Next Level Doom Patrol and Legion

 Last week, I checked out 2 books from DC's "Next Level" initiative (Next Level apparently being where you go once you are All In. I wonder where DC will go next with these marketing phrases?). Both were ok, but I definitely liked one better than the other.

Doom Patrol by writer Darcy Van Poelgeest and artist Niko Henrichon has Vertigo vibes, not in the sense of the specific Doom Patrol iteration that was a Vertigo founder, but more just the feel of Vertigo titles. Honestly, it feels feels even more like the Doom Patrol TV series with its grounded, sort of sadsack weirdos Doom Patrol, the character designs, and the characterization of Negative Man, though it doesn't really borrow any specific character bits or plot elements from that series (so far). The Doom Patrol is broke and have started a low-rent heroes-for-hire business to stay busy and pay bills. A job to find a missing cat immediately gets weird, because of course it would.

I thought this was ok. It was well done, but it felt like things I had seen before in a way that keeps me from being enthusiastic about it.

In Legion of Super-Heroes, Joshua Williamson and Hayden Sherman do a bit more re-imagining. The basic character origins are the same, but the 30th Century is now a time that has outlawed superheroes and Superboy is sort of an underground figure, looked up to by young outsiders who might run afoul of the Persuaders, law enforcement that gets people re-educated. The story starts with RJ Brande having been murdered, and Brainiac 1 of 5 and Tenzil Kem are investigating his murder and what it has to do with super-powered individuals. The new designs are modern but remind me a lot of latter era Moebius and a bit of 80s comic sci-fi (like Garcia-Lopez's designs in Twilight and Star Raiders). Think oversized jackets with stuff on them and knee pads. 

This is definitely the more intriguing premise of the two issues for me. It already seems better than the last Legion reboot.

No Doom Patrol in Justice League of America

Back in the 60's, the Justice League of America was the hot title for DC characters to appear in. During this time, they had a number of guest stars that joined the league. Yet in all that time, the Doom Patrol never guest starred. Check out this timeline:

I don't know why this might have been the case, but I can speculate on a few reasons:

1) Editors weren't used to the idea of books crossing over.
2) Having so many characters in a single title probably sounded daunting for both the artists and writers
3) The JLA editors probably just thought of featuring guest stars that were perspective members

For whatever reason, the Doom Patrol wouldn't end up guest-staring in the Justice League of America until 2004.

This was a lead in that introduced the team to a new generation of readers. In a perfect world, it would have given John Byrne a perfect kickoff for his take on the team.

Unfortunately, Byrne's take on the team just didn't click with readers at the time and the book was cancelled by issue 18.

Since then, there have been a few other attempts to revive the team, but they haven't been very successful either. Now we have a new version coming out written by Umbrella Academy's Gerard Way:

And while the version probably won't please the purist, I do think it will be worth checking out. The
Doom Patrol is a group that you can use to tell stories that might seem out of place in your typical superhero comic. I think that's a core trait to the team that has survived even into this jaded age.

- Jim

Wonder Woman, Kamandi and Doom Patrol news

Over at ComicsAlliance, there is an article that suggests that the 2017 Wonder Woman solo movie is going to be "Pretty Dark." 

While this might seem like an odd direction given that Batman v Superman seems to have suffered from reviews that called it too dark and joyless, it really doesn't surprise me for a number of reasons.

1) This movie was well into production prior to the bleak reviews BvS received.
2) The movie is set during World War I, and it's probably next to impossible to have a FUN movie in which trench warfare has any part.
3) I suspect that reversing gears from their Green Lantern inspired No Jokes edict isn't going to be as simple as flipping a switch.

Honestly, if it were me, I think I would have found some way to put the movie in World War II and add some Justice Society characters.  Yeah, I know this would cost a lot of money in reshoots (I guess) but with the rumors that Time Warner is already getting reshoots for the Suicide Squad to put in more joviality, I don't know if rejiggering the Wonder Woman movie that would be a real show stopper at this point. It definitely sounds like a better strategy than doubling down on Grim and Dark.

On the flipside, one bit of DC Rebirth news I've seen that has me interested is the story that DC is going to have a 12 issue Kamandi series written by different teams to present a story that is interconnected.

Check out these teams:  

Dan Abnett & Dale Eaglesham,  
Peter J. Tomasi & Neal Adams,  
Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, 
James Tynion IV & Carlos D'Anda, 
Bill Willingham & Ivan Reis, 
Steve Orlando & Philip Tan,
 Marguerite Bennett & Dan Jurgens,  
Keith Giffen & Steve Rude, 
Tom King & Kevin Eastman,  
Greg Pak & Joe Prado,  
Rob Williams & Walter Simonson,  
Gail Simone & Ryan Sook
Len Wein & José Luis García-López.

This sounds exactly like the type of challenge that might inspire writers to create some pretty entertaining comics. And those creative teams are top notch. I hope this project works well and spawns similar projects using other DC characters!

Finally, DC also announced that Gerard Way, whose Umbrella Academy has been quite the success for Dark Horse, will be working on a new Doom Patrol series. 

This series will actually be part of a larger initiative by DC wherein Way guides a new DC imprint called Young Animal which will also use some other long forgotten DC characters like Cave Carson and Shade the Changing Man.

At first I was a bit dubious about this news, simply because I'm not a fan of celebrities turned writers in ANY media, but after some discussion and reflection, I realized, this is probably exactly what DC needs to reignite it's lackluster Vertigo demographic.

Thinking about Vertigo in the past, maybe someone like Way is exactly what they need? A well known personality with a defined aesthetic to help give the brand a new identity for new writers to converge around. I mean, I don't know, but you have to sort of think that having Gaiman work there was one of the things that provided a smooth entry for Ellis, Ennis and Vaughn (though he may have come after Gaiman had left.) Since then, Vertigo has sort of been this empty shell without a real figurehead to speak for it.

With that said, of the three projects, I'm probably the most interested in the Kamandi Challenge.

- Jim