From: sherman@oak.math.ucla.edu (The Ahkond of Swat)
Subject: Re: DC: Doom Patrol summaries
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 04:04:05 GMT


Here's file #2:


The following is a summary of events in Doom Patrol # 10 - 16,
 Superman #20 and the Doom Patrol Annual.
Prepared by Bill Sherman (sherman@math.ucla.edu).
It is meant only as a plot summary; no attempt has been made to
annotate the stories.


#10, "The Soul of the Machine"

Paul Kupperberg, writer; Erik Larsen, penciller; Gary Martin, inker

Cliff is worried about some defective body parts which he received 
from Lexcorp.

At Cliff's ranch, the villain Metallo (also a human brain in a robotic
body) is ransacking Cliff's storehouse, looking for parts.  It seems
that some parts of his were sent to Cliff.  Metallo gets this information
from Cliff's assistant and heads for Kansas City.

In KC, the picket line continues, and Councilman Reynolds (the bribe
recipient) speaks out against the presence of the DP in town.

In Belle Reve Prison in Louisiana, Larry visits the supervillain Reactron,
who has control over all forms of radiation.  

Josh tries to revive his ill-fated romance with Valentina, but she wants
to let it rest.

In the training room, Cliff's body suddenly goes out of control: it's
being remotely controlled by Metallo.  It breaks out of the house, with
the rest of the DP in tow, and they are confronted by Metallo (and his
horde of robotic drones).  The battle is joined.

Off in Smallville, Superman hears a broadcast report of the fracas, and
sets off to help.  Metallo is of special concern to Supes because his
heart is powered by kryptonite (Metallo's heart, that is).  When the Big 
S arrives in KC, Cliff is gone and the rest of the DP are unconscious.

Superman #20, "Doom in the Heartland"

John Byrne, story and pencils; Inks by Karl Kesel and Byrne

(I'm omitting the developments in several other plotlines in the Superman
book, and only covering events relevant to the Doom Patrol)

The DP fill Superman in on recent events, and Josh stays in KC with
Rhea and Wayne in order to treat Rhea's injuries and have a talk with
Wayne (who disappeared during the previous fight).

The others track down Metallo and Cliff, who have been fighting all this
time.  Metallo reasserts control over Cliff's body, and Superman
solves the metaphorical Gordian knot by simply removing Cliff's head,
removing Metallo's advantage.  Metallo tries to escape, and is 
caught by Scott, whose powers run out of control, superheating Metallo's
body.  Arani hits Metallo with a cold blast, shattering him instantly.
Of course, Metallo's head is not found.

#11, "Betrayed -- by Larry Trainor!"

Kupperberg, Larsen and Martin

Garguax is still planning to conquer the Earth, and to have his revenge
against his old enemy Robotman.  (Of course, Cliff no longer goes by 
that name.)

In Belle Reve, Larry gets Reactron alone in a lab, claiming that he 
wants to run some tests in a search for a cure to his radiation sickness.
He surreptitiously attaches an explosive to Reactron's chest, and offers
him a deal: do me one favor, and I'll let you escape.  Reactron accepts.
It's worth noting that Reactron and Josh were in Vietnam together, and
Reactron wants to kill Josh.  When Reactron (then a simple soldier)
committed some atrocities against civilians, Josh discovered his powers
by blasting him (and thereby activating Reactron's powers, too).

Cliff, Valentina and Scott take her new plane up for a spin, and they are
attacked by Garguax's plastic men.  They kidnap Cliff.  On Garguax's
ship, Cliff is put into a pit with a monstrous warrior, for Garguax's
amusement.  The warrior tears Cliff's limbs off, and smashes his head.

The DP get ready to go help Cliff, and Valentina sneaks off to her room
to make a surreptitious phone call.  When she finishes, Reactron bursts
into her room and attacks her.  Josh and Wayne arrive, but Reactron 
manages to drain the Negative Being from Valentina's body before escaping.
Josh can't find a heartbeat in Valentina's body.

Reactron meets Larry nearby, but cannot control the Negative energy.
It explodes out of him and into Larry.  When the smoke clears, Larry
is alone in a crater.

#12, "Invasion"

Kupperberg, Larsen and Martin

Garguax demands the surrender of Earth, showing Robotman's crushed body
to the horrified millions.  In conference, the President resolves to 
fight Garguax, and consoles a weeping Niles Caulder (yes, he's alive).
He was the official in #9 who recognized the plastic men, but he is
hardly recognizable without the beard.

The DP are launched into space in the Space Shuttle, leaving behind the
comatose Valentina.  

On Garguax's ship, Cliff's brain is being kept alive in a box.  

Larry flies around in the Negative Energy form, but he keeps getting
drawn towards Valentina's hospital room.  He commandeers an airplane and 
heads for the stratosphere; far above the earth, he leaves the plane
in Negative form, leaving his body in the plane.

Garguax captures the shuttle but finds only the NASA pilots aboard.  
The DP sneak on board and enter battle.  Scott opens communication
with Cliff via radio.  As the DP approach the bridge, Garguax begins
firing the stolen nuclear missiles at the Earth.  Larry stops them,
and the DP escape (with the pilots and Cliff's brain).  After being
shattered by the missile explosion, the Negative Being returns to 
Valentina's body.

#13, "Power and Chaos"

Kupperberg, Larsen and Alan Gordon, inker.

Larry awakens on earth.  It seems that the Negative Being saved his
body from the plane before returning to Valentina.  He discovers 
that he is healed of the lingering effects of his radiation illness,
no longer requiring the trademark mummy-bandages.

In New York, Power Girl meets with a Chaos Lord named Pythia, who is
tearing up the street.  They begin fighting.  As the battle continues,
Pythia proceeds to mutate into an inhuman monster, and pounds Power
Girl into unconsciousness.

The KC police finally come for Wayne, who escapes from the HQ even though
everyone tries to stop him.  (note: as far as I know, Wayne is never heard
from again.  Do any dc.gods on the net have info about him, or about 
Shrapnel?)

A healthy and rejuvenated Larry arrives at HQ, and gets an enthusiastic
welcome from Cliff and the others ... but Valentina assaults him, 
furious with his recent actions.  The others break up the fight. 

Later, Power Girl crashes through the roof.


#14, "Order and Doom"

Paul Kupperberg, writer; Erik Larsen, penciller; Jim Sanders III, inker

Power Girl explains the situation to the DP.  Pythia had dropped PG
onto their building, seeming to dare them to get involved.  Suddenly
the kitchen (where they are all talking) is teleported to somewhere
in American farm country (in the Great Plains, probably; we can see 
Rockies (?) on the horizon).  
 
Pythia attacks them and swallows them up, taking them to another
dimension which seems to be made from Pythia's body.  A girl who 
lives on the farm comes out to investigate.  She is Dorothy Spinner, 
who has become a regular character in Morrison's issues of DP.  She gets 
swallowed up with the others.  Those familiar with later issues will
note that Dorothy is wearing red shoes.

The other dimension is populated by batwinged Viking types, and
the usual battle is joined.  Josh, Rhea, Cliff and Val are killed,
one at a time.  Power Girl and Arani, knowing that all is illusion
in Pythia's world, survive temporarily.

Dorothy, convinced that her heroes have been killed, begins throwing
rocks (floating handily around) at Pythia, which seems to cause her
great pain.  The others join in, defeating Pythia and rematerializing
(all alive) on Earth.  Makes sense to me!

Doom Patrol Annual 1, "Public Works!"

Paul Kupperberg, writer; James Fry, penciller; Al Vey, inker.

The anti-DP protest persists.  Downtown, a superstrong axe-wielding 
nutcase named Maddax robs a bank and kills several police officers.
The Doom Patrol is summoned.  When Cliff confronts Maddax, Maddax
strangely pretends to be an old teammate of his, calling him "old
friend".  It's obviously a plot to discredit the DP.  Maddax escapes 
from Cliff, Rhea and Scott.

Lex Luthor has donated a sum of money to a KC charity, and will be
coming to town for a ceremony.  It also seems that his organization
is behind Maddax.  

Josh's routine medical examinations have discovered that Scott has a
terminal case of leukemia.

Val and Arani are called away from a meeting with local officials to
help fight Maddax at a mall (with the rest of the Patrol).  Maddax
is aided by some Lexcorp employees in a helicopter, who shine 
holographic projectors into the fight, creating illusions of battle-
armored combatants.  Again, Maddax escapes. 

The adverse publicity continues to mount.

Luthor visits the DP headquarters and plants a miniature component
on their computer -- one which allows him to enter their system from
another location.  We learn that Mr. Benjamin (the guy behind the
bribes and anti-DP agitation) is on Luthor's payroll.  Benjamin 
pays his ringleader to plant a bomb in DP HQ, and Luthor makes it
possible (via computer) for these henchmen to get on the roof.

Our heroes are summoned to yet another appearance of Maddax.  During
the fight, Maddax crashes into the HQ, and blows up as his power
overloads.  Luthor causes the security system to attack the DP.
They succeed in destroying the control console, and Josh discovers
the saboteurs on the roof, whose bombs have gone off and set the
roof on fire.

Luthor's plan seems to have failed, and Val confronts him as he leaves
town.  He meant the hirelings to be killed in the fire on the roof,
ruining the DP's reputation (along with all the other bad publicity).
Then having nowhere to turn, they would have gone to work for Luthor
(yeah, sure).  

The annual also includes the following short feature:

"That Daring Young Woman on the Flying Trapeze"

Kupperberg, writer; Randy DuBurke, penciller; Kyle Baker, inker.

Rhea visits a circus and saves the owners from some nasty loan sharks.
Strangely, Rhea is drawn here with normal eyes.  Usually, her eyes are
all whites: no iris or pupils.  Furthermore, she actually looks like
a real human being here.

#15, "Hail to the Chief!"

Kupperberg, Larsen, Sanders III

General Immortus is running a retirement home which is really a 
secret paramilitary base.  His intelligence agents reveal to him 
that Niles Caulder is alive and well in Washington.  Some of his
geriatric operatives visit Sven Larsen in prison and bust him out,
but drop dead when the helicopters take Larsen away.  Larsen
is Animal-Mineral-Vegetable Man, an old enemy of the DP.  He
can assume any shape made of those three substances.  Yikes!

Arani has come to a similar conclusion (Niles being alive, of course)
with her computer projects, but Cliff and Josh are skeptical.  

Val interrupts the Chief at work; her mysterious phone call in issue
11 was made to him.  It seems that she's been aware of his good health
for quite some time, giving him secret reports of DP activity.

Josh tells Scott about the leukemia, but agrees to keep it a secret.

Arani takes the Patrol to Washington, to search for Niles.  Their
trip is monitored by Immortus' organization.  Arani confronts Val
about her secret scrambled calls.  She knows that Val knows where
Niles is.  Their fight is interrupted by a platoon of old men with
super weaponry.  The superannuated goons fail in their attack.

Suddenly, the Animal-Mineral-Vegetable Man shows up as a tremendous 
dinosaur.  Together with more souped-up senior citizens, he beats 
down the DP.  General Immortus arrives to gloat, and Niles arrives 
in a limo.  Arani and the others are unconscious.


#16, "Reunion"

Kupperberg, writer; Graham Nolan, penciller; Arne Starr, inker.

Immortus wants Niles to find a cure for the degeneration which 
threatens his immortality.  Held high in the air, Cliff awakens
and is stunned to see the Chief alive.  Niles agrees to help Immortus
on the condition that the DP are released, and Immortus accepts.
Incidentally, Niles states emphatically that Arani is not his wife.

After they've left, Harry Stein shows up and takes the DP to Checkmate
headquarters (they are a secret high-tech government military outfit, 
apparently; I'm unfamiliar with the DC universe).  Arani refuses to
talk about her marital status.  Checkmate operatives surround the 
retirement home, and one of them sneaks in to disable the computer
security center.  The DP charge in.  

In the ensuing bedlam, Larsen decides to head for the lab and exact
his revenge on the Chief.  The Checkmate guy tries to stop him, but
fails.  The Chief sprays Larsen with a chemical which retards his
powers.  The DP arrive and fight him, and eventually Arani encases 
him in ice.  Immortus and his men are rounded up.

Later, the Chief reminisces with Larry and Cliff, about Elastigirl.


--
 Bill Sherman     S^1 `--> S^(2n+1) -->> CP^n      sherman@math.ucla.edu
  The loudest mouth will hail the newfound way / To be King for a Day.
       - XTC, _Oranges and Lemons_, "King for a Day" (A. Partridge)