Doom Patrol #1

Written by Gerard Way

Art by Nick Derington

Colors by Tamra Bonvillain

It’s hard to not have some high expectations for Doom Patrol. After all, it has a high pedigree of creators over its boom times. Gerard Way wrote something quite close to the Doom Patrol’s tone in Umbrella Academy not so long ago, and given how close in theory the Young Animals imprint seems to be to the classic Vertigo years, one wants to hope for it to succeed. In that respect, Doom Patrol succeeds tremendously. However, simply evoking a popular period of course isn’t enough, and Way does a great job of setting his own tone for the series.

The standbys are there of course, with Robotman introduced and then getting shattered (as he is wont to do), along with the Chief’s brief introduction. Considering the low visibility of these characters, the last decade is alright. Putting them in the background allows Casey to function as a satisfying point of view character.

While new characters aren’t unknown to the Doom Patrol, Casey Brinke is a nice starting point towards working to the inevitable insanity that comes in this comic: brains in jars, the universe as a gyro, and exploding roommates.

To that effect, Nick Derington does a fantastic job of illustrating all of this. While the reasoning behind the Young Animal line being separate from Rebirth would be lost if the art wasn’t different, you can rest assured this is like nothing else you’re reading. It’s also great to see Tamara Bonvillain’s lush colors on this comic as well, a colorist goes a long way towards defining a book, and the gyro creation myth may be a runner for my favorite thing out of a comic this year. Definitely give Doom Patrol a shot, as this is one of those comics that only comes once in a blue moon.

5 out of 5 exploding roommates