DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #19 is an issue of the series DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1982.
Synopsis for "The Doom Patrol"
This story is reprinted from My Greatest Adventure #80.
An aging wheelchair bound scientist known only as the Chief gathers together three super-powered outcasts: Robotman, Elasti-Girl and Negative Man. As the heroes greet one another, they learn of the personal circumstances that brought them all together.
Robotman was once Cliff Steele, an international sportsman and daredevil whose body was burned to a cinder after a deadly racecar crash. The Chief's scientific genius transferred Steele's brain into a new robot body.
Larry Trainor was once a civilian test pilot – until the fateful day when he flew an experimental suborbital aircraft into a stratospheric belt of radiation. Now he exists as a living mummy, forced to wear special bandages to contain the radiation that has disfigured his body. As a side effect of the incident, Larry can now summon a dark energy being from his body, which he calls the Negative Man.
Rita Farr was a Hollywood starlet, and Olympic level swimmer. During filming of one of her movies, Rita was exposed to strange vapors that granted he the ability to alter her size at will. Her career in ruins, due to her mutation, she now fights alongside the Doom Patrol as Elasti-Girl.
The Chief discovers a strange alien spacecraft that has crash landed on Earth. He believes that mankind's testing of atomic weapons is what attracted the aliens attention, and the unidentified ship was designed to monitor the planet's technological advancements. The Chief sends the Doom Patrol to recover a secret weapon reputedly located inside the drone ship.
Another individual learns of the ship's existence and embarks upon a plan to recover the weapon. This is the immortal mastermind, General Immortus – an old foe of the Chief's. Immortus has spy cameras set up in the Doom Patrol headquarters and is privy to many of their secrets. Immortus attempts to retrieve the weapon and encounters the Doom Patrol. During the ensuing struggle, the alien drone ship explodes and Immortus seemingly dies in the explosion.
Appearing in "The Doom Patrol"
Featured Characters:
- Doom Patrol (First appearance)
- Chief (First appearance)
- Elasti-Girl (First appearance)
- Negative Man (First appearance)
- Robotman (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Dan Salem (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- General Immortus (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Doctor Hoskins (Single appearance)
- Doctor Leroy (Single appearance)
- Mitch (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- X-19 suborbital aircraft
Synopsis for "The Brotherhood of Evil"
This story is reprinted from Doom Patrol #86.
The Doom Patrol, not knowing when the Chief's real birthday is, decide to throw a surprise party for him, designating that day as his birthday. This touches the Chief who doesn't tell them that they actually planned this on his real date of birth. Later, Rita takes a look into Larry's room and marvels at how he has metal walls before leaving. This upsets Larry because he has developed feelings for Rita and figures she could never love a freak like him.
After a series of thefts of scientific devices, including some the Chief invented for moon missions are stolen by a giant robot named Rog (piloted by mad scientist named Morden) the Doom Patrol is sent out to capture the robot. They find Rog as it is being used to destroy a bridge, however during their fight against Morden and Rog, the robot manages to grab hold of both Larry and Cliff forcing Rita to allow Morden to escape with Rog in exchange for her comrades lives. After this failed attempt, a call is placed to a Madame Rouge, a teacher in an all-girls school in France from her "cousin Rog" prompting her to excuse her class and enter a secret passageway. As it turns out, Rouge is actually a member of a criminal organization called the Brotherhood of Evil, which also consists of the Brain, a living brain in a jar, and Monsieur Mallah, a super-intelligent ape. Morden had come to them to proposition for membership of the organization offering them Rog as a good faith gesture.
Convinced that Morden could be a good addition to the Brotherhood, the Brain sends Morden and Mallah back to the United States to use Rog for their next crime: To steal and ransom off the Statue of Liberty. Their attempt is once more opposed by the Doom Patrol, who manage to fight Rog and prevent the robot from taking the Statue. When Rita knocks the robot down, Robotman notices that there is a gorilla inside, and soon finds he's attacked by the savage as well as the intelligent Monsieur Mallah. As Cliff fights off Mallah, Rita manages to damage Rog into inactivity. Mallah and Morden manage to escape when they tell the Doom Patrol that they rigged the Statue of Liberty with a bomb that will go off soon. Choosing to save the statue, the Doom Patrol find that the bomb was really a dud made to keep them occupied while the two villains could escape.
Later, the Chief tells Larry that he's pushing his luck by trying to help the others and keeping his Negative Man form out of his body too long. Rita expresses concern for Larry and says she wouldn't know what to do if he were to die. Alone in his room, Larry begins to remove his bandages, believing that if Rita ever saw what he really looked like under them, she wouldn't care about him.
Appearing in "The Brotherhood of Evil"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Brotherhood of Evil (First appearance)
- The Brain (First appearance)
- Madame Rouge (First appearance)
- Monsieur Mallah (First appearance)
- Rog (First appearance)
- Mister Morden (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-One
- Midway City
- France
- Paris
- Madame Rouge's École des Filles (an exclusive girls' school), Headquarters for the Brotherhood of Evil) (First appearance)
- Paris
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Mento -- The Man Who Split the Doom Patrol"
This story is reprinted from Doom Patrol #91.
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Mento
The Doom Patrol are called to a prison where a nitro-bomb has been placed to destroy the institution unless the prisoners demands are met. When the Doom Patrol tries to stop the bomb, they are stopped by a man named Mento, who uses his mental power enhancing helmet to dispose of the bomb instead after he expresses his intention to court Rita and get her to leave the Doom Patrol and team up with him. Deciding to at least see what he has to offer, Rita is taken to his home where Mento reveals himself to be Steven Dayton, the world's fifth richest man, who has devoted his money and time to become a costumed super-hero. When he offers her to join him, Rita declines his offer, telling him her place is with her "family" in the Doom Patrol.
Shortly after, giant plastic creatures appear on Earth and begin attacking parts of the Earth and creating strange structures. While the Doom Patrol is busy fighting off these creatures, Mento realizes that these attacks are also a means of leaving a message: the alien controller of these plastic creatures is providing a countdown to his eventual invasion of the Earth. Boarding the alien's ship, Mento meets Garguax, an alien exiled from his home planet due to his desires for universal conquest and has picked Earth as the starting point of his invasion of planets on the universe. Garguax offers to make Mento his partner, to which the hero declines. Not willing to take no for an answer, Garguax uses his advanced technology to brainwash Mento into doing his bidding.
When the Doom Patrol arrives to confront Garguax, he turns Mento loose on them, who uses his mental powers to keep the Doom Patrol at bay. After a brief battle against Mento, the Doom Patrol manage to knock him out, causing Garguax to lose his hold on him. Trying to escape the ship, the Doom Patrol and Mento have to avoid it's many traps and fight more of the plastic creatures. Finding the assembly line for these horrors, Mento uses his mental powers to knock an army of plastic warriors into the machines, causing a chain reaction that threatens to destroy Garguax's ship.
The Doom Patrol and Mento manage to escape just before the ship explodes, seemingly killing Garguax. Afterwards, Mento once more offers Rita a chance to leave the Doom Patrol and be with him, which she declines once more, however this doesn't dissuade Mento from trying again in the future.
Appearing in "Mento -- The Man Who Split the Doom Patrol"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Mento (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Garguax (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- Mento Helmet (First appearance)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Enemy Within the Doom Patrol"
This story is reprinted from Doom Patrol #90.
As the Doom Patrol relaxes during a period of quiet, their foes, the Brotherhood of Evil begin another plot to destroy the Doom Patrol and take over the world. Madame Rouge undergoes an experiment developed by the Brain and gains the ability to mold her skin into any shape imaginable, and stretch into any shape she wants and is sent to infiltrate the Doom Patrol in order to destroy them.
When the Doom Patrol are called to fix a dam, Madame Rouge uses the absence of Elasti-Girl to disguise herself as the heroine. When alone with Robotman, "Elasti-Girl" knocks him into the dam below before disappearing. When the real Elasti-Girl arrives, Negative Man suspects trouble and the two find and rescue Robotman before fixing the dam. Returning to headquarters, the Chief deduces that there could be a traitor in their midst at anytime soon and has the group to be cautious during their coming missions.
Later when the Doom Patrol is called in to rescue trapped miners, they send down Robotman to investigate. He is attacked by Madame Rouge, who has disguised herself as the living robot and buries him under a pile of rubble. Taking his place she tries to kill Elasti-Girl and Negative Man by sending the elevator crashing down but Larry manages to save themselves with his Negative Man form. The faux Robotman makes an escape and the remaining members of the Doom Patrol rescue the trapped miners and Robotman from the mine.
For their next mission the Chief decides to go along with the group, before leaving he has them all establish passwords so that they can regularly check to see if they are really who they are at any time. When their next call for help comes from a ship full of explosive chemicals catches fire, the Chief orders Larry to send out Negative Man to help the others stop the blaze. Madame Rouge disguises herself as Larry and drags his unconscious body away. However when she tries to kill Larry with a gun, she realizes that a side effect of her powers is that she cannot kill someone that she is posing as because of a subconscious belief that she is really them. The Brain then instructs her to take the Chief's place.
When the rest of the Doom Patrol arrive, Larry (revived) pretends to be a fake by "forgetting" his password. This allows him to get close enough to the "Chief" to land a punch before "he" can shoot and kill any of the members of the Doom Patrol. With her cover blown, Madame Rouge manages to escape from the Doom Patrol before they can capture her. With the real Chief recovered, the Doom Patrol return to base. While back in France, the Brotherhood of Evil is already busy planning their next attack on their hated foes.
Appearing in "The Enemy Within the Doom Patrol"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also
- Cover gallery for the DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest series
- Images from DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest Vol 1 19