This current iteration of Doom Patrol has taken the gang of weirdos across the cosmos and reality to help fix other’s problems. Does this strand the main characters in arrested or rushed states of development? Yes.
Flex Mentallo, Man of Muscle Mystery, has a desire to go to the athletic paradise that is Destiny Beach. Problem is, it’s been taken over by a more aggressive, scaly group of muscle-bound hunks that use a black goo to make them more powerful (AHEM, like a symbiote).
Like issue #2, this issue’s themes revolve around being comfortable in your own skin and in who you are. Attention is taken to highlight that Destiny Beach was once a place where people of all kinds and strengths could test and increase their powers, free of judgement. Think cosmic Planet Fitness—but it’s a place you actually want to go.
Yet, the beach has been taken over by lizard monsters who are obsessed with showing off and besting the gang with competition. This is a nice theme…that is, until the Doom Patrol use Rita as a Deus Ex Machina and win the contest. Instead of finding a clever way to stop the baddies and negate the need to show-off, they go for a cheap, out-of-left field solution.
Meanwhile, Cliff has suddenly become fixated on helping people with their problems and getting upgrades to himself. Is this supposed to represent an altruistic change for him instead of being mopey? Or does this herald a selfish side of the robot man? It’s a tad unclear. As for other characters like Casey or Lucius…they’re stranded with only a line of dialogue or a quick action here or there.
The art roster has been ever changing, so this time we’ve got Nick Pitarra, whose art is borderline obsessive. The amount of detail in each panel is astonishing, made all the more dizzying by how fluidly cartoonish his inherent style is. Gorgeous stuff.
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