a story which revealed that Vostok's powers had changed to match Larry Trainor's exactly), and ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

''. Robotman also appeared as an occasional supporting character in the

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade, and DC Comics's '' The New Te ...

and

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' and ''The Avengers (co ...

era of ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'', where it was revealed that Changeling, formerly DP associate

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

, had arranged for Dayton Industries technicians to recreate the Caulder body design for Cliff. His first storyline here had him, the Titans, and a new

Brotherhood of Evil The Brotherhood of Evil is a group of DC Comics supervillains, archenemies of the original Doom Patrol and the Teen Titans and enemies of the Justice League. The Brotherhood of Evil appears in the third season of the HBO Max series ''Doom Patrol ...

battle Madame Rouge and General Zahl, the murderers of the original Doom Patrol, who died in the battle.

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

published ''Doom Patrol: The Official Index'' with covers drawn by John Byrne in 1984. The two-part series included all of their appearances from ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 to their final appearance before their 1980s return.

Post-''Crisis'' relaunch (volume 2, part 1)

Kupperberg's enthusiasm for the Doom Patrol remained, and in addition to writing some of the team's post-''Showcase'' appearances, he eventually wrote a proposal for a new Doom Patrol series. The proposal was green-lit, and Kupperberg laid the groundwork for the new series by writing the John Byrne-illustrated ''Secret Origins Annual'' #1, published in 1987, which recapped the origins of the two iterations of the Doom Patrol that had existed thus far. In October 1987, DC relaunched ''Doom Patrol'', written by Kupperberg and illustrated by

Steve Lightle Steve Lightle (November 19, 1959 – January 8, 2021) was an American comics artist who worked primarily as a penciller. He was best known as the artist of DC Comics' '' Legion of Super-Heroes'' and ''Doom Patrol'' titles. Biography Steve Light ...

. Lightle took on the assignment with reluctance, having read and disliked Kupperberg's new Doom Patrol in ''Showcase'' #94–96, and soon quit due to several grievances, such as not being involved in plotting the comic despite the editor repeatedly promising that he would be. He was replaced by a young

Erik Larsen Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel ...

after issue #5. Kupperberg later commented, "I like Erik's work, but I don't think he was exactly right for the Doom Patrol. To tell the truth, I don't think either Erik or myself were happy with the arrangement, but we did our best to make it work." For his part, Larsen said he was perfectly happy on the series, in part because on the few occasions where he disliked an aspect of Kupperberg's plots, he would simply revise the plot when he drew the issue. In retrospect, Larsen felt that this practice was overstepping his bounds, but said the editor never objected to it. This incarnation was a more conventional superhero series than the original volume. It included new members who were hired to the team: the magnetically empowered strong-girl

Lodestone Lodestones are naturally magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in antiquity through lodestones. Pieces of lodestone, suspen ...

(Rhea Jones); Karma (Wayne Hawking), whose psychic power make anyone trying to attack him fall over themselves; and Scorch (Scott Fischer), whose body generates phenomenal quantities of heat focused through his hands, requiring him to wear protective gloves at all times. A

DC Comics Bonus Book DC Comics Bonus Books were 16-page comic book stories inserted into issues of existing DC Comics series to showcase new writers and artists. Running from April 1988 to February 1989, they consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, and a back c ...

appeared in issue #9 (June 1988). According to Kupperberg, sales on the series "started out okay, and descended to the point where I was removed from the book and replaced by

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

in the hopes he could salvage the title."

Grant Morrison's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 2, part 2)

After the first 18 issues (and various crossovers and annuals), Kupperberg was replaced by

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

and the comic was no longer submitted to the CCA for approval (relieving the stories and images depicted of several constraints), starting with issue #19. Kupperberg agreed to help Morrison by writing out characters Morrison did not want to use: Celsius and Scott Fischer died before issue #18 - Celsius was killed in an explosion in DC Comics' " Invasion!" event, and Scott Fischer (already suffering from a recurrence of childhood leukemia) was the only known active superhero casualty of the Dominators' gene-bomb (also in "Invasion!"); Karma had left the team as he was still on the run from the law (he became a member of the

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

and died on his first mission with them in the "

War of the Gods ''War of the Gods'' is an album by soul singer Billy Paul. The album was produced by Gamble & Huff, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and arranged by Bobby Martin (producer), Bobby Martin and Lenny Pakula. Released in 1973, the album reached number 12 o ...

" crossover event); the Negative Spirit left Negative Woman's body; and Lodestone plunged into a coma, where she would remain for the first half of Morrison's run on the book. Tempest gave up fieldwork to become the team's physician. Conversely, Morrison picked up a throw-away character from ''DP'' #14, who was slipped into the art on the last page of #18 to set up Morrison's use:

Dorothy Spinner Dorothy Spinner is a fictional character created by Paul Kupperberg, appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was a former member of the Doom Patrol with the ability to bring imaginary beings to life. She first appeared in ''D ...

is an ape-faced girl with powerful "imaginary friends." Morrison also substantially retooled Negative Man: Larry Trainor (revealed to be alive in the Kupperburg run, as a prisoner of an underground society but now powerless) is forcibly merged with the Negative Spirit (now a cosmic entity) and a black doctor named Dr. Eleanor Poole, to create a multigender multiracial gestalt entity known as Rebis. The new writer introduced some new characters to the team, including the multiple personality-afflicted

Crazy Jane Crazy Jane is a fictional character created by Grant Morrison and Richard Case for their work on the Vertigo Comics version of ''Doom Patrol''. She first appears in ''Doom Patrol'' (vol. 2) #19 (February 1989). According to the afterword in the ...

and sentient neighborhood

Danny the Street Danny the Street is a fictional character appearing in comics of the DC Universe. Danny is a living and sentient piece of urban geography who can magically and seamlessly place himself in any urban landscape at will without any disruption to his su ...

. Morrison used DC's ''Invasion'' crossover to restart the book. They incorporated bizarre

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

, elements of

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

,

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, and the cut-up technique pioneered by

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

and

Brion Gysin Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices. He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...

. They also borrowed the ideas of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

and

Heinrich Hoffmann Heinrich Hoffmann or Hoffman may refer to: Hoffmann * Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer) (1885–1957), German photographer *Heinrich Hoffmann (author) (1809–1894), German psychiatrist and author * Heinrich Hoffmann (sport shooter) (1869–?), Germ ...

. The original creator, Arnold Drake, said Morrison's was the only subsequent run to reflect the intent of the original series. Over the course of the series, Morrison dedicated some issues to parody and homage. Willoughby Kipling led the Doom Patrol on a parody of the Brujería story arc of ''

Swamp Thing The Swamp Thing is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. A humanoid/plant elemental List of swamp monsters, creature, created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several humanoid or mo ...

: A Murder of Crows'' in issues #31–32. Issue #42 featured the origin of

Flex Mentallo Flex Mentallo is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Richard Case in 1990, during their run on ''Doom Patrol''. Flex is in part a parody of Charles Atlas' lo ...

, who was supposed to be the character in the Charles Atlas ad. A belated lawsuit from the Charles Atlas Company showed that DC was protected under

Fair Use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

doctrine in addition to an expired

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

. Issue #53 featured a dream sequence that mimicked the

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

/

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...

''Fantastic Four'', borrowing plot points both from the Galactus Trilogy (FF #48–50) and FF #51, "This Man, This Monster." A 1992 special called ''Doom Force'' was released as a one-shot and was meant to mimic and parody the ''

X-Force X-Force is a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team first appeared in ''New Mutants#New Muta ...

'' book by

Rob Liefeld Robert Liefeld (; born October 3, 1967) is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable (comics), Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with wri ...

. Issue #45 parodied Marvel's

Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...

and Alan Moore in a satire called the Beard Hunter, a perpetually clean-shaven serial killer who murders bearded men and targets the Chief. Morrison's villains were extremely unusual and strange, even by Doom Patrol's eccentric standards. For example: *Red Jack is a near-omnipotent being who thinks he is both

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

and

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

. He lives in a house without windows, torturing butterflies to create the pain he needs to survive. * The Brotherhood of Dada are an anarchistic group who fight against reality and reason. It features members such as Sleepwalk, who can only use her tremendous powers when asleep (she takes sleeping pills and listens to

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

before battles), and The Quiz, who has "every superpower you hadn't thought of" and a pathological fear of dirt. *The Scissormen, a race of beings that attack non-fictional beings in the "real world" (i.e., the world the Doom Patrol live in) with their large scissor-like hands and cut people out of reality. In issue #57, it was revealed that the Chief had secretly caused the "accidents" which turned Cliff, Larry Trainor, and Rita Farr into super beings. Chief stated he caused them to gain their powers (or in the case of Robotman, destroyed his original body in order to obtain his brain to put into his robot body) because of his hatred for them. He felt they were spoiled and narcissistic as well as shallow individuals, and that by turning them into "freaks," he could "improve" them as human beings. He further revealed that he lied about not being married to Celsius (the leader of the second Doom Patrol, who Caulder claimed was insane/lying about being married to him) out of anger. He was upset over how the experiments performed on her (like with Elasti-Girl) only gave her super-powers and did not turn her into a freak. When Tempest and Robotman found out his role in "creating" Robotman, Elasti-Girl, and Negative Man, Tempest was killed and Robotman paralyzed. Having been exposed as a villain, Caulder planned to unleash

nanobots Nanoid robotics, or for short, nanorobotics or nanobotics, is an emerging technology field creating machines or robots whose components are at or near the scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics (as opposed to mi ...

into the world, hoping to create a

catastrophe Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning ( el, καταστροφή). It may refer to: A general or specific event * Disaster, a devastating event * The Asia Minor Catastro ...

that would "improve" humanity, regardless of the carnage it would cause. But Caulder's plan was hijacked by the Candlemaker, a violent cosmic horror who is freed by Dorothy in exchange for his resurrection of Tempest (who Candlemaker re-killed). Candlemaker then decapitated Caulder and sought to use the nanobots to enslave humanity. Dorothy, Crazy Jane, and Robotman (freed by the former two) defeated Candlemaker with help from the new reborn version of Rebis. Rebis briefly left the team to mate with a double of himself in order to be "reborn" in a new body as part of a cosmic ritual. However, during the battle, Jane was sent flying into a portal and landed in a world without heroes. Forcibly institutionalized for her mental issues in this new world, the final issue of Morrison's run had Robotman locate Jane as she was about to kill herself and take her to live with Cliff within the confines of Danny the Street.

Rachel Pollack's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 2, part 3)

Morrison left the book with issue #63, and

Rachel Pollack Rachel Grace Pollack (born August 17, 1945 as Richard Pollack) is an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. She is involved in the women's spirituality movement. Career Tarot reading Pollack has w ...

took over writing the book the next issue. Pollack's first issue was also the first under the new

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

imprint of DC Comics (although the trade paperback editions of Morrison's work do bear the imprint, the original issues did not). Returning characters for Rachel Pollack's run included Cliff Steele, Niles Caulder (kept alive by the nanobots, but reduced to a disembodied head, usually kept on a tray filled with ice), and Dorothy Spinner. Pollack's run had Dorothy as a primary member of the Patrol; she brought her imaginary friends to her aid in combat. Overall, Pollack's run dealt with issues such as the

generation gap A generation gap or generational gap is a difference of opinions between one generation and another regarding beliefs, politics, or values. In today's usage, ''generation gap'' often refers to a perceived gap between younger people and their paren ...

, humanity,

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...

, transgender issues,

bisexuality Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

, and borrowed elements from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

and

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

in the last few issues. The angel Akatriel is used as a major character in the last seven issues. The first story arc of her run was called "Sliding in the Wreckage". Cliff's computer brain started to malfunction, and he regressed into flashbacks from previous storylines. Dorothy was haunted by African spirits while dealing with living alone in the real world. The Chief was given a new body by Will Magnus, but to atone for his sins, Caulder ripped his head off the body and was kept in cryogenic storage. Meanwhile, the entire Earth had been suffering from random outbreaks of weirdness, contributed by the arrival of something called "The Book of Ice." A government agency known as the Builders, similar to the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., were trying to stop the outbreak, which was apparently linked to a race of shapeshifters known as the Teiresias. As the Chief was kept in a cryogenic state, he appeared in the land of the Teiresias as a face carved in a mountain. They warned him that his arrival in this world was causing the craziness in the real world. Throughout the storyline, little people with backward letters for heads had been seen altering people. These people were apparently older version of nanomachines, referred to as "nannos". At the Doom Patrol headquarters, Builder agents attacked, and in the craziness, two of the Teiresias approached Dorothy with a new brain for Cliff, but to insert it she needed the Chief's expertise. In the Teiresias world, nannos "repaired" the Chief so he could live as a severed head. After his awakening, the craziness seemed to stop, and Dorothy, Cliff, and the Chief each realized that they needed to be together. The team relocated to Violet Valley's Rainbow Estates, a house haunted by ghosts of those who died in sexual accidents. There, three new members joined. The Bandage People, George and Marion, who were once two workers for the Builders but managed to escape; and the Inner Child, a manifestation of the ghosts' purity and innocence. Another later newcomer of the team was Kate Godwin, aka

Coagula Coagula is a character from DC Comics' ''Doom Patrol'' series, the first transgender superhero by the publisher. Character Coagula is a transgender lesbian, former prostitute and programmer. After having sex with former Doom Patrol member Reb ...

, one of the first transgender superheroes. A one-time ally of the team called the Identity Addict, who could become different superheroes by shedding her skin like a lizard, integrated herself back into the team while using the False Memory identity to change the team's memories until she was kicked out by Dorothy. Villains that the team fought, besides the Builders, included the Fox and the Crow, two animal spirits whose feud Dorothy and Cliff were subsequently pulled into; the Master Cleaner, a being with a human fetus inside a bubble for a head who began "cleaning" the world by stripping it down to nothing and replacing the stolen items, including people, with a paper ticket; and a group of Hassidic healers who called themselves the False Healers and their leader, the Rabbi of Darkness. Toward the end of the series, Cliff Steele's brain became entirely robotic, until Dorothy Spinner used her imaginary friends to "repair" it. The Chief would later die after trying to enter the

Sephirot Sefirot (; he, סְפִירוֹת, translit=Səfīrōt, Tiberian: '), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and ...

or Tree of Life. A new artist,

Ted McKeever Ted McKeever (born 1960 in New York City)McKeever entry
Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 30, 2021. is an ...

, took over the artwork for most of the final 13 issues. Pollack continued writing the title until its cancellation with issue #87, in February 1995.

John Arcudi's Doom Patrol (volume 3)

In December 2001, writer

John Arcudi John Arcudi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on '' The Mask'' and '' B.P.R.D.'', and his series '' Major Bummer''. Early life Arcudi grew up in Buffalo, New York. He attended Columbia University as an English major and ...

and artist

Tan Eng Huat Tan Eng Huat (; born 1974), also known as Kutu, is a Malaysian comics penciller and inker. After self-publishing comics in his homeland, Tan began a career in Western comics, starting with ''Doom Patrol'' volume 3 in 2001 by DC Comics. Biogra ...

launched a new ''Doom Patrol'' series. This relaunch was not under the Vertigo imprint and returned the title to the mainstream DC universe. The series lasted for 22 issues before it was cancelled. Arcudi's run largely ignored Morrison and Pollack's runs at first; Arcudi stated in interviews at the time, that the disconnect with the Vertigo run was due to DC editorial having an agreement in play banning writers from using characters and concepts from his run; most notably Rebis/Negative Man and Crazy Jane. However, due to negative fan response to the run; Arcudi was allowed to make reference to the Vertigo series to explain what had happened to the characters from the Pollack run. The run featured two Doom Patrols: a corporate run Doom Patrol employed by Thayer Jost for Jost Enterprises featuring existing DC characters (Metamophoro, Elongated Man, the second Doctor Light and Beast Boy) and a second "underground" Doom Patrol, run by Robotman and featuring new characters: Fast Forward who could look 60 seconds into the future, Kid Slick who could become entirely frictionless,

Fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...

who could set herself alight, and Freak who possessed mysterious powers from a patristic entity in her soul. The later Doom Patrol were the main characters of the run, with the Jost owned group disbanding when it is revealed by Metamorpho that Robotman had reportedly died four years earlier which results in the 'imposter' Robotman in the team to vanish into nothingness. The Doom Patrol later rebuild the real Robotman once they recover his head and come to an agreement that Thayer Jost will fund the group so long as Jost has the distributing rights to the Doom Patrol which he uses to create a Doom Patrol TV series based on the Silver Age Team. Over the course of the run Fast Forward loses control of his powers when he tries to look beyond 60 seconds into the future and has to suppress them with medicine in order to function while Kid Slick and Fever start a relationship with one another despite the latter accidentally hospitalising the former with her powers. It is later revealed that part of Robotman's agreement with Jost involves Jost funding for Dorothy Spinner's healthcare as she has been in a coma for the last four years, Cliff deduces that the 'imposter' Robotman was an imaginary Cliff that Dorothy had subconsciously manifested. Visiting Dorothy, Cliff regained his lost memories and how Dorothy became comatose. Deciding to end the Doom Patrol, Coagula and Cliff took Dorothy to Kentucky to meet her previously unknown birth mother to offer Dorothy a chance at a more 'normal' life, but fearing that Coagula and Cliff were abandoning her, Dorothy had an explosive psychic outburst that reportedly killed Coagula and Cliff, and left her comatose. After finding out that Dorothy was permanently brain dead, Cliff gave the doctors permission to turn off her life support. The death of Dorothy ended Robotman's contract with Jost resulting in Fast Forward, Fever, Kid Slick and Freak being evicted and striking out together with royalty money that Jost gave them from his Doom Patrol TV series, while Cliff set off into the world once again alone. Arcudi's new characters have made very few subsequent appearances, mainly constituting cameos.

John Byrne's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 4)

In August 2004, DC launched a new ''Doom Patrol'' series after the new team debuted in '' JLA''. John Byrne wrote and illustrated this series, with inks by

Doug Hazlewood Doug Hazlewood (born September 20, 1954) is an American comic book artist, known primarily for inking. Hazlewood has primarily worked for DC Comics during his career, often partnering with pencilers Tom Grummett and Nicola Scott, and he occupies a ...

. Touted as "Together again for the first time!", Byrne rebooted the series, eliminating all previous Doom Patrol continuity. The series debuted as part of a six-part storyline that ran in ''JLA'' #94–99 as "The Tenth Circle", though Byrne only drew this arc as it was written by Chris Claremont. This reboot was both controversial and short-lived. Besides the removal of the popular Morrison run (and its characters) from canon and the butterfly effect it had on the Teen Titans (which did its best to limit references to Beast Boy's past and avoided using the Brotherhood of Evil until the Byrne run was canceled and Geoff Johns could restore the previous lore),the series garnered controversy over a scene where Robotman and Elasti-Girl are sent back in time and inhabit their younger selves' bodies. During their time in the past, Robotman declares his love for Elasti-Girl. However, due to an age gap between the two heroes, Rita is trapped in her twelve-year-old self's body when the adult Cliff reveals his romantic feelings and kisses her. DC canceled Byrne's series with issue #18. The events in DC's ''

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, a ...

'' crossover saw the restoration of the Doom Patrol's full continuity, with the inclusion of all previous incarnations with the reveal that Superboy Prime had "retcon punched" the previous versions of Doom Patrol from existence and for him to "retcon punch" them back into existence after being shot with an arrow that briefly imprisoned Superboy Prime into a rectangular shaped mini-Phantom Zone by Speedy II.

"Infinite Crisis" and "One Year Later"

DC editorial used the events of the "

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, a ...

" storyline to restore the Doom Patrol's continuity. In escaping from the paradise dimension they had inhabited since the end of ''

Crisis on Infinite Earths "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March ...

'',

Superboy-Prime Superboy-Prime (Clark Kent, born Kal-El), also known as Superman-Prime or simply Prime, is a DC Comics superhero turned supervillain and an alternate version of Superman. The character first appeared in ''DC Comics Presents'' #87 (November 198 ...

and Alex Luthor created temporal ripples which spread throughout reality, causing overlaps on parallel timelines of certain events (

Hypertime Hypertime is a fictional concept in DC Comics which first appeared in the 1999 '' The Kingdom'' limited series. It is a variation of the Multiverse concept that existed in DC Comics before 1985's ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' limited series and w ...

), such as restoring

Jason Todd Jason Peter Todd is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. First appearing in '' Batman'' #357 in March 1983, Todd was created to succeed Dick Grayson as Robin, the superhero Batman's vigilante partn ...

to life. In the reprinted edition of ''Infinite Crisis'', additional scenes added to the collection showed Fever, Kid Slick, Ava, Nudge, Grunt, and Vortex among a two-page spread of heroes. While assisting the Teen Titans in battling Superboy-Prime, members of the Doom Patrol had flashbacks to their original history. Robotman and Niles Caulder regained memories of the previous Doom Patrol teams with which they had worked. This battle apparently undid some of Superboy-Prime's timeline changes and resulted in a timeline incorporating all previous incarnations of the Doom Patrol, but with Rita Farr and Larry Trainor still alive. The Chief confirmed that Rita was indeed killed by Zahl's explosion. The Chief claimed that he later found her skull and treated it with synthetic proteins until her malleable body was regrown from it. Steve Dayton is again using the

Mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

helmet and he is mentally unstable; however, he remembers his time as the Crimelord. The Chief appears to be manipulating the Doom Patrol members once again; he claims to wish to return them to normal so "maybe one day

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

won't be freaks anymore." After the Doom Patrol encounters the Titans, the Chief tells them that

Kid Devil Edward Bloomberg (currently known as Red Devil) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Alan Kupperberg, Dan Mishkin, and Gary Cohn, the character first appeared in Fury of Firestorm #2 (June, 1984). The ...

should be a member of the Doom Patrol instead of the Titans, since his unique appearance and nature will always separate him from others. However, Beast Boy, Elasti-Girl, and Mento all stand up to the Chief and force him to step down as the Doom Patrol's leader, with Mento taking over that role. Two former members of the Teen Titans were dramatically altered during the course of the "Infinite Crisis".

Mal Duncan Malcolm Arnold "Mal" Duncan, currently known as Vox (also known as the Guardian, Hornblower, and the Herald), is a fictional character, existing in the DC Universe. Introduced in April 1970, he is DC's first African-American superhero. Publication ...

, now code-named Vox, and his wife (

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

) now reside in the Doom Patrol's castle headquarters. The Doom Patrol later appear in ''The Four Horsemen'' series (2007), with Caulder back in charge. According to ''Titans'' (vol. 2) #1, Beast Boy has recently become the team leader. In ''DC Universe: Decisions'', Robotman has a supporting role while Mento appears in issue #4.

Keith Giffen's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 5)

On February 7, 2009, it was announced at the

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

that

Keith Giffen Keith Ian Giffen (born November 30, 1952) is an American comics artist and writer. He is known for his work for DC Comics on their ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' and ''Justice League'' titles as well as for being the co-creator of Lobo. Biography K ...

would be spearheading a revival of Doom Patrol, a title which he has long said he wanted to write. He was joined by artist Matt Clark, who has also long expressed a desire to work on the team. The new series focused on the core members Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, and the Chief, while other members such as Mento, Bumblebee, and Vox were to be seen later. The title launched with a 10-page ongoing

Metal Men The Metal Men are a group of superheroes that appear in DC Comics. The characters first appeared in ''Showcase'' #37 (March–April 1962) and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Boo ...

co-feature written by

J. M. DeMatteis John Marc DeMatteis (; born December 15, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, television and novels. Biography Early career J. M. DeMatteis's earliest aspirations were to be a rock musician and comic book artist. He began playing in ban ...

. In the first issue, Rita takes on the alias "Elasti-Woman", and according to the team shrink, she's "mothering" Bumblebee, who's now eight inches tall after being shrunk—rather conveniently for her codename—to the size of a bee in ''Infinite Crisis''. Nudge, Byrne's addition to the team, was killed in the line of duty and Grunt took off with her corpse. The current team is working out of Oolong Island (from '' 52''), which has been turned into a resort town while still maintaining a large super-science background. The

Challengers of the Unknown The Challengers of the Unknown is a fictional group of adventurers appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The quartet of adventurers explored paranormal occurrences while facing several fantastic menaces. The characters' provenance is ...

's Rocky Davis is also working closely with the team for spiritual support. Former member Crazy Jane appears in issue #7. Danny the Street, in a reduced aspect, appears in issue #8.

Ambush Bug Ambush Bug is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. His real name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality around him, so even his true identity migh ...

joined the team at the end of issue #9. The series was canceled, due to a decrease in sales, with issue #22 in May 2011.

The New 52

In September 2011,

The New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new serie ...

rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Doom Patrol is briefly mentioned in issue #24 of

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

. The team is depicted to be identical in appearance to

Paul Kupperberg Paul Kupperberg (born June 14, 1955) is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for D ...

's 1977 Doom Patrol, consisting of members Celsius, Joshua Clay, and Negative Woman, with additional members Karma and Scott Fischer. During the "

Forever Evil "Forever Evil" is a 2013–2014 crossover (comics), crossover comic book storyline published by DC Comics that began in September 2013 and ended in May 2014, consisting of an eponymous, central miniseries written by Geoff Johns and art by David F ...

" storyline, Valentina Vostok, Karma, and Scott are killed during a confrontation with

Johnny Quick Johnny Quick are two fictional DC Comics characters, each with the power of superhuman speed. The first was a superhero who first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #71 (September 1941) during the Golden Age. The other was a supervillain, an evil ve ...

and Atomica of the

Crime Syndicate Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, while Celsius and Joshua Clay are presumably killed. Upon learning of his team's demise, Doctor Niles Caulder sets about assembling a new Doom Patrol. Following the defeat of the

Crime Syndicate Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, the newly created Doom Patrol is introduced in issue #30 of

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

. The team includes Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man and M.I.A. Justice League member Element Woman, whom Caulder refuses to let leave the group and tricks into thinking she was abandoned by the Justice League. The team attempt to capture Jessica Cruz, the new Power Ring, to force her to join the team. During their attempt to capture her, Caulder demands the team refuse to save civilians in a collapsing building to allow him to lobotomize Cruz and force her to serve him. The Justice League save the people in the building and Lex Luthor manages to hold Caulder back so Batman can convince Cruz to go with the League instead. During their fight, Luthor reveals that Caulder (as he did in the Morrison run) was responsible for causing the "accidents" that gave the Doom Patrol their powers and that both Celsius and Joshua Clay used the chaos of the events of ''Forever Evil'' to fake their deaths and escape from Caulder. It is also revealed that Caulder poisoned an entire fishing village as part of an experiment, and cured the residents only after Luthor discovered the truth and threatened to expose him.

Gerard Way's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 6)

A new Doom Patrol series written by

Gerard Way Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...

and drawn by Nick Derington was created as part of the

Young Animal In the English language, animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''The Book of Saint Al ...

imprint. The first issue was published on September 14, 2016. The series has created a multitude of original characters as well as some taken from former team rosters. Casey Brinke, a fictional character that

Danny The Street Danny the Street is a fictional character appearing in comics of the DC Universe. Danny is a living and sentient piece of urban geography who can magically and seamlessly place himself in any urban landscape at will without any disruption to his su ...

created in order to communicate with people through comic books, was contacted by Danny when he became threatened by a group of aliens known as Vectra. They wished to profit from his power to create life by turning his fictional people into cheap meat at a fast food restaurant. Danny reached out to Casey, hoping that she could find and join the Doom Patrol after explaining her origin story, both the fictional origin story he had created for her and how she had become a real person. Casey agreed to help. She piloted Danny, currently taking the form of an ambulance, into his attackers' headquarters, discovering that the leader of the organization was none other than her fictional father Torminox, accidentally brought to life when Vectra had tortured Danny. Alongside Torminox was an evil version of Casey, known as Doodle Bug. She was also created when Danny was tortured and reflects his concern regarding how Casey would become in the real world. Despite the family drama, Casey and the Doom Patrol defeated Vectra and freed Danny from Vectra's clutches. Afterward, the team sets out to find

Crazy Jane Crazy Jane is a fictional character created by Grant Morrison and Richard Case for their work on the Vertigo Comics version of ''Doom Patrol''. She first appears in ''Doom Patrol'' (vol. 2) #19 (February 1989). According to the afterword in the ...

, who was running a cult under the influence of her current dominant ego Dr. Harrison. Harrison wished to purge the 63 other personalities within Jane's mind by distributing them among the mind-controlled cult members using a gene bomb. After the process, she would kill them all. Jane and the team managed to stop this plan and save the cult members while also killing the Dr. Harrison personality within Jane. The team is contacted by Niles Caulder in a later issue and embark on a mission with him leading. The mission goes haywire and it is revealed that Niles Caulder is gambling again, leading the team to evict him as a leader and as a member of the team. This marks the team embracing being a new iteration of the Doom Patrol.

''Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds''

First published in July 2019, ''Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds'' retained the oversight of

Gerard Way Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...

's

Young Animal In the English language, animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups. The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''The Book of Saint Al ...

imprint, and directly continued from the ending of Volume 6. The series saw the return of

Elasti-Girl Elasti-Girl (also known as Elasti-Woman) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Doom Patrol. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani, the character first appeared ...

and

Mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

to the team and a brief appearance of

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

. The plot primarily concerned Cliff Steele acquiring a new robot body that was ever upgrading to the point that he became an entire planet in an attempt to protect the universe from hurt, motivated by his mother disowning him and the loss of

Dorothy Spinner Dorothy Spinner is a fictional character created by Paul Kupperberg, appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was a former member of the Doom Patrol with the ability to bring imaginary beings to life. She first appeared in ''D ...

. Cliff was eventually persuaded to stop by

Crazy Jane Crazy Jane is a fictional character created by Grant Morrison and Richard Case for their work on the Vertigo Comics version of ''Doom Patrol''. She first appears in ''Doom Patrol'' (vol. 2) #19 (February 1989). According to the afterword in the ...

who helped to deconstruct him into an infantile form. The series was cancelled in October 2019 and came to a conclusion with its seventh issue in July 2020.

''Infinite Frontier''

Following the cancellation of their series, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, and Negative Man were reintroduced to the main DC continuity, alongside Niles Caulder, in issue #1 of ''Batman/Superman: World's Finest''. The team helped the titular superheroes defeat

Metallo Metallo () is a name used by multiple supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of Superman. Metallo is usually depicted as a cyborg with a kryptonite power source in his heart, which he ...

and later performed surgery on Superman in order to cure him from red kryptonite poisoning.

''Unstoppable Doom Patrol''

The six-issue ''Unstoppable Doom Patrol'' series by writer Dennis Culver, artist Chris Burnham, and colorist Bruan Reber launches March 28.

Other versions

Tangent Comics

In 1997, DC released the ''

Tangent Comics Tangent Comics is a DC Comics imprint created in 1997, developed from ideas by Dan Jurgens. The line, formed from various one-shots, focused on creating all-new characters using established DC names, such as the Joker, Superman, and the Flash. ...

'' series of books, built on the premise of a world that diverged from the mainstream following the events of the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

. The series featured characters with the same names as mainstream DC characters but were otherwise unrelated to them. The series included a one-shot ''Doom Patrol'' title. This Doom Patrol consisted of four heroes:

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

, Star Sapphire, Firehawk, and Rampage. The heroes traveled back in time from 2030 to 1997 to prevent Earth's destruction. The Tangent books were later integrated into the

DC Multiverse In DC Comics, the Multiverse is a "cosmic construct" composed of the many fictional universes the stories of DC take place in. The worlds in this multiverse share a space and fate in common, and its structure has changed several times in the h ...

(as

Earth-9 DC Comics has published a number of other imprints and lines of comics over the years. History In the Golden Age of Comic Books publishing, DC Comics was also an imprint of Detective Comics and its affiliated companies, All-American Publicatio ...

) as part of the events of ''

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, a ...

''.

Just Imagine...

In

Stan Lee's Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which w ...

'' Just Imagine...'', a version of the Doom Patrol appeared as villains under the Reverend Darrk, as three

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

criminals are under his son

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

's control later on against the JLA. They consisted of crime boss Brock Smith/

Blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

, serial killer Lucinda Radama/

Parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

, and criminal Deke Durgan/

Deathstroke Deathstroke (Slade Joseph Wilson) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character debuted in '' The New Teen Titans'' #2 in December 1980 as Deathstroke the ...

.

Collected editions

''My Greatest Adventure''/Volume 1

Drake and Premiani's run is available in color as: It is available in black and white Showcase editions as well: An omnibus collecting the entire run was also released. Issues #122–124 of ''Doom Patrol'' are reprinted material.

Volume 2

Of the 87 issues in the Paul Kupperberg/Grant Morrison/Rachel Pollack run, only Pollack's work has not been reprinted. A collected edition of Pollack's run was announced in May 2017, but was cancelled in November 2017 with no explanation given. However it is available digitally, both in single issues and as a collected edition.

Volume 2-related miniseries

Volume 4

Volume 5

The Keith Giffen written ''Doom Patrol'' has been collected in the following trades: A third collection, titled ''Fire Away'' containing issues #14–22, was originally scheduled but never released.

Volume 6

The sixth volume of ''Doom Patrol'', written by

Gerard Way Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...

, is published under DC's ''Young Animal'' Imprint, headed by Way.

In other media

* Due to the success of ''

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure ''The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure'' is a Saturday morning Filmation animated series that aired on CBS from 1967 to 1968. Premiering on September 9, 1967, this 60-minute program included a series of six-minute adventures featuring various DC ...

'',

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

had produced and planned pilots for multiple DC heroes in the hopes of jump starting a DC Comics cartoon hour, with one of the concept drawings featuring the Doom Patrol. However, the plans were cancelled when CBS secured the animation rights to

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

in the wake of ABC's recent success with the live-action ''Batman'' television series at the time. * The Doom Patrol appear in the ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' two-part episode "Homecoming", consisting of

Mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

,

Negative Man Negative Man is a superhero from DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, and Bruno Premiani and made his first appearance in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963). Negative Man has appeared in numerous cartoon telev ...

, Robotman, and

Elasti-Girl Elasti-Girl (also known as Elasti-Woman) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Doom Patrol. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani, the character first appeared ...

. Additionally,

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

was also a member of the team before he left and eventually joined the

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

. * The Doom Patrol appears in the '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' episode "The Last Patrol!", consisting of the

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, and Robotman. This version of the team operated years prior until they failed to save a hostage amidst General Zahl's invasion of Paris and disbanded. In the present, Batman helps the Doom Patrol come out of retirement when Zahl forms an alliance with the rest of the Doom Patrol's enemies to seek revenge. While Batman defeats Zahl and his alliance, the Doom Patrol sacrifice themselves to save the town of Codsville, whose residents rename their town to "Four Heroes" in their memory. * The original Doom Patrol appear in a self-titled segment of ''

DC Nation Shorts ''DC Nation Shorts'' are animated shorts featuring characters from DC Comics that aired in a series on Cartoon Network on Saturdays at 10/9c. Production On March 3, 2012, the shorts premiered as part of the '' DC Nation'' block, produced by Warn ...

'', consisting of the Chief, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, and Robotman. * The Doom Patrol appear in ''

Teen Titans Go! ''Teen Titans Go!'' is an American animated television series developed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic for Cartoon Network. It premiered on April 23, 2013 and is based on the DC Comics Teen Titans, fictional superhero team. The series was ...

'', consisting of the Chief, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, and Negative Girl. Similarly to the ''Teen Titans'' series, Beast Boy was also a member before he joined the Teen Titans. * The Doom Patrol appear in a self-titled episode of ''

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

'', consisting of the Chief, Elasti-Woman, Robotman, and Negative Man. * The Doom Patrol appear in the '' Young Justice: Outsiders'' episode "Nightmare Monkeys", consisting of the Chief, Mento, Elasti-Girl, Robotman, Negative Woman, and Beast Boy. This version of the team, barring Mento, Beast Boy, and Robotman, were all killed while on a mission years prior. * The Doom Patrol appear in a self-titled TV series, consisting of the Chief, Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Woman,

Jane Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

, and

Cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

. Additionally, a 1950s incarnation of the team appears in the episode "Doom Patrol Patrol", consisting of the Chief, Mento, Joshua Clay, Arani Desai, and

Rhea Jones J.A.K.E. 1 J.A.K.E. 2 J'onn J'onzz Jack Jack of Clubs Jack of Fire Jack O'Lantern Jack the Ripper Jackal Jackhammer Jaclyn Jade Jacob Ashe Jakeem Thunder Java Java is a fictional character appearing in American comic ...

. ** The present day Doom Patrol also make a cameo appearance in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed. ...

crossover "

Crisis on Infinite Earths "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March ...

" via archive footage of a deleted scene from a season one episode.

References

* Callahan, Timothy (2007
Grant Morrison: The Early Years
Masters of the Medium
Sequart Research & Literacy Organization

External links

Doom Patrol
at the DC Database Project

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 22, 2016. * * * * * * *
Waiting For Doom
fan made podcast, reviewing all issues of the Doom Patrol {{Vertigo Comics Ongoing Series DC Comics titles DC Comics franchises Comics characters introduced in 1963 1987 comics debuts Comics by Grant Morrison Comics by J. M. DeMatteis Comics by John Byrne (comics) Comics by Paul Kupperberg Characters created by Bob Haney Characters created by Arnold Drake Comics by Gerard Way Transgender-related comics Comics adapted into television series

Publication history

''My Greatest Adventure'': ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 1)

''Showcase'': Paul Kupperberg's ''Doom Patrol''

Post-''Crisis'' relaunch (volume 2, part 1)

Grant Morrison's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 2, part 2)

Rachel Pollack's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 2, part 3)

John Arcudi's Doom Patrol (volume 3)

John Byrne's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 4)

"Infinite Crisis" and "One Year Later"

Keith Giffen's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 5)

The New 52

Gerard Way's ''Doom Patrol'' (volume 6)

''Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds''

''Infinite Frontier''

''Unstoppable Doom Patrol''

Other versions

Tangent Comics

Just Imagine...

Collected editions

''My Greatest Adventure''/Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 2-related miniseries

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

In other media

See also

References

External links