how would you relaunch the Doom Patrol?

[Robotman4]

the Doom Patrol is such a great concept but one that has never really sold well. a group of people who have been scared by tragedy and are considered 'freaks' by society band together to show that they still have a purpose and can make a difference.
this team of misfits has never really been a huge seller but there is definitely potential. how would you relaunch the DP?

i would personally stick with the core members. i would include Beast Boy since he's the most well known. there are a few writers who i think would be ideal for the job like Joshua Hale Fialkov, but i dont think his name alone would sell many comics. i really disliked the Robotman that appeared recently in My Greatest Adventure. he was flying around and shooting rockets and lasers like he was Ironman. to me Cliff Steele is a great character because he doesnt have a lot of powers. sure he has some super strength and durability, but besides that he's not overly powerful. he's an average joe thrown into incredibly strange situations (see Grant's Doom Patrol run). he gets torn apart but manages to survive.

maybe Lemire? though he couldnt help Frankenstein stave off cancellation.

[The Frozen Reptile]

I would have the core members, and then I would add Ambush Bug because he has a history with them, and because I could see a rapport between him and Robotman.

[Desaad]

the Doom Patrol is such a great concept but one that has never really sold well. a group of people who have been scared by tragedy and are considered 'freaks' by society band together to show that they still have a purpose and can make a difference.
this team of misfits has never really been a huge seller but there is definitely potential. how would you relaunch the DP?

i would personally stick with the core members. i would include Beast Boy since he's the most well known. there are a few writers who i think would be ideal for the job like Joshua Hale Fialkov, but i dont think his name alone would sell many comics. i really disliked the Robotman that appeared recently in My Greatest Adventure. he was flying around and shooting rockets and lasers like he was Ironman. to me Cliff Steele is a great character because he doesnt have a lot of powers. sure he has some super strength and durability, but besides that he's not overly powerful. he's an average joe thrown into incredibly strange situations (see Grant's Doom Patrol run). he gets torn apart but manages to survive.

maybe Lemire? though he couldnt help Frankenstein stave off cancellation.

Well, I liked Kindt's Robotman and think he maintained most of the core elements of the character with some cool modernizations and sci-fi potentialities. Some great Kolins art, too.

Anyway, here is what I'd do as a high concept.

http://heshouldreallyknowbetter.blog...om-patrol.html



As for writers, regardless of high concept? My number one choice is John Rozum, who captured a beautiful "Doom Patrol" feel in "Xombi". In fact, it frankly felt like a direct continuation (albeit more mainstream, less erudite) of Morrison's Doom Patrol, and I can give no higher praise to any big than that.

Next? China Mieville, though I'm throwing him out there for everything these days.

Next, Kieren Gillen, but of course he's not a possibility what with doing work over at Marvel.

And next Matt Kindt.

[big al]

As said above this is a concept that is cool in theory but it has never equated to a decent amount of fan support (maybe during Morrison's run but I wasn't really into comics at that time so I can't say I remember if it sold big numbers or not). I think you have to take a different look at it, like what Johns is doing with Captian Marvel, he basically took the character and admitted that alot of things just didn't work in today's comic book market, got rid of those aspects or modified them to appeal to today's reader. I think that's what you have to do here.

I'll have to think about it for a bit to see what ideas I have but right away I would think that elevating Niles Clauder's presence in the DC universe might be a good idea. You run into some problems cause some might see him as a Professor X rip off (since they are both symolic leaders of thier respective teams and they are both in a wheel chair). Maybe make the Doom Patrol a place where younger super humans are sent to learn how to handle thier powers? The existing members could be like teachers.....maybe...I have NOT read x-men in years so this might be too close to what they are doing there, I honestly don't know.

Lemmie think about it.

[glennsim]

Doom Patrol has a couple of key issues. First of all, while "Suicide Squad" tends to be either a military group or a villain-based group so the irony of being in a group called the "Suicide Squad" is plausible, the notion that a group of freaks considers themselves "doomed" is just a major downer.

Also, for me, Rita Farr has never fit the group. Any freak who can make herself look normal and beautiful isn't really much of a freak to me. Although perhaps her compulsion to grow to 50 feet tall while wearing a skirt could be seen as a sexual perversion :)

I wonder if it would be fair to say that a group of freaks works better at Marvel than DC. I really love DC, but it seems like they tend to stick to the basic literary shortcut that "ugly" = "evil" So then characters like Robotoman and Negative Man tend to stick out.

Maybe Doom Patrol could be something in the Thunderbolts or Hulk sort of molds, where the main characters aren't particularly liked by the general public and vice-versa, but they end up helping people in spite of themselves. But I'd like to see more permanently scarred, not-easily-hidden-flawed characters in there, like a Creeper or Blue Devil who are stuck in those forms, or like Metamorpho.

[Paladin King]

I'd prefer the Morrison line-up, since it's probably the one most readers are familiar with. The problem is who would write it - I just don't see anyone in DC's roster who's right for the book. Mieville might work, even if the book would be confusing as hell. Azzarello might work as well.

If I could bring in anybody, in a fantasyworld I think that Remender would be awesome on Doom Patrol. Gillen could be fun. Fraction might work as well.

[stk]

I don't know how I'd relaunch it. Every time I've ever been super-impressed with the results, i.e. Morrison or Arcudi, it was from a direction I never could have predicted.

Whoever does eventually do it should follow their example by trying to do something completely new, and not attempt to recapture the magic of past incarnations. In particular, other writers trying to do a 'Morrison' always seems to lead to boring disaster.

I'd prefer the Morrison line-up, since it's probably the one most readers are familiar with.

I don't think that is anywhere near being true. I think many more people are familiar with some variation on the original line up.

[Robotman4]

As said above this is a concept that is cool in theory but it has never equated to a decent amount of fan support (maybe during Morrison's run but I wasn't really into comics at that time so I can't say I remember if it sold big numbers or not). I think you have to take a different look at it, like what Johns is doing with Captian Marvel, he basically took the character and admitted that alot of things just didn't work in today's comic book market, got rid of those aspects or modified them to appeal to today's reader. I think that's what you have to do here.

I'll have to think about it for a bit to see what ideas I have but right away I would think that elevating Niles Clauder's presence in the DC universe might be a good idea. You run into some problems cause some might see him as a Professor X rip off (since they are both symolic leaders of thier respective teams and they are both in a wheel chair). Maybe make the Doom Patrol a place where younger super humans are sent to learn how to handle thier powers? The existing members could be like teachers.....maybe...I have NOT read x-men in years so this might be too close to what they are doing there, I honestly don't know.

Lemmie think about it.

No, I would definitely keep the freaks/outcast angle. But there could be some younger team members, like Dorothy Spinner. I think the difficult thing is keeping them "the World's Strangest Heroes" but also appealing to a larger audience. Books like Xombi and Dial H are creative but haven't been big sellers.

[ArnoldoAAD]

ok this is my pitch

I would start with the main characters of the book being ofcourse Dr. Niles Caulder the Chief, and the Brain, who in this case would not only be human but he would be Niles best friend and a very successful professor
both partners try to work in the advancement of humanity and such, etc, etc
but they think humanity needs to evolve in a different way, they take inspiration of scientist like Tesla who where often ignore and ridiculed cause they took a path of science that was not seen as something orthodox

so all the experiments and researches will be focused on paths that other have ignore cause they think are doom from the start so we get, the doom patrol

for some circunstances they meet with Cliff Steele who besides being a car driver is also an smart dude who is a student of Brain and works more like an assistant and he helps them on their experiments
the first experiment that the group does its to create a machine that accelerates human intelligence which of course is tested first in an old violent gorilla that was donated by french zoo thanks to a con pull by the chief, the Gorilla just named Mala
the experiment is a success and soon Mourcier Mala joins the group, not only as a subject of experimentation but as a friend and a bodyguard
and finally the last of the members to join the group would Valentina Vostok a soviet scientist who heard about this group of freaks who has been rejected by the science community and comes to ask for help in another experiment regarding something only known as negative energy

and that would be the first 3 chps

it serves to establish the characters and to dig onto their different reactions as they encounter bizarre and unexplainable creatures to help into their different researches

as to how the group works, Mala seems to be an smart and comprehensible persona who once in a while will devolve to his more animistic and savage impulses, only being able to be talk down by Valentina, however when he is more under control he prefers to stick with Professor brain, Mala also hates Cliff, for many reasons
Cliff immediately tries to hit on Valentina but ofcourse is shutdown also immediately but in the course of the next year this would change, and cliff also hates Mala, main reason is cause of his friendship with Valentina, he respects Brain as a teacher and mentor and sees Dr Caulder as a friend

and the Chief more than anything serves as an administrator and researcher, always looking for interesting places and rumors on weird places to explore on and weird ppl to meet and weird science to discover, he is a natural conman able to convince anyone to do anything and prepared for every situation
he sees Brain as an equal mind, he sees Cliff as a confident helper and friend and he also finds himself in love with the young Dr Voskov
a sentiment that he doesnt share with anyone else but is corresponded by her even though he doesnt know it

when we get the end of the first year we get to the boiling point of the main conflict since the start of the comic, the brain accelerator, Chief wants to use it for human trials, but Brain doesnt want too cause of how Mala has been reacting, Chief's position is that since Mala was already violent it just doesnt work on him correctly so thats why they need more trials, specially cause in chp 11 we get to meet the very first person insane enough and wealthy enough to donate money on their crazy investigation, this one being Steve Dayton(future Mento)

the rest of he team get to vote as Mala supports Brain's opinion and also because of his new found out intelligence has given him a certain sense of humanity and doesnt want a human being to go through what he is been going to
on the other hand Valentina supports Chief cause she thinks that whatever problem might had been going on with the experiment in the past it has been corrected with the new advances

the final vote goes to cliff who votes yes on the condition that he is the subject, the reason is that up to this point he sees himself as the less intelligent of the group as even mala's IQ has gone over his and feels unworthy to be next to this group, so if his intelligence is increase it will make him more useful

so everything is prepared when we get the last piece of the puzzle of this team which is the hate of Mala, Mala dislikes Cliff when he is smart cause he finds him unhelpful and his attitude annoys him, but when he is on his more savage stages he hates him cause he reminds him of the humans that capture him and prison him in the zoo, we explore his complex psychology as the beat fight with the genius inside the ape's head

at the same time Brain's desire to stop the experiment at all cost is reveal
Valentina discovers Chief's sentiments at the same time that she starts to develop feelings for Cliff
and Chief discovers that Valentina is feeling something for Cliff and Cliff corresponds which he feels as a betrayal

the day before the experiment the group reunites to see Cliffs final race as he has decided to leave his sport as a childish dream
when the iconic accident happens
he crashes at the terrified sight of all his friends
but how? was it Mala due a pure animalistic hate, was it the chief for pure jealous, was it Brain to stop the experiment at all cost
was is just an accident by fate
you will never know

then year 2

but Thoughts so far?

[Jon Clark]

I'd start with Larry Trainor, a fighter pilot who has awoke in a hospital bed covered head-to-toe in bandages. He vaguely remembers his last mission but not well. And other than the fact his plane crashed, no one will give him any details about how he wound up where he is. He discovers that in addition to his "injuries", he als is now prone to inexplicable fainting spells. His days as a pilot are now over. At the end of the issue we meet Dr Niles Caulder, a specialist who has been put in charge of Larry's case.

The next issue would deal with Cliff Steele and would start with his accident and flashback over his life interspersed with scenes in the operating room. The last page would reveal his new robotic body (which was constructed we'd later learn from rejected prototype parts from the project Cyborg's father was working on).

The third issue would be done as a "Whatever Happened to..." about actress Rita Farr, ending with her viewing the show in a room with Dr Caulder. A final panel maes it clear her body is deformed, her limbs and features being of differing scales (and elongated right arm, a stunted left one, one eye enlarged to take up half her face, ...)

The fourth issue would flash forward a few years later to the team's first mission which although successful generates more negative publicity than positive. This would be the central core of the series. The Doom Patrol tackling threats that the League and other big names consider "beneath" them, while at the same time being treated like pariahs.

[Robotman4]

I would make their classic villains a little more powerful. I always thought The Brain should have telepathy.

[Jabare]

I'd beg Morrison to write the book, and than watch the magic happen

[Alpha Male]

A series of catastrophic events occur for unexplained reasons. In response to these isolated and seemingly random events, reclusive researcher and philanthropist Dr. Niles Caulder has opened a facility to treat and study the nature of these events and the people that been affected by it.

The first study we meet is Cliff Steele. An everyman commuter who's a victim of a horrific automobile accident. Steele also happened to be an organ donor and his brain was chosen to be placed in a prototype of a robotic body. When Steele awakens he shocked at his new predicament and immediately begins to lash out. He later comes to grip with his circumstances but longs for a human life. He discovers that his organs have been donated and that his body has been buried and struggles with the choice to tell his family he's alive but decides to keep it a secret.

The next person we meet is Larry Trainor. He's an experimental pilot along with Valetina Vostok who were hired to test pilot advanced aircraft for the government when a ray storm hits their craft. The last thing the two pilots see is a blinding flare. When Larry comes to he discovers that he's a being of living energy and that him and Valentina are sharing the same body. They later learn that they have the ability to switch places at will making for an uncomfortable situation. They can also manipulate the appearance of the negative energy being turning him into constructs like a missile, a tank, a giant boxing glove, etc.


The third person we meet is Rita Farr. Farr is an award winning actress who is exposed to fumes while shooting her latest film. The fumes enlarge to an extraordinary heights and reduce her body parts at the same time, horrifying cast and crew alike. She also discovers that her form is unstable and reluctantly seeks out Niles Caulder to help treat her.

The fourth person we meet is Joshua Clay. Dr Joshua Clay is testing a matter transporter he designed in hopes to market it for commercial use. He first used to transport an object from one place to another and it was a success. Motivated by this success, he decides to use this on himself but the experiment goes awry and fuses him with a mixture of human and extraterrestrial lifeforms making him the new version of The Multi-Alien.

The fifth is only know as Jane Doe as she's an amnesiac who was the lone survivor of a bus crash that left her with a strange side effect. Her latent psychic powers were activated and she absorbed the personalities and latent abilities of those who were on the bus and she can also channel abilities from beyond. For example she can channel the abilities of a deceased martial artist but get his personality as a side effect. Niles Caulder takes a personal interest in her.


That's just a sample of what I would do. I'll finish it later. I have a new origin for The Chief and I plan on tying General Immortus more into the Doom Patrol.

[BrianT]

I would start with Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, Mento and Niles Caulder. Beast Boy, if available. And then I would comb the New 52 for any characters that may fit in with the "scarred/freak" criteria. Cyborg would be good as a part time member, which would reunite him with Beast Boy. I would add Metamorpho when introduced (part time if in a new Outsiders). Possibly Blue Devil.

[MonteMike72]

Use these characters and drawn by Perez.
Keep Morrison very far away from it!