Sorry for the break in "season 2" of The Doom Patrol. (I've actually decided I'm going to read a chunk of the series once a year - the breakdown has it as a nine-year process to read up to what is current now!) One of the dearest people I know came for a visit, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. Hence, some fill-in posts.
But when we last left our intrepid heroes, they'd discovered that someone had killed the Challengers of the Unknown, and ran to their rescue, or revenge. Well, of course, it turns out the Challs were not dead, merely very close to death, thanks to the machinations of the Challenger-Haters (a terrible, terrible, but nicely explanatory villain team name if ever there was one).
I don't know a lot about DC in this era, but I can't imagine that these kinds of crossovers were frequent. More so, that the crossover should last more than one issue - today's story concludes in tomorrow's comic. Even at the top of the cover we're told that this is a "Fantastic First!" And while it may have been a ploy to stifle flagging sales, it's also a moment that is fundamental in the creation of the shared narrative universe that both teams inhabit. Yes, the Justice League cement in their title the idea of a shared world. But it's important for us to see the lower-rank heroes also interacting, also participating in the building of their world. Neither team has the cachet of the JLA, but in some ways their existence down in the dirtier parts of the DCU gives us a better idea of what kind of a world this is.
Apparently one that is attacked by a new alien threat literally 5 or 6 times every month. But let's not dwell on that.
Tomorrow the DP (and now I'm wondering about the New Universe title D.P.7, about a collection of freaks who become heroes) and the Challengers hit the ground running after Multi-Man and his cohorts. Will Cliff and Rocky bicker? Will Rita try to calm everyone down? Find out next time!
More to come...
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