I read some of the Morrison/Case run of Doom Patrol back when it was new, and it fascinated me. It was around the time of the Shadow Cabinet storyline. I vividly (and maybe accurately) recall one of my all-time favorite bits of dialog from comics:

Fortune Teller -You have a very long life line. It goes all the way around.

Crazy Jane -That's a seam. I'm wearing gloves.

That day, "Negative Man" (or, at that time, probably "Negative Hermaphrodite") became one of my all-time favorite superheroes. The enigmas that spilled out of Negative Person's bandage-swaddled mouth were amazing, the casual manner of floating just above the ground instead of walking was great, and the whole sense of bizarre atmosphere that infused the story set my imagination a-tingle. I thought it was probably just a particularly weird plot arc, and sadly I did not get to read more than a few issues before losing track of it. Years later, I learned that kind of bizarreness was "normal" for Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol stories.

A couple decades after that Shadow Cabinet story, I found out Doom Patrol got rebooted, so I started reading it. Different writer, different artist, different feel. It was nowhere near as intriguing as I remembered. I dropped it after a few issues. It did not really leave an impression.

I finally got around to ordering the first collected volume of the Morrison/Case run (Case didn't illustrate all the Morrison issues, apparently, but at least most of them), and this time Doom Patrol did not disappoint. I'm pretty sure I never read any of the issues collected in this volume, but it's excellent. It ended on a hilarious note, left me with a smile on my face and an urge to write this review. I await the next volume on the edge of my seat; I'll order it shortly.

If you're the kind of person who likes stories written to comfort the disturbed and (most importantly and dramatically) disturb the comfortable, get this book. ( )