Doom Patrol | |
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The fourth roster of Doom Patrol, in Teen Titans vol. 3, #35 (June 2006). From left to right: Vox, Beast Boy, Bumblebee (flying), Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, The Chief (seated), Robotman.
Art by Tony Daniel. |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics/Vertigo/Young Animal |
First appearance |
My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) |
Created by |
Arnold Drake Bruno Premiani Murray Boltinoff Bob Haney (disputed) |
In-story information | |
Base(s) | Dayton Manor |
Member(s) |
The Chief Elasti-Woman Element Woman Negative Man Robotman |
Roster | |
See: List of Doom Patrol members |
The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963). Writers Arnold Drake (who was the feature's regular scripter) and Bob Haney, artist Bruno Premiani, and editor Murray Boltinoff are generally credited as the team's creators; however, Drake insisted that Haney did no more than answer Drake's call for help to meet the short deadline he had been given for the first story. The Doom Patrol has since appeared in multiple incarnations.
The first Doom Patrol consisted of super-powered misfits, whose "gifts" caused them alienation and trauma. Dubbed the "World's Strangest Heroes" the original team included The Chief (Niles Caulder), Robotman (Cliff Steele), Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr), and Negative Man (Larry Trainor). The series was canceled in 1968, when Drake killed the team off in the final issue, Doom Patrol #121 (September–October 1968).
In the years after this story, five Doom Patrol series have been launched. Each series tried to capture the spirit of the original team, but the only character constant to all was Robotman.
The Doom Patrol first appeared in 1963, when the DC title My Greatest Adventure, an adventure anthology title, was being converted to a superhero format. The task assigned writer Arnold Drake was to create a team that fit both formats. With fellow writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani, he created the Doom Patrol, a team of super-powered misfits regarded as freaks by the world at large. It first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80, June 1963. Doctor Niles Caulder motivated the original Doom Patrol, bitter from being isolated from the world, to use their powers for the greater good. The series was such a success that My Greatest Adventure was officially retitled The Doom Patrol beginning with issue #86.
The Doom Patrol's rogues gallery matched the strange, weird tone of the series. Villains included the immortality-seeking General Immortus, the shape shifting Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and the Brotherhood of Evil led by the Brain, an actual brain kept alive by technology. The Brotherhood of Evil also included the intelligent gorilla Monsieur Mallah and Madame Rouge, who was given powers similar to those of Elongated Man, with the extra attribute of a malleable face, allowing her to impersonate various people.