Hopelessness Springs Eternal: Apathy Can Be Fun

*spoilers, Doom Patrol #1

They're back and they couldn't be any less enthusiastic about it. The Super Freakniks themselves, the Doom Patrol, now with a groovy symbol worn on various accessories; a lower case d juxtaposed with an upper case P: dP (sort of).

New series is written by Keith Giffen, whose DC credentials as both artist and writer are solid going back to about the late seventies. He's worked all the G's: goofy, grim, gritty, groovy and even created or at least recreated Lobo as a parody of Badass! heroes of the nineties but found if you toy with irony you may be taken seriously, ie The Main Man was embraced by the very kinds of fans he was mocking. But Lobo is a lot of fun no matter how you take him, one of the more inspired creations (or recreations) of the nineties.

Now we get to the Doom Patrol, and they're back in a new adventure with an opening scene that expresses their name, in the sense that they're on a mission (Patrol) and one of the characters is Doomed. They find a secret lab full of what appear to be Parasite clones, though the creatures don't sap the DP's powers so possibly it's something else. The original trio is in the company of Nudge, who first appeared in Chris Claremont's run of JLA. She has the power to order weak willed beings around (That separates her from other attractive females how? Bwahahahaha!). As her thrall she has apparently selected a four armed gorilla named Grunt, which I think is a good choice on her part. It's what I would have done. Nudge and Grunt, what a team, a concept rich with suggestion...until five minutes into the story where she is sliced to smithereens by enemy fire as the rest of the team run, Indy style, to the getaway chopper being flown by Dusty Gal (a character reminiscent of Jet Girl from Tank Girl comics). Grunt takes off and is not heard from again, for the issue. This fatalistic opener sets us up for the rest of the story, which is quite talky, as the Super Freakniks talk around their feelings regarding her death. This is Giff's approach to the team, that the "Doom" part of their name indicates they are fatalistic and expect, possibly even hope, to be killed on their "Patrols". Elasti-Girl even expresses that she is jealous of Nudge (!). Negative Man lives up to his name in more ways than one. And Robot Man's responses to the tragedy are robotic. It's all funny and tragic at the same time, and makes for a very adequate first ish. And then there is a Metal Men back up feature that reunites Giffen with his other creators of the fun and hilarious Justice League International title of the late eighties. I'm glad to see back up features are back at DC! Huzzah! In the same month as an Adventure Comics revival!

The art on DP is decent, executed by Matthew Clark. He shows potential, but some story telling elements are muddled, and technically he falters. There are some nice single shots, as when Elasti-Girl smashes an enemy helicopter between her fists while she's blown up to giant size. What a way to go-go. Speaking of which, the cover concept is smart, the trio bursting out of an old cover from the sixties, representing that this title is embracing and escaping the team's Silver Age roots all at once. Hopefully there will still be some freaky looking giant robots in the book's future.

Hepcat Hermit Movie Reviews: The Watchmen

It is a movie with a lot of weird stuff in it. It's about a man with a cigar who gets thrown out a window. He lands and a guy with a weird mask on finds a button with a smiley face and blood. The guy with the weird mask is the kid from the Bad News Bears. And he likes to beat people up if they are bad people. He's quite adamant about it. His name is Roschach.

Rorschach is also the name of tests given to mental patients.

Many comic fans like Rorschach. That is because he is a badass character. Many fans like badass characters. They like characters who speak tersely in grating voices. They find these characters realistic. That is because life is full of men who wear strange masks and fedoras and trenchoats and beat up rooms full of people.

Rorschach is depicted as having an archenemy who is a midget, and who is also a known associate of noted Hepcat Hermit Cosmo Kramer. That part was kinda boss.

Hepcat Hermits might not like The Watchmen. As a comic movie that takes itself very seriously, it sort of goes against the Dementia Squad credo. On the other hand, it does have a lot of weird stuff in it. And other serious comic movies, such as Batman Begins, are favoured by today's discerning Hepcat Hermit.

It does have many of the qualities and attributes we look for in a film. There are costumes, superpowers, a super vehicle that is one of the cutest looking I have ever seen, the already mentioned midget, several groovy chicks, a villain's secret base, a hero's secret headquarters, gadgets and more.

On the other hand there is some unpleasant stuff that is not a lot of fun.

So watch The Watchmen at your own discretion; be advised that is has no talking gorillas in it, but you might enjoy it anyway.

LET'S CRUISE THROUGH THE KELPBURGER STAND NOW!!!

Aquaman is one of the heroes featured in the comics I bought at Roger's Time Machine and he is absolutely one of the coolest characters ever created. He's strictly hipsville, kats!!! Some consider it cool to make fun of him but these behaviours are bad and wrong. Some say he is ineffectual and useless which is strange, because he can breathe underwater and has great strength which is more than the people who say he's useless can do, meaning they are less than useless!!! It's strange they would say that about themselves!!!