Written by Grant MorrisonIllustrated by Richard Case, Kelley Jones, and others
Vertigo
Continuing the weirdness that is Grant Morrison paired up with some of the strangest heroes in the DC Universe. The first two trades were excellent, and I was looking forward to more.
This time, however, things slip a bit. Grant Morrison is a very hit and miss writer. He has an unbelievable amount of ideas--I'll paraphrase Mark Waid, who noted that Morrison has more ideas in 10 minutes than anyone else--and when they work, no one can touch him.
When they don't work, however, he can miss the mark, and that's what we find
The first story is pretty good, but stops rather abruptly. Danny, a sentient street with gender issues gets attacked by a man with a wacked out sense of normal. Soon, in some great Kelley Jones art (man, I wish he'd have stuck around for more than a fill-in issue!), the Doom Patrol gets involved, trying to help Danny fight off the invader, who notes that the Doom Patrol were "next" on his list. Before the dust settles and we can learn more, Morrison shifts us to a length arc about Rhea, who's been in a coma, suddenly waking up and ending in the middle of a war between alien races.
This is where the train comes off the tracks. Morrison throws so much stuff at the read it's nearly impossible to keep up. I don't even know how to begin to describe it, other than to say it's an all out war using all kinds of tactics, and that the Doom Patrol ends up on both sides. While there are some great plays on words and the visuals are just downright creepy, I got lost along the way and didn't feel like it was worth trying to keep up. In the end, the Doom Patrol saves the day in only the way they can, but I'll be happy if they do some more stories are are, at least for them, down to earth.
