I'm a little late, but making it up with Quanity Pt 1

Today's first review is the second trade in Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, "the Painting that ate Paris".

Doom Patrol: the Painting that ate Paris
Vertigo (DC Comics) - October 1, 2004
Reprints: Doom Patrol 26-34
Written by: Grant Morrison
Drawn by: Richard Case

Plot:
Just as the old Doom Patrol has yielded to its newer and even stranger incarnation, the old Brotherhood of Evil is no more - but what will rise to take its place? Only something that properly reflects the insanity of modern life can hope to fill its shoes - and that something is the Brotherhood of Dada! Mr. Nobody! Sleepwalk! The Fog! Frenzy! The Quiz! Together they will bring a reign of unreason to an unsuspecting world, harnessing the untapped powers of ideas and symbols to transform reality itself into absurdist theater - unless the reconstituted Doom Patrol can find a way to stop them. But will all of existence in danger of being reduced to a nonsensical punch line, can even the World's Strangest Heroes find a happy ending for this lethal farce?

Story:
I absolutely love the first arc. It's one of my favorite mergings of that "Morrison Weirdness" with sequential "superhero" storytelling. Even though I missed the first trade and I am traditionally used to the regular configuration of the Doom Patrol, I could follow along and I didn't mind the marginlization of what I felt was the "Doom Patrol" cast. Crazy Jane and Robotman had some spectacular moments. I hated the second arc alot, it just was too much weird, too fast, with little to no explanation for weird concept A or B. Maybe my familarity with
dadism helped me out with the first arc. I couldn't get into the moment at all, maybe that's what Morrison was going for, since some of the characters are confused as I am. The trade ends with the best Brain and Mallah story ever. It's also in continuity
Art:
Case's art is perfect for the first arc. It's beautifully disorienting for a story that attacks you from all sides. It changes styles gracefully and it has some great images of the Justice League.


I never ever got to reading "Crawling through the Wreckage" for some strange reason and specifically picked up this book since a) it was 50% off at Strand's bookstore and b) I really like Grant Morrison's runs on New X-Men and JLA. I really enjoyed the hell out of The Brotherhood of Dada enough to overlook the things I did not enjoy from from the second arc. Also the love story between Brain and Mallah is nearly worth the price of admission.


Recommended!