Mad science has never been more creatively and enjoyably mad as in this glorious collection of stories. The Doom Patrol were “The World’s Strangest Heroes” and Arnold Drake tried to fulfill that boast in each and every story and he was very successful in his work. The four characters are fun twists on standard superhero fare, Rita Farr one tim film actor now Elasti-Girl capable of growing or shrinking to incredible heights. Larry Trainor, a test pilot exposed to mysterious radioactive waves he can release an sort of electromagnetic ghost called Negative Man. Cliff Steele once an international daredevil now a robot with a human brain and their wheelchair bound Chief. The parallels with the X-Men are so clear that they are discussed on the dust cover inner front flap. Happily they are not the X-Men , they are science fiction B-film done with the unlimited budget of comics. They have the same complete disregard for logic and a belief that momentum and an a fifty foot woman would always cover for plot holes.
This is a cleaned up and vaguely modernised version of the science that Dr Frankenstein used to animated his creation, there are ray guns and aliens who want to take over the world and the sense-shattering majesty of The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace. The stories fizzle and crackle with invention and imagination, wild ideas jostle with the most mundane. Negative Man gets loose and is creating havoc, two crooks who have not pulled off a heist for months, track him and take advantage of the blackouts he causes to steal. Naturally there is a genius level talking gorilla who is the servant of the Brain, a disembodied brain who is the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil. Not to mention the atomic beings from the Earth’s core.
One of the nicest aspects to the stories is that the sexism rampant in stories from the period, while present is not at toxic doses, Rita is not patronised to quite the extent that other female characters were, it is still jarring at least it is not unreadable. The art is beautiful, Bruno Premiani has a wonderful clear line and the cast are all imbued with great individuality and detail. He is a great science fiction artist, he draws it in a way that captures the wonder and absurdity of the situations, at the same time they have a gravity and weight that anchors them firmly. The book itself is a very nice production, the pages are very crisp and clear and it open out nicely so the whole page is visible. Very good fun.
