Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2 - Comic Review

 

I made some comparisons in the last issue of Unstoppable Doom Patrol that it felt a bit like the X-Men, specifically the Morrison run. This issue doesn't do much to dispel that feeling, but it still feels like it's being it's own thing, and being really unique and interesting at the same time. 

This issue opens with the Doom Patrol fighting some giant robots with the Peacemaker logo on them as Beast Girl tires to make contact with another new meta-human that they're trying to help. She comes across Worm, a young boy who has a blue worm-like creature living inside his chest who can leave his body. Despite the name, only he's called Worm, the actual worm is called Velvet. It's a tiny thing, but that tiny subverting of expectations is delightfully funny to me; of course the worm is called something cute and pretty, look at her, she's adorable. 

The team take Worm to their new base of operations, an underground facility somewhere in Kansas. We get an amazing two page splash reveal of the facility, complete with cross-section style layouts for the place. It doesn't go into huge detail, it doesn't feel the need to label every room or facility on the page, allowing for there to still be a decent amount of mystery as to what everything is or does, whilst allowing the audience the ability to know the general scope of the Doom Patrol's new operation. 

Upon entering the base we see that the team have already rescued several new meta's, who are wearing slightly different coloured versions of the team's costumes to denote their status as new trainees. They're not the only ones there though, as Niles Caulder is still around, and is trying to worm his way back in control of the team, along with Flex Menatllo, and Mento. It's great to see some characters from previous runs of the series being brought back for those returning fans, as well as new characters being introduced. As someone who's only experience of the Doom Patrol outside of cameo appearances in other titles is this series, these returning members was either clearly explained enough, or given enough mystery to them that it felt like more information would be coming in later issues.

However, once on the base it turns out that Worm is Peacemaker's spy, and that he's been sent into the place to spy on the team as part of Taskforce X. Worm uses Velvet to work her way through the vents in the base, spying on people and learning things, in a page that looks absolutely fantastic as we get panels of the different rooms, connected by air vents that velvet is crawling her way through. Despite having a bomb in his head, Worm refuses to do what Peacemaker says, realising that the Doom Patrol are decent people. 

The team are able to block the signal to the explosive, having known Worm was a spy from the beginning, but can't do so forever. The kid hands Velvet over, before Robot man throws him high up into the sky, where he detonates. I'm really surprised that the book quite literally blows up a child in the second issue, but love it in a lot of ways too. It feels like the series is being allowed to do whatever it wants, and that even something as shocking as children exploding isn't off the table. 

Even more so than the first issue, it feels like this one is doing a fair bit of set-up. We spend some time getting to know The Shelter, we get to see what the Doom Patrol are doing when they're not out being heroes, and it's furthering the story of Peacemaker running the military's plans to take the team down. This issue doesn't really give much time to spend with the characters that make up the team because of this, with a lot of the focus being given to Worm; but that only helps the shock ending of the kid being killed. With things in place now, however, it feels like we're ready to really sink our teeth into the meat of the story with the next issue.

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