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Doom Patrol (1987)(Collected Editions)
Doom Patrol, Vol. 4: Musclebound
A new chapter begins for the World's Strangest Heroes with MUSCLEBOUND, collecting issues #42-50 of the surreal series written by Grant Morrison. Revealing the secret origin of Flex Mentallo and the terrifying secret beneath the Pentagon, MUSCLEBOUND also features the subtle menace of the Beard Hunter and more!
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2006
30 people are currently reading
704 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,791 books4,568 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
December 21, 2020
This volume brings the reader the true origin of Flex Mentallo, the coming of the beard hunter (yes, as in facial hair), some debauchery that see the arrival of the Sex-Men, and maybe some more problems with that Painting? This earlier Morrison work, although innovative at time appears to be weird for the sake of being weird, where his later material is weird, but with weirdness integral to the plot. 6 out of 12.
In case you missed it at the end of my last review.. the TV show is way better.
In case you missed it at the end of my last review.. the TV show is way better.
November 9, 2019
Flex Mentallo is a fun idea. I loved how his origins mixed in with the ads in the back of old comic books. I also dug the return of the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and the Brotherhood of Dada. The pltos do have a tendency to repeat. A villain appears that spouts a bunch of nonsense while trying to destroy reality until the Doom Patrol stops them. Cliff and Crazy Jane continue to be the backbone of the series, typically they jump in at the last second to rescue us from absurdity. I love their relationship and Robotman's changing visuals.
October 2, 2023
The Doom Patrol is one of the oddest, but unique, comics I've ever read. Grant Morrison's wacky imagination and very odd writing coalesces into the tales of Doom Patrol, the proverbial "other guys" when it comes to superhero teams. They handle the jobs too weird for the normal teams.
Volume 4 is called "Musclebound" and collects Doom Patrol #42-50. This group of stories, all backed up with a zany art style that works well for the story matter, is just as strange as the previous volume. We will learn the tale of "Flex Mentallo", who will have to use his marvelous powers of flexing to help the Doom Patrol to find out why the Pentagon is a pentagon.
Another visit from the Men from NOWHERE and a reformed Brotherhood of Dada are just some of the other enemies that will be faced. Along the way, Morrison slowly shares more and more information about the individual members and their unique backgrounds.
While not everyone will enjoy or even understand this oft bizarre comic, those who like unique stories with interesting characters that break the mold of the normal superhero teams, then Morrison's madcap adventures of the Doom Patrol is right up your alley. Will be hunting down Vol 5 soon as I can.
Volume 4 is called "Musclebound" and collects Doom Patrol #42-50. This group of stories, all backed up with a zany art style that works well for the story matter, is just as strange as the previous volume. We will learn the tale of "Flex Mentallo", who will have to use his marvelous powers of flexing to help the Doom Patrol to find out why the Pentagon is a pentagon.
Another visit from the Men from NOWHERE and a reformed Brotherhood of Dada are just some of the other enemies that will be faced. Along the way, Morrison slowly shares more and more information about the individual members and their unique backgrounds.
While not everyone will enjoy or even understand this oft bizarre comic, those who like unique stories with interesting characters that break the mold of the normal superhero teams, then Morrison's madcap adventures of the Doom Patrol is right up your alley. Will be hunting down Vol 5 soon as I can.
December 2, 2016
No-one brings the weird shit quite like Grant Morrison. As ever, Doom Patrol veers between sharp satire and utter incomprehensibility, sometimes within a single panel. Highlights of this instalment include: the secret origins of Flex Mentallo and his attempts to flex hard enough to turn the Pentagon into a circle. A supervillain called the Beard Hunter who has some truly great lines, such as “You know where I’ve been, mom. I’ve been out on the streets, fighting my lonely war against facial hair.” and “Takes more than that to hurt me, creep. I shower in falling debris.” Some random character (possibly John Constantine?) complaining, “I don’t want to hear any more balls about the war between good and evil! You might as well say the war between up and down or left and right, for all the sense it makes.” A supervillain who looks like Foucault with a periscope on his head and claims to be satan - no, really. Several Withnail and I references. Ongoing disdain for the ‘normal’ superheroes that the Doom Patrol supposedly share a universe with: “So, when is the Justice League moving back in here?” “I have absolutely no interest in the activities of the Justice League, Joshua. As long as they stay away from my laboratory, they can keep doing whatever tedious and public-spirited thing it is that they do.”
Then there’s the delightful return of the League of Dada, each of whom has a singularly bizarre backstory. My favourite belonged to The Blur: ‘Some say that if there were no mirrors in the world, we would never grow old; that mirrors eat time and excrete images. The moral of the story, however, escapes me.’ Their leader Mr Nobody emerges from a painting and proceeds to locate the bicycle of Albert Hoffman, discoverer of LSD. After a baffling sequence set in psychedelic Venice, things take a sudden turn into unsettlingly relevant satire when Mr Nobody announces:
Thus the book closes on a personification of chaos draped in the American flag raising his fist to the sky. Perhaps that was surreal back in the 90s, but in 2016 it sure ain’t.
Then there’s the delightful return of the League of Dada, each of whom has a singularly bizarre backstory. My favourite belonged to The Blur: ‘Some say that if there were no mirrors in the world, we would never grow old; that mirrors eat time and excrete images. The moral of the story, however, escapes me.’ Their leader Mr Nobody emerges from a painting and proceeds to locate the bicycle of Albert Hoffman, discoverer of LSD. After a baffling sequence set in psychedelic Venice, things take a sudden turn into unsettlingly relevant satire when Mr Nobody announces:
"'If you don’t like the news then go out and make some of your own' is another one of my mottos. And so… so so… so… I intend to run for president and win by fair means or foul. Oh, yes. We’re going to invite the world to a party they’ll never forget. A fiesta! A jamboree! Utopia, here we come!"
Thus the book closes on a personification of chaos draped in the American flag raising his fist to the sky. Perhaps that was surreal back in the 90s, but in 2016 it sure ain’t.
August 30, 2023
Se me está empezando a atragantar un poco tanto surrealismo, tanta absurdez, tantas cosas sin sentido aparente... No cabe duda de la originalidad y la creatividad que demuestra Grant Morrison en estas historias de La Patrulla Condenada, y hay momentos interesantes e incluso fascinantes, pero llega un punto en que me pierdo y me gustaría encontrar algo de sentido además de la originalidad de la propuesta. Aun con todo, merece la pena sumergirse en estas páginas, en las que también se pueden encontrar composiciones gráficas estimulantes y toques de humor bastante buenos.
August 5, 2015
The absurdity is becoming absurd.
A bit of normality wouldn't go amiss!
A bit of normality wouldn't go amiss!
September 7, 2017
Last night when I reread the title story in this volume, I thought to myself, "Oh yeah -- this is when I stopped liking Doom Patrol." There's a lot that feels off about "Musclebound," and saying that something feels 'off' in Doom Patrol is like saying that something feels 'off' on a Frank Zappa record. Like, what exactly did you expect, my dude?
But I think what's weird here is that this is the point in the series when it feels like Grant Morrison starts trying. The first twenty-or-so issues aren't just bonkers -- they also feel almost totally unplanned, and that's what's refreshing about them. One of Morrison's many foibles is that he's trying to be himself so hard all the time, and sometimes he makes it work but more often than not, the constant self-awareness gets a little wearying. Doom Patrol's charm is that it contains all of the experimental exuberance with comparatively little reflection, and when Morrison changes that formula, it's a bit of an adjustment. Here, an enormous build-up from Vol. 3 ends up meandering through some X-Files-esque government conspiracy gobbledygook that, on the surface, feels a little less satisfying than Morrison's usual full-throttle insanity. But, like Twin Peaks: The Return, just because the new-new is a slow burn doesn't mean it's not still fucking weird.
On top of its tonal shift,"Musclebound" is also the first story that begins to invest heavily in continuity, making callbacks to previously unmoored plot threads from early in Morrison's DP run, and foreshadowing events that won't pay off completely until the end of the series. This can be a bit rough: as a rule, Morrison's Doom Patrol throws a lot of ideas at the reader that are largely meaningless except for their immediate aesthetic value, and it can be hard to parse when stuff needs to be noted, versus when it can be tossed aside on the way to the next bit of strangeness. The story also suffers from the absence of most of DP's main cast, in favor of Flex Mentallo, a Charles Atlas knock-off who captured Morrison's imagination so completely that he later devoted an entire spin-off to the character.
Despite all this, I reread the storyline again today and liked it quite a bit. It's not like the previous three volumes, overloaded as they are with crazy shit, are going anywhere, and Musclebound as a collection is still pretty stuffed. There's the amazing one-off vigilante called The Beard Hunter, whose latent homosexuality is both problematically rendered by modern standards, and is still a somewhat thoughtful send-up of the relationship between sex and violence in superhero comics. This theme is then re-explored to its most perverse extremes in a three-parter where the DP fight the devil (maybe) with the help of aliens called the Sex Men (sure).
The volume closes with the reintroduction of the villainous Brotherhood of Dada, who figure more prominently in the next volume, Magic Bus. Both the Brotherhood and Flex Mentallo highlight one of Morrison's unique strengths, which is his ability to both lampoon and play homage to the already self-parodying Silver Age of comics through ridiculous character design. Here, we are introduced to the Love Glove, a hippie who possesses a tree full of superpowered gloves he can wear despite having no hands, and Number None, an invisible force who represents the world turned against you (getting bumped on the subway, being unable to get around people who take up the sidewalk). And something-something about LSD, which is an eyeroll, but yeah, totally, LSD is sooo crazy, man.
I've recently been reading through Paul Kupperberg's Doom Patrol, which was an incarnation of the team immediately previous to Morrison's (Kupperberg wrote issues #1-18; Morrison began with #19). Kupperberg's run is a shocking read for its concrete reminder that at the time Morrison came into American comics, superhero stories had not yet felt the longterm ramifications of post-modern fare like Watchmen. Kupperberg's DP is basically just X-Men without X-Men -- a team of cleanly-drawn attractive heroes with quirky powers that seem cumbersome but mainly make them cooler than other people, with lots and lots of thought bubbles about their unrequited love for other members of the team. It's a sort of soapy melodrama that Chris Claremont absolutely nailed ten years prior (and was still writing at the time of DP's original publication), but it's clear that by the late 80's there's nothing left to be wrung out of this formula. The fact that, 30 issues (2-3 years) later, we can argue that Morrison's X-Files, drug-hazed, meta-superhero stories aren't weird enough is indicative of the ridiculous sea change that rippled through comics in the 1980's.
I knock Morrison a lot -- a lot -- for his exhausting self-aggrandizement, and for his desperate need to be cool, but the fact is that even though he may have plucked a lot of ideas from other writers' playbooks, he still completely exploded the definition of a superhero comic in ways that other British Invasion writers didn't bother with. Alan Moore wrote Watchmen and then walked away, but Morrison actually applied postmodernism, first through extreme reinventions of somewhat pliable properties like Doom Patrol, but then into the big leagues with heavy hitters at Marvel and DC both. There is a careerism to Morrison's body of work that, while it sometimes feels cynical, still leads to some really miraculous ideas on the comic page. Musclebound isn't my favorite DP volume, but it's a nice showcase of Morrison's pet interests, and is pretty interesting to think about in the context of other comics coming out in the same time period.
But I think what's weird here is that this is the point in the series when it feels like Grant Morrison starts trying. The first twenty-or-so issues aren't just bonkers -- they also feel almost totally unplanned, and that's what's refreshing about them. One of Morrison's many foibles is that he's trying to be himself so hard all the time, and sometimes he makes it work but more often than not, the constant self-awareness gets a little wearying. Doom Patrol's charm is that it contains all of the experimental exuberance with comparatively little reflection, and when Morrison changes that formula, it's a bit of an adjustment. Here, an enormous build-up from Vol. 3 ends up meandering through some X-Files-esque government conspiracy gobbledygook that, on the surface, feels a little less satisfying than Morrison's usual full-throttle insanity. But, like Twin Peaks: The Return, just because the new-new is a slow burn doesn't mean it's not still fucking weird.
On top of its tonal shift,"Musclebound" is also the first story that begins to invest heavily in continuity, making callbacks to previously unmoored plot threads from early in Morrison's DP run, and foreshadowing events that won't pay off completely until the end of the series. This can be a bit rough: as a rule, Morrison's Doom Patrol throws a lot of ideas at the reader that are largely meaningless except for their immediate aesthetic value, and it can be hard to parse when stuff needs to be noted, versus when it can be tossed aside on the way to the next bit of strangeness. The story also suffers from the absence of most of DP's main cast, in favor of Flex Mentallo, a Charles Atlas knock-off who captured Morrison's imagination so completely that he later devoted an entire spin-off to the character.
Despite all this, I reread the storyline again today and liked it quite a bit. It's not like the previous three volumes, overloaded as they are with crazy shit, are going anywhere, and Musclebound as a collection is still pretty stuffed. There's the amazing one-off vigilante called The Beard Hunter, whose latent homosexuality is both problematically rendered by modern standards, and is still a somewhat thoughtful send-up of the relationship between sex and violence in superhero comics. This theme is then re-explored to its most perverse extremes in a three-parter where the DP fight the devil (maybe) with the help of aliens called the Sex Men (sure).
The volume closes with the reintroduction of the villainous Brotherhood of Dada, who figure more prominently in the next volume, Magic Bus. Both the Brotherhood and Flex Mentallo highlight one of Morrison's unique strengths, which is his ability to both lampoon and play homage to the already self-parodying Silver Age of comics through ridiculous character design. Here, we are introduced to the Love Glove, a hippie who possesses a tree full of superpowered gloves he can wear despite having no hands, and Number None, an invisible force who represents the world turned against you (getting bumped on the subway, being unable to get around people who take up the sidewalk). And something-something about LSD, which is an eyeroll, but yeah, totally, LSD is sooo crazy, man.
I've recently been reading through Paul Kupperberg's Doom Patrol, which was an incarnation of the team immediately previous to Morrison's (Kupperberg wrote issues #1-18; Morrison began with #19). Kupperberg's run is a shocking read for its concrete reminder that at the time Morrison came into American comics, superhero stories had not yet felt the longterm ramifications of post-modern fare like Watchmen. Kupperberg's DP is basically just X-Men without X-Men -- a team of cleanly-drawn attractive heroes with quirky powers that seem cumbersome but mainly make them cooler than other people, with lots and lots of thought bubbles about their unrequited love for other members of the team. It's a sort of soapy melodrama that Chris Claremont absolutely nailed ten years prior (and was still writing at the time of DP's original publication), but it's clear that by the late 80's there's nothing left to be wrung out of this formula. The fact that, 30 issues (2-3 years) later, we can argue that Morrison's X-Files, drug-hazed, meta-superhero stories aren't weird enough is indicative of the ridiculous sea change that rippled through comics in the 1980's.
I knock Morrison a lot -- a lot -- for his exhausting self-aggrandizement, and for his desperate need to be cool, but the fact is that even though he may have plucked a lot of ideas from other writers' playbooks, he still completely exploded the definition of a superhero comic in ways that other British Invasion writers didn't bother with. Alan Moore wrote Watchmen and then walked away, but Morrison actually applied postmodernism, first through extreme reinventions of somewhat pliable properties like Doom Patrol, but then into the big leagues with heavy hitters at Marvel and DC both. There is a careerism to Morrison's body of work that, while it sometimes feels cynical, still leads to some really miraculous ideas on the comic page. Musclebound isn't my favorite DP volume, but it's a nice showcase of Morrison's pet interests, and is pretty interesting to think about in the context of other comics coming out in the same time period.
March 5, 2023
Recommended for mature audiences. I guess I don't qualify. Must confess I know nothing of "Doom Patrol" but one gathers it is tongue in cheek superhero satire. Might have enjoyed this more if I was younger and less jaded.
Update: now that I’m more familiar with the surreal and satirical themes (having watched a season or two) I’m sure I would have appreciated this more. When will I learn — never good to jump in mid stream.
Update: now that I’m more familiar with the surreal and satirical themes (having watched a season or two) I’m sure I would have appreciated this more. When will I learn — never good to jump in mid stream.
April 13, 2020
Overall, a strong volume, minus the penultimate story.
Musclebound (#42-44). Stuck right in the middle of Morrison's run, this is perhaps the best arc since "Crawling from the Wreckage". Flex is just a wonderful creation, as evidenced by the fact that he's another character who has survived to more recent days, and the monster under the Pentagon is another neat nemesis, especially combining the idea of Graham's summoning with the Pentagon's quest to destroy creativity and drive conformity, which is just a little too real-to-life. But this arc may work out particularly well because it was foreshadowed and previewed throughout Doom Patrol, Vol. 3: Down Paradise Way: the fake Men from NOWHERE, the introduction of Flex, and the stories of American mystery. They all led us here. And Morrison was clearly learning, because we get a setup for the story of the Candlemaker, who will bring Morrison's Doom Patrol home in V6. [5/5].
The Beard Hunter (#45). The first of Morrison's full-up parodies in the Doom Patrol, this is of course the Punisher in a lonely war against facial hair. When it's straight up Punisher parody, it's hilarious, and when we bring Chief into the equation, we get fun ultra-competence against the very incompetent. Overall, an amusing read, but a bit unfortunate to have this filler interrupt the overall storyline [5/5].
Aftermath (#46). Well, apparently Doom Patrol has matured to the point where it can have an entirely process issue like this, with a bit of epilogue to "Musclebound" and a bit of prologue to what's next. About the only thing you can say for this issue on its own is that there's some really great relationship material between Cliff and Jane, that shows how the latter character is changing and the former character ... isn't. [5/5].
The Shadowy Mr. Evans (#47-48). And then we get this misfire of a store. Would-be Satan, Sex Men, Jane gone Crazy, dreams eating dreams. It's just a scattershot of ideas, none of them fully developed, and none of them that interesting as portrayed. Oh, he's a harbinger of the Apocalypse, maybe that's leading somewhere, but otherwise this is a low point of Doom Patrol. (Fortunately, it's surrounded by an otherwise awesome set of stories.) [2+/5].
The New Brotherhood of Dada (#49-50). Fortunately we move on to the intro of the new Brotherhood of Dada, who is every bit as weird and great as the original. [5/5].
One of the weird things abour the volume is that DC effectively gave us half of the second Dada story. I mean, they show the first skirmish, and there's a bit of a conclusion, but we're going to pick right up with #51. I guess DC didn't want to end this volume with the horrible Mr. Evans story ...
Musclebound (#42-44). Stuck right in the middle of Morrison's run, this is perhaps the best arc since "Crawling from the Wreckage". Flex is just a wonderful creation, as evidenced by the fact that he's another character who has survived to more recent days, and the monster under the Pentagon is another neat nemesis, especially combining the idea of Graham's summoning with the Pentagon's quest to destroy creativity and drive conformity, which is just a little too real-to-life. But this arc may work out particularly well because it was foreshadowed and previewed throughout Doom Patrol, Vol. 3: Down Paradise Way: the fake Men from NOWHERE, the introduction of Flex, and the stories of American mystery. They all led us here. And Morrison was clearly learning, because we get a setup for the story of the Candlemaker, who will bring Morrison's Doom Patrol home in V6. [5/5].
The Beard Hunter (#45). The first of Morrison's full-up parodies in the Doom Patrol, this is of course the Punisher in a lonely war against facial hair. When it's straight up Punisher parody, it's hilarious, and when we bring Chief into the equation, we get fun ultra-competence against the very incompetent. Overall, an amusing read, but a bit unfortunate to have this filler interrupt the overall storyline [5/5].
Aftermath (#46). Well, apparently Doom Patrol has matured to the point where it can have an entirely process issue like this, with a bit of epilogue to "Musclebound" and a bit of prologue to what's next. About the only thing you can say for this issue on its own is that there's some really great relationship material between Cliff and Jane, that shows how the latter character is changing and the former character ... isn't. [5/5].
The Shadowy Mr. Evans (#47-48). And then we get this misfire of a store. Would-be Satan, Sex Men, Jane gone Crazy, dreams eating dreams. It's just a scattershot of ideas, none of them fully developed, and none of them that interesting as portrayed. Oh, he's a harbinger of the Apocalypse, maybe that's leading somewhere, but otherwise this is a low point of Doom Patrol. (Fortunately, it's surrounded by an otherwise awesome set of stories.) [2+/5].
The New Brotherhood of Dada (#49-50). Fortunately we move on to the intro of the new Brotherhood of Dada, who is every bit as weird and great as the original. [5/5].
One of the weird things abour the volume is that DC effectively gave us half of the second Dada story. I mean, they show the first skirmish, and there's a bit of a conclusion, but we're going to pick right up with #51. I guess DC didn't want to end this volume with the horrible Mr. Evans story ...
September 5, 2016
More absurdity and awesomeness.
World: Art is amazing informing the oddness and absurdity of the book. The colors also are all over the place making it disorienting in the best possible way. The world building, holy wow. Just read it. This is book 4 I don't need to tell readers that it's nuts. However I'd like to say that the topical and allegorical pieces in the world building are wonderful and good commentary to the times and informs the story which was very very topical this arc.
Story: The disproved Freudian psychosexual imagery and tone is wonderful albeit dated, however what you do get is a wonderful liberal and open take on sexuality which was wonderfully forward for it's time. Take it for what you will, take it as a message or a tongue and cheek poke it was interesting. The Dada story once again plays on the absurdity of the story while discussing the world at large making for a fun and twisted read that leaves the door open for discussion. Wonderful!
Characters: What Rebis goes through is a wow and we can't forget Crazy Jane and Flex. Absolutely good stuff. The new villain was also strong. I can't say anymore. Just read the bloody book.
Once again all over the place in the best possible way.
Onward to the next book!
World: Art is amazing informing the oddness and absurdity of the book. The colors also are all over the place making it disorienting in the best possible way. The world building, holy wow. Just read it. This is book 4 I don't need to tell readers that it's nuts. However I'd like to say that the topical and allegorical pieces in the world building are wonderful and good commentary to the times and informs the story which was very very topical this arc.
Story: The disproved Freudian psychosexual imagery and tone is wonderful albeit dated, however what you do get is a wonderful liberal and open take on sexuality which was wonderfully forward for it's time. Take it for what you will, take it as a message or a tongue and cheek poke it was interesting. The Dada story once again plays on the absurdity of the story while discussing the world at large making for a fun and twisted read that leaves the door open for discussion. Wonderful!
Characters: What Rebis goes through is a wow and we can't forget Crazy Jane and Flex. Absolutely good stuff. The new villain was also strong. I can't say anymore. Just read the bloody book.
Once again all over the place in the best possible way.
Onward to the next book!
November 29, 2012
Grant Morrison has made a career out of throwing around tons of wildly creative ideas and waiting to see which ones stick. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I admire his creativity and willingness to try to work out even his strangest ideas (and DC's willingness to let him do as he likes, for that matter) whether it works or not. And the Doom Patrol that I've read so far, especially this volume, is where he did a remarkable job of pulling it all together.
There are enough head-tilting, what-did-I-just-read moments to leave the reader confident that this is, indeed, Morrison writing. The big, overarching storylines are more bizarre than they are well-written (but only slightly so, this time). But the Flex Mentallo and Beard Hunter stories are brilliant, true classics, and the collection as a whole does a better job of telling its story than some of Morrison's other work (before and after this).
There are enough head-tilting, what-did-I-just-read moments to leave the reader confident that this is, indeed, Morrison writing. The big, overarching storylines are more bizarre than they are well-written (but only slightly so, this time). But the Flex Mentallo and Beard Hunter stories are brilliant, true classics, and the collection as a whole does a better job of telling its story than some of Morrison's other work (before and after this).
September 4, 2023
I rarely, if ever, knew where this story was going. Or sometimes where it was
February 4, 2023
Ayyy Mr nobody is back babyyyyyyy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2016
This is a much more coherent volume than the previous one (if you can ever describe The Doom Patrol as coherent in any context). The bulk of the story completes the Flex Mentallo storyline and features the team venturing deep into the heart of the Pentagon to uncover some gruesome secrets, as well as Flex's true origin. The story has a kind of The Divine Comedy feel to it as our heroes descend the layers into their version of Hell.
There are a few minor stories before we kick off into the next major storyline, which involves the return of the Brotherhood of Dada and rather finishes on a cliffhanger. This story introduces some major changes for a number of characters which will no doubt play out in subsequent volumes. In this sense this section is a bridging volume, rather fitting for a comic that reached 50 episodes here.
The art is generally a bit variable depending on the artist but unfortunately the covers of each comic here falls prey to the horrible fully painted disease of the 1990's and are never going to be a patch on Brian Bolland's sublime art.
There are a few minor stories before we kick off into the next major storyline, which involves the return of the Brotherhood of Dada and rather finishes on a cliffhanger. This story introduces some major changes for a number of characters which will no doubt play out in subsequent volumes. In this sense this section is a bridging volume, rather fitting for a comic that reached 50 episodes here.
The art is generally a bit variable depending on the artist but unfortunately the covers of each comic here falls prey to the horrible fully painted disease of the 1990's and are never going to be a patch on Brian Bolland's sublime art.
January 6, 2025
Now I understand why 'Doom Patrol' is so beloved! While earlier volumes felt inconsistent—sometimes weird or clever for the sake of it—'Doom Patrol Vol. 4: Musclebound' stands out as the first consistently excellent entry in the series.
This volume, like the others, is a collection of interconnected tales that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone read. It opens with the origin of Flex Mentallo, a muscle-bound superhero, and follows with the hilarious highlight of the book: a parody story about the Beard Hunter, a Punisher/Wolverine spoof whose mission is to "hunt beards."
The collection also introduces a host of eccentric villains, including Doctor Silence, Mr. Evans, the Sex Men (crusaders against depravity), and the reappearance of the New New New Brotherhood of Dada, led by Mr. Nobody.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read and often considered the masterpiece of Grant Morrison’s 'Doom Patrol' run—a high point in an already ground-breaking series.
This volume, like the others, is a collection of interconnected tales that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone read. It opens with the origin of Flex Mentallo, a muscle-bound superhero, and follows with the hilarious highlight of the book: a parody story about the Beard Hunter, a Punisher/Wolverine spoof whose mission is to "hunt beards."
The collection also introduces a host of eccentric villains, including Doctor Silence, Mr. Evans, the Sex Men (crusaders against depravity), and the reappearance of the New New New Brotherhood of Dada, led by Mr. Nobody.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read and often considered the masterpiece of Grant Morrison’s 'Doom Patrol' run—a high point in an already ground-breaking series.
July 5, 2011
Reaches a new, profound level of absurdity. The first half of this volume tells the story of Flex Mentallo, a mysterious, amnesiac superhero with the power to flex his muscles so hard that he can alter reality. His backstory is intriguing and funny, though as the story continues it begins to border on nonsense. A fun, ridiculous sort of nonsense, though. The remainder of the book is mostly buildup to the final two issues, but these chapters feature several laugh-out-loud moments, and one particularly hilarious parody of the Punisher involving a man dead set on murdering anyone with a beard.
October 12, 2021
So far the best of the series. All the new characters and the old one that returned to the drama of bizarreness, I loved every single of them. Although I'm getting sad about the fact that only two volumes are left from Grant's run.
September 29, 2021
Things get back on track and we have some of the better issues in the series contained in this volume. Musclebound and Beard Hunter stand out as great comics in particular. There are still some missteps and a bit too much nonsense (even for me, an avowed Morrisonite). The quality of this series varies pretty wildly from issue to issue. It really must have been something to be reading this as it was being released.
July 23, 2010
I read this in the span of a few hours, having never read any previous Doom Patrol comics. Out of the other Grant Morrison series I've read (The Invisibles and the New X-Men), I liked this the best; however, it didn't blow my mind. I blame the artists. Their failure to clearly illustrate Morrison's absurdist dialogue and actions renders panels dull and nonsensical. For a book laden with so many Da Da and Surrealist motifs, you'd think there would be some visual interest here. NOPE!
Additionally, I was surprised by how conservative this book tended to be. The protagonists are torn between fighting against oppressive, normalcy-enforcing Pentagon goons and demons/hippies/artists bent on relieving the world of emotional and physical repression. Huh? I guess the Doom Patrol are just caught in the middle of a war between logic and emotion, and they are looking for a happy medium. Honestly, the libidinous Shadowy Mr. Evans and the Brotherhood of DaDa don't come across as all that bad, and the digs at fetishism kinda offended me.
Mixed messages aside, this was pretty engaging, even for someone coming into the series late. There's a cognizant street, a Charles Atlas mail-order super hero origin, and a goth chick. All in all, an entertaining read.
***I did enjoy the frequent Withnail & I references (including a Withnail cameo) and was amused/disappointed by the inaccurate depictions of Rhode Island.
Additionally, I was surprised by how conservative this book tended to be. The protagonists are torn between fighting against oppressive, normalcy-enforcing Pentagon goons and demons/hippies/artists bent on relieving the world of emotional and physical repression. Huh? I guess the Doom Patrol are just caught in the middle of a war between logic and emotion, and they are looking for a happy medium. Honestly, the libidinous Shadowy Mr. Evans and the Brotherhood of DaDa don't come across as all that bad, and the digs at fetishism kinda offended me.
Mixed messages aside, this was pretty engaging, even for someone coming into the series late. There's a cognizant street, a Charles Atlas mail-order super hero origin, and a goth chick. All in all, an entertaining read.
***I did enjoy the frequent Withnail & I references (including a Withnail cameo) and was amused/disappointed by the inaccurate depictions of Rhode Island.
July 22, 2010
Imagine if Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead) wrote a superhero comic book and it wasn't the Flaming Carrot. Now that's what I'm talking about!
In the early 90's, Grant Morrison (somehow!) took over your decent-but-predictable-pretty-average comic book the Doom Patrol and flucked it up beyond all recognition. You could call what he did the comic book as surrealist art, but I think that's a little too precious- what he really did was weird it up, and include a lot of bonafide "random" humor and silly plots (a Punisher parody that hunts down people with beards) in essentially a big middle finger to the comic book fanboy establishment. I like it. Its fun. I like any weird offbeat comic book that somehow manages to wiggle itself into the mainstream powerhouses (over at Marvel it was X-Statix a couple years ago) and if I could in the 90's I would've definitely got a subscription to Doom Patrol in order to offer my support.
My only problem is Doom Patrol could be even weirder, and often when a weird idea is approached it has to inevitably be explained away in an often contrived, exposition manner. I could've used more nonsense without any explanation/defense whatsoever. But even though the Doom Patrol doesn't necessarily live up to my expectations or its own strange promise, it's a worthy effort and a very fun read. Bonus points for yet another Charles Atlas parody and taking place in "Happy Harbor, Rhode Island."
In the early 90's, Grant Morrison (somehow!) took over your decent-but-predictable-pretty-average comic book the Doom Patrol and flucked it up beyond all recognition. You could call what he did the comic book as surrealist art, but I think that's a little too precious- what he really did was weird it up, and include a lot of bonafide "random" humor and silly plots (a Punisher parody that hunts down people with beards) in essentially a big middle finger to the comic book fanboy establishment. I like it. Its fun. I like any weird offbeat comic book that somehow manages to wiggle itself into the mainstream powerhouses (over at Marvel it was X-Statix a couple years ago) and if I could in the 90's I would've definitely got a subscription to Doom Patrol in order to offer my support.
My only problem is Doom Patrol could be even weirder, and often when a weird idea is approached it has to inevitably be explained away in an often contrived, exposition manner. I could've used more nonsense without any explanation/defense whatsoever. But even though the Doom Patrol doesn't necessarily live up to my expectations or its own strange promise, it's a worthy effort and a very fun read. Bonus points for yet another Charles Atlas parody and taking place in "Happy Harbor, Rhode Island."
January 11, 2013
Much more engaging than Vol. 3, but then again I was probably in a better mindset to read DP when I read this. Flex Mentallo's origin story is included, along with an absurdist yet humourous take on a version of the Punisher who only killed men with Beards due to his hatred of facial hair since he was hormonally imbalanced. Funny but ridiculous. Further personality development of Crazy Jane, and yet another new body for Cliff. Rebus transforms somewhat and Dorothy is investigated a little deeper as well. The professor seems like a huge dickhead, and I think maybe he's supposed to be a douchebag version of Charles Xavier or something? Not totally sure. Also, there's a return from one of the gang's first foes...also more conspiracy theory and cosmos bending stuff than you can shake a stick at.
January 5, 2013
I'm really not sure where to even begin with this. Volume 4 of Morrison's run on Doom Patrol takes us through the secret origin of a muscle-bound superhero from previous volumes, the appearance of someone who may or may not be Satan, the reappearance of a new new Brotherhood of Dada and, possibly best of all, a lone vigilante who is the best at what he does. And what he does is hunt beards.
Bizarre, funny, sometimes feeling a little like it's being weird for its own sake, like other stories in this series, this volume does, however, still very much entertain.
Bizarre, funny, sometimes feeling a little like it's being weird for its own sake, like other stories in this series, this volume does, however, still very much entertain.
August 25, 2019
So, the problem I see in this volume really started in the last one - in that slowly but surely the Doom Patrol members are starting to take a backseat in the stories to other characters. Robotman, Crazy Jane, Rebis, Josh and Dorothy are more like by-standers rather than the stars of the book. I suspect that Morrison was getting so comfortable in the run that he felt he could use it as a platform for some seriously way-out-there ideas, which is fine. But the book is really more like "Strange Adventures" rather than "Doom Patrol" at this point.
April 25, 2012
The Flex Mentallo stuff was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, that's the only ting that was good about this. The characters and events are random and bizarre. But the plots are all exactly the same: some surreal villain spouts nonsense and tries to destroy reality. Then the Doom Patrol gets messed up by the villain and then some chance power or character some how saves the day at the end. Grant Morrison did much better stuff for other series like Batman and X-Men.
June 6, 2024
HOW MUCH I LOVE DOOM PATROL.
On my fourth reread and I still adore it with all my heart.
This volume is super wacky and goofy if I say so. Things are getting out of hand, Grant Morrison is doing the thing he does the best. Making awesome, mind-boggling stories.
The return of the Brotherhood of Dada is so AWESOME. Not to mention how wonderful the whole thing is!
On my fourth reread and I still adore it with all my heart.
This volume is super wacky and goofy if I say so. Things are getting out of hand, Grant Morrison is doing the thing he does the best. Making awesome, mind-boggling stories.
The return of the Brotherhood of Dada is so AWESOME. Not to mention how wonderful the whole thing is!
August 2, 2011
All that needs to be said - Sturm Und Drang Bang
November 15, 2022
Probably the best one still got two left. Musclebound brings together everything Morrison has been working on with the occult and the bizzare. The book deals with one of Morrison's best creations, Flex Mentallo the man of muscle mystery and hero of the beach. Through the power of workouts and muscle Flex can alter reality and this is one of the funniest and best creations you'll ever read. This volume has the best concepts in Doom Patrol the Ant Farm inside the evil that is the Pentagon (five is the number of death) the wonderful Punisher parody of the Beardhunter pointing out the ridiculous and juvenile character that is just an accepted part of the kid friendly Marvel universe. The telephone being an evil and ominous device that summons forth a monster which controls the world. The acid tinged Satan and finally the return of the best supervillain team.
This volume also gives crucial character development as everyone gets a chance to show how much they have changed and move forward the overall story and includes the tenderness of Jane as she hints to Cliff about her feeling suntil her illness takes over. We also get to see how reliant Dorothy is on Josh as she has access to something more terrifying than any other villain yet and importantly Rebis evolves further as they become more powerful and more self aware. Musclebound touches on the strange and esoteric machinery that makes up the world and how the unknowable chugs along allowing the holders of power to not question them but instead praise these machines. Morrison's metaphors are not complex but they are effective, him focusing the vortex of evil being the most recognisable government building just hammers home the point and he even gets to dig at the propaganda of DC's office by naming the Justice League of America as being inconsequential and mostly being ineffective. It's so good, so funny and the ending sets up the final act of the series and as a little treat gives retro recollections of unseen Doom Patrol adventures.
This volume also gives crucial character development as everyone gets a chance to show how much they have changed and move forward the overall story and includes the tenderness of Jane as she hints to Cliff about her feeling suntil her illness takes over. We also get to see how reliant Dorothy is on Josh as she has access to something more terrifying than any other villain yet and importantly Rebis evolves further as they become more powerful and more self aware. Musclebound touches on the strange and esoteric machinery that makes up the world and how the unknowable chugs along allowing the holders of power to not question them but instead praise these machines. Morrison's metaphors are not complex but they are effective, him focusing the vortex of evil being the most recognisable government building just hammers home the point and he even gets to dig at the propaganda of DC's office by naming the Justice League of America as being inconsequential and mostly being ineffective. It's so good, so funny and the ending sets up the final act of the series and as a little treat gives retro recollections of unseen Doom Patrol adventures.
May 2, 2021
Why is the pentagon the shape that it is? Who controls the united states? And who is Flex Mentallo?
The 4th volume of Doom Patrol goes as crazy as ever with the discovery of Flex Mentallo and his battle against the men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E and the forces lurking beneath the pentagon. Probably two of my favourite arcs from the series are collected in this volume! I love the government's attempt to control the world being centered around eliminating weirdness, whilst indulging in the very weirdness they're fighting. And Flex literally flexing the pentagon into a circle has got to be one of the weirdest moments in comics. That is, if it wasn't for the very next arc!
The return of Mr. Nobody and the creation of the new Brotherhood of Dada is making me gitty just thinking about it! I much prefer this second team, with the Love Glove and Number None being my personal favourite new members. Obviously Mr. Nobody is still the star of the show and his ingenious plan to run for president and win through the usage of Albert Hofmann's bicycle is incredible. I think this arc is my absolute favourite in the series! It's got me laughing the whole way through and properly displays the Brotherhood's total negligence of actual villainy. They don't want to rule the world, they just want to make it weird!
If you're reading this you've probably already read the book, so let this be your reminder to go back and reread it! It only gets better, trust me!
The 4th volume of Doom Patrol goes as crazy as ever with the discovery of Flex Mentallo and his battle against the men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E and the forces lurking beneath the pentagon. Probably two of my favourite arcs from the series are collected in this volume! I love the government's attempt to control the world being centered around eliminating weirdness, whilst indulging in the very weirdness they're fighting. And Flex literally flexing the pentagon into a circle has got to be one of the weirdest moments in comics. That is, if it wasn't for the very next arc!
The return of Mr. Nobody and the creation of the new Brotherhood of Dada is making me gitty just thinking about it! I much prefer this second team, with the Love Glove and Number None being my personal favourite new members. Obviously Mr. Nobody is still the star of the show and his ingenious plan to run for president and win through the usage of Albert Hofmann's bicycle is incredible. I think this arc is my absolute favourite in the series! It's got me laughing the whole way through and properly displays the Brotherhood's total negligence of actual villainy. They don't want to rule the world, they just want to make it weird!
If you're reading this you've probably already read the book, so let this be your reminder to go back and reread it! It only gets better, trust me!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2018
In the fourth volume of Doom Patrol, the horror of the Pentagon, is wrapped up, and a new chapter in Doom Patrol history begins. The widening cast of characters has been a welcome addition to the Doom Patrol, with Flex Mentallo and Danny the Street fitting right into the series. Older characters like Dorothy even get more to do for a change.
That said, I have to say that the Pentagon horror didn't really live up to the hype the previous installment gave it. Simply put, when you spend so much time acting like something is a Lovecraftian monster that drives anyone who sees it insane, artwork can't really capture the effect. That said, the later installments were much better, particularly the Beard Hunter. I have I hopes for Volume 5.
That said, I have to say that the Pentagon horror didn't really live up to the hype the previous installment gave it. Simply put, when you spend so much time acting like something is a Lovecraftian monster that drives anyone who sees it insane, artwork can't really capture the effect. That said, the later installments were much better, particularly the Beard Hunter. I have I hopes for Volume 5.
March 23, 2018
This is a great superhero comic. Crazy stuff going down, intriguing character moments, and plenty of hilarious moments! Flex Mentallo jumps into the spotlight in the early chapters, with his origin and his ultimate feat of muscle mystery, changing the shape of the Pentagon via the power of his flexing!
A highlight - the laugh-a-page Chief vs. the Beard-hunter chapter!
Plus, Crazy Jane and Cliff's relationship evolves, and the New New New Brotherhood of Dada espouse more of Morrison's "reality is what we make it" philosophies.
Richard Case's artwork is solid, mixing styles as necessary and getting the intent of Morrison's crazy ideas across clearly.
A highlight - the laugh-a-page Chief vs. the Beard-hunter chapter!
Plus, Crazy Jane and Cliff's relationship evolves, and the New New New Brotherhood of Dada espouse more of Morrison's "reality is what we make it" philosophies.
Richard Case's artwork is solid, mixing styles as necessary and getting the intent of Morrison's crazy ideas across clearly.
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