Doom Patrol #102

Doom Patrol #102 (1966)
by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani
cover by Bob Brown

The conclusion to the unorthodox crossover with the Challengers Of The Unknown.

I’m going to assume that “pot-headed” had a different meaning in 1966.

We begin with Chief excited by the Challengers coming to the DP Headquarters.

Robotman is far from “goofing off”: he’s entertaining sick children.
Isn’t Chief being a little too harsh here? It’s not like HE never disappears to handle his own personal projects!

I wouldn’t eat that off his hand if I were you, kid.

Classic “tough guy with a heart of gold” moment. Well whatever he has for a heart is metal anyway.

Meanwhile Elasti-Girl is enjoying a pool party.

Well she WOULD enjoy it, if it wasn’t for Mento.

He is SO annoying that Elasti-Girl spontaneously grows a glove on her hand when she slaps him, ensuring she doesn’t even touch him.

Robotman drops by to recruit Elasti-Girl, and treats Mento with all the dignity he deserves.

Negative Man is the only one doing something adventurous, going back to being a test pilot.
And giving us a VERY rare glimpse at what he looks like beneath the bandages!
I’ve seen worse.

This proves to be useful once the rocket he’s following gets out of control.

Once again he tries using his energy form to heat his target. I don’t think this is an application of his powers that is used often after this era.

He’s also developing better control over his power, being able to absorb the energy from an electrical storm to power up!

Neat little sequence, but we’re keeping the Challengers waiting.

Guys, guys, there’s no need to argue. You were BOTH terrible at stopping Multi-Man.

In the Challengers story, the fact that Multi-Man built and then blew up a whole underwater city was little more than a throwaway line. But now it’s a lead.

And thanks to the 1966 version of Wikipedia, Chief is able to find what Multi-Man has been up to.

You’ll never guess what this comic is going to bring up.

Mostly because the Comics Code wouldn’t have allowed them to use the name in the previous years.

ZOMBIES.

And not just any zombies.

ZOMBIES FROM ATLANTIS.

No biggie. Just a casual resurrection of people who have been dead for 3,000 years.

Atlanteans have no respect.

I thought Multi-Man’s underwater city was destroyed by the bomb in the Challengers issue. Was I wrong or did he build TWO cities?

And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is why you want Bruno Premiani on the artwork.

When did this comic become FREAKING AWESOME???

Meanwhile the Doom Patrol dives in to attack Multi-Man’s underwater city…

…which means, you guessed it, a big dumb fish fight.

Elasti-Girl is the one to take care of Multi-Man, once again showcasing Premiani’s insane attention to detail.

Multi-Man’s shapeshifting abilities are approaching those of Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man at this point, considering he’s able to transform into A SCHOOL OF FISH.
If we include him as a Doom Patrol villain, that makes him the FOURTH shapeshifting villain after Madame Rouge, AVM Man and Mr.103.

Then we get a 1 page interlude about Beast Boy having the munchies.

How big is that fridge???

The first ever interaction between Beast Boy and Mento, with the latter being treated with the respect he deserves.

Mento’s private jet brings him to the Pacific Ocean in 90 minutes (!!!), so that Beast Boy can turn this into a shapeshifting fight.

They better hurry, because the Atlantis Zombies are attacking Japorta… wherever THAT is.
Based on the map shown by the Challengers at the beginning of the story I assume it’s meant to be Jakarta, but I couldn’t find a reference if it was ever called “Japorta”.

The Atlanteans have some impressive weapons, able to break Negative Man into pieces!
How will he be able to survive THIS?

Super-easy, barely an inconvenience.

You might have noticed that up to this point the Challengers haven’t done anything!
But they help… defeating ONE zombie.

But fortunately it’s the only zombie that matters.

Meanwhile Volcano Man is giving a hard time to the rest of both teams, until Mento shows up to save the day!

Only to be defeated in ONE PANEL because he was wearing his helmet OUTSIDE OF THE OTHER HELMET.

Robotman defeats the alien robot Kra by RIPPING HIS LEG OFF.

Since we had a robot vs robot fight, I guess it’s fair to have another catfight.

Full disclosure, I typically exaggerate my distaste for Mento for comedic effect… but I’m serious this time.
If you ONLY consider what he’s done so far, without taking into account future character development… why does ANYONE like Mento???

Multi-Man then changes into a whale, but Beast Boy finally shows up to prove he’s the superior shapeshifter by turning into a cluster of barnacles.
Yes, that’s the collective noun for barnacles… collective names make no sense.
No, I don’t think Beast Boy will ever be able to do something like this again.

The Atlantean King is returned to the corpse of his wife (!!!), just in time for Atlantis to crumble.

And so we close the issue with both teams arguing about who saved who.

Can you blame Beast Boy for having second thoughts about joining?

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Historical significance: 1/10
Pretty sure nothing comes from this. But it IS the first meeting between Beast Boy and Mento.

Silver Age-ness: 8/10
ZOMBIES FROM ATLANTIS.

Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
I found this one to be far more entertaining than the Challengers issue, if only because the Doom Patrol members have a personality. The Challengers got a raw deal out of this crossover: they have BARELY anything to do, mostly being confined with antagonizing the Doom Patrol.
But it also benefits IMMENSELY from some truly spectacular panels by Premiani. He’s so good in this that I’m starting to think Drake is writing shapeshifting villains on purpose, to give Premiani any chance to flex.
Unfortunately Multi-Man feels quite generic, and the rest of his team barely has any personality to speak of. Still, props for some VERY creative villain plots!

Times Multi-Man has escaped: 5
Adding to the four escapes of last time: he escapes as a school of fish.

 Times Robotman has been damaged: 15

Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 11

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Interesting letters: for reasons I can’t fathom, fans really wanted to see more Mento.
Including future writer Mike Friedrich, who I don’t think ever got to write the Doom Patrol.