Elasti-Girl Friday 10

Ten?! Really? Wow. I know that's only two-and-a-half months, assuming I posted an Elasti-Girl Friday every Friday, but for some odd reason, TEN seems more impressive to me.

In an earlier Elasti-Girl Friday, I cited the awesomely amazing Justice series from Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite. Well, here's another page. This one bears a little more scrutiny though.

Not only does it give us a chance to breathe in some of Niles Caulder's headache-inducing line of thinking, but we get to see interaction between the Doom Patrol and some members of the Justice League. Additionally, we see Beast Boy with the DP. Note the green dog with Chief when he asks Rita to place Aquaman in the tank. Gar later becomes a bird, next to Robotman in the last panel on this page and in the page later on in this post, you'll see Gar getting catty.

The League has brought Aquaman to Caulder for medical attention beyond their perceived capacities, and no less than Martian Manhunter and Zatanna are the representatives of the League. These three Leaguers - Zatanna, J'onn and Arthur - were the three most often viewed as outcasts, discarded by League creators a little too frequently or too often.

Here, however, with the Doom Patrol, they fit. There's a certain sense of belonging that never gets stated on the printed page, but just seems right. On more than one occasion, the DP has met up with Aquaman, including the JLA: Year One segment I posted about earlier where the DP were trying to recruit Aquaman.

Caulder reaches the deduction that Aquaman is an amphibian and therefore, well, click and read it yourself.
Makes you wonder why Aquaman ever had a hook, eh?

Maybe someday all of the stars will align and Arthur will actually join the Doom Patrol. Until then, however, I look forward to more team-ups.

Until then, I've got this book and a few of those other team-ups to go back to. The more I read and re-read this book, though, the more I'm feeling the urge to splurge for the Absolute edition.