Doom Patrol by Rachel Pollack Omnibus

Doom Patrol Omnibi #4

by Rachel Pollack, Richard Case (Illustrator), Linda Medley (Illustrator)

Science-fiction author Rachel Pollack brings her unique and inventive sensibility to DC’s weirdest super-team! This massive hardcover collects her entire Doom Patrol run for the first time.

Starting in 1989, Doom Patrol evolved into something truly bizarre—and brilliant—with some of the most unique ideas in fiction given shape. The book was part of a wave of unbridled creativity that helped inspire the creation of DC’s groundbreaking Vertigo imprint, and its impact is still felt today in the HBO Max Doom Patrol original series.

In 1993, writer Rachel Pollack took over Doom Patrol from Grant Morrison, and quickly made the title her own—retaining its offbeat spirit while pushing its characters in new directions, and tackling important social issues in the Doom Patrol’s thoroughly unconventional way.

This hardcover omnibus is the first-ever collection of Pollack’s run on Doom Patrol. In these stories, the Doom Patrol must pull themselves together yet again as they move into a bizarre new headquarters, gain two new members and try to cope with the preteen menace known as the Wild Girls!

Then, artist Ted McKeever brings his surreal sensibility to the series, bringing it to a fittingly unique conclusion.

This volume collects Doom Patrol #64-87, Doom Patrol Annual #2, Totems #1, and Vertigo Jam #1.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes, Fantasy, LGBT

760 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2022

About the author

Rachel Grace Pollack was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack was a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the comic books Doom Patrol volume 2 #63-88. Although, now officially 'upgraded' to the mature readers Vertigo label, Pollacks female sexual symbolism and generally interpreted female empowerment at man's expense not only alienated many readers, but was also seen to not hold well with the characterisations previously created by Morrison and Kepperberg, the later point being what ruined this run for me! 3 out of 12., One Star flop.

2013 read

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Pollack’s Doom Patrol leaps well beyond John Byrne’s while leaning on Grant Morrison’s. She embraces the surreal and DaDa—weird for the sake of weird—while the plot sometimes strains under its own ambition (like GM’s). There are strong themes of sexuality, womanhood, gender, and humanity, making it both a fun and thought-provoking read. And unlike GM, Rachel wrote a fantastic ending instead of spiraling into madness.

Dorothy the Monkey Girl thankfully returns, as well as new characters like Kate (who’s trans, like the author) and The Friendly Bandage People, as well as the Sex Ghosts. Nudity abound, not a child-appropriate read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Pollack's Doom Patrol when it first came out, or rather I read the first few issues. Ultimately "Sliding in the Wreckage" felt like such a pale imitation of the Grant Morrison run, minus all of Morrison's larger than life characters, that I didn't continue. A few decades on, I'm happy to have finish Pollack's run because it quickly rose above that uneven beginning.

Oh, the characters never match Morrison's Rebis or Crazy Jane, but the newcomers in the comic have a certain humanity to them. Pollack also finds some interesting stories to tell of her own once she gets past the urge to mimic Morrison's weird talking streams of consciousness.

I like Kate. I like her relationship with Cliff. I like the bandage people. There were all strong additions to the Doom Patrol mythology that I'd sad to know were entirely ignored by what followed. I also liked the setting of a weird house far from everything else: it created a new foundation for the "team".

Not the strongest Doom Patrol run, but a nice adjunct to Morrison's work, well worth reading.

[Dana Hutchings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm absolutely furious with myself that I didn't drag these issues of Doom Patrol out of the ether by force of will during the dark, bad, closeted years of my nightmarish transgender life. This deeply, fundamentally trans superhero story was there, the entire time, waiting for me to blindly run my hands across the doorway while stumbling in the dark. This is brilliant, beautiful, healing.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol: A Journey of Self-Acceptance and Surprising Depths

Having initially found Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run a bit too....confusing towards its latter half, I approached Rachel Pollack's tenure with some hesitation. The opening issues certainly leaned into the series' signature weirdness, feeling a little confusing at first. However, to my delight, within about three or four issues, the narrative began to prioritize character moments, which truly grounded the story and pulled me in.

The standout addition to the team is undoubtedly Kate Godwin, also known as Coagula. Her journey of self-acceptance as a transgender character is handled with remarkable depth and sensitivity. The fact she had to come to her own terms as a Trans character was wonderfully done. It's a portrayal that is at times profoundly sad, at others incredibly brave, making it impossible not to root for her. Her connection with Cliff Steele (Robotman) is particularly touching and well-executed, forming a genuinely moving bond within the team.

Dorothy Spinner also receives some seriously good character development in Pollack's run. Her growth as a teenager grappling with a lifetime of bullying due to her appearance is compelling. What truly surprised and impressed me was the focus on her womanhood, even incorporating her period into her character and powers, offering a unique and powerful exploration of female identity.

Even core characters like Cliff get some much-needed attention, with his path forward feeling fresh and engaging. And yes, even Niles Caulder, the Chief, despite his problematic nature, continues to be an intriguing presence. The two bandaged individuals, in particular, were great side characters who enhanced the overall cast dynamics.

While the character work is stellar, the artistic quality of the run is a bit of a mixed bag. The first half boasts really strong art, contributing significantly to the book's appeal. Unfortunately, it takes a steep dive into the "meh" category, with the last few issues featuring some of the worst art I've encountered in a Big Two comic – it's honestly FUCKING awful. Furthermore, the final three issues felt uneven compared to the rest of the run, not quite providing the impactful conclusion this otherwise impressive series deserved.

Despite these artistic and concluding stumbles, Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol is a deeply rewarding read. I found myself genuinely attached to all these characters, making their journeys incredibly impactful. It's a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, but I'm happily bumping it up to a 4 on Goodreads as a testament to how thoroughly impressed I was by this run. Go read this shit!

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Progressive in it's topics, regressive in it's writing.

World: The art is fine for the era, I will say that some runs were better than others. There are a couple of issues, especially the cliff and kate meld one to be fairly poor in art as it was unclear and messy. I liked the world building, following the Morrison run, Pollack had big shoes to fill especially with the tone and the world that the previous run had established and for the most part this world is absolutely fantastic and topical. I love the themes of gender and menstruation and the female perspective made into physical characters. This world is great, there were times when towing the line from being absurd, creative and weird to too much was crossed and the world lost me for a bit, but overall the world was fantastic and the best part of the book.

Story: The subject matter that Pollack covers were absolutely fantastic, with transgender and gender, menstruation and sexual identity was so progressive and handled in such amazing and unique ways that made reading these issues with the fantastic comic book format something completely unique and different. I really love the concepts put forth in the book. There were times it challenged me and made me uncomfortable and I really enjoyed that cause it pushed at my comfort zone and I think that was also the case with Morrison's run. The issue I had with Pollack's run however was the writing which I found sometimes got a bit too choppy and the pacing really left the reader on the ground when the story was trying to spiral up into the stratosphere with the concepts. I felt lost because the writing was the thing letting the story down.

Characters: This was a fun new group of characters, Morrison's characters were fantastic and amazing and deep and the same can be said here and also topical. I think that's something that can be most said about Pollack's new characters, manifestations of topics that she went into in her run and they were new and different. These characters are just out there. There were instances where the line between odd and too much was crossed but that's just gonna happen when you go nuts.

Really awesome and challenging read that is hindered by the writing.

Onward to the next book!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

These characters are my family and I can not look at them in any objective way whatsoever. Also Death cameo!!

[OmniBen · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review)
Whilst I've given this a low score, it doesn't quite sit right with me. Open reading the dust jacket when I opened it up to read it, it stated something along the lines of 'weirder than Morrison's run', which immediately set alarm bells ringing. That and a very notable absence certainly didn't have me going in optimistically.
Whilst the Doom Patrol affords you a certain creative license you could never get away with, with just about every other mainstream title, strangeness for strangeness' sake is never going to a successful comic make. And whilst I feel slightly bad about the score I've given this, seeing as how Pollack and some of the artists here are far more talented than a two star review would indicate, this was absolutely too weird. To impenetrable. To lacking in any of the emotive strengths underlying the absurdity of Morrison's run for me to even finish this. Yes, I didn't finish it. If it got better, than so be it. But after flicking through it, the art certainly didn't. But then again, after 50 or more issues of Richard Case's brilliance, pretty much every other artist in existence is going to look inferior.
Doom Patrol are not everyone's cup of tea. They could be mine, if someone could just dial back the nonsense and tell a story. It really feels like writers have been conditioned to out zany each other, like the sheer point of the Doom Patrol is to be as utterly non sensical as possible, with any sort of coherent story being an afterthought. As soon as someone makes the latter a prerogative, and sprinkles the former in here and there, then you'll have a Doom Patrol run worth reading. Until then, you'll continue to get ludicrousness in comic form.
Should I eve return to this and give it another chance, it won't be for a long time. 2/5


OmniBen.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fully admit I did not love this on first read. I've a vast number of experiences that fueled that initial response. What I have discovered in the intervening years, especially on re-reads of this vastly underrated run, is that Pollack had an amazing handle on Dorothy. The additional layers she added are some of the most emotionally astute comics writing I've ever seen. Additionally, presenting the first transgender superhero has gone sadly under-recognized. At the time, I had a hugely ignorant response to Kate, as evidenced by my embarrassing letters in the individual issues, but I can safely say that now I get it. Mostly I wanted to see more of the development of the relationship between Cliff and Kate. It was not that Kate was trans, but it just felt like the characters were thrown together (and in the narrative, that is literal). And perhaps that is the feeling that we are meant to have...so that we HAVE to see a different perspective. It cannot, and shoud not, be ignored.

All that said, huge thanks go out to Pollack for doing something challenging and different that expanded visibility on these issues of identity. I still hate Codpiece, though, lol.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pollack manages what seems like a near-impossible task- following Grant Morrison’s powerful Doom Patrol run- with grace, finesse, and just as much out and out weirdness as Morrison.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing throughout and Ted McKeever art in the last half pushes past the mid art in the first half to really land this in five star territory.

[Michael D Jedlowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection, and continuation of 90's Doom Patrol. Rachel Pollack had the unenviable task of following one of the best and most successful runs of Doom Patrol. Following Grant Morrison must always be a bit of a task. Here Pollack nails it, along with bizarre art courtesy of Ted McKeever.

A worthy followup indeed. Doom Patrol fans will love it.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So off the bat I’ll say, it’s not the Grant Morrison run. There’s no unwritten books or nonbinary streets that can teleport. What this book does have though is a lot of heart, humor and other weird stuff like bandage people and sex ghosts!

I’ll be honest, the first half of this book was a little rough for me. I had just come off of Grant’s run and was missing the characters I knew. Then we’re introduced to Kate Godwin. I love Kate. She’s such a sweet character and so brilliantly written to illustrate transgender issues. Her relationship with Cliff was thought provoking and deep, especially during the Teiresias war. Not to mention this run was written in the early 90s and the trans character isn’t a punching bag or a bad stereotype AND it’s written by a trans woman? Sign me the hell up!

I think in all if you loved Grant Morrison’s run and you want more, check this out! It’s not exactly the same but Rachel Pollack proves she write stories just as weird or strange as Grant because that’s the Doom Patrol Normal.

[Andrew Seaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

And I thought Morrison's run was insane.

I loved this throughout, even though it took some time to transition from Richard Case to Ted McKeever. I do wish there was consistency with the art, but nowadays that's a rarity in itself. Surprisingly sensual book, dealing with identity issues in the 90's that are hot topics today. All of the characters were masterfully written, including some surprising new ones. Completely unrelated but I definitely felt a touch of Hellboy, particularly towards the end.

The only bummer for me was some of my favorite characters from Morrison's run never appeared. The new ones brought in were great, as was Dorothy Spinner getting a chance to shine, but I definitely missed a couple.

If you liked Morrison's run, definitely pick this one up to finish the volume.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've decided to finally stop reading books I simply don't like, a feat my completionist younger self would never think of doing. I don't need to slog through an entire omnibus of comics to prove I don't like it, or to prove I'm allowed to have an opinion on it. Sometimes you can just tell something isn't your thing! Anyway, guess what happened with this one.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazingly cool run. Even weirder than Morrison's. It's got slight problems, you can feel Pollack struggling with the serialized format. She introduces and resolves subplots very quickly which can sometimes undercut the emotional weight of the story. Otherwise, it's really good.

[M a r t i n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird! So much weird... Not quite as good as Grant Morrison’s run, but a worthy successor nonetheless.

[Alex Sarll]

I read bits of this at the time, drifting away because fundamentally, it wasn't Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Of course, three decades down the line, and not coming hot on its heels, we can take the longer view and see that Morrison's Doom Patrol was not just the definitive Doom Patrol, but one of the all-time great superhero runs, so perhaps that's not the fairest yardstick to use. And compared to the other attempts at the title in Morrison's shadow, this doesn't look so bad at all. Obviously it's ahead of the execrable effort by post-plot John Byrne, and the Dennis Culver which felt like a bad Saturday morning cartoon of the real thing – but even Gerard Way's turn, which I enjoyed a lot, now looks a little too indebted to its inspiration, a bit keen on having a go with all the toys. Whereas this is commendably willing to accept Morrison's finale, rather than roll it back. Yes, Dorothy is still here, and the Chief is resurrected, after a fashion. But of the ostensible leads, only Cliff has come back from Danny the World, for reasons that make perfect, tragic sense (and I don't just mean 'You need Robotman for it to be a Doom Patrol series').

And Cliff's unhappiness in his metal body is the perfect hook, because decades before the world decided that we were due another round of getting obsessed with what other people have in their pants, this was one of the big Vertigo books which, after their guiding light left, got handed over to trans creators to see what they'd do with them. And good heavens, Pollack ran with that. The returning characters are all either unhappy with their bodies, or missing them altogether; to that mix, she adds sex ghosts, a mysterious entity trapped in a doll, and a character representing something closer to the regular trans experience, Coagula, who in amongst this lot gets to be seen as the normal one teaching them how to make peace with themselves. It can lean a little didactic in places, but not often – and mostly when it does it's not even on that side of the equation, but in the complementary fascination with periods, which can come across very dated and nineties post-hippy Earth Mother feminism, but is at least free of that tradition's subsequent curdling into everything from TERFery and antivax to outright fascism.

As for what this remade team gets up to...well, most of the proto-Vertigo books became less recognisably superhero once the imprint really bedded in, and this is not an exception. A series that had already been on a journey inward continues that trajectory, losing the Justice League cameos &c that once anchored it to the mainstream; the only DC guest star here is Doc Magnus, and even he's only in the opening issues*. Instead we're off in the realms of reified psychodrama, often in ways that with hindsight feel prophetic – though of course never in ways that would have been of use. Appropriately, this is most pronounced in the Teiresias Wars storyline, a new president in a red baseball cap playing his part in an ancient war between those who value freedom and change, and those determined to lock the world into rigid shapes. This is also where Ted McKeever becomes the regular artist, after continuity candidate Richard Case and then a spell of Linda Medley. That's a mixed blessing; his fall of Babel is something to behold, but at times when both he and Pollack are getting towards the more abstract end of their range, it becomes a struggle to work out what's going on. And once the book concludes with another battle between primordial forces that doesn't even really match up with the previous one, and plays with Jewish mysticism in awkward ways (a giant Tree of Life floating around zapping people!), it's hard not to conclude that the series was running out of steam. Still, there was some stuff along the way that really worked, and I'm glad the rediscovery and fancy collected edition came a little before Pollack's passing and not, as is so often the way, right after.

*Caveat: there's an issue of the misfiring Children's Crusade crossover here, and also a big Vertigo crossover in the back. Still, neither really feels like part of the run proper, and the latter isn't even by Pollack, but her editor. I'm glad to have read it, but it could just as easily have gone in a Swamp Thing or Animal Man collection, or Shade if they ever bloody finish collecting that.

[Vladimir Radojković · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.3/5
I usually just give half points and round things up, and although I think this book deserved more than 2 stars, it’s nowhere near a 3-star rating for me.

I’d probably be more lenient toward this omnibus if it was a new iteration of the title and not a direct continuation of Morrison’s Doom Patrol run. As it is, though, things just feel off...

The familiar characters don’t even act familiar, while the new additions to the team come across as bland and underdeveloped. An attempt was made with Kate’s character, but she’s given so much undeserved spotlight that it makes her almost obnoxious. A lot of narrative focus also went to Dorothy from the old crew, but the way she’s written here was both dull and repetitive.

Meanwhile, most stories in this collection lacked depth for me, and almost all suffered from the author’s blatant fascination for menstrual cycles and sexual oddities. If there’s a line between a narrative theme and an author’s obsession, I think it was crossed here, because a lot of this book read like fan fiction to me, complete with self-inserts and wish fulfillments.

That said, there were two story arcs here that I really liked for their creativity and vision. Both The Teiresias Wars and Imagine Ari’s Friends were engaging and actually implemented the new characters into the narrative (instead of forcing them into it). These two stories also took place in the second half of the omnibus, where the art style goes into a very abstract territory. I thought I was going to dislike this new visual direction, but I found it added some much-needed personality and atmosphere to the book.

The wacky art style and the two stories mentioned above really make me want to give this collection a higher rating, but when I look at my overall experience I can’t help but think that this comic book run simply missed the mark.

[Rizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an underrated gem. If you liked Morrison's Doom Patrol, this is a direct followup that maintains the exact same rebellious, transgressive spirit. Rachel Pollack does a shockingly good job matching what Morrison set up, while adding her own bizarre twists and turns. Pollack seems to have a genuine love of what Morrison did, but she is not content to simply ape what came before. She ditches some old characters (thank you for letting Jane keep her happy ending!), and adds several new ones. She writes stories that only she can, especially in regard to newcomer Coagula. I can imagine audiences in the early 90's not being nearly ready enough for such a direct treatment of a trans character, especially given how casual and empathetic that treatment is. In fact, she's probably the least weird person on the team, which must have been very cathartic to write.

Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol, in many ways, reminds me of Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing. It's a brilliant followup to a much more famous run that keeps the same basic style going, but with a ton of fresh ideas. Unfortunately, like that same Veitch Swampy run, this run also ends rather abruptly. Not on a cliffhanger, thankfully, but without the kind of debriefing you would expect of a final issue. It would have been great to have one more issue to really send our heroes off into the sunset, but such is life. Interestingly, by some bizarre miracle, we are treated at the end to a brand new Coagula short story from a recent DC Pride special. It's cute, and features lots of fanservice very specific to this run. It basically undoes some nasty post-Pollack events I'm not privy to, which is fine by me. Hopefully Kate gets to appear in a fuller capacity in the future.

[Bardiya Ghasemzadeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

All around really great run.
Loved 24 of the 25 issues, Tiersias wars is amazing. So was the Cleaners & Kate’s intro.
Sliding in the wreckage & Imagine Ari’s Friends could have been a bit better, but both of them are still really good.
My only issue with the book was…
Annual #2 - Children’s crusade part 5 of 7.
This one is absolutely AWFUL. The rest of that crossover is also not included, which is probably for the best.
The art is so bad it looks as if the artist was given an ink pen and 10 minutes to read the script and draw it - in fact there’s no inker on the book so I am going to assume this was drawn directly in inks - and the plot is more than a bit shit. Thankfully it doesn’t have any lasting consequences on the run, it was so bad I had to stop reading the book for a few days after experiencing that chapter.
I basically read it over four separate days in 6-7 issue chunks
Ted Mckeever’s artwork is perfect. Easily my favorite doom patrol artist from the second series (ie the kuppenberg/morrison/pollack runs).

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some interesting stuff going on in here such as one of the first transgender characters. However I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Grant Morrisons Doom Patrol. It lacked the zany antics of the previous run with characters like beard hunter, or Flex trying to make the Pentagon into a circle. This made the overall tone a little too serious for my liking.

The story also starts off pretty rough which makes it a little hard to get into. Admittedly it does get better after the first story arc however, I found it to be somewhat challenging to follow what was going on. The art style made it confusing as well.

Generally the characters themselves were pretty flat, save Cliffs understanding of what a woman was which did add some depth to the character.

All this being said, there are still some good surprises in this run (which I won't spoil) that make it interesting.

[Jordan Robertshaw-Jowett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't expect this to be an easy read... But if you're willing to put in the work, you'll be addicted.

I'd read snippets of Rachel Pollack's work and loved it, so decided to treat myself to this omnibus.

It's truly incredible. Inspired and inspiring.

Its wonderful to see the queer and feminist topics being handled in such detail and candor in comics from this time period.

Don't expect any conservation-of-detail, however; and don't expect it to go easy on you. You need to pay attention and you need to let yourself be engrossed... But if you do, you'll adore it.

[Ellen Bobellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

shoutout to my library for buying me this omnibus so i didnt have to. I LOVE YOU LIBRARIES!!!!

i cant say i followed some of this but who is reading doom patrol if not for whacky hijinks you may not understand. also everything that happened with kate and cliff means the WORLD to me <3 using kate’s transness and paralleling that with cliff’s robotness…. GOD tier take i loved it all
im so so so sad that kate never made it into the doom patrol tv show because she was my fav part of this

[Eric Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Towards the end there are some stories about trans issues and Jewish mythology which had potential to be interesting but just weren’t. Also the art in the second half of the book is not to my taste and more confusing than anything else. It’s probably on me for hoping for Morrison-esque Doom Patrol which this is not. Confusing art and uninteresting stories - comics shouldn’t be a drudge to read.

[Kole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Morrison's run but impressive in it's own right. Tackling topics in a way that was way ahead of its time. Unfortunately, it's brought down by some pacing issues and some sections having really awful art. If you liked the previous Morrison Doom Patrol then this is well worth reading with an open mind.

[_Liebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Pollack: "When we read comics as children, we did so because they gave us a world of marvels. While DOOM PATROL never tried to be weird just for its own sake, we too believe that the strange and unusual can open passages to beauty and joy. If some of those passages will close now, we've at least had the chance to travel through them."

[Joshua Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this was more cohesive. First half is not very good in my opinion, it's mostly just the nonsense word soup like Grant Morrison was a fan of in his run. The art however is fine.

The second half really improves story-wise, but the art really takes a nose dive.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong story that got stronger when Ted McKeever joined the book. It just found it's footing as it was ending, and it should have had more time.

[Neil Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Pollack wrote with beauty and with strangeness.
RIP