the_graylien's review
4.0
Grant Morrison continues his absurdist romp through superhero comics in this third volume of his Doom Patrol run.
While, in my opinion, the series continues to get more weird, we also see more observable themes emerging, and themes that are more in line with what Morrison goes on to produce in future works.
The concept/character of Danny the Street is awesome and many (including myself) have said that they don't know how he even concieved of such a concept. Brillant Morrisonian stuff.
The larger story arc which takes up most of the book is a bit out there, but also shows a nice journey with our protagonists as they are split up and journey in a most rewarding way to find each other. The idea that this arc puts forth is both something Morrison wants to tell the reader and a genius execution of such an idea. (It deals with certain themes that Morrison has been building upon since the beginning of his takeover on the title, but I'll let you read to figure it out.)
All-in-all, again, another offering in Morrison's run on Doom Patrol that's not going to be your cup of tea if you're into straight forward, one read, easily digested superhero comics, but a true gem if you're into poring over the pages, looking for multiple meanings, and seeing what such a talent can do if he wants to push the envelope of the medium.
While, in my opinion, the series continues to get more weird, we also see more observable themes emerging, and themes that are more in line with what Morrison goes on to produce in future works.
The concept/character of Danny the Street is awesome and many (including myself) have said that they don't know how he even concieved of such a concept. Brillant Morrisonian stuff.
The larger story arc which takes up most of the book is a bit out there, but also shows a nice journey with our protagonists as they are split up and journey in a most rewarding way to find each other. The idea that this arc puts forth is both something Morrison wants to tell the reader and a genius execution of such an idea. (It deals with certain themes that Morrison has been building upon since the beginning of his takeover on the title, but I'll let you read to figure it out.)
All-in-all, again, another offering in Morrison's run on Doom Patrol that's not going to be your cup of tea if you're into straight forward, one read, easily digested superhero comics, but a true gem if you're into poring over the pages, looking for multiple meanings, and seeing what such a talent can do if he wants to push the envelope of the medium.
wolverine's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
not a fan of morrisons writing. i like doom patrol tho
skolastic's review
3.0
Starts out really promising, but promptly gets bogged down in an alien story that just seems like weirdness for its own sake. I'm going to press on as I'm curious to see how Flex Mentallo connects back into all of this, but I'm not wild about it.
rabbithero's review
2.0
Sort of a SCREECHING halt to what was really some of the best work in comics. Somewhere right around the beginning of this book, Morrison becomes UNHINGED, and the coherent (albeit bizarre) story-telling that made the first two volumes so enjoyable goes right out the window. The reader, instead, is treated to essentially a parade of ideas, which is a neat in its own right, I suppose, but next to NONE of those ideas are ever fleshed out enough to make the framework from which they arise seem credible. For example, the Smoke Dogs, who smell through time, are introduced during a montage on page 102, along with the Glass Swarm and the Blue Fever. Only the Smoke Dogs are given a relative role in the larger story, but in none of these three cases is the idea given anything to do other than exist as a conceptual notion that lends weirdness to the Doom Patrol's adventures. That's fine enough, I suppose, but where this fails is that it makes every Doom Patrol adventure smack of the same KIND of bizarre-ness, which is of course the imagination of Grant Morrison.
This book suffers from an inability to temper the giddiness of its ideas, and not enough anchoring. And from what I've read of book 4, it'll be more of the same from here on out.
This book suffers from an inability to temper the giddiness of its ideas, and not enough anchoring. And from what I've read of book 4, it'll be more of the same from here on out.
ipacho's review
4.0
The reading of this volume was way thougher than the predecessors. However, the great amout of work Morrison did to make this truly bizarre is outstanding. For me, this was one of those comics that trascend into pure art, pure surrealism.
lordofthemoon's review
3.0
I've enjoyed Morrison's run on the Doom Patrol so far, but this one stretched my patience a little. It's probably the weirdest volume yet and it's not so much the strangeness that I found wearing, but the lack of coherence. While Danny the Street is a charming conceit, I'd love to learn more about him (it?) and his relationship with the woman he comes back to at the start. I'd like to know why the leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. appears to have a laugh track running in the background of his home and why he values 'normalcy' so much that he wants to kill Danny (and, eventually, the Doom Patrol).
I probably enjoyed the second half of the book better, where we have Rhea Jones waking from her coma, except running around naked with no face and with an eye growing just above her chest (not a spoiler, it's on the front cover), and being kidnapped to take part in an alien war. Incidentally, disturbing chest-eye aside, I can't help feeling that Rhea's lack of clothes served no real plot purpose other than to portray a curvy lady.
The antagonists of the war that the Doom Patrol get involved in are very interesting and I thought that plot was done well, but it did come at the expense of any sense of closure of the Danny the Street plot.
I'll keep reading, but I'm more wary of the Morrison factor now. Oh, and I found the prologues at the start of each issue tantalising and irritating in equal measure, as they're setting stuff up, but there's no hint of where they're going with them, never mind any resolution whatsoever in the whole book.
I probably enjoyed the second half of the book better, where we have Rhea Jones waking from her coma, except running around naked with no face and with an eye growing just above her chest (not a spoiler, it's on the front cover), and being kidnapped to take part in an alien war. Incidentally, disturbing chest-eye aside, I can't help feeling that Rhea's lack of clothes served no real plot purpose other than to portray a curvy lady.
The antagonists of the war that the Doom Patrol get involved in are very interesting and I thought that plot was done well, but it did come at the expense of any sense of closure of the Danny the Street plot.
I'll keep reading, but I'm more wary of the Morrison factor now. Oh, and I found the prologues at the start of each issue tantalising and irritating in equal measure, as they're setting stuff up, but there's no hint of where they're going with them, never mind any resolution whatsoever in the whole book.
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