Doom Patrol Vol. 6: Planet Love by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, Sean Philips and Stan Wock (graphic novel review).
This sixth and final volume of Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol runs from issues #58-63, followed by the Doom Force Special. Morrison’s six issues continue the disintegration of the team. Crazy Jane has become integrated. Cliff Steele’s personality is now stored on a CD, this being before DVDs became commonplace. Rebis is back. Danny the Street is jumping all over the world.
The Candlemaker is the biggest menace, and Dorothy Spinner has the means to stop him, provided she can work out why. These issues are a real roller-coaster and, as I wrote recently, you really do need this volume if you want to read the story straight through. I’m still wondering what Morrison was taking at the time.
Artist Richard Case is doing layouts rather than the full artwork here, but perhaps he simply wanted to make sure the pace was right.
The Doom Force Special shows that lightning didn’t strike twice. Set in the future, an adult Dorothy Spinner leads a brash new team against the Zero siblings. If anything, it feels as though Morrison forgot that there has to be someone on the team you actually want to support.
With his Doom Patrol, that person was pretty much Cliff Steele. Here…well, there really isn’t anyone. Just another bunch of misfits.
Well, it certainly was a roller-coaster. Although I haven’t seen it, the omnibus collecting all six volumes must surely suffer from pages disappearing into the centre gutter. If you have the choice, buying the individual volumes like this may well make for easier reading.
GF Willmetts
August 2026
(pub: Vertigo/DC Comics, 2008. Graphic novel softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-40121-624-5)
Check out website: www.dc.com
