The Doom Patrol Archives. Volume 3. Arnold Drake (Writer), Bruno Premiani (Art), Bob Brown ( Cover art). DC Comics (2006)

Mad science, hyperbolic writing and ravishing art just about balance the rampant sexism in a beautifully presented collection of comics. The Doom Patrol , Rita Farr (Elati-Girl), Cliff Steele (Robotman), Larry Trainor (Negative Man), Niles Caulder (The Chief) along with two semi-attached members , Steve Dayton   (Mento) and Craig Logan (Beast Boy) are the World's Strangest Heroes.
The writing by Arnold Drake is full of wonderful ideas, operatic villains and and full tilt storytelling. He crams each short episode with ideas and explosive situations, two of my favorites are the killer rabbits and the way a dumper truck is used a giant sieve. The cast are bursting with loud, expressive life, they insult each other with elaborate detail and maintain a level of simmering tension and rage that is entirely consistent with the fact that they have all been so severely dislocated from their previous lives. They are free only in action as they bring their abilities to bear on a problem, peace does not suit them. The dialogue is a very effective mix of terrible puns, insults and decelerations, it is as entirely as unnatural as the Doom Patrol themselves and it suits them perfectly.  The narration is so hyperbolic that it should collapse on itself, instead the breathless urgency of it all captures the speed and sheer absurdity of the action. The exaggerated seriousness of the writing underscores the way the absurdity is taken utterly seriously, the cast are never mocked by the writing, they are given force and character by the excess.
The problem with the stories is serious also, the entirely natural and deeply ingrained sexism that very nearly renders the stories unreadable. Rita Farr is treated with a such an appalling paternalistic protectiveness that it pushes the reader right out of the story. What is obvious is that Arnold Drake greatly liked Rita Farr and gave her as much room to shine as it was possible to do while being constrained at every turn by the male cast responses to her.
What makes the difference and rescues the collection is the astounding art by Bruno Premiari that makes the nearly impossible task he is presented with look easy. He has to take a set of misfit heroes and utterly absurd situations and make them credible by humanising the cast so that the action is funny, serious and wholly comic book mad science all at the same time. Robotman may be the most expressive robot ever , his metal face is as readable as any human face yet essentially robotic, he captures the human wired up inside the metal frame. Beast Boy, whose transformation always leave him with his head of human, green hair, is full of energy and the sheer joy of the possibilities that are open to him. When he is the lonely teenager looking for acceptance within the Doom Patrol, he is also defensively angry and arrogant, his body language speaks as loudly as his voice.
The malice free sexism is an enormous drag on the collection, that the astonishing invention and the great team dynamic that propel the book graced with such joyous art just about rescue it is the greatest compliment I could pay it.

The Doom Patrol Archives Vol 2. Arnold Drake (Writer), Bruno Premiani (Story Art), Bob Brown (Cover Art). DC Comics (2004)

Mad science and beautiful art combine to create an outstanding comic. The Doom Patrol, The World's Strangest Heroes were Elasti-Girl, who could change her size at will, Robotman, a robot body housing a human brain, Negative Man, who has the ability to project a radioactive being for sixty seconds from his body and the Chief, the wheelchair bound scientific genius who leads the team. Facing off against the Dom Patrol are the Brotherhood of Evil, led by a brain in a jar,Mallah a talking, intelligent gorilla and Madame Rouge whose powers rival Elasti-Girl's. They also battle an alien criminal mastermind called Garguax, are aided by an egotistical man with great mental powers called,Mento.
The great joy of these stories is the utterly uninhibited way these elements are embraced, Arnold Drake takes the lovely absurdity of the Doom Patrol very seriously and creates stories that build upon that absurdity. The plots are full of invention and great action that tests the Doom Patrol to the limit. The team has to work very hard to prevail, their weaknesses are exploited by their enemies, Robotman is fed into a set of rollers that flatten out his body, Elasti-Girl is trapped in a clock, her strength proportional to her tiny size, Negative Man is trapped by a ray that slows time and keeps him from returning to his physical body in the required time. Even the Chief has to head out to a duel in his amped up wheelchair. Underneath all this high concept action Arnold Drake gives the Doom Patrol real personalities and emotional entanglements, their banter has a genuine emotional undertow.
Bruno Premiani's art brings the the cast to exuberant life, the Doom Patrol are wonderfully expressive, neither being swathed in bandages nor encased in a robot body makes their body language any less potent. The extraordinary situations that are set up all are given weight and solidity by the art, the proportions and perspectives are so well done that the reader is never distracted from the story. These wonderfully sophisticated comics are an undiluted pleasure.

The Doom Patrol Archives .Volume 1. Arnold Drake (Writer), Bruno Premiani (Artist). Dc Comics (2002)

Mad science has never been more creatively and enjoyably mad as in this glorious collection of stories. The Doom Patrol were "The World's Strangest Heroes" and Arnold Drake tried to fulfill that boast in each and every story and he was very successful in his work. The four characters are fun twists on standard superhero fare, Rita Farr one tim film actor now Elasti-Girl capable of growing or shrinking to incredible heights. Larry Trainor, a test pilot exposed to mysterious radioactive waves he can release an sort of electromagnetic ghost called Negative Man. Cliff Steele once an international daredevil now a robot with a human brain and their wheelchair bound Chief. The parallels with the X-Men are so clear that they are discussed on the dust cover inner front flap. Happily they are not the X-Men , they are science fiction B-film done with the unlimited budget of comics. They have the same complete disregard for logic and a belief that momentum and an a fifty foot woman would always cover for plot holes.

This is a cleaned up and vaguely modernised version of the science that Dr Frankenstein used to animated his creation, there are ray guns and aliens who want to take over the world and the sense-shattering majesty of The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace. The stories fizzle and crackle with invention and imagination, wild ideas jostle with the most mundane. Negative Man gets loose and is creating havoc, two crooks who have not pulled off a heist for months, track him and take advantage of the blackouts he causes to steal. Naturally there is a genius level talking gorilla who is the servant of the Brain, a disembodied brain who is the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil. Not to mention the atomic beings from the Earth's core.

One of the nicest aspects to the stories is that the sexism rampant in stories from the period, while present is not at toxic doses, Rita is not patronised to quite the extent that other female characters were, it is still jarring at least it is not unreadable. The art is beautiful, Bruno Premiani has a wonderful clear line and the cast are all imbued with great individuality and detail. He is a great science fiction artist, he draws it in a way that captures the wonder and absurdity of the situations, at the same time they have a gravity and weight that anchors them firmly. The book itself is a very nice production, the pages are very crisp and clear and it open out nicely so the whole page is visible. Very good fun.