What do a brick, a racecar driver, and a monkey-faced girl have in common? They're all superheroes. Sort of. Doom Patrol has perhaps the strangest team composition in all of DC Comics. What it also has is some of the most innovative storytelling, groundbreaking artwork, and endearing nonsense this side of a surrealist gallery.

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With a fantastic television adaptation gaining the team new fans every day, many are turning to comics to see this beloved team in their original medium. Since the team first appeared in 1963, innumerable stories have been told about the Doom Patrol, raising the daunting question of where to start.

10 Down Paradise Way

Two characters greet Danny the Street in Doom Patrol - "Down Paradise Way"

"Down Paradise Way" includes the first appearance of Flex Mentallo, the Man of Muscle Mystery himself. Comicbook characters come with a plethora of weird facts, and Doom Patrol fans know Flex is a repository of weirdness. This storyline also marks the first appearance of the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., as well as an interesting arc involving Rhea's rebirth while in a coma following the events of "The Painting That Ate Paris."

Morrison's worldbuilding and characterization only grow more complex, his characterization deeper, the further his Doom Patrol run goes. By the time one arrives at "Down Paradise Way," readers are quite far down the rabbit hole.

9 John Byrne's Doom Patrol

The Cover of Doom Patrol by John Byrne

A massive reboot and retcon, John Byrne's run of Doom Patrol proved controversial for a variety of reasons. Not least among them was the utter erasure of the storylines developed by Paul Kupperberg, Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollack, and John Arcudi. While this erasure may have been unpopular, the characters that Byrne introduced are at least worthy of the superhero trivia they're immersed in.

Grunt (a human brain in the body of a four-armed ape), Nudge (a telepath), and Vortex (a being who is composed entirely of energy and hails from the future) fill out the new roster, and while they are poor substitutions for the current lineup, they make for an interesting, if inexplicable, detour.

8 Nada

Close-up of character on the cover of Doom Patrol - "Nada"

The "Nada" storyline also includes some villains who would make great additions to the DCEU, including the Brotherhood of Nada, an obvious nod to Morrison's own Brotherhood. Nick Derington's artwork here is some of the best it ever has been, and Nada shows what Derington and Way are excellent creative partners.

At the best of times, Doom Patrol is several degrees beyond unhinged, and it takes an expert creative team to wrangle the wackiness so that it doesn't feel directionless or clumsy. "Nada," perhaps more than any other work by the pair, shows this creative partnership at its best.

7 My Greatest Adventure #80

Cover of "My Greatest Adventure #80" featuring Doom Patrol

"My Greatest Adventure #80" is where it all began. Characters and their origins are sometimes forgettable, but that is not the case here. From their inception, The Chief, Elasti-Girl, Robotman, and the Negative Man were already some of DC's most interesting heroes, if only because they were so joyously strange.

This storyline sees The Chief gathering the Doom Patrol together for the first time and sending them to recover a downed spaceship, leading to a battle with General Immortus. Surprisingly, most of what makes the team great in later runs can be found here in their very first appearance. Costumes might have changed, but their spirit didn't.

6 Silver Age Omnibus

Cover of Doom Patrol Silver Age Omnibus

The Silver Age storylines include a number of worthy C-list characters that never made it to the sequels, as well as fan-favorite screwballs like Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man and the Brotherhood of Evil. They might not be Doom Patrol at its best written or most well-conceived, but the Silver Age comics form the foundation for all of the misadventures to come.

Fans of the current iteration will likely enjoy seeing how much has changed (and how much more hasn't) over the years. Will The Chief and company ever manage to get it together and become proper superheroes? As these stories would suggest, probably not.

5 Sliding In The Wreckage

Cover of Doom Patrol - Sliding in the Wreckage

Stepping into Grant Morrison's shoes as a writer must be an intimidating experience. Thankfully, when it was time for Morrison's run with Doom Patrol to end, it was Rachel Pollack who stepped in.

So much creative momentum had been built, so many wild ideas thrown at the wall during Morrison's time, that it is hard to imagine a writer up to the task, but Pollack was from her very first issue. Some brilliant characters never make the transition from the comics to the silver screen, and most of Pollack's did not through no fault of their own. Though her style is decidedly different than Morrison's, Pollack's writing isn't afraid to tackle big topics.

4 Weight Of The Worlds

Cover of Doom Patrol - Weight of the Worlds featuring the team

"Weight of the Worlds" doesn't have the strongest characterization of Way and Derington's run, but it adds a number of fun elements to the Doom Patrol canon. In what amounts to an intergalactic road trip, the World's Strangest Superheroes encounter a number of alien oddities just bizarre as themselves, which is saying something.

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There's an argument for "Weight of the Worlds" being a good jumping-on-point for Doom Patrol, even if one is unfamiliar with the rest of the Way run. From start to finish the storyline is exuberant, inventive, and so wild it verges on shaking itself apart but never quite does. "Weight of the Worlds" isn't the most coherent Doom Patrol book, but its addition to the mythos should not be missed.

3 Brick By Brick

Cover of Doom Patrol - Brick by Brick featuring the team

Umbrella Academy creator Gerard Way brought new life to the Doom Patrol for DC's Young Animal imprint with his own, modern interpretation of the group. "Brick By Brick" may not feature any of the most powerful characters not featured in the DCEU, but it doesn't need to.

The storyline manages to take the heart of Doom Patrol forerunners like Morrison and bring it forward into the present: more accessible without dumbing it down, faster without losing sight of the plot. Way's writing captures the voices of familiar characters, and his own additions like Casey Brinke and the Vectra hold their own in what is already one of the most sprawling comic universes.

2 The Painting That Ate Paris

Cover of Doom Patrol - The Painting That Ate Paris

The Brotherhood of Dada, introduced in "The Painting That Ate Paris," is weird. And weird is quite a statement in DC comics, home to Matter-Eater Lad, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, and Condiment King, amongst other titans of the bizarre.

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Yet none of these characters quite compare to Brotherhood member the Quiz, a germaphobe with the power to use any superpower that her opponents have not thought of. "The Painting That Ate Paris" is full of such curiosities, provided courtesy of Grant Morrison in this, the second volume of his Doom Patrol run. The storyline builds Doom Patrol's world in emotionally powerful ways, but even if it didn't, the Brotherhood of Dada would make it a must-read.

1 Crawling From The Wreckage

Cover of Doom Patrol - Crawling From The Wreckage

Grant Morrison and Richard Case's "Crawling from the Wreckage" did more than reinvent the Doom Patrol, transitioning it from the Silver Age into the modern era. This storyline served as the lynchpin for DC's entire Vertigo imprint, introduced Crazy Jane, reworked the Negative Man, and demonstrated everything that is extraordinary about Morrison's writing: fourth-wall exploding, high-concept, intellectual, and yet forever, unfailingly fun.

There is no better place to start with Doom Patrol, and for those willing to push their minds and expand their imagination, there are few better places to start with comics period.

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