Kenny Keil covers Doom Patrol 95

Original cover by Bob Brown; DC 1965. Kenny Keil's website is here.

Doom Patrol #121

Doom Patrol #121 (On Sale: July 16, 1968) has a very dramatic Joe Orlando cover that says it all: "Is this the Beginning or the End of the Doom Patrol?" For many years this was the end, as in a startling final issue, Doom Patrol creator Arnold Drake kills them all!

In "The Death of the Doom Patrol?," by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, the Doom Patrol is destroyed. Striking back at all her former allies, Madame Rouge returns and apparently destroys the Brotherhood of Evil. She then launches a series of devastating attacks against the Doom Patrol in their own headquarters. To safeguard innocent bystanders, the team retreats to an island base prepared by the Chief for emergencies, unaware that they are being tracked by Madame Rouge and her new ally, Captain Zahl, an ex-Nazi foe of the Chief.

Immobilizing the three heroes, Zahl issues an ultimatum: either they allow him to blow up the island and destroy them, or he will cause a similar blast to destroy a tiny fishing village of fourteen inhabitants. The Doom Patrol members heroically vote to sacrifice themselves, and Zahl detonates the island over Madame Rouge's protests. The world mourns the loss of the Doom Patrol, and Steve Dayton vows to find and destroy the murderers of his wife.

Talk about an ending! From day one the Doom Patrol was Arnold Drake's baby and when the book ended he took his baby with it. Elasti-Girl, Negative Man and the Chief all die in this issue. Robotman, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah all appear to die as well, but survive as revealed in Showcase #94 (1977) and New Teen Titans #14 (1981). It appears that this ground-breaking issue has never been reprinted.

In a 1999 interview with Katherine Keller (no relation to me), Arnold Drake spoke of his beloved Doom Patrol:

Murray Boltinoff the editor, came to me one day, or I went to him one day and he said, "We're having a lot of trouble with My Greatest Adventure, it's starting to lay an egg. The era of the superhero has taken over completely. My Greatest Adventure has ordinary heroes. We need some kind of superhero to punch it up." So I said okay, went out and came back a couple of hours later with the basic idea about the man in the wheelchair who is the great brain, and runs this group of superheroes who hate being superheroes. That was the new aspect. That was the thing that made Doom Patrol different, these people hated being superheroes. And they were a little bit self-pitying, just a little bit, and the chief was constantly telling them, "Stop crying in your beer." That made them something that wasn't around at the time.

I enjoyed that experience, not only because it was a fresh idea, but also because I did 48 issues, and this gave me a chance to develop the characters and to get into ever more complex relationships, and so on. That's why I really liked it, because I controlled it. I could make it do what I wanted it to do. In most magazine houses, I would write a character for 3-4 issues, then somebody else would come in and write it. And then someone else would come in, and that's grown even worse today, it's even more so today. The result is there's no real continuity, everybody's making up his own little universe. Everybody's got his own Batman or his own Superman. And I think that probably weakened it, made them less real.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #120

Doom Patrol #120 (On Sale: May 16, 1968) has an oddly ineffective cover by Jack Sparling.

"The Rage of the Wrecker" is by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. When satellites begin disappearing from Earth-orbit, the Doom Patrol investigates and battles the Wrecker, who is out to destroy all modern technology by means of ray bombardments from a space base. When Robotman's mechanical body is destroyed as well, the Chief transplants his brain into a series of specialized robot bodies, enabling him to accompany Negative Man into space to defeat the villain.

Meanwhile, out for a night on the town, Mento, Elasti-Girl, Gar Logan, and Gar's girlfriend Jillian Jackson become involved in a brawl at a discotheque, with humorous results.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #119

Doom Patrol #119 (On Sale: March 21, 1968) has what I think is a very cool cover by Bob Brown. That 60s psychedelic vibe is flying high at DC this month!

"In the Shadow of the Great Guru" is by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. The Yaramishi Rama Yogi, a mystic guru, transforms Robotman into an ardent pacifist who refuses to use violence for any reason. When the Doom Patrol investigates, the guru captures Negative Man and Elasti-Girl and inflicts them with unreasoning fear and hatred, respectively, which he can trigger in them at a given posthypnotic signal. The team members almost destroy each other before overcoming the Guru's power over them and battling him and his followers to a standstill.

The villain's true plot, however, succeeds. While the Doom Patrol is occupied with his machinations, he is able to undo the Chief's rehabilitation of Madame Rouge, who disappears and becomes a villainess in her own right, swearing to destroy the Chief.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #118

Doom Patrol #118 (On Sale: January 18, 1968) sports a Bob Brown cover.

"Videx Monarch of Light" is by the usual team of Arnod Drake and Bruno Premiani. The Brain threatens to have his newest accomplice, Videx, a villain with amazing powers over light, destroy the Doom Patrol unless they surrender Madame Rouge. Although Negative Man is gravely injured in the struggle, the Doom Patrol, with the help of Beast Boy, manages to overcome Videx, using an old anti-invisibility ray designed by the Chief.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #117

Doom Patrol #117 (On Sale: December 5, 1967) has a dramatic Bob Brown cover.

"The Black Vulture" is by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. The Chief is deserted by the Doom Patrol after his new relationship with Madame Rouge causes him to neglect his duties as their leader. He then must fight alone against the Black Vulture, an old foe who has become a costumed criminal with a bird motif. The Doom Patrol returns in time to help battle the Vulture and his trained birds, but they in turn must be rescued by the arrival of the Chief's Indian friend, White Feather, and his warriors, who also have an old score to settle with the Black Vulture.

The back-up story is "The Man of 100 Wigs" by Jack Miller and John Prentice, a reprint from Tales of the Unknown #3.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #116

Doom Patrol #116 (On Sale: October 19, 1967) features another Bob Brown cover.

Inside "Two to Get Ready... and Three to Die" is by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. Continuing from last issue, the reformed Madame Rouge joins the Doom Patrol's struggle against the mutant trio, as do Mento and Beast Boy. Splitting up, it is Robotman and Elasti-Girl who confront the mutants, only to be threatened by an even greater alien menace, the "Galactic Gladiator". The Gladiator's explanation of life on his homeworld, where mutants are the masters and normal humans are slaves, sickens the Earth mutants and they act to stop their own plan to destroy Earth by causing it to collide with a comet, perishing in the effort. Then the supposed alien is revealed as the Chief in a robotic disguise.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Doom Patrol #115

Doom Patrol #115 (On Sale: September 5, 1967) as usual has a cover by Bob Brown.

Inside we have the cover story "The Mutant Master" by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. Three monstrous atomic mutants plan to destroy the world in vengeance for their tragic fate, and the Doom Patrol is defeated in its encounters with the trio. At the same time, Madame Rouge's split personality, aggravated by the mental coercion of both the Brian and the Chief, causes her to become two separate beings, who battle to the destruction of her evil half.

The second story, "General Beast Boy -- of the Ape Brigade" is also by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. In this the continuation of the retelling of Beast Boy's origin, wherein the young Beast Boy smashes a plot by Nazi war criminals to raise an army of intelligent, obedient apes. He is then finally found by his guardian, Nicholas Galtry, who returns with him to America.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff