Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: doom patrol, Silver Age

The First Doom Patrol in My Greatest Adventure #80, Up for Auction

Published Mon, 07 Nov 2022 13:17:10 -0600

The first indication of the coming of the Doom Patrol in DC Comics' My Greatest Adventure #80 came in the letters page of issue #79: "The next issue of My Greatest Adventure will be devoted entirely to a full-length, three-part action-packed blockbuster. This is by way of introducing a new, unique team called 'The Legion of the Strange'—and for a good, exciting reason, too! Arnold Drake, who furnished some of the most thrilling stories in our magazines, supplied the script for Bruno Premiani, the popular artist whose work is known not only in this country but in South America and Europe as well. We promise you, you'll find reading 'The Legion of the Strange' a compelling, thrilling experience!"

Obviously, the name changed at some point before that next issue went to press, but My Greatest Adventure #80 was indeed the debut of a unique and important team, and there's a My Greatest Adventure #80 (DC, 1963) CGC FN/VF 7.0 White pages up for auction in the 2022 November 6-7 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122245 at Heritage Auctions.

The X-Men vs Doom Patrol Comparison

With some basic similarities to the X-Men, and a cover date that was three months prior to X-Men #1, the influence of My Greatest Adventure #80 on the launch of the X-Men title has been a subject of discussion for decades. One of the key sticking points in the debate is the presumed three-month window between the release of the two issues in question, and whether that would be enough to provide an influence and get a new title on the stands. While most believe a three-month window would be too tight, there exists evidence that indicates that Marvel could get a comic on the stands five months after having the artwork in-house as early as the 1950s.

That might suggest that a three-month window is at least plausible, but there's another problem: despite what the cover dates suggest, the difference between the two issues hitting the newsstand was only seven weeks, and not three months. X-Men launched as a bi-monthly, which indicates they would target a two-month presence on the newsstands. Copyright records confirm a July 2 release date for X-Men #1 and an April 18 release date for My Greatest Adventure #80 (exact newsstand dates would have varied somewhat around the country), which is slightly over seven weeks. While that would almost certainly preclude the notion that Marvel was influenced by the published Doom Patrol story, in 2007, co-creator Arnold Drake went on the record with his opinion about this matter:

Over the years I've became more and more convinced that he knowingly stole The X-Men from The Doom Patrol. I didn't believe so in the beginning because the lead time was so short.

Over the years I learned that an awful lot of writers and artists were working surreptitiously between the two offices [Marvel and DC]. Therefore from when I first brought the idea into the [DC editor] Murray Boltinoff's office, it would've been easy for someone to walk over and hear that this guy Drake is working on a story about a bunch of reluctant superheroes who are led by a man in a wheelchair. So over the years I began to feel that Stan had more lead time than I realized. He may well have had four, five or even six months.

Arnold Drake on His Influences

Certainly, like most fiction, X-Men was heavily influenced by other sources, and in this case, the influence of Wilmar Shiras's critically acclaimed Children of the Atom among others seems undeniable. But what were Doom Patrol's influences? Again, according to Drake:

The Chief is based on a cousin of mine who died fairly recently. His name was Sidney and he was one of the last of the polio victims. He got it when he was about three years old, which would've been somewhere around 1930. They were beginning to wipe out the disease. Sidney had ten or twelve major operations on his legs. He wound up with a left leg that was about three inches shorter than the right one, but despite that and all the time he spent away from school, and all the loneliness that must've accompanied it, he got himself a degree during World War II. Naturally, they couldn't draft him so he got a chemist's degree at City College and went to work for Westinghouse. He worked for them for about 25 years and did some real impressive and pioneering work.

One assignment he got, they said, "We made a metal we can't cut. We made it for the rockets and it meets all of our needs except we don't know how to cut the goddamn thing. Even diamonds won't cut it." So he thought about it and came up with the solution, which was controlled explosions. Bit by bit he blew the metal apart in a very straight line and that's how they wound up cutting that metal.

This aside, Doom Patrol has been an enduring and important DC Comics franchise for decades, including the current critically-acclaimed Doom Patrol series on HBO Max. A DC Comics key that has never quite attained the stature that it deserves, there's a My Greatest Adventure #80 (DC, 1963) CGC FN/VF 7.0 White pages up for auction in the 2022 November 6-7 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122245 at Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.

Golden Age

My Greatest Adventure #80 (DC, 1963) CGC FN/VF 7.0 White pages. Origin and first appearance of the Doom Patrol (the Chief, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and the Silver Age Robotman), all of whom appear in the Doom Patrol TV series. Bruno Premiani cover and art. Overstreet 2022 FN 6.0 value = $435; VF 8.0 value = $1,196. CGC census 10/22: 35 in 7.0, 92 higher.

View the certification for CGC Certification ID 2708146001.