I'm a cat person. That means I have a cat or cats. I've two, actually, Emmy and Milly.
Lotion is a cat person. In Doom Patrol terms that means he's a cat who's somehow evolved into a person. Actually, 'evolved' may be a stretch, given he behaves like a slacker teenager. I'd definitely prefer a regular cat.
Casey Brink, his ‘owner’, maybe not… halfway through this issue she's snogging her previous pet. Yuk.
Other notable things this month include Casey being told by Negative Man’s co-pilot, Keeg, that she has to move to Dannyland for the good of Danny’s health; Jane being told by Keeg that she has a controlling side. And Cliff being told by Keeg that it's OK that Larry is spending all his time asleep because his dreams are revealing things to him.
You know who Keeg reminds me of? The Chief, dropping random bits of information that may or may not be true, in order to manipulate people. I don't trust him.
Also, visually he recalls Mr Nobody of Brotherhood of Dada fame, and I'm pretty sure he's behind the scenes, waiting to screw with the Patrol. We have Casey’s flatmate, Teri None; Keeg insisting that Casey doesn't exist, which would make her a nobody; and Terry’s TV ad co-star Eddie Zilch… there's definitely a theme here.
As for what Teri’s advertising, it's that Sh!t food that makes everything taste better, including life. I'm not keen on this plotline because the 'Sh!t' name reminds me of a little kid showing their bum, thinking a bit of rudeness is clever…
I'm even less keen on the interlude with good guy paramedic Sam and his recently returned wife Valerie - she wants to find herself, he feels that as they've just found one another after four years apart they should be getting to know one another again. Then there's their son Lucius, who's a would-be devil worshipper and beyond tedious. Given how little panel time the actual Patrol members have had over the first several issues, I could do without the Reynolds family soap - if they're not interacting with the Patrol, why are they taking up page time?
My love for cats aside, I'd also like Lotion to go away, I just don't like the vibe he gives off. Which may be the point, but does the DC Universe really need another cat person, and a millennial at that?
The worst thing in this issue is the opening scene, which features a couple of workaday types who look after people who dream, when they should be dead. There may be a connection to Larry’s state, but I'm too irritated by the meaningless dialogue writer Gerard Way gives them to care.
This may well be a very good issue of Way’s Doom Patrol, but I'm not sure I'm the audience for it. I've little patience for the really slow plot development - I admire Way’s capacity for tossing ideas everywhere, but I want a tighter focus. I want characters to just stop accepting things - Casey not pushing Lotion on why he's now a humanoid cat, Cliff going along with Keeg as all-purpose scientist despite doubts, Casey eating the obviously odd Sh!t because Teri suggests she does - and show a bit of agency.
Only Jane seems to be really thinking for herself. If things don't pick up pace soon, I may be exiting Danny the Ambulance.
Nick Derington pencils this issue, with Tom Fowler jumping on board as inker; Fowler has a distinctive style when he's illustrating comics, but he subsumes that for the sale of continuity, which is rather gracious. I'd love to see Fowler fill in, solo, sometime. I'm sure Way could write a script to suit his talents as well as he served Mike Allred last issue.
My favourite page sees Flex Mentallo being tested for something or other by Keeg - ‘Geek’ backwards, is that significant? - due in part to the wonderfully relaxing colours of Tamra Bonvillain.
Derington’s cover is clever, though I like the logo placement more than that darn cat, while James O’Barr’s variant is freaky. Well done, but that is one creepy cat.
I used to be a cat person…
Good call on Keeg slipping into the role of The Chief. There's plot brewing with Larry sleeping through everything constantly, particularly if he never attends the briefings when Keeg runs them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Keeg is really up to? I bet our favourite masseur will figure it out!
DeleteEddie Zilch's odd glasses also recall the strange shape of Mr. Nobody's design. He's definitely lurking in these issues.
ReplyDeleteDP is a book I want to love, but I'm getting lukewarm on, largely for the same reasons as you. (I liked Lotion a lot in this issue, and Sam's story doesn't bother me, but like you I'd appreciate some answers, and some agency on Casey's part.) This book is so odd that it's hard to jump right back into it, and its infrequency works against my involvement in the story.
I wonder if we should jump off DP after this storyline and see how it reads as a trade. Great catch on Eddie's specs!
DeleteI took all the issues I'd bought of this iteration to the charity shop when I moved house. Morrison's original version sank into self-indulgent nonsense and this pastiche is even worse.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what anyone who buys them will think... at least they'll be able to read 'em in a oner.
DeleteI enjoy this book, even though I do agree with you that the characters seem to quick to accept everything that is happening around them. I appreciate the lunacy of it, but I think they are trying too hard. I am still quite taken by the general look and feel of it, though. Certainly enough to give this story arc a shot.
ReplyDeleteThe feel is certainly one of the more appealing factors, but I do wish such things as the cutaway scenes with the Chief, or Cliff's adventure in the first issue, or the fly were explained, or at least addressed.
DeleteI enjoyed the previous issues, but this one did feel like it had run out of steam, and the thing with the cat is really putting me off. That's bestiality no matter how you slice it. Having sex with your pet is not "quirky" or "edgy," it's just...having sex with your pet. "But it's a man-cat-pet-furry-thing now" doesn't make it better, for me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have two cats. I would not trust either to not be sick on me. And I agree.
DeleteThis Doom Patrol is not for me. I wish it was because the artwork is beautiful and some of the new characters are interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sooooo over the whole idea that the Doom Patrol is supposed to be all about the weird. If that's all that people took away from the original comics, then they're missing the more important elements that made the series special. There was weirdness but there was also a huge sense of family and interpersonal dynamics at play. And there was a whole lot of serialized soapiness in the book. Love triangles and mistaken identities and split personalities.
Even Morrison's run (which isn't my favourite run, but is certainly interesting) grounded the weirdness for weirdness' sake in the growing relationship between Cliff and Crazy Jane. I remember their friendship much more than any silly anagrams or melted candle-headed characters.