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pluralstories2022-10-05 10:31 pm
lb_lee) wrote in pluralstories2022-10-05 10:31 pm
Entry tags:
- 1+:abuse:low-focus,
- 1+:otherworld,
- 1+:people:children,
- 1+:people:copies,
- 1+:people:imaginary friends,
- 1+:people:nonhumans,
- 1+:realitymashing,
- 1+:relationships:community,
- 1+:relationships:enmity,
- 1+:relationships:family,
- 1+:relationships:teamwork,
- 1+:type:median,
- 1+:type:medical,
- 1+:type:switching,
- audience:adults,
- genre:superhero,
- length:long,
- medium:comics,
- time:1980s,
- time:1990s
Doom Patrol, by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, et al (superhero comic, 1989-1993)
"Don't you see? There are areas in which only we are qualified to operate. When the rational world breaks down, we can cope... because we've been there, in ourselves. We have known madness... and delirium... and we are no longer afraid. The world has turned its back on us, but it's time to stop being victims, time to show them we're more than just 'freaks,' more than just 'cripples.' Believe me, they need us. And we need each other."
Blurb: Shunned as freaks and outcasts, tempered by loss and insanity, this superheroic band of disabled misfits faces threats so mystifying in nature and so corrupted in motive that reality itself threatens to fall apart around them--but it's all in a day's work for the Doom Patrol.
Why is it worth your time?: Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol is considered a classic, and deservedly so. The comic follows its own surreal logic but isn't as esoteric as other Morrison works, the heroes often solve their (cosmic reality-breaking) problems with their wits, and while everyone has damage and impairments, watching them work together as a family is enjoyable.
It's also plural out the wazoo. Crazy Jane, the MPD multiple on the team, is based off the Troops for Truddi Chase, and a whole issue deals with Robotman exploring her headspace to help one of the headmates after a traumatic event. Rebis (AKA the Negative Man) is also plural, being composed of two people and the Negative Spirit, smooshed together in a single body. They are basically always cofronting together and talk to themselves aloud in dialogue for the first couple volumes, and are stated to be in a process of fusion, a sort of walking alchemical marriage. And finally, support staff Dorothy is a teenager whose superpower is her imagination becomes real--her imaginary friends are shown to have independent desires from her. Robotman himself gets into an argument with his robot body at one point, which gains independent sentience and decides it doesn't want him around. (He loses the argument.) This is one of the most plural comics I have ever read.
Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, mpd/did, switching, otherworld, children, imaginary friends, introjects, median, realitymashing, plural community, teamwork, enmity, and family; nonhumans [spirits, robots]
Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments
Access Notes: Available in digital and paper forms, pretty easy to find since it's so well-known. I'll also note that I was very reluctant to attempt reading this book because Morrison is often too much for me, but I was pleased to find that I could follow this story fine!
Misc Notes: Morrison's run is contained within issues #19-63, plus a self-contained special that you can skip. It is omnibused in either three GIANT books, or six paperbacks: "Crawling from the Wreckage," "The Painting That Ate Paris," "Down Paradise Way," "Musclebound," "Magic Bus," and "Planet Love." There has also been a TV show made, still coming out as of 2022, but we haven't watched much of it.
Blurb: Shunned as freaks and outcasts, tempered by loss and insanity, this superheroic band of disabled misfits faces threats so mystifying in nature and so corrupted in motive that reality itself threatens to fall apart around them--but it's all in a day's work for the Doom Patrol.
Why is it worth your time?: Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol is considered a classic, and deservedly so. The comic follows its own surreal logic but isn't as esoteric as other Morrison works, the heroes often solve their (cosmic reality-breaking) problems with their wits, and while everyone has damage and impairments, watching them work together as a family is enjoyable.
It's also plural out the wazoo. Crazy Jane, the MPD multiple on the team, is based off the Troops for Truddi Chase, and a whole issue deals with Robotman exploring her headspace to help one of the headmates after a traumatic event. Rebis (AKA the Negative Man) is also plural, being composed of two people and the Negative Spirit, smooshed together in a single body. They are basically always cofronting together and talk to themselves aloud in dialogue for the first couple volumes, and are stated to be in a process of fusion, a sort of walking alchemical marriage. And finally, support staff Dorothy is a teenager whose superpower is her imagination becomes real--her imaginary friends are shown to have independent desires from her. Robotman himself gets into an argument with his robot body at one point, which gains independent sentience and decides it doesn't want him around. (He loses the argument.) This is one of the most plural comics I have ever read.
Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, mpd/did, switching, otherworld, children, imaginary friends, introjects, median, realitymashing, plural community, teamwork, enmity, and family; nonhumans [spirits, robots]
Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments
Access Notes: Available in digital and paper forms, pretty easy to find since it's so well-known. I'll also note that I was very reluctant to attempt reading this book because Morrison is often too much for me, but I was pleased to find that I could follow this story fine!
Misc Notes: Morrison's run is contained within issues #19-63, plus a self-contained special that you can skip. It is omnibused in either three GIANT books, or six paperbacks: "Crawling from the Wreckage," "The Painting That Ate Paris," "Down Paradise Way," "Musclebound," "Magic Bus," and "Planet Love." There has also been a TV show made, still coming out as of 2022, but we haven't watched much of it.
Content Warnings
Crazy Jane is stated to have been abused badly in childhood, and at least one headmate has committed suicide in the past; these things are alluded to, but aren't explicit, while a rape they suffered in adulthood is bloodier. Also, it is stated that Crazy Jane is only able to function as well as she does because of the "sacrifice" of trauma-holding headmates, who are kept isolated from the others so "we can't hear them screaming." While the system over time deals with a lot of their baggage and reject integration, the whole "sacrifice" angle is never brought up again. Sadly, Morrison's Doom Patrol has a lot of character bits brought up that are never fully dealt with.