Doom Patrol #89 (1964)
by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani
The first appearance of one of the few recurring Doom Patrol villains who doesn’t join the Brotherhood of Evil. More importantly, the debut of their classic costume!
We begin with scientist Dr. Larsen being escorted by the Doom Patrol, in their own way.
Oh so THAT is where the Batman TV series got the idea for the rope scenes!
Jokes aside, that was an amazing way to open the issue!
This was all just to impress Dr. Larsen at a fancy dinner.
Poor Robotman, couldn’t they fit proper clothes for him?
As mentioned, this is the debut of the new uniforms. They’ll be here for the rest of the Silver Age.
It’s an elegant design that manages to be both simple and easily identifiable.
Poor Robotman doesn’t get one. If they don’t want to give him clothes, couldn’t they at least paint him with the same colors?
Dr. Larsen’s goal is to create artificial life.
Aaaaand the guy falls into his own experiment. I swear if comic book characters followed ANY safety standard we’d have a tenth of those origins!
The experiment turns Larsen into THIS THING.
Luckily Chief keeps around a tank of liquid nitrogen, which as we all know works EXACTLY like a freezing ray. That’s just basic science.
Too bad it then transforms into a giant sulfur monster.
No, wait, it turns into a plant.
Aaaand now it’s a bird.
This is because Larsen figured out that animals, vegetables and minerals are basically the same thing.
Sounds legit.
The team finds Larsen’s journal, and there’s a twist: this was no accident! He already had powers, even before coming to America.
The transformation shenanigans are a fantastic excuse to have Premiani go nuts.
Check out this almost splash page!!! Very unorthodox for 1964, ESPECIALLY at DC.
Honestly does the plot matter anymore? We’re just here for the artwork.
Larsen’s supervillain name needs some work, though.
“Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man” sure is a mouthful.
My deepest apologies to any arachnophobe reading this.
He’s honestly one of the most versatile shapeshifters I’ve ever seen.
Even Chameleon Boy pales in comparison.
He’s also shockingly nasty! Who else would turn into a cloud of flies to sneak inside Robotman’s brain!?!?
This is one of the most disturbing moments in the entirety of the Silver Age.
Nice synergy among the teammates!
So if Larsen was already Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, why is he after the Doom Patrol?
He’s seeking revenge against Chief for stealing his invention.
“Built for pure research”, sure I’ll buy that.
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man attacks Elasti-Girl in the form of a tiger, but Chief’s weapon immobilizes him.
It’s a bit of a deus-ex-machina, but it’s not entirely an off button: Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man can’t be in mineral form for it to work.
In any other series, the tiger would just be locked somewhere.
But the Doom Patrol takes care of turning Larsen back into a human, hoping he will never transform into Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man.
So naturally he’ll be back in 6 issues.
Historical significance: 8/10
The classic costumes and a minor recurring villain.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The transformation is so ridiculous that you’d think this would have a higher score, but everything is played SO seriously… especially those horrific transformations… that it’s relatively modern.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
You’d think a story featuring such a ridiculous character would be way sillier than this! But it plays the horror and the tension completely straight, which works perfectly and is way ahead of its time.
The only downside is the resolution: having Chief just have the perfect weapon just laying around is too anticlimactic. Also you mean to tell me Larsen knew his hated rival stole the only thing that could stop him… and he doesn’t even try to take it back?
Times Robotman has been damaged: 5
Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 6
Interesting letters: considering he’s the member with the least exposure so far, it’s fascinating that Negative Man won the popularity contest.
The contest was tied to a prize: those submitting the best explanations for why they like a certain Doom Patrol member got original Premiani artwork.
Among the names of the winners I spot Tony Isabella (future Marvel and DC writer, creator of Black Lightning among other things) and Don Markstein of Toonopedia fame.
