Welcome to “Around the DC Universe,” Graphic Policy’s continuing feature that helps you get the most out of your subscription to DC’s premier comic book and video streaming service.

Originals

This week Titans introduced their version of The Doom Patrol. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about any of the comic book versions of the team but I did enjoy watching this episode. Brendan Fraser especially stood out as Robot Man, striking a perfect balance between goofiness and pathos that made me want to watch more.

I hate to say it but the one part of this show I’m not loving is Starfire/Kory Anders. Anna Diopp does a fine job of portraying the character but I don’t think the writers really know what to do with her.  Her costume is also completely ridiculous. I was willing to accept it in the beginning since it made sense in the context in which she’s introduced but four episodes (and a transatlantic flight) later the fact that she’s still wearing it stretches the bounds of credibility by making her stick out like a sore thumb. Hopefully the whole crew will be due for a change of clothes soon.

Special Features

Last Tuesday Batman: Dark Victory was added to the service for a limited time (they’ll be taking it down November 11th). This sequel to The Long Halloween, which features the fallout of the Holiday murders on the Gotham underworld and a version of Robin’s origin, is an improvement on the original but it does rely on it rather heavily for the purposes of continuity. It’s probably not the best choice if you steered clear of The Long Halloween and its not good enough in my opinion to make reading The Long Halloween worth it. If you ignored my advice or if you’re only discovering this column after learning that the original was not your taste, then check it out. It’s by far Jeph Loeb’s most readable epic.

Comics

If you were hoping for some Green Lantern comics to go along with the release of the first issue of Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s run, then prepare to be disappointed. DC Universe’s current selection is rather spotty and missing some well regarded material including most of the classic runs by Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams and Geoff Johns. The best stuff currently available to binge are the first twenty issues of Hal Jordan’s original series from the 1960s with stories by John Broome and art by Gil Kane. While these comics are plenty goofy (as well as being full of the casual racism and sexism of the silver age) they are still worth reading as historical documents. It was editor Julius Schwartz’s reinvention of Green Lantern (along with The Flash) that set the tone for a new generation of comics. Gil Kane is perhaps the best representative of DC’s silver age style with his dynamic sense of motion and more modern page layouts (though he would not really hit his stride until later in the run when he began to ink himself) and Broome managed to weave entertaining science-fiction yarns that saw Hal adventuring across both time and space, introducing key concepts and characters along the way.