The Most Suggestive Panel You'll See Today

I've talked about the staggering amount of awesome that flows like wine from the pen of Bob Haney time and time again, and yet I've managed to completely avoid the Doom Patrol.

Yes, they were 1963's second-most popular team of freaks led by a guy in a wheelchair, and they were co-created by Haney, Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani. The first volume of the Doom Patrol Archives, in fact, is one of two archives that I actually own, after Tug insisted that I experience it for myself. And with good reason: It is incredible.

There can be no argument the sheer majesty known as The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is one of the greatest characters in the history of modern comics, but those early Drake/Premiani stories are the kind of comics where a robot with no arms and legs kicks somebody's ass:

Unfortunately, quadrapelegic robot beatdowns are not what brings us here today. No, that honor belongs to the Doom Patrol's own Elasti-Girl. I'm not ashamed to admit I've got a little fiction-crush on Rita Farr, which probably owes a lot to Bruno Premiani's amazing art, but I'll be the first to admit she doesn't make a lot of sense. She's a beautiful actress and medal-winning olympic athlete, but retires from film after she gets her size-changing powers in an accident, thus becoming a freak.

But here's the thing: She's still a beautiful young woman, and it's not like her powers are disturbing at all. So essentially, she's a hot actress who does her own special effects. She should have no end to movie offers.

And that is why this panel, from Drake and Premiani's Doom Patrol #88 just made my night:



She just looks so shocked.