Doom Patrol (Volume 4) #6 is an issue of the series Doom Patrol (Volume 4) with a cover date of January, 2005. It was published on November 24, 2004.
Synopsis for "A Brain Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
Six hours earlier, at Key Mordaz, Grunt attacked Cliff, not recognizing him in his new Blue Steel armor and believing that he was attacking Nudge. In the present, Slice and Dice cut off Blue Steel's arm and half of his head although some kind of periscope emerged from the latter's neck and he gained the upper hand. As spectators cheered, Payer accidentally knocked Rita's sunglasses off of her face, causing them to break. After the fight, Rita and Nudge went to Cliff who told them that all of the robots had human brains.
When Nudge believed that Verdalian had mastered using human brains for robots, Rita revealed that he was the Chief's lab assistant nine years earlier. The two Doom Patrol members refused to let Verdalian "push ahead" after the experiment with Cliff Steele and after his own experiments with animals, leading to him dissolving their partnership. In the present, Verdalian examined Blue Steel's body and the metallic man revealed that he still felt phantom pain and refused a zapper that the former offered to help ease it. Then, Verdalian revealed his suspicions about Rita and Cliff to Max.
Meanwhile, Larry flew around Metropolis, searching for something interesting, when he encountered a dinosaur before it disappeared. During Cliff's next fight, Rita found Verdalian's men carrying crates before returning to him and confronting him. Verdalian revealed that he faked his death before meeting a group of wealthy people and creating a legion of robots for their new television series and using the brains of derelicts and drug addicts for the robots. After Cliff's fight, he went to check on his opponent and found two men about to use a zapper and was given one.
Larry notified the Chief of the dinosaur and its disappearance and the Chief believed that he had found something when he heard of velociraptors attacking a woman's car. Verdalian confronted Rita and Nudge before a fight began, with Larry joining. In order to erase all traces of his involvement, Verdalian shot Max in the head and blew up the living brains in the robots as well as his wealthy colleagues. Rita chased Verdalian and attempted to stop his escape before he was blown up.
Three hours later, at Key Mordaz, the Chief revealed that the Metropolis Police could not confirm if the body was Verdalian's but also revealed that they disrupted his operations and prevented a dangerous narcotic from being sold. The Chief agreed to return Cliff into his previous body as the latter held onto a zapper he had received from Verdalian's men.
Appearing in "A Brain Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
Featured Characters:
- Doom Patrol
- The Chief (Dr. Niles Caulder) (Flashback and main story)
- Blue Steele
- Elasti-Girl (Flashback and main story)
- Negative-Man
- Grunt
- Nudge
- Vortex
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Dr. Verdalian (Flashback and main story)
- Max Samson
- Slice and Dice
Other Characters:
- Superman (Mentioned only)
- Tenth Circle (Mentioned only)
- Crucifer (Mentioned only)
- Metropolis Police Department (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Florida
- Metropolis
- Shell Plaza Octoplex (Mentioned only)
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also