The Doom Patrol has returned. Despite HBO Max's Doom Patrol show ending with Season 4, DC Comics is launching a new six-issue miniseries, Unstoppable Doom Patrol, as part of the company's Dawn of DC initiative in 2023. Written by Dennis Culver and illustrated by Chris Burnham, the title spins out of Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate #1 and will be the first Doom Patrol series since Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds ended in 2020. The prior series fell under DC's Young Animal imprint, but Unstoppable Doom Patrol will be grounded in the main DC Universe, allowing for interactions with fan-favorite heroes like Batman and Green Lantern.
Culver and Burnham have given the Doom Patrol a new mission, "Saving the world by saving the monsters." Now led by Crazy Jane's Chief identity, the Doom Patrol is focused on rescuing metahumans and welcoming them into the team's new home, the Shelter. Ahead of Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1 going on sale, Culver and Burnham joined CBR for an exclusive interview and discussed what's in store for readers, how they would like to turn the miniseries into an ongoing title, new characters, and more.
CBR: One of the opening lines in Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1 is "Things are about to get weird." To prepare readers, how wild is this series going to get, and Chris, how was it bringing out this madness with your style?
Chris Burnham: It was fun! I think this is the most coherent Doom Patrol comic ever. Easily in the last 40 years.
Dennis Culver: [Laughs] Yeah, we get progressively weirder. I think one of our main goals was grounding this in the DC Universe since this is kind of firmly rooted there with the Dawn of DC initiative. We start [in] a grounded place, and I think as we go, it gets progressively weirder, especially by the time you get to the last two issues. It's going to be a little out there.
The Doom Patrol is now led by Crazy Jane, specifically her "Chief" identity. How will this leadership change affect the team, and how will it be different from Niles Caulder calling the shots?
Culver: It's pretty different in that the Chief is [cooperating] with the Doom Patrol and a little less manipulative. I think that's a good thing. There are still some conflicts there. The members that are used to Jane's personality and have warmed up to her are now dealing with this other identity who's a little more about business, [and] a little more gruff. Also, there are internal conflicts because Jane is used to being upstairs in the driver's seat, and now the Chief is there all the time. Niles is still around; he'll show up in Issue #2. He acts as a consultant, with his biggest advice being that he thinks he should lead the team. That creates a little bit of friction too.
How's it been to draw the Chief and the other Crazy Jane personalities?
Burnham: It's fun. I think she has my squinty eyes, honestly [laughs]. I somewhat based her look on my eyes. Her mask is fun. I like drawing her, [and] her haircut [laughs]. It's cool to contrast her with Chainsaw Nun, Flit, and [the others]. It's fun to bounce back and forth between them.
Culver: Burnham brought a really cool visual to Flit [and] the way her teleportation works in that Lazarus Planet special. He's killing it. I love how he makes each of those identities really distinct.
Burnham: Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with that. [Laughs] My take on it is maybe a little different than in the past. She's going through a full physical transformation each and every time, and not just swapping out hairstyles or outfits. She looks like a different being every time.
Culver: One of the benefits of not being a TV show with a budget is we can just go for it [laughs].
Burnham: Right! [Laughs]
A few new team members are introduced in Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate and this series, including Simon Choe, Degenerate, Beast Girl, and the Worm. How has it been designing these new characters? Who's a personal favorite, and who are you most excited for readers to see?
Burnham: I love drawing Beast Girl. I love drawing cute little characters, so she's one of my favorites to draw. [I] also really love The Worm. I gave him like a big Rick Hunter anime haircut. Psilocybin, whatever his name is, [is] a gross, body horror mushroom guy. Just about everyone's fun. Degenerate is a little difficult because he's got all those scales and spikes. Every time he comes up, it's like, "Oh, this is [going to] take way longer than anyone else to draw." [Laughs] That's my only problem with him. Dennis and I bounce ideas back and forth, which is super fun. This is maybe the most artistically collaborative comic I've ever drawn. Dennis answers emails and texts way faster than anyone else, so we're always bouncing back and forth, like, "What about this? Should this be bigger, smaller?" He's an artist himself, so he's able to really, really get in there [laughs].
Culver: We used to be in a studio together, Burnham and I, for a number of years, so we already had chemistry ahead of this book. We already knew each other, and we've been arguing about comics for years [Burnham laughs]. We know each other's sensibilities. There's more new characters coming too, so that's exciting. It's [going to] be a lot of fun.
Of the main Doom Patrol cast -- Elasti-Girl, Robotman, Negative Man, etc. -- who really stands out in your series?
Culver: I feel like Cliff is always in the center. Robotman [is] always in the middle of it. It really depends on the story. The unique thing about the way we're doing this six-issue series is the first four issues are all done-in-one stories. Issue #1 has a focus on the whole team, and then in Issue #2, we poke around and look at some of the extended cast and [supporting] members. [Issue] #3 really is just a Cliff and Larry story, and then [Issue] #4 focuses on the Chief and Niles Caulder. It's neat because the series ends up feeling bigger than just a miniseries. A lot of miniseries are just really driving one story, but by doing these done-in-one issues, it feels like we built out the concept really fast, and we get to dive into the different characters. I like that. But yeah, for me, Cliff, he's such an Everyman character. I always think of him as the blue-collar superhero. He can get beat up, he can pretty much not die, so he's just always the guy to roll up his sleeves and say, "Point me in the direction of what I need to hit."
Burnham: Of the standard team, Cliff is probably my favorite. Drawing a big, gruff, grumpy guy is fun. He's basically the DC version of Ben Grimm in a way. It just feels good to draw him. Also, he's got very similar facial proportions to how I draw Batman, with the big chin. Once I cracked the case on that, it became a lot easier for me to figure out how to draw him. He's definitely the easiest. I fell into drawing him pretty quickly. [For] Larry, I love a mummy. My first idea for everything is, "How can I get a mummy in there?" So it's fun to get to draw a mummy almost every day -- I love that. [To] get those concentric lines in there to get your feeling of depth or dimension, [that's] pretty good, and I had a pretty good idea of giving him aviator sunglasses to call back to the fact that he's a test pilot. I thought that was pretty good.
Culver: You added the dog tags too.
Burnham: Oh right, yeah. [I] gave him more of a standard bomber jacket. I think that works pretty well.
Dennis, you mentioned that this is going to be a six-issue miniseries. How can we make this an ongoing? Please, what do fans have to do?
Culver: Preorder the book and put the whole series on your pull list. The way that this has been discussed internally is that I was asked to show what my plan was for future arcs. Because Burnham has such detailed art, six issues is kind of the sweet spot for him, so the plan right now is we'll do six issues a year like a prestige miniseries, but the only way that happens is if people preorder the [series]. That's really the drumbeat that we've been hitting for the past couple of weeks, just letting everybody know to talk to your comic shop. Put the whole series on there, you can just do a pull list and then that'll make sure that we get more Doom Patrol to happen.
The Doom Patrol has a new headquarters: the Shelter. How was designing this headquarters? Are there any little Easter eggs or details that fans should look out for?
Burnham: That was a total nightmare [laughs]. Very time-consuming. It's in an old missile silo, so that was fun. Let's see, what's a good little Easter egg? That octopus is pretty great, [and] kind of like The Goonies. A secret little octopus that may or may not be there. Yeah, it's a super complicated, double-page cutaway in Issue #2.
Culver: It's a missile silo in the middle of Kansas that the team's converted into a headquarters. Just about every living member of the Doom Patrol is crawling around in there, plus all the metahumans that they're out there rescuing.
You also mentioned that Issue #3 is going to be a story with Cliff and Larry, which I'm really excited for because Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner are showing up. Are there any other DC fan favorites you can tease in this title?
Culver: Well, Issue #1, if you look at the art, they're going into Gotham City, so Batman and Robin are definitely showing up. It's Batman and Tim Drake, and nobody's happy about it. Batman's not happy they're in Gotham, and the Doom Patrol's not happy that Batman is getting in their business. We've got some other cool surprises too. Like I said, this is a Doom Patrol that's firmly rooted in the DC Universe.
Burnham: It was super fun to draw Batman again. It's been... I guess I drew him in that Alfred series last year, but it was fun to draw a big Batman splash page for the first time in a while. That feels good. I drew 20 issues or whatever of Batman but didn't really spend too much time on the actual streets of Gotham, so really making it look like the horrible place to live [in] was pretty fun. I've got trash on the streets and rats all over the place. That was pretty fun because I feel like everyone talks about how horrible Gotham is, but when they show it, it just looks like Metropolis with smoke in the background or whatever. So I was like, "How can I make this really seem unpleasant?" [Laughs]
Culver: Yeah, your Gotham is the most brutal Gotham I've ever seen. I love it. It's so cool.
This series is going to be more grounded in the DC Universe because of Dawn of DC, but there's been a good amount of Doom Patrol content over the years. Where do you two draw inspiration for your take on the team?
Culver: I reread everything. I've also been a Doom Patrol fan since I was a kid in high school, so it's something that I've followed for a long time. I really love the Grant Morrison run, but I thought that the Gerard Way, Nick Derington run was pretty fun, pretty incredible. I'm also viewing this as [if] all those comics matter. All those comics count. I'm looking at this as the grand tapestry of the Doom Patrol, and all this stuff has happened somehow to them along the way. I've really been leaning into the whole thing, piecing it all together and finding ways to put it all back into this main comic here. We've got Easter eggs [of] all kinds that'll pop up throughout the series.
Burnham: I love it. Just for this, I read the [Arnold] Drake, [Bruno] Premiani stuff for the first time ever, and it is awesome. Those original Doom Patrol comics are dope. I'd never read those in my life, and it was very exciting to really have no idea where it was going. Their relationship with Mento is surprising and weird. I've never really read a whole theoretically simple comic that had such complicated relationships. [There's] way more eyebrow [raising] than anything else from that era. Yeah, I like that stuff a lot. Also, there are those two Seth Fisher issues from the John Arcudi era. Those absolutely blew my mind when they first came out. For years, those were some of my most studied comics ever, just like, "How did he do it?" I'm a little scared to look at them now, just because the backgrounds are so detailed and annoying that it's like a cautionary tale almost. But on my Mount Rushmore of Doom Patrol issues, those are way up there.
Since they may be more hungry for some Doom Patrol content after the fourth and final season, what might you say to fans of the HBO Max show to pick up this miniseries?
Burnham: It's like that, but better [laughs].
Culver: I think a lot of the [same] themes are always there. That overarching theme with the Doom Patrol dealing with their trauma and processing it carries through a lot of the older Doom Patrol series. I look at this as if you get to the end of the Gerard Way, Nick Derington run, you could argue they're on a journey of healing. Like, Cliff's a baby at the end. They're processing from that, so I see in the time between that series and this series, they've done a lot of the internal work. They're not perfect, but I think when you get to that place where you've dealt with your own shit, the next thing you want to do is help other people. That's our mentality. Looking at the Doom Patrol TV show, this is really a logical progression because in that current season, they're getting more serious about becoming superheroes. I think [with] our book, you can say they've been a little serious about it for a while. It feels like it can connect if you squint your eyes.
Burnham: Visually, we're taking notes from the show as well. They drive the same bus as on the show. Crazy Jane's outfit is similar to what she looks like on the show. It's all part of the visuals too.
Culver: I love the show. I think it's one of the best live-action things that DC has ever done. It's so good.
We're getting some Brotherhood of Evil members back: the Brain, Monsieur Mallah and General Immortus. What can we expect from these villains, as well as the U.S. officer working against the Doom Patrol, General Blanche?
Culver: They're all disparate elements that are going on there. The Doom Patrol are on the scene. Their whole credo is "Saving the world by saving the monsters," so that's putting them in conflict with the government. If you read the Lazarus special, General Blanche pointed out, "Hey, you've got all these weapons of mass destruction living in your base. How long do you think the U.S. is gonna tolerate that?" They're making moves. In [Issue #1], we see this new organization called Metagen, which is taking metahumans and trying to exploit them and turn their powers into weapons and things like that. While we've got all these individual, single issue stories going on, the Brotherhood of Evil, really General Immortus and Monsieur Mallah, they're up to something. They're starting to pull together various threads from past issues that are going to really pay off in our final two parts here. But also, the Doom Patrol, they're stepping on toes. They're [going] up against the Green Lanterns. They really don't have a lot of allies is really what it comes down to. They're ticking a lot of people off.
Burnham: They're fun to draw [Laughs].
Culver: [Laughs] His Monsieur Mallah is really cool. I think it's a delight every time.
Burnham: I love drawing a gross, old dude, so General Immortus is a lot of fun.
Culver: Yeah, that panel where you're almost in his mouth, and you see his teeth.
Burnham: Oh, yeah, that was a good one!
As for buying all the variants so that we can make this an ongoing, there are going to be scratch-off variants for the first issue. Where did that idea come from?
Burnham: At San Diego [Comic-Con] a couple [of] years ago, there's this guy who I always see come around with samples of his different print options. One thing he had was, "Oh, yeah, we can do scratch-off like a lottery ticket," and I was like, "Wait a minute, you can do what?" I initially, immediately thought of the most [laughs] horrible idea ever, and then we dialed it back into something that you can show to your mom and your kids [Laughs].
Culver: When I was in a studio with Burnham, he constantly talked about this scratch-off [idea]. He was captivated. When we started talking about this series, Burnham was like, "Maybe we could do that scratch-off cover." Right when we got approved, it coincided with last year's San Diego Comic-Con, and I was having breakfast with our editor Ben [Abernathy]. I was like, "Burnham has this idea. He wants to do a scratch off-cover," and to Ben's credit, he didn't say no. He just immediately picked up his phone and started texting people to see if we could make this happen [Burnham laughs].
Then, Burnham and I collaborated because we wanted to make it feel important. It's a gimmick, but is there a way to make it feel more interesting? We zeroed in on Jane having all these alternate identities, and so it's like when you scratch this off, like the lottery, you get a different outcome? There are five different identities that are lurking behind that scratch-off, so it depends on what you get when you scratch off. You might get your favorite. You might have to get another one to see. I think it's a really cool idea. It feels like a character-driven variant cover.
Has this ever been done before?
Culver: Only one other comic I'm aware of has done this. It was...
Burnham: It was a G.I. Joe [issue], right?
Culver: Yeah, it was IDW's G.I. Joe [#8], but they were like, "Who's the new Cobra Commander?" They had the mask, and if you scratched off the mask, it showed the face of the new Cobra Commander. As far as I know, it's never been done before, and it's never been done where it's had different outcomes and things like that. Yeah, I'm really excited about it. They did a test at the DC offices, so it works [and] looks really good. I can't wait. I just think it's so neat, and I just love that it feels like you couldn't really do this with any other character and make it work like this.
Burnham: Yeah, and the fact that she's looking in the mirror and the scratch-off is like that reflective metal, it's totally perfect. It's amazing. It all worked out [laughs].
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1 goes on sale March 28 from DC Comics. The Final Order Cutoff for the issue is March 5.