Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a complete set of all 45 books with a minimum grade of 9.0 that has topped the registry for five years. Thirty-seven of our books are highest graded examples with 13 single highest graded.
Background: Doom Patrol is a superhero team, which made their first appearance June 1963 in My Greatest Adventure #80. The book 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 also been adapted to other media. Although not one of the most popular superhero teams, they have never been out of print for more than a few years since their introduction. 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", 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). Since then, there have been six Doom Patrol series, with Robotman as the only character to appear in all of them.
The Doom Patrol had two crossovers: one with the Challengers of the Unknown, teaming up to fight Multi-Man and Multi-Woman; and second with the Flash in The Brave and the Bold #65.
As the popularity of the book waned, the publisher cancelled it and Drake killed off the entire Doom Patrol in the final issue, Doom Patrol #121 (September–October 1968) where the team sacrificed their lives to Madame Rouge and General Zahl to save the small fishing village of Codsville, Maine. This was the first time in comic book history that a cancelled title was concluded with the death of its cast.
In 1973, DC published three more issues, #122-#124, which were reprints of earlier issues (#89, #95 and #90). I really question the inclusion of those three issues in this set. Just as the primary X-Men set ends at Issue #66 and does not include the later reprints, this set should end with Issue #121. A proper Doom Patrol revival did not occur until 1977, nine years after the original's demise.
There are a number of similarities between the Doom Patrol and the X-Men, proving once again that there’s nothing one publisher can invent that the other can’t steal. In this case, Doom Patrol was first, although X-Men has far surpassed it in terms of popularity and the value of the books. Marvel acknowledged the similarities between the original Doom Patrol and Marvel Comics' original X-Men in its humor title Not Brand Echh. Both teams included misfit superheroes shunned by society and both are led by men of preternatural intelligence who are confined to wheelchairs. These similarities ultimately led series writer Arnold Drake to argue that the concept of the X-Men must have been based on the Doom Patrol. Drake stated:
...I've become more and more convinced that [Stan Lee] knowingly stole The X-Men from The Doom Patrol. Over the years I learned that an awful lot of writers and artists were working surreptitiously between Marvel and DC. Therefore from when I first brought the idea into [DC editor] Murray Boltinoff's office, it would've been easy for someone to walk over and hear that [I was] 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.
Our collection: Our Doom Patrol set is a relatively recent addition to our collection. We started the collection when my friend, Rob Rong, decided to send his books to auction. We were fortunate enough to get a number of them, which served to jumpstart this collection. We had a hard time finding any of the missing books until April 2023, where we were able to fill seven open slots. Currently, we own all 45 books in this set, with 37 of our books highest graded examples, 13 of which are single highest graded. Most of our books came from two 2021 auctions on Heritage. Highlights of the set are 26 books from pedigree collections, including 12 books from the Pacific Coast Collection. The goal here is to raise the minimum grade of this set to 9.4, which means we need to upgrade Issues #80 and #83. Unfortunately, that has proven to be most challenging, in that I have not seen any better copies on the market in five years and cannot find any recorded sales of any better copies in over a decade. If you could help us in locating high-grade copies of those two books, please drop us a line.
Current Stats:
45/45 Books
21 9.8s-All Highest Graded
19 9.6s-15 Highest Graded
3 9.4s-1 Highest Graded
1 9.2
1 9.0
26 WP
16 OW/W
2 OW
2 Cr/OW
13 Single Highest Graded
37 Highest Graded
7 Second Highest Graded
1 Fourth Highest Graded
22 Pedigrees (11 Pacific Coasts)
|
|
|
| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 80 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 80 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4332857001
|
Owner Comments
MGA #80 from June 1963 features the first appearance and Origin of the Doom Patrol, one of the most distinctive super-teams of DC's Silver Age. The team now has been featured within an acclaimed live-action TV show within the DC Universe streaming service that was launched in 2019, and the second season launched in June, 2020! The four core characters introduced in this first appearance issue are the core characters in the show.
This is obviously our lowest graded book in this set and the only issue that is not at least second highest graded, but we have had no luck finding a copy of this book graded even this high since we started this set, so we decided to just fill the slot and look for an upgrade in the future. We acquired the book from the October 24, 2023 CL Auction. If anyone has an upgrade you are willing to sell, please let us know.
|
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 81 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 81 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4269678015
|
Owner Comments
Issue #81 features the second appearance of the Doom Patrol. Our 9.6 comes from the Greenwich Collection and is tied with two other copies for highest graded in the census. We acquired the book from the 10/16/2023 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 82 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 82 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4269678014
|
Owner Comments
MGA #82 marks the third appearance of the Doom Patrol. Like our #81 9.6, this book comes from the Greenwich Collection and is tied with one other copy for highest graded in the census. We acquired the book from the 10/16/2023 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 83 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 83 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0023565004
|
Owner Comments
We have not been collecting these books for that long, but during the time we have this has been the best copy of MGA #83 that we have seen. Our 9.2 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is tied for second highest graded. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book from Reece’s Rare Comics in April 2023.
|
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 84 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 84 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1095743005
|
Owner Comments
Issue #88 features an appearance by General Immortus. Our 9.6 is one of two highest graded copies. We acquired the book from the 7/15/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
My Greatest Adventure 85 |
| Item: |
My Greatest Adventure 85 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0915197020
|
Owner Comments
Issue #85 marks the last issue of My Greatest Adventure, with the numbering continuing with the change of name to Doom Patrol, much like JIM to Thor in Marvel. Our WP 9.4 comes from the Twin Cities Collection and is one of the top five examples ever graded by CGC, trailing a single 9.6. The Twin Cities Collection was the product of Gary Dahlberg who spent his life carefully buying, reading and storing comic books away throughout the '60s and '70s, with aspirations to become a cartoonist one day. Sadly, he died in a fire in 2010, but to the astonishment of his family his collection was appraised at more than $1 million by Heritage, who auctioned the books in 2011. Consisting of mainly Marvel and DC, this accumulation has no identifying marks but yielded some of the highest grades of the early Marvel period with considerably high page quality. The collection ultimately brought over $2.4 million at auction.
We acquired our book from the 2/28/2022 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 86 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 86 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0059383017
|
Owner Comments
This is the first issue of Doom Patrol in its own title, although the numbering continued from My Greatest Adventure #85. This issue also features the first appearance Brotherhood of Evil. Our 9.4 is tied for second highest graded trailing a single 9.8. We acquired the book from the 12/8/2021 CL Auction.
2024 Update: We still have never seen the single highest graded 9.8 of this issue, but a WP pedigree 9.4 of this issue did appear on the market recently, which we ultimately decided to pass on because we did not feel it was structurally as good as our current issue. Also, quite frankly, with as many titles as we are collecting, page or pedigree-or both-upgrades just don’t seem like the best use of our acquisition budget. But we would still love a shot at that 9.8!
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 87 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 87 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3936457001
|
Owner Comments
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is the single highest graded example in the census. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book from the July 8, 2021 Heritage Auction.*
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 88 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 88 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0915167008
|
Owner Comments
Our WP 9.6 comes from the Twin Cities Collection and is one of three highest graded copies in the census. The Twin Cities Collection was the product of Gary Dahlberg who spent his life carefully buying, reading and storing comic books away throughout the '60s and '70s, with aspirations to become a cartoonist one day. Sadly, he died in a fire in 2010, but to the astonishment of his family his collection was appraised at more than $1 million by Heritage, who auctioned the books in 2011. Consisting of mainly Marvel and DC, this accumulation has no identifying marks but yielded some of the highest grades of the early Marvel period with considerably high page quality. The collection ultimately brought over $2.4 million at auction.
We acquired the book from the 7/15/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 89 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 89 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4261620001
|
Owner Comments
Issue #89 features one of the weirdest creatures ever created as the Doom Patrol faces off against the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace. Our WP 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is the single highest graded example in the census. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book from Reece’s Rare Comics in April 2023.*
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 90 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 90 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3936457002
|
Owner Comments
Our 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is the single highest graded example in the census. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book from the July 8, 2021 Heritage Auction.*
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 91 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 91 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3936457003
|
Owner Comments
Our WP 9.8 comes from the Pacific Coast Collection and is tied for highest graded. The Pacific Coast Collection is generally considered to be the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface. It was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book from the July 8, 2021 Heritage Auction.*
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 92 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 92 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0915167010
|
Owner Comments
Our WP 9.8 comes from the Twin Cities Collection and is one of two highest graded examples in the census. The Twin Cities Collection was the product of Gary Dahlberg who spent his life carefully buying, reading and storing comic books away throughout the '60s and '70s, with aspirations to become a cartoonist one day. Sadly, he died in a fire in 2010, but to the astonishment of his family his collection was appraised at more than $1 million by Heritage, who auctioned the books in 2011. Consisting of mainly Marvel and DC, this accumulation has no identifying marks but yielded some of the highest grades of the early Marvel period with considerably high page quality. The collection ultimately brought over $2.4 million at auction.
We acquired the book from the 7/15/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 93 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 93 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0915167011
|
Owner Comments
Our WP 9.8 comes from the Twin Cities Collection and is the single highest graded copy in the census. The Twin Cities Collection was the product of Gary Dahlberg who spent his life carefully buying, reading and storing comic books away throughout the '60s and '70s, with aspirations to become a cartoonist one day. Sadly, he died in a fire in 2010, but to the astonishment of his family his collection was appraised at more than $1 million by Heritage, who auctioned the books in 2011. Consisting of mainly Marvel and DC, this accumulation has no identifying marks but yielded some of the highest grades of the early Marvel period with considerably high page quality. The collection ultimately brought over $2.4 million at auction.
We acquired the book from the 7/15/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
Doom Patrol 94 |
| Item: |
Doom Patrol 94 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0357942008
|
Owner Comments
Our 9.6 was actually an upgrade from the Pacific Coast copy, which is a 9.4 and is tied with one other copy for highest graded. We acquired the book from the 12/2/2022 CL Auction.
|
|