Unstoppable Doom Patrol #7 - DC Comics

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL No. 7, December 2023

Disconcertingly living up to its pre-solicitation promise of “a happy ending is not guaranteed”, Dennis Culver’s conclusion to his “Unstoppable Doom Patrol” mini-series also packs plenty of punch with which to keep its audience thoroughly engrossed in the action. Indeed, due to the sheer grandeur and pulse-pounding pace of this publication’s frantic fisticuffs, many a bibliophile was probably left wishing that the “prolific comic book writer based in Los Angeles” was given at least one more issue within which to depict Degenerate’s single-handed battle against the ever disagreeable Peacemaker and the anti-hero’s United States Army giant robots; “Damn you! You’ll pay for that! It’s on!”

Intriguingly however, not all of this twenty-two page periodical’s plot solely relies upon its super-sized cast trading blows with a menagerie of villains and deadly psychic manifestations. But instead contains plenty of thought-provoking verbal arguments too, such as when the likes of Crazy Jane and the Negative Man anxiously attempt to persuade their ‘opponents’ to join them against a much larger threat to the world’s existence which neither group ever imagined possible.

Equally as well delivered as this comic’s penmanship is also its visuals, with Chris Burnham and colorist Brian Reber absolutely knocking the layouts right out of the park. Of particular note has to be the growing sense of desperation and physical fatigue felt by the titular characters during their protracted conflict. In fact, by the time Willoughby Kipling has finally festooned Robot Man’s armoured shell with all manner of protective runes and incantations, the leader of the Grave Minders genuinely extrudes so much sheer, total exhaustion that his haggard look may well cause the odd reader to actually breathe a bit harder themselves in sympathy.

Debatably this book’s biggest hook though, frustratingly comes at its very end, when the thoroughly detestable General Immortus-turned-Candlemaker suddenly lands upon Danny the Street in the space between universes, and encounters the macabre-looking Batwoman Who Laughs. This meeting comes completely out of the blue, and should have any fan of Doctor Niles Caulder’s Doom Patrol absolutely frothing at the mouth for this book to be awarded a second volume at some point very soon in the future…

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