Dungeons & Dragons #4

Our party of adventurers is in trouble again. They’ve been ambushed by grave robbers in an ancient dwarven ruin and triggered a trap that may drown them all in a few minutes. Bree the halfling thief figures out to escape from the trap, but then the party gets split while navigating a ventilation tunnel. While Khal the dwarven paladin and Tisha the spell-slinging tiefling share their abbreviated life stories, Aldric Fell, Bree, and Varis the city-loving elf run into a floating green skull that’s less troublesome than they expected. And what’s at the bottom of this dungeon?  An invasion force from another world.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The action is fine, of course, but I got jazzed about some of the smaller elements — Bree’s equational thinking when it comes to traps, Khal’s dwarven poetry, Tisha’s backstory, the magical skull, and the idea that a well-constructed dungeon will always have ventilation shafts to keep the air breathable. This is definitely not just a mindless dungeon crawl.

Doom Patrol #19

The second part of a crossover with the Secret Six — the two teams are battling it out while Oolong Island’s previously dormant volcano finally erupts, threatening all the mad scientists on the island. In an emergency like this, everyone pitches in to help and — oh wait, my mistake, everyone keeps right on fighting. Ragdoll gets attacked by a pelican, Jeannette gets dropped into Danny the Street (now sadly downgraded into Danny the Bungalow), and Elasti-Woman shows off just how tall she can grow. The Six get escorted off the island, but will it be enough to keep the Doom Patrol’s Oolong hosts from kicking them out, too?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It all seems perfectly acceptable, and I’d consider adding this one to my regular pull list — but we’ve just learned that “Doom Patrol” is about to get canceled. Sigh. I guess all comics get canceled eventually, but still, what a bummer.

Today’s Cool Links:

• As a tribute to the late Dwayne McDuffie, Project Rooftop is holding a special tribute, challenging artists to redesign McDuffie’s character Static.
• What Mike Sterling said: This would really be a fun version of the Justice League. Oh, what could have been…
• Here’s a really nice history of old Armed Services editions of books for soldiers overseas during WWII.

Let’s keep this one short and sweet this time. Bahlactus demands that Friday nights be dedicated to Friday Night Fights, and if we don’t do it, then Big B brings the pain. I just can’t stand pain, man.

From 1989’s Doom Patrol #26 by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, and John Nyberg, the Japanese superhero Sunburst (and a really, really enthusiastic TV host) meets up with the lovely but drowsy Sleepwalk from the Brotherhood of Dada:

And after a punch like that, Sunburst probably caught a little shut-eye, too…

Speaking of the Doom Patrol, when’s Crazy Jane gonna make it back into regular DC continuity, hah?