I just had a quick look back to see if I'd mentioned the idea that the Doom Patrol function somewhat hauntologically for a short while in the Seventies and Eighties. I posted about this a few years ago with regard to Barry Allen's presence in Mark Waid's masterful The Flash (which, I promise, I will get back to reading through soon - I promise!). In the same way that Barry Allen's spectre haunts Wally West's time as the Flash, so does the Doom Patrol haunt Changeling, specifically in his early days breaking away from the identity of Beast Boy, and its attachment to a traumatic past.
At this point in the Patrol's history, the originals, sans Cliff, are still dead. As I wrote yesterday, Cliff has gone back to his original body for some reason, and there's been no mention whatsoever of the other members of the New Doom Patrol. I get the sense that Wolfman and Perez recognized those characters as problematic for the Doom Patrol and chose to ignore their presence. Cliff Steele (who in some ways haunts the Doom Patrol itself) is tasked with finding Gar's lost adopted father, Steve Dayton (the version of whom that appeared in the TV series was by far the most sympathetic one. Dayton sucks). After little communication from Cliff, part of the team track him to Uganda, and discover the above! Cliff, while close to Gar, also reminds him physically, as opposed to solely in his memory, of the presence of his adopted mother, Rita Farr.
That's as far as I got with that thought. I'll likely come back to this, as the Patrol functions in this way until their re-debut in the Secret Origins annual.
The other neat thing about this comic is that the cover looks like it depicts a climactic moment, something you might not want to give away on the cover, but it's actually not. This happens fairly early in the comic. It's a nice touch, and shows a deft understanding of the workings of the medium. Little surprise, coming from the pair it does.
"It's a good thing I'm dead -- otherwise I'd barf!"
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