Unstoppable Doom Patrol #6 - DC Comics

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL No. 6, November 2023

Packing every sort of super-villain a comic collector could imagine within its twenty-two-page plot, including a walking/talking pachyderm, Issue Six of “Unstoppable Doom Patrol” must surely have mesmerised its audience with its unrelentingly assault upon each reader’s senses. Sure, the pulse-pounding pugilism never stops as the titular characters are “caught off guard” by the Brotherhood of Evil in their very own headquarters. But American author Dennis Culver still somehow manages to provide several of the team’s roster with some notable character development, especially the likes of Niles Caulder, the Man of Muscle Mystery and the members of “the all-new Flex Force.”

Furthermore, this book contains an impressive hook straight from the start in the form of Flex Mentallo providing his fresh-faced, inexperienced trainees with “the ultimate test” against the Chief’s A-listers. This sort of narrative will arguably take many a nostalgia-hungry bibliophile back to the days of Stan Lee’s New Mutants and Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, as the inexperienced squad attempt to “capture the flag” from a determined Robot Man, Elasti-Woman and Negative Man.

However, this publication doesn’t stop there, due to General Immortus launching “his attack against the Doom Patrol right in the heart of their home base, the Shelter” and readily revoking memories of Magneto’s many assaults against the Uncanny X-Men with his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. So savage a sudden strike allows the writer to pen plenty of the aforementioned high-octane-laced pandemonium, whilst simultaneously intriguing his audience with all the different special abilities the numerous metahumans on show seem to impossibly possess; “Invisibility! Invulnerability! Super-speed! She’s got every power you haven’t thought of, so start naming them! Super-strength! Heat Vision!”

Working his own magic throughout this publication is artist Chris Burnham and colorist Brian Reber, whose talents combine together to create some truly memorable panels, such as when Robot Man absolutely smacks the overly-confident Elephant Man straight into tomorrow with a sock to his tusk-filled jaw. In addition, towards the end of the comic, when the Immortal Flame and Monsieur Mallah seeks to seemingly raise Dorothy Spinner back from the Dead, the illustrators do a marvellous job of imbuing the creepy night-time scene with all the palpable trepidation and strangeness anticipated for so unnatural a sequence.

Writer: Dennis Culver, Artist: Chris Burnham, and Colorist: Brian Reber