Doom Patrol Vol 2 17

From DC Database

Appearing in "From Gil'Dishpan... With Doom!"

Featured Characters:

• Doom Patrol

• Celsius (Dies in this issue)
• The Chief
• Lodestone
• Negative Woman
• Robotman
• Scott Fischer
• Tempest

Supporting Characters:

• Aquaman

• Aqualad
• Atlanteans

• Sea Devils

• Dane Dorrance
• Biff Bailey
• Judy Walton
• Nicky Walton

• Garguax

Villains:

• Alien Alliance

• Gil'Dishpan

Other Characters:

• Storm the Seahorse

Locations:

• Missouri

• Doom Patrol Headquarters

• Arctic Circle
  
  

Synopsis for "From Gil'Dishpan... With Doom!"

As Invasion! strikes, the Alien Alliance attempts to get a foothold near the Arctic Circle by sending the Gil'Dishpan and their mercenaries as an occupying force. The Chief concludes that this is where the Doom Patrol is most needed, and the team suits up for underwater combat. Having been slighted by the alliance in his attempt to gain membership, their old enemy Garguax joins forces with the Patrol... adding his team of Sirens to their forces. The battle is already underway when they arrive, and Aquaman is leading the Atlantean army against the invaders. Dane Dorrance and his Sea Devils are also present to contribute in the war efforts.

In open warfare, the three groups of fighters clobber the alien infantry through close combat. It is a dire battle full of many close encounters, and the Atlanteans push through many enemy casualties. A large number of other creatures of the deep are persuaded by Aquaman to join the struggle as well. Superior fighting and stronger teamwork turn the tides into superiority for the protectors of Earth, causing the Gil'Dishpan to rethink their strategy. They plan to activate their ship's fusion reactor, incinerating the heroes at the cost of their own troops in the field. The Sea Devils discover this deception while they are covertly attaching magnetic mines to the underside of the enemy craft. The heroes retreat to avoid the large blast, all with the exception of Celsius, who refuses to abandon her position. Still feeling distraught and distanced from her teammates, she is desperately proving herself by attempting to shut the engine down with her powers at all cost, determined to do what she believes she must. As the great blast explodes from the ship, she is engulfed in the explosion and dies. Rescuing her lifeless corpse afterward, Robotman confirms that she is indeed dead. The team does not understand why she needed to sacrifice herself, and are shocked at the senselessness of her death.

Later, back on dry land after their strategic retreat, the Chief blames himself for not recognizing and diagnosing Celsius' mental disturbance that caused her to act this way. There is grieving for the loss of a friend. Although the fight is not yet over, their actions have disabled the Gil'Dishpan command ship. This would in fact have been impossible without the actions of Celsius. As a stand-off is called between the forces of Earth and the Alien Alliance, the team prepares for their next skirmish.

Notes

• This issue is an Invasion! First Strike extra, and a tie-in to the larger story told in the Invasion! miniseries. These crossovers take place in between Invasion! #1 and Invasion! #2, largely dealing with the Alien Alliance's assault on Earth and the way heroes around the world were participating in the initial war effort. Previously, Garguax was booted from his regular position on the Moon, and denied membership in the alliance.^[1] At the end of this issue, a cease-fire is established off-screen by Superman for the duration of one day.^[2] The battle concludes later when the superheroes break the cease-fire an hour early, and this team ambushes the Gil'Dishpan... destroying their artillery quickly, and ravaging their infantry in open warfare. Aquaman's forces claim total victory, and the military operation here is the first complete success in the war.^[3]
• Paul Kupperberg is taking advantage of Invasion! as an opportunity to set up the characters that Grant Morrison, the next writer on the book, will want to use for his lengthy run. As a result, in this brief period, Celsius dies here, Scott Fischer is killed by the Gene Bomb,^[4] Karma left the team earlier and will eventually die during a mission with the Suicide Squad,^[5] Lodestone falls into a coma from the Gene Bomb,^[4] and the Negative Spirit leaves Negative Woman's body.^[6] Garguax also gets gets killed by the Chief next issue. Morrison's run will begin with the Crawling from the Wreckage storyline starting in Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #19.
• Celsius is the first heroic casualty of Invasion!. She will reappear with a power ring as a zombified member of the Black Lantern Corps during Blackest Night, over twenty years later to take revenge on Niles Caulder for the way he treated her.^[7]

Trivia

• The Chief references the plights of a number of other heroes around the world. Specifically he mentions Wonder Woman,^[8] Firestorm and Starman,^[9] and the Atom.^[10]
• The title to this issue is a play on the title of the James Bond novel From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming.
• Includes a rare Post-Crisis appearance by Aquaman's seahorse mount Storm.
• Lodestone flirting with Aqualad is pretty funny.

See Also

• Discuss Doom Patrol Vol 2 17 on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Doom Patrol series
• Images from Doom Patrol Vol 2 17

Recommended Reading

• Doom Patrol

• My Greatest Adventure
• Doom Patrol (Volume 1)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 2)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 3)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 4)
• Doom Patrol (Volume 5)

• Aquaman

• Aquaman (Volume 1)
• Aquaman (Volume 2)
• Aquaman (Volume 3)
• Aquaman (Volume 4)
• Aquaman (Volume 5)
• Aquaman (Volume 6)
• Aquaman: Time and Tide

• Sea Devils

• Showcase (Volume 1)
• Sea Devils (Volume 1)

Links and References

• Doom Patrol at Wikipedia.org
• Doom Patrol at Cosmic Teams
• Doom Patrol at the DCU Guide
• Doom Patrol at Titans Tower
• Doom Patrol at Arkhampedia
• Doom Patrol at TV Tropes
• Doom Patrol Fansite

1. ↑ Invasion! #1
2. ↑ Adventures of Superman #449
3. ↑ Invasion! #2
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Invasion! #3
5. ↑ Suicide Squad #58
6. ↑ Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #18
7. ↑ Doom Patrol (Volume 5) #4-5
8. ↑ Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #25
9. ↑ Firestorm #80, Starman #5
10. ↑ Power of the Atom #7

Invasion! Crossover The events from this issue or series are related to Invasion!, during which an Alien Alliance led by the hostile super-scientist Dominators invades the Earth in an attempt to exterminate humanity. They wish to eliminate the metagene, for fear that the unpredictable nature of earthlings could destroy them in the future. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Invasion! Crossovers category. Core Issues Invasion! #1 • Invasion! #2 • Invasion! #3 Crossover Issues Adventures of Superman #449 • Adventures of Superman #450 • Animal Man #6 • Animal Man #7 • Blasters Special #1 • Captain Atom #24 • Captain Atom #25 • Checkmate #11 • Checkmate #12 • Daily Planet Special #1 • Detective Comics #595 • Doom Patrol #17 • Doom Patrol #18 • Firestorm #80 • Firestorm #81 • Flash #21 • Flash #22 • Justice League International #22 • Justice League International #23 • Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 • Manhunter #8 • Manhunter #9 • New Guardians #6 • New Guardians #7 • Power of the Atom #7 • Power of the Atom #8 • Spectre #23 • Starman #5 • Starman #6 • Suicide Squad #23 • Superman #26 • Superman #27 • Swamp Thing #81 • Wonder Woman #25 • Wonder Woman #26