As my partner-in-crime Chris Delloiacono wrote in Part 1 of Silver Dawn, our 4-part look at the Silver Age of comics: “Coincidence boggles the mind sometimes.†This week’s installment was intended to look at the origins of two of DC’s more morbid franchises, the Doom Patrol and the Suicide Squad, falling in my 1 year anniversary week with 411. The coincidences? Well, my first review for this site was a Doom Patrol review. The other coincidence? Well, the internet is currently buzzing after news that……
John Byrne will launch new Doom Patrol series in June!!
John Byrne ended speculation and confirmed that he will be helming a new Doom Patrol (DP) series for DC that is set to debut this summer and spring from the JLA. The new DP debuted in this weeks JLA #94.
Some sketch art was also released that may appear in Byrne’s current JLA arc or adorn the DP series.
Among his various forum posts, John Byrne has confirmed that:
1) The DP reboot will be a George Perez like Wonder Woman style reboot.
2) The DP’s appearance during the JLA’s “Tenth Circle†arc will be their first appearance in the DCU.
3) John Byrne will be writing and pencilling the new DP series. The inker has yet to be “officially†named.
4) Batman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter will appear in the first 2 issues of the new DP series.
5) Current JLA member ‘Faith’ will have a supporting role in the DP series.
6) DP members the Chief and Rita Farr have an “established link†with Ray Palmer (the Atom).
7) Beast Boy / Changeling / Gar Logan â€will be the Donna Troy of this reboot!†In pre-Byrne continuity he was the son of Rita Farr.
8) The new series will not be a Comics Code book, but still accessible to readers of all ages.
9) It was Dan DiDio’s idea to relaunch a new DP series a) so soon after the cancellation of the previous series, and b) from “ground zeroâ€.
10) JLA editor Mike Carlin asked John Byrne to launch DP from the JLA. Byrne’s idea for the JLA arc had been ruminating for some time, but the addition of the DP was a new development.
A Change in Plans
Now, since the news broke that John Byrne would be tackling a new Doom Patrol series, I thought I’d postpone Part 2 of our NMM Silver Dawn series until next week. It will be, as originally intended, a more detailed look at the Silver Age origins of the Doom Patrol and the Suicide Squad.
Instead, this week, I’d like to talk about this Byrne project.
411 on the original Doom Patrol
However, before I start, let me give you a brief history of the Doom Patrol. The Doom Patrol debuted in the Silver Age of comics in 1963’s My Greatest Adventure #80. The team revolved around a wheelchair bound genius benefactor, Niles Caulder a.k.a. the Chief. He brought together a group of misfit youngsters to make a difference for a world that found them to be freaks. A noble, but ironic calling.
Cliffe Steele was a race care driver who was severely injured in a track accident. His brain was saved and put into a robot body. His heroic nom de guerre became Robotman.
Larry Trainor was a civilian test pilot for the U.S. Air Force who encountered some strange radiation in the atmosphere during a flight. He initially dismissed the phenomena as sunspots, but soon discovered that he glowed with negative radiation! He also learned that he could channel the negative energy and project it outside of his body for limited periods of time. The energy would coalesce in a form that could undertake superhuman feats. Trainor had become a Negative Man.
Rita Farr was a movie starlet and stuntwoman with a Olympic gold medal in swimming under her belt. During a shoot in the South American jungles, she was carried off by river currents during a stunt that eventually found her recuperating on a strange marshland spewing toxins from strange geysers. Farr soon discovered that she could grow or shrink on a whim. Hollywood branded her a freak, and she left the silver screen and became Elasti-girl.
And so, my friends, the Doom Patrol is born!
The team and series met its end years later, but the team was redebuted in 1977 in Showcase #94. The team name and Robotman were the only vestiges of its Silver Age precursor. This was a “tradition†that would continue in two other iterations of the DP would emerge over the years. “New†DP series launched in 1987 and 2001 respectively. Both were doomed, literally.
With that context, on to Byrne’s DP!
Doomed from the start?
John Byrne is a lightning rod for controversy in the comic book industry. Fans either love or hate him – there isn’t much in between.
I have always squarely be on the fan side. I’ve enjoyed his work over the years, but have been honest when there were things I didn’t like. That’s just a matter of taste. The challenge of being critical is to be respectful. I’m a fan of Byrne’s writing style and pencilling, but would prefer someone else to ink and letter his books.
(Although, I will add that I really like Jerry Ordway as a penciller and inker. However, Jerry’s inks over Byrne’s pencils in the JLA Tenth Circle arc so far are very overpowering. The art looks more like Jerry was the penciller too.)
I have always found it ridiculous that some readers choose to dislike creators based on their opinions outside of the medium. While I think its fair game to comment on a creator’s views, political or otherwise, if they seep into their work, many Byrne haters purport to dislike him personally for no real credible reasons. These “trolls†have likely never met the man and, if they had, it was probably briefly when they were trying to get his autograph. Fickle “fans†indeed.
Like his work or not, Byrne is a living legend in the comics field. Period. End of story. Not debatable. Its a fact!
Perhaps his controversy magnetism can be turned into a positive and help promote the book.
I just hope that folks wait until the DP series hits the shelves in June and judge the book respectfully on its merits. Wow. What a novel concept.
The “C†Word
Well you knew the word “continuity†was going to rear its ugly head in this column sooner or later.
I have never been ashamed of it. I am a fan of continuity and consistency. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive. However, I also recognize the importance of bringing in new readers that don’t need to be bogged down in 60 years of history.
DC had a little thing called the Crisis on Infinite Earths in the mid-1980s that merged all of DC’s multiple universes into one. The 1990s brought us Zero Hour which was intended to clarify the timelines of this new merged universe.
Sadly, the 1990s also gave us the concept of ‘hypertime’ which basically negated these two events. It allows for the existence of different times / dimensions – meaning that all the Elseworld stories, for example, that DC has published over the years happened sometime, somewhere, somehow. Although, readers knew that since we actually read the stories. If the story isn’t published, then it doesn’t exist. Another novel concept.
In any event, should DC just recklessly discard years of history to bring in new readers at the expense of veteran readers? Of course not. That’s not what DC is doing.
It always comes back to Superman
My views about continuity have been well documented, particularly around the rebooting of the Superman mythos in the pages of Superman: Birthright. While I think revamping Superman’s origin does not get to the heart of what has plagued the franchise over the years, DC did, eventually, provide an in continuity explanation for it. A ‘refresh’ button was pushed for Superman, and I would argue for the whole DC Universe, with Superman #200.
That story may not have been pretty, but any changes or reboots of DC franchises can be rationalized away to veteran readers by blaming the villains of that issue, and the arc that led to it, the Futuresmiths.
As I wrote in a review of the issue, “The Last Superman Story of Superman #200 opens with our Man of Steel traveling through the ether of his various divergent origins, guided by the Ghost of Christmas-Future…a.k.a. a nano-organic literal Man-of-Steel from the future. This is what the future holds for Superman…he becomes more machine than man.
However, as his mechanized future self reveals, in their travels through the time stream — passing Superman’s GA [Golden Age] origin, his MOS [Man of Steel] origin, and his Birthright beginnings — ‘… in my future an agent of evil has cast time into flux, leaving it malleable — causing these variants of the past…’
So there you have it, my friends. The Futuresmith menace, and their…. benefactor, have left time / continuity open to change. This is the toehold DC has made to, perhaps, make long-time Superman fans accept a potential in-continuity explanation for making Superman’s BR [Birthright] origin the definitive origin for the Man of Tomorrow.â€
What’s good for the Superman franchise is certainly good for the Doom Patrol.
Superman #200 is DC’s mini-Crisis ‘refresh’ button.
Veteran readers and new readers should be able to come under one tent with DP. That certainly appears to be DC’s intent.
Final Thoughts
I would encourage all fans and detractors of John Byrne or the Doom Patrol to wait until the series hits the stands so that any debate on it can be judged on what’s out there. Heated debate over speculation, while entertaining, is unproductive.
However, since JLA #94 hit the stands this past Wednesday, we do have something of substance about the new DP team to chat about.
Stay tuned for 411’s review of JLA #94 next week!
The Reading Rack
Pick up JLA #94. Its on stands now! Judge it for yourself.
