Doom Patrol: Weight Of The Worlds #1 Brings Back The Ultimate Weird Heroes
by Tony Thornley
In the nine months since the last volume of Doom Patrol, everyone’s favorite weird heroes burst into the public consciousness thanks to DCUniverse’s critically acclaimed live action series. Naturally a return was inevitable, and lucky for us, it’s captures the spirit of the TV show with the same quirky nature of the last volume.
Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, James Harvey, and Sajan Rai bring the Patrol’s return to life.
The Doom Patrol- led by Crazy Jane- are still dealing with their individual crises and personal life, however they need to keep saving the universe wherever they’re needed. This leads them to Orbius, where the inhabitants are about to kick of the (potentially nefarious) Marathon Eternal! Can the Patrol save the day? Meanwhile, the newly human Cliff Steele has to figure out his place in the world…
Way and Lambert create a great jumping on point for new readers. This issue is very much a continuation of the previous Young Animal volume of Doom Patrol (it’s even billed as Chapter 13), but they make an effort to make sure new or lapsed readers will understand exactly what’s going on and where the characters are starting. It’s also done in a way that we can care about and relate to each character, no matter how much or how little page time they get. The Orbius plot is similar enough to standard superhero fare that it’s not going to throw a totally new reader, but is weird enough that only the Doom Patrol could deal with it.
Harvey does some really great work in the issue. His cartoony style is extremely expressive, which helps with drawing us into the plot and the characters. He shifts his style a little bit for each character introduction vignette, which establishes their personality alongside the script really well. Harvey and Rai’s color work is stunning, shifting palettes and effects to go with what’s happening in the story. The lettering (which is unfortunately uncredited) also becomes part of the art as well, using a hand-lettered style for the dialogue that fits the quirky story, and integrating captions and narration into the negative spaces and backgrounds.
The Doom Patrol is back to save the universe, and it’s an absolutely wild ride.
Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #1 is available now from DC Comics.
