Jared Matthews’s Reviews > The Doom Patrol Archives, Vol. 1 > Status Update

While the nature of the "outsiders" in the Doom Patrol is less compelling as a concept than the X-Men, as they were not born that way, it forces the writer's to get creative with different ways to show that being an outsider is a gift, rather than a curse.

The acceptance that the Doom Patrol receives from humanity is a weird choice. For a group whose identity is built around their "outsider" status, being accepted and celebrated by humanity is a lot less compelling and interesting than the X-Men, who seek to save humanity despite their rejection.

The social commentary is more explicit than in Stan Lee's X-Men, and the character's origin stories are told in a much more compelling way. The storytelling in general is a lot more interesting and feels more mature than the 60's X-Men.

However, the fact that these outsiders got their powers through freak accidents, not from birth, makes the social commentary less meaningful than is sometimes in X-Men.