Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds

Doom Patrol by Gerard Way

by Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Jeremy Lambert

The Doom Patrol goes on an epic trip around the solar system, facing off against the fanatical fitness fiends of planet Orbius, the Marathon Eternal, and more. Big changes are coming for these heroes as Robotman comes to terms with his new life as a human, and Flex Mentallo seeks Destiny Beach. Collects Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #1-7.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Fantasy, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2020

About the author

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and comic book writer who served as frontman, lead vocalist, and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance from the time of its formation in 2001 until its breakup in 2013. He is the author of the Eisner Award-winning comic book series The Umbrella Academy (now a Netflix original series) and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. In January 2014, he announced via Twitter that he and artist Gabriel Ba will begin work on Umbrella Academy Volumes 3 & 4 in late 2014/early 2015. His debut solo album Hesitant Alien was released on September 30, 2014. Way lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Lindsey (bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence) and their daughter, Bandit.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some disjointed storytelling keeps this from being great. Focuses way more on being bizarre than telling a cohesive story, probably having to do some with all the writers and artists that had to pitch in to get this done with Gerard Way only "co-writing" each issue.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disjointed and bizarre, you have to be patient with the story elements of this one; remember when you were a kid and you found out that eggs were in cake, but then instead of being gross it was sweet? Well, this is so, so sweet. It all culminates and ties the fibers Way started weaving a few years ago together. Really spectacular, better than just picking up Morrison's torch, really building on the original.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as zany and off the wall as the rest of the run, Weight Of The Worlds throws the Doom Patrol into a series of adventures each more insane than before, while the throughline plot for Robotman keeps everything cohesive and brings it all together for the final issue.

There's something poignant about this run. For all its one-shot stories, it does all follow a singular narrative, and it definitely highlights the similarities between Way's run and Morrison's (he's a self-professed fan, so it's not surprising). Things are weird, but they're never so weird that you can't follow what's going on, and there's a surprisingly big heart behind it all. Plus the idea that, at the end of the day, the Doom Patrol's biggest enemies are themselves is definitely one that resonates with that earlier run.

The artwork's surprisingly cohesive considering there's four pencillers across these seven issues - James Harvey takes the first two, Evan Shaner takes the third, Nick Pitarra gets to draw a huge amount of muscles in issue 4 Becky Cloonan handles the fill-in issue 5, Omar Francia channels his best Brandon Petersen impression in issue 6, and then Nick Derington returns to round off the run in issue 7. Francia's the one that stands out the most as different, but then most of his issue is set in cyberspace, so that's to be expected.

Weight Of The Worlds isn't so much an ending to Way's Doom Patrol (although I doubt we'll get any more any time soon) as it is Chapter Three. He takes everything from the past two volumes and just stays the course, for better or worse. If you loved what he's done thus far, you'll love this. It's just as bonkers as it ever was.

[Alex Sarll]

The second issue is one of the most Tom Scioli comics I've seen from someone who's not Tom Scioli, taking in planetary divorce, an astronomy of hugs, and reversing the polarity of the Negative Man. And that's not significantly more bugged-out than the rest of it, which featured Flex Mentallo's evil symbiote posing pouch, a Cliff grinding for upgrades, and a visit to the beach for the ultimate flex. At times it's barely even pretending to be a connected story so much as just glimpses into the weirdness of life with the Doom Patrol, but that's fine by me, particularly when it ended up with such ridiculous gaps between issues even before the shutdown, to the extent of getting a fill-in issue from a different creative team, something I've not seen in years and a particularly tricky gig in a book that doesn't exactly have a status quo. There was originally meant to be more than this; part of my being one of the few Gerard Way fans to feel ambivalent about the My Chemical Romance reunion tour was wondering if that's what got in the way of more of his Doom Patrol, and why on this volume he was down to the old celebrity trick of 'co-writing', when he used to properly script. Even more galling now, of course, with those gigs, like all others, postponed until life resumes - which is to say, I'm expecting a stage show comprising demons in parkas riding flying pigs. But Hell, we got three trades of it, eventually, which feels improbable boon enough, especially in a timeline as hideous as this one.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cliff is having an existential crisis. So is Larry, who wants a dog. Danny the Ambulance is trying to prevent two planets from getting a divorce. Lotion the Cat gives a cosmic cuddle. Negative Man becomes Positive Man. In the future, Doom Patrol is all that’s left of humanity, unless Jane can get to the Underground, go back in time and stop Mento from stopping Planet Cliff from devouring every planet in the galaxy. Flex Mentallo goes back to his old haunt, Destiny Beach, only to find that it is overrun by the evil Secret Spandex. A kid named Clark falls into a back issue of Doom Patrol and meets Dorothy, who is actually a Scissorman sent to destroy Danny. Cliff, in an attempt to “liberate” the universe, has become Planet Cliff, which, of course, comes full circle…

I know what you’re thinking: huh? Are those actual sentences?

It makes sense (kind of) if you read Gerard Way’s Doom Patrol: “Weight of the Worlds”.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the comic that confused me the most in years. Not story-wise, I love the Doom Patrol's weirdness, and even dadaism (Grant Morrison's run is among my 5 favorite books of all time). But here, I'm so confused by the editorial, writing and creative choices. The run started great, even if it suffered from being postponed multiple times. I thought that after Milk Wars, it would be a fresh start but the story is not cohesive at all. The seven issues are mainly one-shots, some quite fun, especially the meta ones, but others seem out of place and didn't really interest me. The thing is that I don't know what the writers were trying to accomplish. There's at the end a conclusion and the story follows a clear path but I still don't see the point. It all seems so underwhelming. It's a shame that a title so creative and good in these times ends like this. Maybe the writers only wanted to write some weird separate stories, and in this case I respect it, but it really didn't work for me. I don't know how much DC influenced them in ending the series or if they already wanted to end it. Also, I don't like this characters line-up. For me there are too many members, new and old, and not all of them fit in the themes and tone. I'm specially thinking of Rita, who could totally have been absent. It all feels messy and it confused me.
However, this is still the Doom Patrol and I enjoyed many things, thanks to the writing and the art. The best part clearly was Robotman's emotional arc. We clearly see that it was well-planned from the beginning, from when he randomly came out of a gyro. Now, his status quo is changed for a little moment, which gives him a new purpose and perspective of life. He evolves throughout the series and it all builds up to the finale where after trying so much to be helpful as a robot and avoiding his emotions, he becomes an entire world-destroying planet for "the greater good". He has lost himself . He's the actual protagonist, and his characterization is excellent. I love Cliff and the authors managed to show a new look to this already complex character. He also serves the main themes of the entire run, of acceptance, pain and living well with others. It's an incredible thematic and emotional climax and conclusion. Also, there's a frog launching french baguettes called "Wild Ass" and it's typically what I want to see in a Doom Patrol comic. It was hilarious.
As for the art, I enjoyed so much Nick Derrington's style and pages in the last series, and it's a shame that he only does the covers and the last issue, but the idea of replacing him with all different artists fits well. Almost all of them worked great which gave their issues their own identities. For example, I didn't enjoy the second one's story but the pages by James Harvey were wonderful and went full cosmic. Nick Pitarra also fits incredibly well with the Flex Mentallo-centred issue, with so many details put in the muscles. This rotating system of artists worked and helped in the "anthology" style of this series.
So this comic wasn't bad but it definitely disappointed me as a conclusion to Gerard Way's plans. I'm really attached to these characters and I don't know what happened behind the scenes. Finally, I won't remember this series as much as other runs, but I'm still thankful for the first volumes and the tone that Gerard Way brought to the team. He revitalized it, and I'm thankful for that.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doom Patrol is just as out there as ever, but damn if it isn't engaging and amusing. Gerard Way and about a dozen authors and artists cram six or seven stories into Weight of the Worlds, though it never quite feels overstuffed or confusing as long as you go with the flow. Truly, that's the key here: disengage thinking processes and just take it all in.

Ultimately, Weight of the Worlds is Cliff's tale of reckoning with his family issues and loneliness, and it all does tie together neatly in the final issue. Caught me by surprise for sure. Way does a nice job of re-introducing the numerous Doom Patrol members, so you don't fully have to remember who they are or what they're about. I feel like any additional attempts at a plot breakdown would cause my enjoyment with Weight of the World to drop. It's fun and weird, weird, weird. Recommended(?)

[Breña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sieben Geschichten, die verbunden sind und doch teils für sich stehen. Eine krude Mischung aus wirklich fantastischen Ideen und absolutem Blödsinn. Zeitreisegeschichten sind knifflig, und wenn sie nicht stimmig sein sollen, funktionieren sie für mich einfach nicht. Das breite Spektrum gilt auch fürs Artwork, das reicht von fantastisch bis meh (diese digitale Episode gefällt mir gar nicht).
Irgendwie also typisch Doom Patrol. ;)

[Vail Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wacky wacky fun!
There is just no other way to describe this...

[Sophie Carbone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! Dragged a bit in the end, but really loved that this ha d Avery strong classic doom patrol feel!

[mela☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

yuri i found family, 9/10

[Dave Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gerard Way's version of Doom Patrol definitely lives up to the moniker of them being DC's strangest heroes. However, this brand of strange didn't fully click with me. Maybe it's because I'm joining Way's narrative on its third volume. To his credit, perhaps I would have been more in the groove of this miniseries if I had read the previous two collections.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see myself giving Weight of the Worlds five stars, even if it's written by Gerard Way. Aside from issue #1 of Way's run (the one issue edited by Shelly Bond, and the one that truly achieves greatness), I think that WotW is his main storyline that feels really confident, free, and madcap. Its structure is complex, it deftly juggles changing artists on each issue, and I think it's the one arc in the series that's trying for real greatness, rather than just being performatively bizarre. I guess this book was cancelled and rushed to wrap its storyline, but aside from one lazy guest issue from Becky Cloonan, it felt perfectly paced to me.

I think Way's run on Doom Patrol is not only worth rereading, it's worth rereading. And I hate myself for thinking that.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward this book because the last run was so incredibly good... but I ran into something that lacked depth and was all over the place. It was disappointing at best. Maybe because Gerard Way wasn’t entirely focused on the story, maybe because someone else penned the books, whatever the case, they didn’t deliver. I mean, I found one of the issues enjoyable, but that’s a very low rate.
The Doom Patrol is weird, that’s what it is and that’s one of its great qualities. Stories can be weird, but just weird doesn’t make a story.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morrison's Doom Patrol was weird but also had interesting stories that made sense and characters we cared about. This is a pale imitation that's weird for the sake of being weird without any substance. I powered through all 3 volumes because they're quick reads and I hoped the story would get better. It never did.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is zany enough to pass as a Doom Patrol comic, but it suffers from some very poor choices in storytelling. The stories are too disjointed and the jumping of timelines doesn't make for a seamless reading experience. Really wanted to love this, but meh.

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The point of Doom Patrol from the start was that it could be a little weirder than the average superteam (which is saying something) and this took a turn for the absolute bonkers during Grant Morrison's run in the 1990s. Gerard Way has taken Morrison's lead (and more than a couple of his creations) for this incarnation and it's mostly worked out for the best so far.
This volume of the 'Young Animal' imprint Doom Patrol collects a seven-issue miniseries (though apparently the series was cancelled after issue 7, so perhaps that wasn't the plan) that clearly just picks right up from issue 12 (collected in Doom Patrol, Volume 2: Nada, so I'm not clear why it's not just part of the ongoing run (and thus just volume 3 of these collections), but I suppose it doesn't matter.
From the start, it's clear this is going to be a bumpy ride. We're dropped right into a rapid-fire series of pages giving us views of our major players, but not quite as we left them. This has a disorienting effect that may be intentional but I found off-putting, as though this collection had been misordered or pages were missing. The disjuncture of realities is eventually clarified, but things don't really get exactly...clearer.
While the first two books of this version of the series were a solid entry in the Doom Patrol mythology, this most recent book seems to opt for more gonzo kookiness while overlooking some of the more basic necessities of structure. As has been demonstrated in the earlier issues as well as Morrison's run, the story can be completely 'out there,' but still maintain the tenets of sound storytelling. This feels at times as though way had written a lot of fragments and then just stuffed them in an envelope to send to DC to make sense of.
This volume would not have been enough to dissuade me from continuing to read Way's Doom Patrol, but it certainly wasn't the pure pleasure he'd delivered in the first two volumes of his run.
This edition includes the original cover art for all issues as well as several variant versions.

[Fez Vaccaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the ending to a pretty solid run by Gerard Way. I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and the run was a nice continuation of the weirdness of that run and in re-introducing Flex and Crazy Jane.

These are done in 1 issues here with an over-arching plot. Derrington is back, this time only on covers. There's different art teams between issues and they all do a great job. It's hard to pick out favourites on art as each artist brings their own take that fits in with the tone of the issue. I did particularly enjoy Allred as a choice to close out the series. Becky Cloonan also does an issue, with both writing and art, that features Dorothy and the return of a villain. It's especially great seeing Becky do an issue, her issue fits in seamlessly with everything else and she was also involved with Way on an early pitch before it was later re-worked with Derrington.

Overall this has been a great run of 20 or so issues (including the Milk Wars crossover). I'm not sure if it was Way's intention or DC's to end the run where it did given all the delays but 20 issues seems standard for a Doom Patrol run (22 issues for Arcudi/ Eng Huat, 18 for Byrne, 22 for Giffen and Clark). It'll be interesting to see what DC does with the characters going forwards, especially with their increased presence from the TV show.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

The weight of the worlds is too much - any semblance of story collapses underneath it.

Calling this a story arc is a bit of a stretch - most issues are standalone, with a little bit of connectivity but nothing that resembles a very coherent story. There's a noir-esque mystery issue that may or may not be a time loop, a Muscle Beach face-off, a meta-story with a kid who has read Doom Patrol ending up inside Dannyland, and a planet of sentient balls that leads to a VR-entrapment 'adventure.' While that last one at least has some fun with the art style (90's era CG imagery), I found myself rapidly turning the pages, hoping for something worth reading. And I came up disappointed.

I think this is the last of the Young Animal imprint volumes, and for that I'm grateful. I kind of understand what they were going for, but ultimately the whole imprint felt like a muddled waste of time, and I'm thankful that it didn't tread on the Vertigo name directly. Maybe I'm just not the target audience for it now, but I can't imagine a time in my life where these books would have really connected with me, and I can't really picture the person for whom they would connect now. I'm sure they are out there, and more power to them. I'll retreat to the more comfortable and coherent shores of classic DC.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially a collection of six one-issue stories, albeit with a plot arc in the background about Cliff trying to rediscover his humanity and heroism and going about it all the wrong way. Some of the individual stories are good and some less so. The story about Flex’s former beach being threatened by a villainous spandex jockstrap is, for example, exactly the sort of thing that this comic should be about, and there’s a good story that brings back some characters from an earlier run in a suitably peculiar way. On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure what was going on with Larry, as that part of the plot seemed to disappear after issue #2, and the episode in cyberspace felt surprisingly formulaic. At times it feels that Way is overdoing the weirdness at the expense of plot or characterisation. Yes, even in Doom Patrol, that is possible.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 5 out of 5]

De doom patrol he leído todo el run de Morrison y he seguido el de Gerard Way pero un poco espaciado entre volumen y volumen. Por eso me costó trabajo recordar en qué nos habíamos quedado en el tomo anterior y seguirle la pista a este. Pero una vez que pasé el primer número, todo se hizo más fácil y disfruté mucho de la historia. Me pareció entretenida, emotiva y divertida. Varias veces me reí en voz alta, creo que Way al final encontró su voz y su narrativa original y loca pero consistente y entendible. Hay mucha fractura a la cuarta pared, muchos guiños, referencias a otros cómics, chistes internos, etc. Pero una vez que te jala a su terreno de juego, será difícil que te suelte. De los tomos que he leído de Way, este es mi favorito por mucho.

[CFinley1997 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd rate this one around a ~3.5.

The opening is incredibly dark and so interesting. I love how vol. 3 really leaves you thinking there will be so many unresolved plot points.

We finally get Cliff's backstory, and suddenly his connection to Jane feels all the more deep. I think it's genius and brave of Gerard Way and team to save that for vol. 3. It has one of the most striking panels of the whole run thusfar (vol 1 - 3). The final chapter is also a good return to psychological beat that this run has made. It really shines around Casey, Cliff, and Jane.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a soft spot for Doom Patrol. It is allegory, allergy, elegiac... It is an awesome property that pushes comics into a better place. This iteration has a few pushes towards the fourth wall and a few good dives into what it means to be human; body, mind and madness and all.

Of the Young Animal, it is probably my favourite though Shade from the original set would be my favourite. So, well worth the read if you are into weirdness. Isn't everybody into weirdness right now?

[Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off this is one of the most actively hostile book to new readers I’ve ever read just wow way’s style does not translate the best to a long running book didn’t help that it was very episodic in the first half but that second half was pretty fun and interesting my main problem with it is that it is an ensemble cast story but only like three them had actual arcs and only one of them did I have the context to understand definitely should not have started with this one.

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit lacking in terms of a conventional story, which makes things hard to follow and requires the reader to do a bit of dot connecting (which is fine!).

That being said, the Doom Patrol are quirky, odd, crazy, and weird in all the best ways and the driving force of the plot at the end (Robotman turning into a planet) ties things up really well in terms of using time fluidly.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adored Way’s first Doom Patrol run and I really wanted this to continue that lovely weirdness. Weight of the Worlds, however, winds up being just a little bit too disjointed for me to enjoy as much as that first Young Animal run. That being said, there is still plenty to enjoy here, especially if you’re a Doom Patrol fan.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

May have enjoyed more if I had read each issue episodically as one-shots rather than as a collection - while some of them are brilliant, there’s an inconsistency that really stops me from fully engaging with the over-arching story

Still, wonderfully weird and unlike anything else out there - Doom Patrol is always going to have a special place in my heart

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s a real trippy “adventure “. But there are too many pieces that seem to get lost and the style is too much for me. Maybe if it get like one type of odd or two bit not the handfuls of odd style it is.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh so Doom Patrol. I'll admit over the first few issues I was simply confused, but by the end it all took shape as any Doom Patrol story is wont to do, and it ends with heart, which is really what Doom Patrol is about... in the end, but never the end.

[Whit Stiles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Characteristically zany, surprisingly cohesive when it wants to be—as is the Doom Patrol way. This installment is probably the weakest of the Gerard Way era, but still a fun and worthwhile read if Doom Patrol is your thing. If it's not your thing, I'd start somewhere else.