This Column is DOOMED! - One: Adventures Great & Small

I don't remember 1963.

I wasn't even alive yet, so don't expect me to wax nostalgic about the year, or tell you about the various things that were going on. According to Wikipedia, though, it started on a Tuesday, JFK was assassinated, Pope Paul VI came to power, ZIP codes were introduced in the United States, the first NHL draft was held in Montreal, Lester Pearson became the new Prime Minister of Canada, the first X-Men comic was released, Tab cola debuted, Dr. No was screened in US theatres, many other interesting bits of trivia, and Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani created the Doom Patrol.

Well, okay, it doesn't specifically mention that Drake and Premiani created the Doom Patrol in the run down of 1963, but in My Greatest Adventure #80, with a cover date of June 1963, they did just that. Prior to that issue, My Greatest Adventure seemed to have been an anthology title with multiple one-off tales per issue. After #80 the series continued on to #85 with tales mostly about the Doom Patrol (there are still a couple issues with other back-up features), before changing its title officially to The Doom Patrol. [My Greatest Adventure #80 - 85 are reprinted in The Doom Patrol Archives No. 1]

The intial team consists of the core of what you tend to think of when you envision a "classic" Doom Patrol line-up: The Chief, Robotman, Negative Man, and Elasti-Girl. Now, I'm not going to say that the stories are overlooked masterpieces or anything of the sort, but they are by and large fun. The dialogue is overwrought, the science is fantastically flawed, and the characterization is paper-thin, but this was the 60's: all of the the books were written like this. Which is actually partially the interesting thing; "strange heroes" with flaws coming up against equally "strange" villains like General Immortus as well as the scrutiny of the public around them. Almost sounds like a Marvel book, doesn't it? Issue #83 even has them fighting against themselves with the team trying to stop a Negative Man running rampant.

It's also somewhat quaint what's considered "strange" at this point. A guy in a wheelchair with incredible intelligence. A robot with a human brain. A woman who can shrink or grow at whim. A man in bandages that can create a "negative" version of himself that escapes his body to fly about and do whatever. Seems almost normal these days.

I'll have more to say about story when I take a look at what becomes of "Volume 1", however, what I do admire from the onset is the artwork from Bruno Premiani. It doesn't quite have the same economy of line, but it seems clear from this one of the influences on Mike Allred. Particularly when it comes to Allred's work on X-Force and X-Statix.

Next: Beast Boy and the ties to the DCU and everyone's got something to hide except me and my monkey.