Doom Patrol, Book 4: Musclebound
Grade 10 Up—Morrison is one of the more innovative writers in superhero comics, mixing layers of character and complex concepts with the straight-ahead action for which the genre is known. He assumed the writing forPatrolin the early 1990s, keeping classic characters like Robotman, but quickly making the title his own by adding bizarre figures. Among the latter are a sentient city street and a woman with 64 distinct personalities, each with a unique set of superpowers.Muscleboundspans issues 42–50 of the original serial and starts when Flex Mentallo, a superstrong hero inspired by Charles Atlas, seeks out the help of the Doom Patrol to battle a dark cabal, known as the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., hiding under the Pentagon. Later stories include a being that threatens to destroy a small town by bringing its inhabitants' sexual fantasies to life and a team of supervillains called the New New New Brotherhood of Dada, a nonsensical group that fights to rid the world of every piece of logic and rationality. Despite a different artist for each issue, the illustrations have a consistently realistic but sketchy style that gets cartoony when the plot calls for it.Doom Patrolis for older YAs looking for something a little bit different. Part satire and part reinvention of comics, this collection delivers tales that, despite being over a decade old, are still fresh and daring.—Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.