One of the most infamous stories in superhero comic book history was, to my eyes, a clear breaking point for the comic book. What was once adventure stories for boys had become a more mature, but altogether more grim place of finality. The Doom Patrol, whose group pessimism status is only rivaled by the World War 2 "Losers" and the "Suicide Squad", was a fun comic from the 1960s aping more or less the "Marvel style" prevalent at the time, and doing it one better. The funky freaks of strange accidents had banded together to help Mankind. Unlike the X-Men, the DPers were accepted as heroes and positives, even if it was not always easy to realize it themselves.
So it was, creators Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani set up a scenario for the DP's mortal enemies Captain Zahl and turncoat Madame Rouge to slay them. This was a ploy by Drake/Premiani to generate interest in the comic, with a write-in "vote" from the readers to either continue the series or allow the DP to "die." And thus:
BONUS: to his real credit, John Byrne produced a Doom Patrol comic a few years ago with his wish-fulfillment solution to the above scene, which I include here because it really irks me that there hasn't been a great Doom Patrol comic since the DP "died." Much as I liked Mr. Byrne's series, it didn't quite meet expectations until the last few issues prior to cancellation. The less said about Morrison's DP and the current unfortunate Giffin version, the better.
Long live the Doom Patrol!
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