It’s a new day for the Doom Patrol, which means new members AND a new headquarters! Your Major Spoilers review of Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2 from DC Comics awaits!

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #2

Writer: Dennis Culver
Artist: Chris Burnham
Colorist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 25, 2023

Previously in Unstoppable Doom Patrol: Explore the World’s Strangest Superheroes’ new headquarters, the Shelter, as they welcome their brand-new member, the Worm! Catch up with Niles Caulder, Mento, Flex Mentallo, and more as we learn terrible secrets that could bring the new team to their knees before they even have a chance to get started. There’s a traitor in their midst and it’s not who you think!

HAMMERING HOME THE MUTANT PARALLELS

With Christopher Smith, The Peacemaker, in charge of the United States government’s response to the new wave of metahumans caused by Lazarus Planet, The Doom Patrol has more to do than ever. Last issue, I mentioned how much the premise felt like Marvel’s mutant dilemma, and this issue ups the ante with giant robots called Peacehammers. While most of the team destroys the mecha patrols, Beast Girl finds a young boy called Worm, a metahuman whose power seems to be a removable/retractable worm-thing called Velvet. Through Worm and Velvet, we get the grand tour of the team’s new headquarters, an underground facility called The Shelter, somewhere in Kansas. We find that Flex Mentallo is still with the Patrol, in a non-field role, while Niles Caulder handles the administrative side (and really wants to steal control back from Jane’s new personality, The Chief.) Then, Worm reveals that he’s actually a spy working for Peacemaker.

Aaaand then, things get weird for poor Worm.

MENTO, CAULDER, FLEX, AND DANNY THE STREET

With Cliff/Robotman visiting the grave of Dorothy Spinner and trying to communicate by radio with Danny The Street, the issue also returns whole swathes of Doom Patrol history to continuity, tying in the recent Young Animal Doom Patrol series for the first time and explicitly referencing the runs by Rachel Pollack and Grant Morrison. The appearances of Mento and Flex Mentallo are pleasing to my continuity freak heart, but it’s Willoughby Kipling’s cameo that really cements that this new, unstoppable Patrol is the synthesis of all that came before. As for the art, I’m very fond of Burnham’s work, with very pretty humans, its very monstrous monsters, and a very mechanized Robotman, as well as Peacemaker chewing scenery, as seen on TV. The cutaways of The Shelter are both informative and fun, providing little character bits and establishing that Flex Mentallo and Elasti-Woman are very much in a cuddling stage of whatever relationship they have.

BOTTOM LINE: A GOOD READ

Although most of the issue is spent on establishing The Shelter and the team’s new status quo, Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2 makes it crystal clear that it’s intended as a pastiche of Marvel’s mutant situation, introducing some exciting new twists and turns while keeping the character focus tight, with strong art that earns 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. Unlike issue one, this book includes the information that it’s only a six-issue limited series on the cover, making me more determined to let Faithful Spoilerites know what they’re missing, in the hopes of more Unstoppable Doom Patrol in the future.

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