Here we discuss both the tv show and some comics!
Doom Patrol (DC Universe streaming)
15 episodes
Created by Jeremy Carver
Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane
April Bowlby as Elasti-Girl/Rita Farr
Alan Tudyk as Eric Borden/ Mr. Nobody
Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor/Negative Man
Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele/ Robotman
Timothy Dalton as Chief/ Niles
Jovian Wade as Cyborg/ Victor Stone
Phil Morris as Silas Stone
And more.....
Doom Patrol Weight of the Worlds #1-2
Written by Gerard Way
Co-written and assisted by Jeremy Lambert
Art by James Harvey
To start off with, the Doom Patrol show follows a ragtag team of heroes trying to stop the coming apocalypse and find their leader Chief who formed the team. The team consists of a young woman with 64 different personalities each of which has its own power (Crazy Jane), a former race-car driver whose brain is put into a robot suit after he died in a car accident (Robot Man), a former actress who suffered an accident that now causes her to lose shape and expand when she becomes unsure of herself (Elasti-Girl), a former astronaut that got into an accident in space and now as an entity made of pure energy that is attached to is body (Negative Man), and later a former football player caught in an accident who now is half man half machine thanks to the intelligence of his father (Cyborg).
Doom Patrol perfectly embodies a psychological superhero comedy genre/series. The series gets weird (I’m looking at you Beard Hunter and Ezekiel, the giant cockroach) and is always taking different turns at every corner. From the villain narrating and selectively controlling the story to the surprising twist at the end with the Chief.
The beauty of the show comes from the character studies done on each team member and how much time is spent on bringing all their clashing personalities together and finally developing into a somewhat cooperative team. (think the first Avengers movie mixed with The Bad News Bears or Kicking and Screaming) An Example of one of the character studies is with Robot Man and how he can’t feel anything since his mind is stuck in a robot body. He feels no emotion, no hunger, no lust (which is hilariously portrayed im the Penultimate episode) and things get even deeper when he finally discovers that his daughter is still alive and living with a stepfather.
A highlight episode for me is episode 9: Jane Patrol that sends Robot Man into Jane’s mind to help pull out Jane as she has locked herself as well as all of her personalities into her own mind. It dives into the creation of some of her personalities and the structured system set into place so that the personalities get along.
All in all Doom Patrol is a breath of fresh air in a time where superhero media is dominating media. The wacky and comedic take on a band of super misfits is executed perfectly while also diving deeper into characters than most of the movies and tv shows out there. 4.4/5⭐️
The show is available on the DC Universe streaming service and has already been renewed for a second season.
Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds takes a somewhat different direction away from the tv show. Aspects involving Danny the Street, Robot Man, Negative Man, Crazy Jane and Elasti-Girl are similar but flipped on its head. Robot Man starts the series as an old man not in the robot suit, Larry Trainor’s energy entity is brought to the forefront as its own character and even has dialogue and Danny the Street is a part of a theme park. Another major difference these two issues have from the show is that the team has different members such as Flex Mentallo (same guy as the show but part of the main team), a man-cat named Lotion, and Fugg an alien looking plushy thing serves as a mascot.
The first issue titled “A Moment of Peace and the Ever Present Pain of Being” partly follows Cliff Steele’s return as a human being (albeit much older being), Negative Man’s acquisition of a therapy dog, and Rita getting stability advice from Flex. The majority of the issue follows Danny the Street taking the form of an amusement park inside an ambulance as it takes Flex, Negative Man, Fugg, Rita, Crazy Jane and a new character Casey to battle a fitness obsessed overlord on The Marathon Eternal.
This issue really dives into the psychology of body shaming and society’s ideal look for a being. The idea is at the forefront with the alien species Orban whose normal form is a blob-like. However, “the messiah” Gerb follows a fake religion that holds the law for the supreme shape. Due to the Orban natural shape being fatter and more spherical shape, Gerb forces every Orban to run until they get into shape even though the perfect shape is unhealthy for the Orbans.
The first issue is well done and has some nods to the show as well as the older Doom Patrol comics. Also, there is some vulgar humour and sexualized ideologies so it is not recommended for a young audience.
The second issue titled “Space Divorce” picks up with Cliff being rebuilt into his robot body after crashing his car purposely (For reasons mentioned in the first issue). Negative man (the entity not Larry) builds him a robot suit with an upgrade system where Cliff gains new abilities for every nice thing he does such as watering a plant gives him the ability to walk. Yeah Negative Man is kind of a dick 😂. The other problem at the center of this issue is the team having to find Larry’s positive energy. Due to Negative Man not being able to go back into Larry because of Larry’s positive energy, the team tries to remove them and they ultimately escape into Danny the Street’s amusement park.
This issue portrays the idea that positivity sometimes can be difficult to find quite beautifully. The idea that not everyone can be positive all the time and how people deal with it when they can’t is littered throughout the issue’s entirety.
Both issues are very well written (though can be confusing at times with the different characters and call backs to older comics) and the artwork is both colorful and quite detailed for a cartoony style. It compliments the show well and takes successful aspects of the show and incorporates them in a weirder yet more real world. —-Eric
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