Doom Patrolling at the Comic Shop

No, you didn't miss an extra-szied, double-gatefold, foil-covered issue of Doom Patrol this week, but you may have missed some Doom Patrol goodness of a Silver Age flavor.

DC released the second volume of the Showcase Presents Doom Patrol yesterday. I personally passed on it for now, as I only recently got the fourth Archives volume.

Additionally, the DP makes an appearance in the fourth issue of the DCUniverse Legacies series, written by Len Wein and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

I'll be reviewing the latter over at CBR.

Doomed in May 2010

Looks like we're in for an extra treat or two in May.

As my friend, Petar, covered on the Doompedia earlier (like yesterday) the Patrol will be in the May issue of The Brave and the Bold #34. This is their second time appearing in this current incarnation of the series. Here's the cover and solicit:

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #34
On sale MAY 19
32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Art and cover by JESUS SAIZ
Don’t miss this first chapter of a most unexpected two-parter! This wouldn’t be the first instance where the Legion of Super-Heroes have gone back in time looking to add to their ranks. But the sheer craziness the Doom Patrol will bring into their lives just might make it the last time... and the Legion’s mission will lead to some rather unexpected consequences next issue!

I've been really enjoying JMS's run on B&B. It's been fun so far.

Then there's

DOOM PATROL #10
On sale MAY 5 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by KEITH GIFFEN Art by MATTHEW CLARK & RON RANDALL
Cover by MATTHEW CLARK & LIVESAY
What looks like a life-size statue washes up on the shore of Oolong Island and all hell breaks loose – the Porcelain Assassin has arrived! The Doom Patrol focus all their efforts on fending her off, but the fight isn’t nearly as brutal as the revelation of who sent her!

"The Porcelain Assassin" - cool! One of Matthew Clark's contributions to the book front and center.

And also the first of the trade paperbacks for the new DP.

DOOM PATROL: WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE TP
On sale JUNE 9 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US
Written by KEITH GIFFEN Art by MATTHEW CLARK, JUSTINIANO & LIVESAY
Cover by MATTHEW CLARK
The first issues of The Doom Patrol’s new series are collected as the team deals with a black hole and comes face to face with death in a BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in.

. . . and some more reprinty goodness featuring the Doom Patrol (albeit it's a former DP). Good stuff here, all in black and white!

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUICIDE SQUAD VOL. 1 TP
On sale JUNE 16 552 pg, B&W, $17.99 US
Written by JOHN OSTRANDER, KEITH GIFFEN & J.M. DEMATTEIS Art by LUKE MCDONNELL, ERIC LARSEN & OTHERS
Cover by LUKE MCDONNELL
Captured villains are offered an ultimatum: Go on near-impossible covert missions or rot in jail. For the first time, DC collects SUICIDE SQUAD #1-19, DOOM PATROL/SUICIDE SQUAD SPECIAL #1 and JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #13.

I pulled the info straight from Comic Book Resources, if you want to check out the rest of the solicits for DC in May.

Along those lines, Giffen is starting his run on Booster Gold with J. M. DeMatteis and Chris Batista. It looks like it's going to cross over with Giffen and Judd Winick's biweekly extravanganza Justice League International: Generation Lost. For some odd reason, I've seen more than a few people point out how much Booster looks like Michael Keaton on this cover, but no one mentions that Ice looks like Teri Garr.


Magog also continues under Giffen's writing. Additionally, DP alum Beast Boy continues to serve alongside the Teen Titans.

Completely unrelated to the Doom Patrol is the release of Brightest Day. Rather than go with one weekly series for the summer, DC is running two biweekly series. Kiss your wallets goodbye my friends!

While we're throwing money away, in the interest of fairness to both of the big two, and of (potential) particular interest to Doom Patrol fans, Marvel brings the Agents of Atlas back in May under the title of Atlas. If you haven't checked out any of the previous (the six-part mini or the eleven issue series or the Versus minis featuring the X-Men and Avengers) Atlas stories by Jeff Parker, you really should. They're good, clean, Silver Age fun - and they even have a talking gorilla.
Check out Marvel's May solicits here.
So what are y'all looking forward to in May?

New Comics Wednesday!

There's some Doom Patrol goodness hitting the shelves this week!

No, it's not the new Giffen & Clark series. It is Showcase Presents Doom Patrol Volume 1. These Showcase Presents volumes, in case you've been living under a rock, really pack a punch for not much scratch. Granted, the stories are printed in black and white on newsprint, but good luck tracking down any single issue reprinted in this book for less than the $16.99 cover price.

Volume 1 contains My Greatest Adventure #80-87, Doom Patrol #88-101 and Challengers of the Unknown #48. Over twenty issues in one easy to carry book. If I were a professor and this were Doom Patrol 101, this would be the text book waiting for you at the campus bookstore. Of course, if that were the case, none of you would ever read it after paying $84.95 for it at the campus bookstore.

These are the Arnold Drake (with Bob Haney) and Bruno Premiani stories that inspired generations of DP creators since. Sure, they might be a little far fetched and kinda wacky, but it IS comics, after all.

Do yourself a favor, skip some of those books you've been buying but haven't been enjoying and pick this up this week. You'll thank me for it.