Now that's what I call fanservice!

Sometimes you're looking for a good comic with lots of drama that just sucks you right in!

And sometimes you just wanna see a giant lady explode a military helicopter with her bare hands.

Oh yeah. I think you know what I'm talking about.

Doom Patrol #1

by Keith Giffen and Matthew Clark

Metal Men back-up by Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire

I have had minimal exposure to the Doom Patrol, but I picked this up on Giffen's strengths, as well as the Metal Men back-up.

So basically, the Doom Patrol is a group of unfortunate superheroes who have emotional problems out the wazoo. All their powers were acquired by freak accidents, and they get wrangled up by a wheelchair-ed guy who claims he'll turn them from "freaks" into "heroes." He is a total douchebag.

As soon as the first page, you are dropped into an intensely confusing action scene, and then later, there is an intensely confusing death scene. I had to read the blasted thing a couple times over to understand it. The art is competent, but there are some points where I'm not sure what it's trying to convey. The panelling is set up in Giffen's "six panels per page" system, and it's put to clever use in the dialogue between Bumblebee and Rita, but maybe Matthew Clark needs some time to adjust to it.

After the couple of times, I'm fairly confident in all the character traits. You have the totally snarky jerk of the team, the vain drama queen, a guy with a leader complex, et cetera. I don't know if this can make good comics, but I sure hope it does. I've heard great things abotu Grant Morrison-era Doom Patrol -- incredibly wacky and high-concept situations and adventures -- and I hope Giffen can deliver likewise. Other than that, the real draw of the issue was the Metal Men back-up!

It is so fun! Not only that, the Metal Men are more aware of who they are now, and how they interact with their teammates!

I feel like this could be a direct sequel to Bob Kanigher's stuff! Everybody feels the same, but now they interact with each other so much better! I love it.

The thick-headed Lead, timid Tin, obnoxious Mercury. . . it's so good to see these guys under Giffen/DeMatteis's pens and Magquire's pencils! The guy is known for his facial expressions, and I love that he is giving these expressions to a group of robots! Maguire really makes their "Responsometers" come to life!

One last thing: the story takes up a mere 10 pages, but I feel it was a much more satisfying story than the 22-page Doom Patrol. They even used 10 panels each for two pages! Insane!