The original Doom Patrol was believed dead, including the Chief. All that was his was assumed by his wife, Arani Desai, from "a marriage he'd dismissed but not divorced." As the temperature altering Celsius, she formed a New Doom Patrol in her own image. Joshua Clay was Tempest, who controlled the wind, but not his own emotional turmoil from a war his country never should have fought. Valentina Vostok was another willing participant as the Negative Woman. These were all people who had died, the doomed of the Doom Patrol.
RISE!
The living Doom Patrol returned to Oolong Island. Rita Farr had a mad-on for the Chief, who had clearly known Steve Dayton was still using her body, and kept it a secret. She didn't find Caulder in his office, instead encountering Black Lantern Tempest, a hateful zombie reanimated and empowered with an energy ring by a force of cosmic evil. "Loved you in 'Biker Chicks From Hell.' Would an autograph be out of the question? I'm a big fan." Que punny wind assault.
Black Lantern Celsius found Niles in his private lab, and after suffering an artillary barrage from Caulder's tricked out wheelchair, offered him a frosty kiss. In Niles Caulder's heart beat only avarice, and after years of loveless marriage, Celsius would finally have it for her own.
Cliff Steele had his mind transferred to a new Robotman body by Larry Trainor, very much reminiscent of NoMan, but seemingly reliant on direct contact with sophisticated machinery. The remains of his previous body were dumped in a mass grave with other scrapped Robotmen. The pair were then attacked by Black Lantern Negative Woman. Larry said, "Always wondered what that felt like." The two negative forms clashed, while Robotman must have used electronic sensors to recognize his own empty-headed corpse as Black Lantern Cliff Steele set upon him.
Dr. Tyme met with Father Rocky Davis, a nervous wreck since the Doom Patrol moved to Oolong Island. He was deluded into believing himself to be their archfoe, so Rocky humored him by arranging to give the message that there were no hard feelings. Their conversation was interrupted by an island-wide warning klaxon. Black Lantern Tempest was suffocating Elasti-Girl and tossing her enlarged form through buildings. The Black Lantern Corpsemen hungered for human hearts, and Rita had the "Biggest. Heart. Ever."
"Dead Reckoning" was by Keith Giffen, Justiniano and Livesay. There were no similarities in style with regular artist Matthew Clark, but Justiniano brought an edginess that suited this incarnation of the team and the subject matter of the story.
Brave New World
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- The All New Atom #4 @ The Tiny Titan
Celsius Arani was fantastic in this story. She was the wife. Her most fascinating characteristic is her marriage and immortality gift. She can be such an incredible character....she needs to be re introduced.
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