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Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 (of 7)
Writer: Dennis Culver
Artist: Chris Burnham
Colour Artist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Reviewed by Davydh Tidey
Summary
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 is releasing to compete with Fast X… that’s a joke, but much more accurate than you would think!
The team has managed to picked up another stray metahuman, but this one comes with some complications. Cliff will have to put his old driving skills to the test if he’s gonna outrun two veteran Green Lanterns, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner, racing them across the country to get this new metahuman to safety!
Positives
Ah, Kyle Rayner. I haven’t seen you in a book in far too long, but your relentless optimism in the face of clear danger is such a breath of fresh air.
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 actually delivers a more focused story than the first two issues. Robotman and Negative Man are flying solo this time, with the rest of the team off dealing with one of their older threats. They’re understandably determined to not mess this up. The issue delves a bit into the DP’s history, remembering a couple of stories from way back in the day, and adding more to their memory.
It also addresses what the wider superhero community thinks of them, which is a nice inclusion for a book like this. We all know what regular people think of the Doom Patrol, and that’s never really mattered to them, but what do their peers in the superhero community REALLY think of them?
Read on to find out!
Dennis Culver continues to impress with his writing in this issue. The attention paid to the smaller details in these characters’ stories, especially in the way they interact with each other, is absolutely brilliant. The two Green Lanterns’ dynamic is absolutely nailed, even down to the constructs they decide to build and their solutions to given problems. The little aside between Cliff and Larry about one of their previous adventures is handled beautifully, giving Cliff a sensitivity and willingness to learn from his mistakes that we haven’t seen from him before. This issue may be smaller scale, but the character-driven action that’s the hallmark of this title is still on full display for us to see.
Chris Burnham and Brian Reber need to do a Green Lantern story immediately. Their depictions of Guy and Kyle are fantastic, the action scenes with them are dynamic and exciting, and the contrast between them and the ground-level DP is done so well.
The car that Cliff’s driving is simply awesome. The special ability it has is depicted so well, and the chase scenes are brilliantly done with their flying pursuers. There’s also a small flashback that focuses on our new metahuman, Starbro, that is haunting, by the way. Watch out for that.
Negatives
I have no complaints to report with this issue. Oh dear, I sound like such a fan-boy… but it’s the truth!
Conclusion
Trauma is a complicated beast, and Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 handles it with a refined sensitivity that’s rare in this medium. There are a few recent books that have dealt with the topic (Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s Robin & Batman, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s Hulk to name a couple), and they’ve been handled well, but the main focus of the story was healing from that trauma, not learning to handle it in a way that works for everyone.
Unstoppable Doom Patrol is the book that shows trauma survivors picking up and carrying on, and I cannot ascribe enough value to it for that.
Keep up the good work Dennis, Chris, Brian and Pat, you’ve all got a fan for life in me.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
