Metal Men and The Doom Patrol

If you’re a comic book collector like myself who is on a strict budget this review is for you.

I can’t afford to buy Gold, Silver and Bronze Age comic books-especially key issues.  Prices have shot up so drastically in the last couple of years only those with big budgets or speculators can afford to buy most old comic books.

The only way a collector like myself can ever hope to have early issues is if they were to come across them at a yard sale.

As an older collector I especially love the stuff from the Silver Age.  Marvel, DC and other comic publishers at that time turned out some pretty iconic stuff.

Fortunately I have my memories of owning many of the books when I was young-I only wish I still had the issues now.

Two of my all-time favorite DC Comics ‘quirky’ titles are The Doom Patrol and the Metal Men.  Both premiered in two of DC Comics’ anthology series.  

Their first appearances are highly prized and expensive-far too expensive for me.

Fortunately DC Comics publishes its Showcase Presents black and white reprint series that includes The Doom Patrol and the Metal Men.

The first volume of Showcase Presents The Doom Patrol begins its black and white reprint series with thier first appearance in My Greatest Adventure #80 and ends with The Doom Patrol #95.

During its run readers are introduced to each of The Doom Patrol members, how they came about and their primary gallery of bad guys.

Even back in the early 1960s The Doom Patrol was one of the strangest superteams ever created.

Often compared to Marvel Comics The Uncanny X-Men, it was The Doom Patrol that first saw print.

Is it coincidence that both groups featured societal misfits and outcasts, a wheelchair bound leader and many villains that have similar power and even in one case similar names such as DC’s The Brotherhood of Evil and Marvel’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants?

The Doom Patrol would take a slightly different road when it came to stories-most of which revolved around bizarre science and strange creatures and creations.  The X-Men tended to focus its attention on the outcast nature of its characters.

The X-Men would become a worldwide phenomenon while The Doom Patrol (though popular) never reached the height of popularity as the X-Men.

However with the introduction of The Doom Patrol TV series, that is beginning to change.

The Showcase Presents Metal Men black and white reprint book is identical in format to The Doom Patrol book.

It starts with the team’s first appearance in Showcase #37 and proceeds to go into their origin, various early adventures, introduces their top villains and ends with Metal Men #15.

The Metal Men was a last minute substitution in Showcase #37.  Due to some scheduling conflicts and problems a feature was needed for the issue.  

Writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru literally created, wrote and drew the Metal Men’s first appearance over a weekend.

Who knew that the Metal Men would prove such a hit with fans and are still a viable part of the DC Universe today?