Doom Patroling issue 4

Doom Patrol by Keith Giffen and Justiniano, who apparently has no first name but as he does a more than competent job with this fill in issue we'll forgive him. The regular art for those who've at least read this far is handled by Matthew Clark, a slightly more competent artist but as this issue gives him some breathing space to actually get the work done in order to get the book on time I'll forgive him to.

Now as this issue is a tie in to the latest 'big' thing to happen since the editors of DC took fucking idiot pills and let Grant Morrison do Final Crises, I was holding my breath and bought it mainly because it annoys the shit out of me when I don't have a complete run of a book that's been growing and developing nicely. I was somewhat gobsmacked that this doesn't need to be a tie in. If you care that much you can read an all points email from the Flash that Niles Caulder has up on his laptop which explains anything you need to know about why the dead are coming to life and attacking the living. Beyond that sit back and watch as Rita is attack by undead, ex member of DP Tempest when all she wants to do is rip the head of her ex (not undead) husband, marvel as Nile's ex (AND undead ex member of DP) wife disintegrates his already useless legs and go 'oooohhh' as Negative Man gets his negative arse handed to him by Negative Woman, whom I'm sure I don't have to tell you is undead and an ex member...yadda yadda yadda.

Not as monotonous as it sounds as it's sprinkled with what should be trademarked as 'Giffen Humour' but as this series has shown us it's a more mature humour not afraid to actually inject some proper pathos and actually make the Doom Patrol feel as disparate and distinct as it did before Grant Morrison started typing by smashing his head against the keyboard to the rhythm of Slip Knot in their transcendental period and actually produced the last great DP comic. Giffen has matured and he doesn't care who knows it either, in fact if this book has a weakness it's that the art stands back from the writing sometimes. You'll read someone's speech balloon and wonder how it connects with the panel or page in some way, but a comic that makes you think is a rare thing today so add that to the exculpation pile.

Two of the lead characters, Robot Man and Larry Trainer share a beautiful moment just before they are attacked by ex ex DP members. I won't spoil it but the love between the characters is there in a way it should be, freaks together because they've got nowhere else. The ending? Oh go look because I wouldn't spoil that for you for all the sex and coffee in the world. Doom Patrol to sum up is a fantastic book, growing subtly enough so it doesn't look forced but fast enough to keep you interested. This tie in is the best kind of tie in because it doesn't have to and it still crams more in than most comics. It's a shame it'll get canceled either at issue thirty or eighty depending on how popular it is. I may even get round to reading the Metal Men back up feature.

And low, I did read the Metal Men back up feature as co-written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis and penciled by Kevin Maguire. And it was the same as previous issues. An entertaining aside in the same way that that the Tom and Jerry cartoon (the none homogenized one from decades ago not the current neutered offering full of peace and 'wuv and thus making it more evil in intent than Jeffrey Dahmer's 'to do' list) was a fun little way to pass the time waiting for the movie before Orange took over. Unlike Giffen, DeMatteis hasn't matured in his approach and this would be forgivable if I felt that the back up strip was doing anything other than filling in pages that the Doom Patrol could be filling up. None of the Metal Men are fully realized and three dimensional characters by their very nature and this means the responsibility of reader access is poured onto what should be the perfect human counterfoil Dr Magnus, their creator. But he seems so full of himself it was as if he'd actually chowed down on his own feet and worked his way up. He's completely inaccessible. Not only that he flip flops between thinking of the Metal Men (a title I'm beginning to think would be great for a gay porn dvd) as nothing more than machines that can only mimic human behavior thanks to his own brilliance and then spouting the virtues of artificial life as equal to that or organic life.

It's entertaining and I wouldn't buy it if it was in it's own book is about the best I can say for it.