Unstoppable Doom Patrol #5 variant cover, via DC Comics.
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #5 — Dennis Culver, Writer; Chris Burnham, Artist; Brian Reber, Colorist
Ray — 8.5/10
Ray: After a one-month break for a brilliant done-in-one issue featuring the Doom Patrol’s psychiatrist and guest art by David LaFuente, the full creative team is back together as the team heads towards the final act. This issue finds them in a creepy small town filled with seemingly brainwashed people — or are they people at all? The entire town seems to be under the thrall of the mysterious tech billionaire who has lured the Doom Patrol there — including former team leader Niles Caulder, who has come out of retirement and is feuding with Crazy Jane’s new Chief. But once they get into the main room, they’re all on the same side — because they’re up against one of the most incredibly obnoxious people we’ve ever met, in the form of the tech billionaire who believes he’s cracked the secret to Caulder’s experiments, and wants to use them to build custom metahumans for the government.
Drop-in. Via DC Comics.
This satire of tech guys who unleash forces they don’t control is a little on the nose, but very timely given all the AI experiments. Caulder is as skeptical as you would expect, but that doesn’t stop the villain from unleashing his first experiment — Metawoman, a custom superhero who seems to have all the powers from the whole set — and less control over them than her creator was hoping, as we find out in a truly horrific transformation segment. Burnham was a great choice for this title thanks to his comfort with both routine character interactions and disturbing sci-fi visuals, but this book’s other big strength is Culver’s ability to convey that this book isn’t just about a superhero team — it’s about a big, messy dysfunctional family with as many issues as good memories. That’s the core of the Doom Patrol, and this more superheroic take on the characters never loses sight of that.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
