Doom Patrol #62

Gearing up for the Action Comics reboot of Superman in September, I’ve decided to review some of my favorite Grant Morrison stories this month to remind people just who’s getting put in charge of Big Blue. “Planet Love” is one of the most transcendent single issues ever to be published in the superhero genre. It starts with a world-wide catastrophe that’s been building up throughout Morrison’s run on the series. The deceased Niles Caulder has released his nanomachines across the globe to remake the world in his image. Heroically, Robotman volunteers to enter Caulder’s data matrix as a computer program to try and stop the nanomachines from carrying out their orders. That’s when we get to the first great moment of this issue. Robotman enters the computer system and is stopped by Caulder’s firewall. It appears to him as Caulder’s head with a dying house plant strapped on top. Caulder’s head tells Cliff: “The plant is dying. I can’t seem to save it. I watch it every day, but it won’t stop dying.” This is a beautiful metaphor for how Caulder sees the world. He knows the world is dying, he sees what it does to itself every day, but he can’t do anything to save it. This explains Caulder’s motivation for releasing the nanomachines to make the world something new. Luckily for the planet, Cliff succeeds in stopping Caulder’s plan and Earth stays the same (for better or for worse).

Robotman is no happier for saving the planet, though. He sulks in a depression over the loss of Crazy Jane some issues back, and he has a discussion with his therapist. The doctor basically asks Cliff how he feels after saving a world that seems to do nothing but exploit, torture, and take things from him. As the reader, you’re left feeling as bleak as Cliff being reminded of the times in your life you’ve been betrayed, preyed upon, and have felt loss over a loved one. The answer to how we all deal with this is given to us by Danny the Street. Danny comes to Cliff and tells him that he’s only a portion of a fabled world of make believe that got passed down through human literature as Wonderland, or Slumberland, or Oz. This world seems to represent all the best and most positive aspects of human imagination. To reward Cliff for saving the real world, Danny expands his borders and changes from a street to an entire world. On Danny the World everyone hears whatever music they want much like how John the Baptist’s head tells everyone what they want to hear in the Invisibles. The entire world celebrates in one, big party. There is no reason to feel sad or angry. Danny becomes a link between the real world of pain and conflict and an alternate world that’s very much like Heaven.   The message here being that we, as human beings, deal with the fact that we live in a cruel, unjust world by retreating to escapism, literature, music, and comic books that transport us to a better place. Rebis decides to stay in the abstract paradise, Dorothy decides to go back home to the real world (just like her namesake in the Wizard of Oz), and Cliff is left thinking of Jane. This would’ve been a gorgeous send-off for Grant’s Doom Patrol if he didn’t have one last chapter left (which I’ll get to some other time).

This single issue of Doom Patrol is a triumph not just for comic books, but modern literature as a whole. The metaphors and symbolism used in this book are advanced but not impenetrable. The massage is wonderfully sad and speaks to why we need stories like the Doom Patrol. Richard Case’s artwork is moody and absurd enough to properly illustrate the “lost and heartsick” that populate Morrison’s world. Even when it looks rough at times it still fits the mood and themes of the piece. Some readers have and will no doubt complain that the scale and scope of this story is in no way realistic and would never work in the context of modern superhero continuity. I say: Who cares? This story makes a profound statement about the human spirit and the world we live in. I can’t say that about too many other superhero comics I’ve read in my lifetime. For helping me see my own world with new eyes, “Planet Love” gets a perfect five out of five. Do yourself a favor and read Morrison’s Doom Patrol if you haven’t already. This was only one issue of it.