The Kalki storyline comes to an end today, and I'm so very glad - not because it wasn't good, but because it was actually only 3 issues. I rail at the current (for the last 15 years or so) vogue to have 6-issue initial story arcs. Asking a consumer to commit to half a year on an untested title is a bit much, I think. But if you can reel readers in in half that time, or even in a single issue (a la Planetary), then that's so much the better.
The initial story of this series is, of course, used to bring the characters, if not the team, back together, and serves its purpose nicely. We also get a bit more background on Arani and Niles, an aspect of the Patrol's history that to this day sits a bit oddly. Actually, it's very hard to say how much of the narrative of this series is actually still considered canonical to the current Young Animal series, though going with my assertion yesterday that the DP are actually cross-retcon aware puts that particular question to bed. It seems to me in this story that Mr. Kupperberg is trying to assuage some of the problems he may have inadvertently introduced by inserting the Caulder marriage into the DP's history, not least of which is Niles' infatuation with Madame Rouge in the original series. Perhaps there's some underlying bigamist theory in here :D.
I think that my favourite moment of this comic was the introduction of Rhea Jones, the Lodestone. As with Dorothy Spinner, who shows up in about 10 issues, Rhea only really blossoms after Morrison takes over, though she's incapacitated and in a coma for a good portion of that blossoming. I'm also ecstatic to see her comatose in the new series, as this perhaps (perhaps) opens up the possibility of the Judge Rock and a interstellar war for an upcoming season. I really hope we see more of this older version of the Patrol. It's a lovely nod to an era of the comic that gets very little attention.
In that vein, I just checked to see which runs of the series have actually been collected and may be available to any who are interested. Everything except for Rachel Pollack's and John Arcudi's runs have been collected in some form, though the end of Keith Giffen's run is also absent from the trades. You also sort of need the 52 aftermath series The Four Horsemen to get what's going on in Giffen's run. It's a shame that the end of the second volume, and Arcudi's third volume, are not reprinted, as they're very weird, definitely more in keeping with the tone of the original, and Morrison, runs.
Nice to get back to writing, especially about the Doom Patrol.
More to follow.
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