Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963),[1] and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appeared in different incarnations in multiple comics, and have been adapted to other media. The series' creator and fans have suspected that Marvel Comics copied the basic concept to create the X-Men, which debuted a few months later.
Doom Patrol are a group of super-powered misfits whose "gifts" caused them alienation and trauma. Dubbed the "world's strangest heroes" by editor Murray Boltinoff,[2] the original team included the Chief (Niles Caulder), Robotman (Cliff Steele), Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr), and Negative Man (Larry Trainor); Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) and Mento (Steve Dayton) joined soon after. The team remained the featured characters of My Greatest Adventure, which was re-titled Doom Patrol as of issue #86 (March 1964). The original series was canceled in 1968 when Drake killed the team off in issue #121, last of that series, (September–October 1968). Since then, there have been six Doom Patrol series, with Robotman as the only character to appear in all of them.
Doom Patrol first appeared in 1963, when the DC title My Greatest Adventure, an adventure anthology, was being converted to a superhero format. The task, assigned to writer Arnold Drake, was to create a team that fit both of these formats. With fellow writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani, he created Doom Patrol, a team of super-powered misfits who were regarded as freaks by the world at large.[1] According to Drake, editor Murray Boltinoff told him My Greatest Adventure was in danger of cancellation and he wanted him to create a new feature which might save it.[2] Boltinoff was enthusiastic about Drake's initial pitch with Elasti-Girl and Automaton (changed to Robotman by the team's third appearance, issue #82), but Drake wanted a third character and enlisted Haney's help in coming up with Negative Man.[2] The team was initially announced as "The Legion of the Strange".[3]
Doom Patrol were announced on the cover art of My Greatest Adventure #80 (cover dated June 1963). Drake and Haney devised the plot for the issue together, and then each scripted half the issue independently (Drake the first half, Haney the second).[2] Doctor Niles Caulder motivated the original Doom Patrol, bitter from being isolated from the world, to use their powers for the greater good. My Greatest Adventure was officially retitled The Doom Patrol beginning with issue #86.
Murray Boltinoff the editor, came to me one day, or I went to him one day and he said, "We're having a lot of trouble with My Greatest Adventure, it's starting to lay an egg. The era of the superhero has taken over completely. My Greatest Adventure has ordinary heroes. We need some kind of superhero to punch it up." So I said okay, went out and came back a couple of hours later with the basic idea about the man in the wheelchair who is the great brain, and runs this group of superheroes who hate being superheroes. That was the new aspect. That was the thing that made Doom Patrol different, these people hated being superheroes. And they were a little bit self-pitying, just a little bit, and the chief was constantly telling them, "Stop crying in your beer." That made them something that wasn't around at the time.