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Underground > Comic Books >

Doom Patrol Creator Arnold Drake to appear in Boston, MA

Mister Six, whom all the girls

16:16 / 12.10.04

This is just to give people a chance to meet one of the nuttier writers of comics, Arnold Drake. He'll be appearing in Boston on the 24th of October at a comic convention at the Raddison (near the Arlington T-Stop).

If you've not read the original Doom Patrol, you're missing out. I sought it out after reading interviews with Grant who admitted being influenced by 60's DC writers like Drake and Gardner Fox. Seeing Robotman dueling on a deserted island, limbless, throwing his bent arm like a boomarang is priceless and only one of a million such moments in the series.

If you don't come, that's cool too. More time for me to talk to him!

16:50 / 12.10.04

Cool - can't go cause I'm in NYC, but this sounds like a fun event...

00:32 / 13.10.04

I might just see you there Mister Six and finally meet you too.

Let me talk to the girlfriend about this.

05:41 / 13.10.04

Hmmm. Actually, I think I like Arnold Drak better than Drake. It's more Doom Patrolish, ennit?

Mister Six, whom all the girls

13:30 / 13.10.04

Arnold Drak kills Daleks, doesn't he?

Maybe he'll be there too, complete with toy rayguns and plastic armor.

If anyone would like to bump into me at the con, there's a pic of my likeness at the www.zebramag.com website under 'about us.' I should be there with my con buddy Jon P and maybe cartoonist Greg Moutafis, who's a really great guy but leans more toward 70's Marvel than 80's/90's Vertigo like I do (though I dig the odd Brother Voodoo).

Mister Six, whom all the girls

12:04 / 25.10.04

Well... if you happened to attend that very boring Con, I;m sorry to have puiblicized it. Aside from talking to the very amiable Arnold Drake, there wasn't much else going on. He and I spoke about the way the Doom Patrol hate themselves and each other, giggling about Beast Boy being the butt end of jokes and getting fleeced by his foster parent and touched briefly on other versions of his book.

Specifically, he spoke of how Byrne doesn't get the comic at all and Grant really did a good job.

Not wanting to simply agree with Arnold without reading it, I picked up the first four issues of the new Doom Patrol. Holy crap on a stick was it bad. Whereas Arnold and I were just earlier talking about how the series is all about characterization, etc, Byrne has simply forgotten how to develop a simple character. The heroes simply stumble about and fight monsters, which might even be interesting if not for the fact that the monsters are never any threat. To top off the insult, Byrne nixes any DP before him and then fails to develop anything new. The Doom Patrol just... are.

Ugh.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

12:59 / 25.10.04

I always get this vivid mental image of a young John Byrne peeing in sand pits so none of the other kids can use them.

Now of course, he's all grown up (well, not really, but you get what I mean) and he's doing the same to comics. Sigh.

I don't even know if my comics store stocks Byrne Partol: is it worth picking up just to see how bad it is?

Mister Six, whom all the girls

15:06 / 25.10.04

Y'know, I actually like a lot of Byrne's work.

I like his X-Men, Superman, Namor, West Coast Avengers, Alpha Flight, all that stuff (I really can't get into Generations, tho)... but this sucked monkey balls.