Al, you know someone at DC is going to steal that idea now, don't you?

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That's the risk you take  when you share  ideas on line ...

I liked the Paul Kupperberg Doom Patrol, and the JB DP as well.

The two talents combined on that Secret Origins Annual was a true pleasure.

I have to say that I am enjoying the Keith Giffen revamp. It's a fun comic. Something we don't see a lot of now.

I've not cared for Giffen's take. None of the characters are likeable, all reflect the more cynical Morrison and modern DC characterizations and no one that I want to spend several bucks a month to spend any time with.

Giffen has really disappointed with DOOM PATROL. I wish I could say different. I'm still getting it in the hopes of another art team jumping on the book. Giffen has made Larry Trainor into a b*tch, mostly. Robotman is hard to screw up. Rita has no personality whatsoever. And Giffen's Chief is informed by Morrison, the "vile manipulator" angle. Yuck.

Plus, Giffen has decided to color almost all of the DP's current adventures through the Morrison mold. Weird to be weird. As far as JB's take, Giffen already killed off Nudge and had Grunt go insane, so I guess those two characters are done and over.

What I can't understand is WHY there's so much difficulty in finding a direction for the DP. If you read the first, say, thirty-forty stories about the DP by Drake and Premiani, you have everything you need. I didn't care for the later DP, with all the lame jokes of the post-Batman 1960s television show era and Beast Boy and Mento, but prior to that the stories are wonderful DP formula of self-loathing heroes prodded to do the best they can by a focused older genius in a wheelchair. If not for the Chief forcing the DP to get up and try again, they might falter. But they never do, no matter how awful they feel their fate is.

I'd give a testicle to write the DP, if such was the beauty of the world. I'd argue the DP is easier to write than the FF. More internal tension, more blue-collar ethic, more interesting skills. Robotman Cliff Steele is simply my favorite superhero character. He makes Ben Grimm seem like Cary Grant, with half the whining, and I love Ben too. Cliff is essentially the model of human nobility, a man who continues fighting even though his existence is a mockery of "life." Fascinating stuff.