Doom Patrol #105 (Part 1)

Doom Patrol #105 (1966)
by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani
cover by Bob Brown

Missed opportunity to have Mr.103 show up for issue 103.

Mento is now counted as a full member of the Doom Patrol.

The boys are taking Elasti-Girl’s marriage well.
Also: I really don’t like having Negative Man’s energy form being able to talk.

Speaking of the newlyweds, they didn’t go to their honeymoon because Mento has to work.

Which doesn’t really track with what he said to Elasti-Girl in his marriage proposal.

Hey remember when Chief told us that Elasti-Girl’s powers will eventually kill her?
That must mean that she only uses them when it’s absolutely necessary, right?
Right?

Mr. Husband Of The Year 1966 right here.

I still think this is a terrible relationship. Not only Mento BARELY tolerates his wife having superpowers, but even his servants are judgmental for the dumbest reasons.
Not that I don’t buy people in 1966 being weird about this… heck I know there are people in 2024 being weird about this… but you would think that working with an eccentric billionaire would make them used to this.

Meanwhile, the Doom Patrol boys go into action on the Doom-mobile…

…and Elasti-Girl gets along for the ride!

She’s not the only one, as Beast Boy wants to get into the action.

Until Robotman RUNS HIM OVER.

Beast Boy is still trying to keep his identity a secret from his legal guardian, so he’s still going around with that mask.

The team’s mission is to investigate a suspicious source of radioactivity.
Not really sure why Negative Man didn’t do this himself, since A) he’s immune to radioactivity B) he could search the place at the speed of light.

Elasti-Girl… you DO know what Beast Boy’s powers are, right?

They find a secret hideout, and notice Elasti-Girl already acting like Beast Boy’s mother figure.

For the second time, Beast Boy transforms into a swarm of animals instead of a single one, something I don’t believe he’s able to do after the original run.
Also, a quick search tells me the collective noun for fireflies should be “swarm” or “cloud”, not “mess”.
(by the way, collective nouns never made sense to me. Do native speakers REALLY know all of them?)

I was a little disappointed by how generic Premiani drew the exterior of the warehouse, but he was just preparing to show us the absolutely gorgeous cave beneath it!

Which makes me wonder… will Beast Boy ever get to visit the Batcave? Because I would imagine he’d have flashbacks to this story!

There’s a passage protected by an electrical field that shocks Robotman, so the Chief’s solution is… kind of the dumbest thing to ever actually work.

Once inside, they discover there’s THIS THING creating new tunnels.

That’s actually Mr.103, which would have been a neat surprise if they didn’t spoil it on the cover!!!

He quickly incapacitates Negative Man by covering him in lead…

…and both Elasti-Girl and Beast Boy by picking their noses.

Weirdly enough he doesn’t try to incapacitate Robotman, instead deciding to fly away as a kite.

Some time later, once Mento learns his wife is acting as a superhero he’s STILL against it.

Jokes aside, this is historically significant. While DC Comics is not ENTIRELY without precedents when it comes to superhero couples… they go as far back as Hawkgirl… in the early Silver Age, women were still supposed to just stay home after marriage.
So Elasti-Girl is definitely pushing a more modern view of the relationship.

Mr.103’s next target is a big meteor, so he breaks into a museum to steal it.

Shapeshifter fight!!!

The rest of the team doesn’t have a better track record.

Mr.103 then transforms into the creature from the cover, and I think this is showcasing why he doesn’t stick around as a villain.
Sure he’s impressive as a shapeshifter, but that’s the problem: he’s TOO impressive!
He doesn’t to any theme, and since he can transform into literally anything seemingly without hesitation it’s hard to believe he can lose.

Also, how the heck does Mr.103 know that this meteorite is able to protect him from the Chief’s gun? He’s never come into contact with the meteorite before!!!

Despite being basically invincible, for some reason Mr.103 seems to be terrified of Robotman…

…to the point of just leaving.

He’ll be back next issue. Meanwhile Elasti-Girl is dealing with the REAL villain of the series.

And also Beast Boy’s legal guardian, I guess.

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Historical significance: 2/10
The second part will be the last Silver Age appearance of Mr.103.

Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Mr.103 continues to be perhaps the most impressive non-magic shapeshifter I’ve seen in comics.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Not a lot happens on the superhero side, and while Mr.103 does allow some creativity he’s incredibly dull.
The most interesting part, as mentioned, is showcasing Elasti-Girl not falling in the typical stereotypes of the era… but that’s just a small part of the story.

 Times Robotman has been damaged: 19 

Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 13