DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest

Not to be confused with Pabst Blue Ribbon, DC produced a fine line of digest reprints of some great stories. The nineteenth addition to this fine line was dedicated to the Doom Patrol. For fun here's some linkage to another Rob Kelly! site featuring those same Blue Ribbon Digests.

I saw this beauty once a long, long time ago and didn't buy it. Since then, I've been trying to track it down and thanks to my "dealer", Scott, over at Back to the Past in sunny Livonia, Michigan I was able to get my grubby paws on it.

When I emailed Scott to see if they had it in stock, he replied, "You mean like this one?"

His expression in this photo is priceless. I expected him to continue to send updates, peeling the pages out of the book and laughing. Or at least post a ransom note. Later that day, the book was out of Scott's hands and on its way home.

The gorgeous George Perez cover (with a new outfit for Rita, seeing as this one has sleeves) promises 100 pages of goodness, but the page numbering stops short. The last numbered page is 98, which I've chosen to share with you. Keep reading. You'll get there.

I'm thinking the inside covers were included in the page count.

At any rate, this issue reprints some choice DP stories from yesteryear. Published in 1982, it reprints My Greatest Adventure #80 as well as Doom Patrol #86 and 90-91.

The gem of the collection, however, is this diagnostic illustration of our buddy, Cliff Steele. Also rendered by Perez, this drawing has only ever appeared in the digest.

Perez also added some new artwork for the back cover, which I will add in a little later today. Be sure to check back.

Coming up Friday, I'll be returning with some more Elasti-Girl Friday fun. Until then, keep Patrolling.