Doom Patrol #2

Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Nick Derington
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC

I mentioned this last week on my review for Shade, the Changing Girl but it's kind of astonishing how all people working on Young Animal's books (at least on Shade and Doom Patrol) are really good at what they do and how they are able to use their talent on inventive manner. These books feel like a breath of fresh air.

For instance, Nick Derington gets to do a lot of different things throughout the issue. The interludes allow him to try different approaches to the art and Flex Mentallo really stands out, it looks exactly like a Frank Quitely drawing, which I guess would be the point of having that character. Either way it is really great to see an artist experiment within a book, it really dictates the tone of this series, it feels as if there's probably something unexpected about to happen. I think there's a bit of Dave Stewart in Tamra Bonvillain's coloring here. Mainly in the way that the book tends towards ocre tones. But her coloring is significantly more expressionistic. Either way, her work is stellar throughout the issue.

Todd Klein's lettering is also very front-and-center in this issue. But despite being very flashy, Klein works around the art really effectively. Some of the scenes with the robot shouldn't work based on how prominent the effects are but thanks to Klein they don't spoil the art. And for some reason I generally really enjoy flashy lettering when it's done well so it's nice to see Klein's work here being up to the rest of the book's standard.

The humour on this book is on point, Gerard Way makes Doom Patrol consistently fun. That first page pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this series. The writing is also commendable because of how different its structure is to most comics out there. This doesn't feel like the beginning of the second act of a 6-issue story. It's a bit more formless and yet that cliffhanger feels like something you might encounter in a Bronze Age comic book.

But in spite of having spent the last few paragraphs lauding every member of Doom Patrol's creative team, I really didn't like Doom Patrol #2 that much. This issue harkens back more heavily to previous runs of the title. Most of the cast in the first issue were created by Gerard Way, there's older characters here and I think an understanding of the title's history would make the issue better.

Doom Patrol is a very surreal and weird comic. I'd even call it inaccesible to a degree. But despite having never read any of the previous runs, I think the marriage of Way's eccentric writing, Derington's smooth art, Bonvillain's striking colors and Klein's bold lettering make this book a really enjoyable and welcoming read.