Doom Patrol #86 (1964)
by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani
When it comes to being the oddballs of DC Comics, few characters can really compete with the Doom Patrol. And fittingly their nemesis are part of the absurd Brotherhood of Evil… which debuts pretty early in their career.
Don’t let the numbering fool you: the Doom Patrol debuted in “My Greatest Adventure #80”, with the series being renamed “Doom Patrol” from this issue.
Since this is the first time I’ve covered the Doom Patrol, I assume some introductions are in order.
The team is supposed to be composed of freaks who can’t really work with the rest of society, something that really works for people like Robotman (who is a robot) and Negative Man (who is radioactive)…
…but has always made Elasti-Girl stick out, because she can grow into a giant or shrink down.
That’s it. That’s what classifies her as a freak. In a universe with other superheroes.
Also, to get the obvious joke out of the way: yes, the Doom Patrol is a team of heroes hated and feared by humanity lead by a man in a wheelchair and who constantly fight a team with “brotherhood” and “evil” in the name… and they debuted slightly before the X-Men.
Everyone brings it up. But to be honest, the original Doom Patrol stories have more in common with the Fantastic Four than with the X-Men, so let’s move on.
We begin with the team carrying out the very important task of… looking for a present to give to their leader.
You might think that Elasti-Girl is the typical 60s heroine, but she’s got sass.
Robotman, on the other hand, gives him a rock.
Just kidding, he’s ripping off Superman.
The Doom Patrol is weird even when it has no reason to be. For example, the reason why they’re giving Chief presents is that they randomly decided it’s his birthday…
…but then it turns out it really IS his birthday. Why go through all of this instead of just being a regular birthday party?
Because Doom Patrol.
I said the classic Doom Patrol has more in common with the Fantastic Four than the X-Men because don’t tell me you don’t see Reed Richards having to deal with this kind of stuff.
And so SUDDEN ROBOT!!!
It’s a pity Doom Patrol didn’t get more exposure, because it’s refreshing to see a super-heroine getting a very physical power. Other than Wonder Woman, this was quite rare… even Supergirl rarely had to get her hands dirty.
In basically ANY other story, SHE would be the damsel in distress.
The giant robot rematch will have to wait, because the person who stole Chief’s robot is working for the Brotherhood of Evil, which now gets its introduction.
Starting from Madame Rouge, who A) is a teacher in Paris B) never wears red despite her name literally meaning red.
She’s a trusted lieutenant of the greatest mastermind in the world… The Brain.
And finally, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the very best body horror of the Silver Age: The Brain himself.
I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about him that makes my skin crawl every time.
He SHOULD be silly, but it really works!
And to complete the Brotherhood, we have The Brain’s right hand ape: Monsieur Mallah, a.k.a. the OTHER supersmart gorilla from DC Comics.
If there’s one thing that links all fictional universes, it’s the cloaking ability of wearing an oversized coat with a hat.
Now don’t be shocked, but a team headed by a brain in a jar and a supersmart talking gorilla is not exactly subtle.
Doom Patrol fights are rarely boring. Also, if your main ability is to grow into a giant, maybe a skirt isn’t the best choice for your costume.
Seriously, Elasti-Girl is awesome.
The giant robot is defeated, but Monsieur Mallah manages to save the giant robot’s pilot thanks to a fake bomb distracting the team.
We close on the subplot about everyone being in love with Elasti-Girl, and that’s already the end!
I will probably revisit the Doom Patrol someday. There’s way too much material for a Metal Men-style full retrospective, but it’s a goldmine.
Historical significance: 7/10
For the Doom Patrol it’s a 10/10, but the Brotherhood isn’t all that much present in other series.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Between the talking gorilla, the brain-in-a-jar and the giant robot, what else could it possibly be?
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
This is mostly the setup for the series, not that the Doom Patrol is the main feature. Nothing negative stands out, other than the rather abrupt finale, but it’s more a “to be continued” than anything else. In general, several of the early Doom Patrol stories are really ahead of their time… even with all the Silver Age silliness.
How close is this to the modern character?
The Brotherhood members have such a different evolution that it’s worth it to analyze them separately.
Madame Rouge: 0/10
She’s barely present at all. She’s by far the member of the team with the most development!
Both physically, because a few issues later The Brain gives her shapeshifting powers…
…which DO include full shapeshift, even though she mostly just stretches…
…and psychologically, because she will develop a split personality (with the “good” half falling in love with Chief, even).
She dies in 1982, on the pages of New Teen Titans, long after her original adversaries died.
Oddly enough, despite being called Madame Rouge… all of her costumes are blue and she often wore blue outfits.
The version on the Teen Titans cartoon is basically the only version to wear red, which SHOULD be a no brainer!!!
The Brain: 9/10
I love this guy. Few supervillains are as unabashedly corny and proud of it as The Brain. He’s as evil and rotten to the core as they come, basically for no reason, but he can be scary when needed.
He’s also THE body horror supervillain for me.
I adore most of his designs! The original was literally a brain in a jar connected to a separate speaker, but he later went around with THIS thing:
When he showed up again on Teen Titans in the 80s, he received a fantastic redesign courtesy of the late George Perez which was a definite step up.
I haven’t seen the Doom Patrol TV show yet (I know, I know, everyone tells me it’s good); I can’t speak for how the character acts, but he looks the part.
Still, much like Madame Rouge, my favorite look remains the Dalek-inspired one from the Teen Titans cartoon.
I don’t think we ever saw what The Brain looked like before he lost his body. The closest thing we got was when he briefly got a cloned body… which then got blown up to return him to being a brain in a jar, because comics.
Monsieur Mallah: 5/10
During the Silver Age and even during his few 80s appearances in Teen Titans, Mallah was just the classic loyal henchman.
But when Grant Morrison introduced a new generation of Doom Patrol in the 90s, Mallah gained the last two things that would end up defining him.
His red beret…
…and the fact that he and The Brain (shown here possessing Robotman’s body) are actually lovers!!!
And that’s the modern Brain & Mallah: the gay couple consisting of a talking gorilla with a beret and an evil brain in a jar.
This is everything there is to love about comics.
But even THAT is not the weirdest thing to happen to the Brotherhood of Evil under Grant Morrison!
Because… that guy piloting Chief’s giant robot? The one so forgettable I didn’t even mention his name in the review?
That guy became the most abstract supervillain in history: Mr. Nobody, leader of the Brotherhood of Dada.
Grant Morrison is a national treasure… in whatever universe he’s from.
When is was a kid I always thought her name was Rogue not Rouge… Maybe DC was confused too….
I doubt it… she’s French, lives in France and her dialogue has some French here and there that is mostly correct. I don’t think her codename being French is a coincidence.
The Doom Patrol is Awesome in almost every incarnation. I hope you really do a retrospective….
And what a coincidence, I was watching the latest episode of the TV show yesterday and I thought exactly the same: “Why doesn’t Madame Rouge wear red??”
I loved the first incarnation of the Doom Patrol. I first encountered them as a boy of six or seven, and from the first, I perceived how different they were from your typical DC comic. I later realized that Drake and Premiani were doing a Marvel-style book for DC, which was unique at the time. Drake was such an unsung innovator. Did you know he wrote what’s generally accepted as the first graphic novel (It Rhymes With Lust)? And I’d put it to you that Rita Farr was the first true feminist superhero (and no, I don’t consider early Wonder Woman as a feminist hero.)
When the DP were cancelled, and Drake and Premiani decided to have them go out in a glorious heroic sacrifice, young me was utterly gobsmacked. It’s still the best last issue in all of comics.
I also vote for a Doom Patrol retrospective. I read some of these stories in the ’70s reprints. They were quite different from anything else on the stands–even the X-Men despite some superficial similarities. It’s refreshing to read this review and heaps of praise for a Silver Age comic. I was beginning to think everything was as bad as Jimmy Olsen and Robin faking their deaths to conspire against Superman and Batman.
Perhaps Madame Rouge’s mother named her for her favorite color and everything the child had was red. Clothes, shoes, bike, her bedroom adorned with red walls, drapes, sheets. And by the time she got out on her own she vowed never to wear red again. It’s possible. Hell I worked for UPS for 26 years and you will never see me in brown again. A little extreme I know but we all have our dislikes.