Gamescape of Tallahassee Mall will be housing us on August 10th, 2013 for the first ever “Super Game Tournament – 100% Ultimate Power: Go!”

We are in the process of creating an event page that will outline all of our plans, we want this to be an awesome event that people will remember, so EVERY person paying the Venue fee will be automatically entered into the NES Mystery Gauntlet at no extra cost!

So far guaranteed games will be:

Consoles:
Super Street Fighter 4: AE
Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Injustice

Arcade: Fighters Gauntlet

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Vampire Savior
Street Fighter Alpha 3
X-Men Vs. Street Fighter

Super Mario Bros. Pinball Machine! High Score Challenge!

We plan on having a LOT of incentives for players to come out to the tournament including Pot Bonuses and trophies!

Be on the lookout for more info and an official event page coming soon!

Be ready for the tournament!

-Adam and Steve

Also, we will have a bunch of giveaways coming soon as I am packing up to move to my new home and don’t want all of this cool stuff to sit in my garage!

Keep an eye out for what’s coming soon!

-Adam

First off it comes in a sturdy  box which does a great job of protecting the book inside.

And walla!

Since this book measures 15 by 22 inches, I’ll be sure to keep this behemoth box. Almost too large for display, I’ll have it tucked away until I have a lady friend over.

The book is stitched and lays flat. If it wasn’t, it would have been a complete waste of the format. The only slight issue I had was with pages at the end, but at worst those don’t lay 100% flat. They still don’t flip up or close. It’s a really well made product.

Now let’s check out the main attraction, the art! Ooh, P’Gell.

You have to love those late 40′s ladies. And this story, Competition, is among my favourites in the collection. I’ll have to do an actual review of this sometime. I’ve read most of these comics via DC’s Spirit Archives, but the last four are from 1950 and will be completely new to me. The rest of the stories are from 1947-1949, and here’s hoping future volumes will include some of the Eisner stories from his earlier post-war return.

Close-up of two pages, so you can see there’s no gutter-loss due to the stitching. I’m also endlessly entertained by how every woman in the world wants the Spirit.

And a few more images, to show off the bits of ugliness that go into the finished product.

And to end off this quick look, lets compare sizes to show off how big this thing REALLY is.

Retrovirus is a regular sized hardcover, and The Monolith is 9 by 16, or the size of DC’s Absolute Edition. And look how easily both are dwarfed.

This is a great buy, and you can still pick it up for $125 or so online at comic sites.   These books aren’t sold on places like Amazon and have extremely limited runs, so if you have any interest jump on this immediately.I can’t wait for my next one to get here this summer.

Injustice Gods Among Us:

1: JC
2: RS HuggyBear
3: PrivateJoker
4: Darius
5: FuryXT

Super Smash Bros Melee:

1: Rice
2: TallyDrew
3: Andromeda
4: Ahmad
5: Lauz
5: Pokey
7: DJLO
7: Mew2Chainz
9: Kevin

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v.2012:

1: JC
2: PrivateJoker
3: Lauz
4: RonK
5: SkyViper
5: Chess
7: LoganX
7: Stryder37
9: LowTierSteve
9: TallyDrew
9: N’andre
9: Ahmad
13: DragonRunner400x
13: FuryXT
13: RS HuggyBear
13: Art

Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3:

1: HQ FullSchedule
2: HQ Rice
3: Mike J
4: Prophet
5: TallyDrew
5: LethalFap
7: Darius
7: LowTierSteve
9: DragonRunner400x

Thank you to everyone who came out and played some games with us!

-Adam

This was the 4th installment of Capital Punishment here in Tally and although the turnout wasn’t great, we still managed to have a great time and play a lot of great games.

I was also very happy to see a lot of people playing Injustice! I honestly hope it stays relevant for longer than it takes me to write this post, but honestly….my hopes are low. As long as there is at least one or 2 people in town who play it, I’ll be happy.

Be sure to check out the recorded stream on Steve’s twitch channel. We will also have the Tournament results posted here shortly.

twitch.tv/lowtiersteve/new

Thanks!

-Adam

Figuring each game brings between 10 and 50 points, let’s do some math here to see just how much “awesome” you’re getting.

Princess Peach & Mario Notebook:  250 coins…. Best case scenario, you’re spending over 200$ on Games to get a Notebook you could buy at Wal-Mart for 87 cents.

Super Mario Shoelaces: First things First. These things ARE awesome. they are however, not 300 coins awesome. So a minimum 250$ to get some 3$ shoelaces.

Blue Terrycloth Hand Towel: 350 Points.  REALLY?? That many coins for a tiny ass cloth featuring some Nintendo baddies on it? Ugh….

Pen Cases: 400 motha flippin’ points. Doesn’t even feature any art on it. Just a small little Mario Tag. Nope.

Now to the stuff that is somewhat awesome, but still ridiculous…

Classic Super Mario T-Shirt: 550 coins.  While this shirt is awesome, I don’t see why it’s 550 coins…. (Enter old fart mode here…) Back in my day, a T-Shirt was GIVEN TO YOU AS A PREORDER BONUS!!!!

Stylus & Game Card Case: 600 coins. 600 coins(450$ or so) to get a case that is worse than the HORI one I got for 5$. Makes sense.

Game & Watch Collection 2: 800 coins. I was lucky enough to find the first collection at an EB Games for 10$. Sadly, this is what I wasted 800 coins on this time around. Basically 600$ on Nintendo stuff to get this game. I enjoy them, but man….800 coins???

Lastly…

Game & Watch: Ball  : 1200 Coins.  This is the coolest thing we have in the US CN store by far. I really enjoy the old style Game and Watch games. They remind me of so many car trips playing street fighter 2 on my Tiger Handheld. But…….TWELVE HUNDRED COINS. Nearing a thousand dollariedoos partners.

Why not give away older games? Say, here’s Mario Kart DS for 600 coins, or how about restocking your “Good” items more (Card Case 18, Gold Nun Chuck,etc….)

Basically what I’m getting at here is this….

I WANT BETTER FREE STUFF YOU JERKS.

-Adam

I sit in wonder sometimes at how radically different the comic racks of Marvel and DC must look today compared to the selection for readers 50 years ago. The shelves are dominated by super-hero stories, and in January of this year the two put out a combined 30 team books. In May of 1963 you could have purchased four different comedy titles, three horror/sci-fi anthologies, and two each of western or romance books. Super-hero/adventure books rounded out the rest of the comics, with one sub-genre shockingly under-represented; super-hero team books. Only three were being published at the time: Justice League of America, The Metal Men, and The Fantastic Four.

While the notion dated back to 1940 and DC’s All-Star Comics #3, shifting comic sensibilities had seen the super-hero comics wane to be replaced by genre stories. One such book to feature adventure tales was The Brave & The Bold, which in 1960 featured its first story combining popular super-heroes of the day to fight an outer-space menace. This was the first meeting of the Justice League, and for the first time in a long time they were the only super-powered team on the stands. Inspired by DC’s success Marvel was led to launch The Fantastic Four, arguably the best super-hero series of the era which led to a shift in popular culture of how comics could be done. So in turn, DC was inspired to create more new super-heroes, and that’s how it’s next two team books – and two of the best of the early 60’s in general – came to be.

The Robert Kanigher/Ross Andru created Metal Men debuted in Showcase Presents and had a several issue try-out before graduating to their own title in May of 63. They may have been the strangest super-heroes ever seen to that point, with the central characters dying and having to be rebuilt between each issue! But a month later in June they would be joined by another team, just as strange and wondrous, but even more unbelievable; the Doom Patrol.

With DC’s anthology line dying out, creators were given the task of replacing features with new heroes. In My Greatest Adventure, Arnold Drake dreamed up a team of misfits, driven from society and led by a mysterious man in a wheel-chair. He beat Stan and Jack, and their X-Men idea, to stands by a matter of only a few months. With Bob Haney lending his mind for a character to round-out the team, eventually known as Robotman, the Doom Patrol was assembled and ready to go to action, starting in My Greatest Adventure 80.

And that is exactly where this book picks up. The first of five volumes collecting the first volume of the Doom Patrol, Archives volume 1 contains My Greatest Adventure #80-85, and the issues following the titles change of name, Doom Patrol 86-89. This book is a standard size hardcover with a sewn binding that lies flat perfectly, eliminating any potential gutter-loss. Being an older title double-page spreads were already scarce, and none appear in this comic meaning it’s highly readable and none of the art is cut off. The Archives always start out with a brief introduction, and this initial volume contains a page from creator and writer Arnold Drake from 2001. Apart from the DP he’s best remembered as Deadman’s creator. He died in 2007, less than two weeks after his 83^rd birthday. Bruno Premiani drew every issue of the original Doom Patrol run, his longest stint on any comic. One of the more interesting facts brought up in the introduction is that Bruno had to escape his native Italy after some political cartoons had caused Benito Mussolini to put a price on his head! He had a natural, realistic style that stands out strongly when compared to the other super-hero artists of the day. But while being able to make his characters look and move like real people, he was also able to draw fantastic creatures and horrors – apart from the scarce nazi or bank-robber, the villains who ran into the Doom Patrol were anything but normal! Premiani is truly an over-looked master of the craft, who passed away in 1984 at 77. But thankfully, projects like this give readers a chance to rediscover amazing talents that once would have been lost to time and musty attic collections.

I’d also be remiss not to mention Bob Brown, who contributed some fine covers to the series.

 — My Greatest Adventure 80 —

The issue opens with Niles Caulder, the man we would know as the Chief, and a clandestine meeting. Even if he wouldn’t have gone on to found the Doom Patrol, comic history would remember him for his amazing beard.

He introduces each of the three mystery guests he’s invited, and shares their secret histories.

Rita Farr, Olympic gold medalist and movie-star, learned from a witch-doctor that some fumes she had inhaled had given her the ability to grow and shrink; but being unable to control when and how it would happen, she left show-business and went into isolation.

Larry Trainor was a daring test pilot who had flew his experimental jet into sub-orbit, and somehow those rays had caused him to be able to create an electrical version of himself, a Negative Man.

The final stranger is Cliff Steele, a racecar driver so mangled in a wreck that his body was lost. In an effort to preserve his life, his unharmed brain was put into a special robotic body – by none other than the man who had called him to this meeting!

None of the outcasts gathered are convinced of the Chief’s plan of putting together a group to handle the strange dangers befalling the planet, until they’re united as each potential member has to use their own special ability to save the harbor from a hidden bomb.

With that obstacle past them, the second chapter of the comic introduced the DP’s first nemesis; the timeless General Immortus. Immortus is a mysterious character, and even up until the reboot of DC’s continuity in late 2011 we never learned his name or how old he really was. He was used rarely outside of the Doom Patrol comic, but that shrouded past is still an interesting accomplishment for any recurring character. What we do know in this first meeting is that he is old, he is powerful, and he is ruthless.

An alien ship has crash landed and Immortus spies on the DP to learn its location, attacking the team after they’re wore out fighting the automated defenses of the ship. First hand we get to see how much of a genius Immortus is, as he takes down the DP one-by-one.

But we also get to see how great this team really is with the Chief giving them tactical advice, as they outsmart the general and see him off to his potential death after an eon of evil.

Or at least I did, since I didn’t feel like scanning all those pages too.

The final page of the story sums up everything that will make this book stand the test of time; the introduction of a love triangle where neither man can ever get the girl, and the world proclaiming its love for them  because they’re freaks. It’s a theme that runs over the first part of the series, and eventually serves as the counter-point to what would start over in X-Men.

— My Greatest Adventure 81 —

One of the charms older super-hero comics share is that they’re characters are still relatively new to the inhabitants of the world, and I enjoy seeing their reactions. It makes it feel like this really is something special someone can do, and a lot of that shine has come off as more heroes have shown up with more defined continuities.  Panels like the following just can’t happen anymore.

A great panel of a giant octopus, showing off more of Pemiani’s giant beast skills – and another few panels of classic monster destruction!

After this adventure the team is called to Canada, where we meet the ice creature from the opening splash – or do we? Robotman insists there’s nothing there, but Trainor sends Negative Man to deal with him with explosive results.

He starts to think that his brain was damaged after all, until a Dr. Janus on television mentions another incident that Robotman claims couldn’t have happened (and I need to point out that he’s called Automoton at this point in the series, but that didn’t last long and Robotman is just ingrained into me).

The Chief examines the old newspaper stories which confirm all their memories; that a meteor strike twenty years ago did contain a life-form from another dimension. However the Chief takes a risk and puts his faith in Robotman, believing that some outside force could be behind this mystery. And it’s a good thing too, since Dr. Janus is not who he seems.

Having figured out Josef Kreutz’s plan, the team heads to the original crash site where Kreutz has gathered the press to see his triumph over the invaders. When an illusionary monster appears Robotman confronts it, thinking he’s triumphed. But that’s not how the crowd is seeing it thanks to Kruetz’s mind-control.

However Robotman gets free, and comes up with his own plan to save the day and expose Dr. Janus as the fraud he is – by ‘blowing up’ the third monster of this issue!

— My Greatest Adventure 82 —

In My Greatest Adventure #80 we met a villain with no backstory, and had the past of three of our heroes revealed to us. But one man, the Chief, remains as big an enigma as he did in that first outing. Three mysterious men are out to change that though, first by planting a hidden camera in a lighter on Rita to take a picture of the Chief, and then by later slipping her a secret recorder. Having his face revealed, Caulder calls Rita into private to reveal his shocking origins.

Judging by his father, the Chief truly comes from a planet of epic bearded-faces. A possible inspiration for Robert Kirkman’s Viltumites? After the story, Rita goes for a walk and is robbed.

I guess if crime-fighting was my job, I’d rather not do it on my day off either.

Chief’s story appears on the news, and he reveals that he told each of them a separate story to see who was a traitor. Rita breaks down expressing her innocents, while we get a strange reveal of who’s actually behind the Chief’s exposure.

Using his deductive reasoning Chief is able to clear Rita, and the jealous love triangle between the three heroic leads emerges again.

Haha, both those guys are going to lose out to MENTO.

The aliens discover the Doom Patrol’s secret base and make an offer to the Chief – let’s team-up and share taking over the world.

They just need the Doom Patrol to break into a government base and uncover one of their heat devices that they can’t gain access too. There are some automated defenses, but nothing the power of the Patrol can’t overcome. Because they’re drills.

The three aliens arrive on site though, revealing a double-cross! They still believe Chief is an alien, but they don’t plan on sharing the world with his people. Fortunately the Doom Patrol saw this coming, and has a few more tricks up their sleeves to confuse and confound the would-be conquerors.

Admittedly, some of it is rather silly. But when it comes to the fate of the Earth, if giant balls do the job then you use giant balls.

 —My Greatest Adventure 83 —

This issue opens with maybe the best suicide threat I have ever seen. Rooftop water-tank-fu, to borrow a phrase from Joe Bob Briggs.

To save lives the DP snaps into action, with a rather cool little scene from Elasti-Girl before Robotman just tackles the guy.

That’s followed up by a very Fantastic Four feeling scene, where the Chief decides to tests the limits of the teams’ powers. This is one page where Premiani could have used some Kirby flair – we’ve seen this before with the Thing, but so much more impressively done. One of the rare occasions this more realistic style hurts the look book.

I do like though that we can place Rita’s strength at a minimum of at least 10 tons – that makes her behind maybe only Wonder Woman for strongest woman in comics at the time. I’ll have to actually dig into this more…

For Trainor’s test, Negative Man is sent out to see if Larry can survive with him being out of his body for longer than 60 seconds, when things go wrong.

Now Negative Man is a crazy asshole.

Things get so bad the military is called in, and the remaining Doom Patrol members (Trainor has been put in suspended animation) employ some drastic means to inform the army they have a plan. This is honestly what we had to do before cellphones, kids.

In the end, the Chief’s machine and having a metal man once again save the day.

There’s also a small subplot about some crooks who follow Negative Man’s path of destruction, knowing communication and alarms will be out, which is clever, but then they just sort of get beat up off panel by Cliff. Crime doesn’t pay. Except in the next issue, when crime has paid for decades.

 — My Greatest Adventure 84 —

We last saw General Immortus back in My Greatest Adventure 80, when he exploded with a rocket headed for outer space. But as we pick up here, the Chief’s new computer has some harrowing news.

The computer puts together a simulation explaining a possible course Immortus could have used to escape the ship, and now he has stolen two of the three Stones of Babylon. The Doom Patrol race to the location of the third, interrupting its theft. Things take a turn for the strange, as they often do for the Doom Patrol, after Cliff picks up a machine gun.

Just another way the DP was ahead of its time; other heroes that didn’t need guns wouldn’t get them ’till the 90′s!

I actually like the explanation we get over the tv communicator Cliff wears on his chest. Comic-book sci-ency.

A little light is shed on how Immortus funds his ages-long operations to the enslaved Robotman.

Never having enough, Immortus is using the stones to find an even greater treasure – $500 million. To ensure Robotman or the Doom Patrol can’t stop him; he dips Cliff in lead to block out any outside signals. Then he attaches a wire with an explosive trigger to him, for if anyone interferes. Cliff ends up looking like a terrible children’s toy. The Chief is clearly frustrated.

Like all good treasures, it’s under a rock.

In a pretty thrilling climax, Negative Man attacks Immortus, who hits the switch connected to Robotman.

And the issue ends with what I think was another pretty good comic-book explanation.

 — My Greatest Adventure 85 —

One thing I find really interesting in these old DC comics is the lack of a shared universe. There’s no reason to believe Superman and the Justice League aren’t out there somewhere saving the day, but then you have occasions like this; there’s a boat that’s sunk containing medicine for a sick boy, so it’s up to the DP to step in. Everything works out (not before we see sharks, which are always welcome), but this is one of those times I wonder if the team isn’t mostly alone sine there’s plenty of better qualified people for the task.

Once that’s out of the way, the meat of the story begins. Rita has been turning down movie roles. She’s lost her interest in it, and likes the new lifestyle she leads.

They don’t go to in-depth on the issue, but I’m glad Rita’s reasons for staying are addressed. She has to be considered one of the most beautiful and intriguing women on the planet, and the earlier issues has her shunning her old fame because she feared her powers. I think a little scene like this was needed for the odd-woman out. The rest were freaks and couldn’t live a normal life, but Rita was so happy with her role as an outsider she was rejecting attempts to bring her back into the fold of regular society. It’s a strong pro-feminism moment for the character, though it would end up being at odds with what her fellow teammates thought just a little while later!

During the shooting of an Incredible Shrinking Man-esque film, the director complains to Rita about how much sets cost (she isn’t playing the lead). As for Rita’s explanation on why she agreed to the part of the wife and not to be the star, she puts in quite simply; “I’ll be an actress for you – but not a side-show!”

However when the lead actor gets hurt, Rita agrees to carry on in his role. She find evidence that this was a plan by the director all along…but also by the Chief!

Plus she fights a cat. Premiani is just always so perfect with these things.

When we cut back to the rest of the Doom Patrol, we find out why the deception.

It’s the first real time sexism has appeared in the title, and in reading the issue today over-shadows the rest of the plot where nuclear monsters are converging on each other, and they’ll create a reaction that destroys the world. It feels so odd to claim that as being the secondary notion of the comic, but 2013 is not 1964. Thankfully though, this is a case of intentional plotting and not bygone stereotypes. Rita is the one who saves the team from the rampaging monster at first, until the team falls into its familiar and welcome routine of everyone doing their part.

I think the ending was weak, but for the times and the company I think this was as progressive as we could hope for. At least until later issues…

 —Doom Patrol 86 —

This issue introduces some important new status quos. Most obvious is the change in title, as the Doom Patrol completely replaces My Greatest Adventure as the name of the series.  And secondly, the team would gain a new gang of arch-nemesis’s; the Brotherhood of Evil! Comic readers love a gorilla, and if he has an automatic weapon then all the better. The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, and Madame Rouge take over as the DP’s main antagonists for the rest of the series, and after Robotman may have endured as its most popular legacy. For their first act of terror, they channel Carmen Sandiego.

The story opens with the Doom Patrol throwing a surprise birthday party for the Chief; but they don’t realize it actually IS the Chief’s birthday! It won’t be for two more issues we actually find out more about their mysterious leader.

Other than he has a great face-palm image I should steal for the internet.

Rog, the giant robot, begins attacking landmarks. He’s being piloted by Mr. Morden, who thanks to Bablyon 5 is still only the second most evil person in fiction with that name. He fights the team to a standstill, better than anyone has managed to do thus far, and we next see him vying for membership with the Brotherhood of Evil, delivering the stolen Rog as tribute. Its here we get our first official look at two of comics strangest characters together.

When Morden and Rog attempt to steal the Statue of Liberty, we’re treated to two of the best gorilla moments in comics; a robot punching a gorilla, and a woman giving a giant robot a gorilla press!

In a nice change of pace, the issue ends not with a laugh, but with the promise of something dark and secret for one of our main characters.

— Doom Patrol 87 —

Another issue of the Doom Patrol, and another lesson in anatomy and action from Bruno Premiani.

After the plane is rescued, a French woman named Gabrielle Soullet takes an interest in Larry, knowing how he puts his life in danger anytime he uses Negative Man. There’s a weird bit of jealousy from Rita over Gabrielle that I think would have worked so much better without the tear. As is, it makes this scene feel very dated as this sort of relationship dynamic hadn’t existed before from Rita’s end. I also happen to think she’s just too strong a character to start crying over this.

Of course apart from that things aren’t any better, as Soullet who she appears to be.

She tricks Larry into using Negative Man into taking pictures in an underground silo, claiming her father’s work is down there and she needs to protect the copyrights. Later on, she meets up with the agent the Brain was sending, and somehow he becomes the most surprising thing in the issue.

With the stolen plans, the Brotherhood of Evil is able to build a new weapon; one that expands things 30 times their original size. In a very strange turn of events, they use that technology to supersize toys into full sized tanks and automated soldiers equipped with real weapons all controlled by radio.

With no other way to stop the mechanized army, Larry Trainor finally reveals his face and his shame.

I think it’s a great reveal, and wish I hadn’t already known about it when I started reading the series. As is, it’s another obstacle keeping the Doom Patrol from being accepted.

And since everyone loves it when the Joker says it…

After the main feature, there’s an 8 page Robotman solo adventure that’s one of my favourite stories ever. He’s sent to locate an escaped killer hiding out on an island once inhabited by Japanese soldiers during WWII. As the story moves along he loses more and more body parts, ending up like the Black Knight, only still as resourceful as before.

— Doom Patrol 88 —

This is it, the secret history of the Chief’s beard! For the better part of a year DC readers had virtually no information on the mysterious leader of the Doom Patrol, but in 88 we’re treated to his origin; and its stranger than anyone one of his teammates! A mysterious man named the Baron has been committing daring crimes; even alerting authorities to his plans beforehand. No one can stop him, and after he bests the Doom Patrol the Chief deducing his secret – General Immortus is back! But whats more, we learn how the two of them became so connected.

It started when he built a sweet robot.

Without earning any grants he works the best he can in a solitary lab, until approached by a representative of a mysterious benefactor.

In the course of his work he does maybe the most needless thing ever, but if it helps his mustache evolve then so be it.

As his research continues he wants to surprise his benefactor, so he tracks him down and finds out what kind of man he really is, all while becoming manlier.

The next part of the story gets strange, even for this book. Because the Chief refuses to help Immortus extend his life, the villain plants a massive bomb in his chest that he controls. It’s powered by the Chief’s own life-force, so any attempts to remove it will result in his death and everyone in the bombs radius. But being a super-genius, Niles Caulder comes up with a plan.

Thinking the Chief’s pipe is a tool of assassination, Immortus guns him down. The Chief limps and crawls his way back to his apartment, where he DIES. His robot assistant waits thirty minutes and begins to remove the bomb. Since it has no life powering it, the bomb deactivates and is no longer a danger. Then using the science the Chief had been developing for Immortus, RA-2 revives the Chief who is no longer the man he used to be.

I have no words for how much I love this panel.

The Chief’s backstory is really the highlight of the issue, but the rest of the tail does involve some pretty great visuals and a shocking ending. For one it lets me reference Transformers: The Movie.

“Astro Train, transform and get us out of here!”

But next, Negative Man superheats the escaping rocket and leaves the modern reader genuinely surprised. How rare is it in a modern comic to see a hero kill a villain, then have the support of the other heroes back him up on it being the right decision?

KILL THE DAMN JOKER BATMAN.

— Doom Patrol 89 —

And with this we reach the last issue of the Doom Patrol in this initial Archives volume. Tragically, I don’t think there’s any way that this issue could live-up to that cover. Not to say the story contents aren’t great, but Bob Brown did an amazing job, and it really is one of the best in the series. That is exactly the kind of cover that would jump off the stand and grab my attention. Dinosaurs are catnip for boys.

Dr. Larson, a famous scientist, is flying to New York when he has a sudden and strange encounter.

Not only does this scene once again show Premiani’s ability to make a woman beautiful and believable (even at ten stories high), but it’s the last time we’ll see a member of the Doom Patrol in their old costumes!

I very much like the red and white scheme, the V on Rita and Larry’s Y just give them a more dynamic look. The straight green was much to drab for such colourful characters. Aside from that we see another costume change, this time into something more formal for the Chief’s reintroduction to his old student.

Dr. Larson is in town because he’s heard of this amazing team the Chief has formed (though it couldn’t have been THAT hard to discover his identity it seems), and to show off his new scientific breakthrough.

But things go wrong, as he is a nerd and not a jock.

What emerges from the pit is no longer a man however.

As the DP try to stop it, the beings form and chemical make-up keep shifting to counter whatever strategy they use.

Under orders from the Chief, Negative Man searches Dr. Larson’s lab, and comes back with startling news – he did this on purpose! What an ass.

And then we come to the only dinosaur of the issue, which is a let down from the cover. But don’t get too upset; in a future issue, Robotman throws a bomb down a dinosaurs throat and blows his head off comically. Great stuff.

The next few pages follow a similar pattern: Animal-Vegitable-Mineral Man attacks, is beaten, transforms and retreats.

But once again thanks to the Chief, the Doom Patrol are able to over-come another odd rogue, with the very device idea he accused the Chief from stealing from him.

Issue 89 also features a back-up starring one of its leads in a solo adventure. This time the feature is Elasti-Girl’s, in an interesting look at post traumatic stress disorder, or as it was more likely called at the time, shell-shock.

It’s an eight page story with Rita searching for a missing GI, the adopted father of a boy Rita met while shooting a charity add.

Her search takes her to Korea, and she is able to eventually track him down back in the US working on a construction site, after he disappeared from a VA while suffering a type of amnesia triggered by his time in the war.

I have to say, I have done construction work and we lost our cool over women less beautiful then Rita all the time, and they didn’t have their underwear 30 feet over our heads.

While Rita is talking to Norton, an air drill reminds him of machinegun fire and he starts having flashbacks, locking himself in a supply trailer.

I really like the story, and it’s a great example of something I wouldn’t have expected to see in a comic from the ‘silly’ silver age if I hadn’t been open to the era. It’s the perfect ending place for the first Doom Patrol Archive because of this. DC has a (mostly deserving) reputation for not being as serious or as socially-minded as the Marvel comics of the time, but series like this or the war comics by Kanigher stand the test of time just as well or better than anything not named Amazing Spider-Man or Fantastic Four.

The Doom Patrol would only last another 32 issues before meeting an unexpected and untimely end at the conclusion to Doom Patrol 121, but the legacy of that team lives on to this day in the hearts and minds of fans, and they can thankfully still be enjoyed because of collections like this.

We took over Arcade Age for 12 full hours and got a lot of great games in!

We look forward to getting another get together going soon.

Thanks again!

-Adam

Saturday 8 p.m. until 8 a.m.

Arcade Age
1018 Commercial Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32310

Come check out the new building and support a local Arcade!!!

We look forward to hearing from you all!

-Adam

Thanks!

-Adam