Nick Derington

Doom Patrol, Vol 1 Brick By Brick (2017) by Gerard Way. WTF? I mean WTF? What is this? How did this thing get published? What is going on in the world of graphic novels?
I picked up this collection of the first six Doom Patrol comics after having seen the television version. Usually when you pickup the first book in a series, the characters get some kind of introductory story. Something that establishes who they are and how they got to be that way. The Doom Patrol Crew is a motley bunch at the best of times, but I thought I was going to find out about them and follow their adventures. No,what I got was a couple of characters I was familiar with from the show, a galaxy of folks that I couldn’t identify, and a story that didn’t make sense at best and was wandering in search of a plot point most of the time.
Apparently there were intros to the Patrol in previous comics, but besides a mention of those comics along the way, you were left on you own to decide who was who and what was what.
Then further characters were dropped in, warmly greeted by the cast, and things progressed.
On the plus side, the graphics were excellent. The inking was out standing. Together they tried to bring illumination to the story. The negative space was really well done, showing me a fine picture of what was being talked about.
In the final analysis, I found this Vol.1 book to be disappointing. It might have been better if material published prior to this collection featuring the members of D.P. had been added as a prequel to this story.… (meer)

The story felt needlessly convoluted and full of weirdness for the sake of being weird. None of the characters really clicked and, to be honest, it seemed to be written for long-time fans of the series rather than new readers like me. Inaccessible is the most accurate word to really describe how I feel about the book and the series.

I've read weird stories before. Thing is, the narrative may feel 'weird' and disjointed, among other things, but it has to come together near the end without coming across as confusing and pointless. Sadly, this volume falls into a hole it dug for itself and has put me off from reading Doom Patrol any further.… (meer)