Doom Patrol #100 (1965)
by Arnold Drake & Brubo Premiani
cover by Bob Brown
Beast Boy has graduated to being on the cover, but he’s not yet listed as a member of the team above the title.
We begin once again with Beast Boy trashing the Doom Patrol headquarters, but this time he has the luxury of Bruno Premiani artwork.
What the… so Beast Boy DIDN’T join last time? I was pretty sure he did, but apparently not!
What the heck does he mean by “there’s no room for you in the Doom Patrol”?
If he said he’s too young to join at least I would’ve understood the logic behind it.
I mean Beast Boy already has everything you need to be a superhero: superpowers, a code name, and no parents.
Beast Boy’s legal guardian is a real piece of work, ready to sell him for 1,000 dollars (which would be roughly 10,000 dollars in 2024 money).
Also he calls him “Craig” throughout the entire story, which will NOT be Beast Boy’s real name later on.
Because of his guardian, Beast Boy has to subject himself to a weird experiment.
That hypnotizing disk is a weakness that will haunt Beast Boy all the way up to the 2003 cartoon.
More importantly, the scene introduces something that will be significant later: the fact that Beast Boy NEVER takes off this necklace thing.
Yes, even when he transforms into animals that are smaller than the necklace… SOMEHOW.
Okay I’ve heard about sewer lizards originating from pets bought for children, but… did people actually sell them on the street???
Also: “baby lizard”? How big does that thing grow as an adult lizard???
And then we have a dinosaur robbing a bank!!!
Well I guess it was only a matter of time.
Okay I know dinosaurs are big and scary, but I doubt they’re invulnerable!!!
How is this going to help, Robotman???
Beast Boy has informed the Doom Patrol that he knows what’s behind this, so he’s immediately recruited.
This is the excuse to give us the full Beast Boy origin story, which begins with his father trying to reverse evolution.
Mercifully Beast Baby here doesn’t talk like a Bizarro as children used to be during the Silver Age… although it’s possibly even worse.
The science of this origin story might sound far-fetched. But come on, who wouldn’t trust this guy?
You’d expect him to accidentally give the evolution-breaking serum to his son, and THAT being the origin for the powers… but it’s more complicated.
First the kid gets the very deadly and very fictional Backstory Disease…
…which can only be cured by first transforming him into a green monkey.
Things we learned with JUST these two panels:
A) green monkeys exist (???)
B) they’re apparently ancestors of modern humans
The treatment works after the kid transforms back from a monkey: not only this has cured him from the Backstory Disease, it also cured him from DC Baby Talk Syndrome!!!
But it also gives him the power to change into any animal.
The father makes him promise to keep his powers a secret. I understand the logic behind it… he doesn’t want his son to be experimented on or discriminated… but HE’S GREEN, does he think nobody’s going to notice and try anyway???
And then his parents die in a waterfall. This is particularly tragic because we’ve seen that a more experienced Beast Boy COULD have saved his parents, so it’s understandable if he feels guilty.
Oh, right, there was supposed to be a story.
As you’ve probably already figured out, the sketchy scientist who hypnotized Beast Boy also stole the secret to bringing back dinosaurs.
Now that Beast Boy officially joins the team, he gets a full costume… and hilariously a mask to hide his identity.
Also it turns out Beast Boy’s clothes match his powers perfectly enough to avoid being naked.
So not only the Doom Patrol dynamic is a bit reminiscent of the Fantastic Four… they also have Unstable Molecules™.
So we get a big dumb animal fight.
This is an excellent show of why Beast Boy is so incredibly dangerous: it’s not that he can turn into strange animals, it’s that he’s ridiculously versatile!!!
Almost as ridiculous as the idea that the T-Rex would be knocked out this fast. Or the fact that Beast Boy’s clothes still fit him as a fly.
And the mad scientist turns out to be… the assistant to Beast Boy’s father WHO WE DIDN’T SEE IN THE FLASHBACK.
You would expect Beast Boy to be freed from the custody of the guy who wanted to sell his body to science, but that will have to wait another time.
Historical significance: 8/10
Beast Boy’s origin story is kept mostly intact over the years. Even if he’s not Craig anymore.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
DINOSAURS ROBBING BANKS!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Silliness aside, it’s still pretty good. The origin flashback is by far the best part; it follows familiar superhero tropes but it’s still unique enough to stand on its own. And not resolving the part about the legal guardian helps making the situation slightly more realistic.
The actual superhero part is saved by some great Bruno Premiani action scenes, even though the bad guy is as generic as they come.
Times Robotman has been damaged: 13
This time BY HIMSELF, but it still counts.
Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 10