The Fog: It's one of these angels of the Apocalypse, y'know? - Death, War, Famine, Plague and ah...
Mr. Nobody: Belgian sitcoms?
Among the underlings of the Cult of the Unwritten Book are the Pale Police, who speak in anagrams. When one tries to do in Willoughby Kipling, he gets taken out by Rebis, his last words being "This!"
When Mallah mentions chess, the Brain has this to say:
The Brain: Chess! I'm tormented by thoughts of strip chess.
Not related to the Brotherhood of Evil, but what does Cliff's new body want to do after gaining sentience? Why, sing and dance of course.
Mallah throwing Brain as a projectile towards Cliff's brain.
Mosieur Mallah: Brain versus Brain!
The Brain: Mallah! For God's sake! What are you doing? What are you... * Hits Cliff * owww...
Mallah and the Brain declaring their love for each other is pretty cute, but it's also pretty bizarre.
The Brain: Kiss me Mallah! But first please... Take that gum out your mouth.
In issue #38, we are told of the many phases of a Forever War between two trippy alien races, the Orthodoxy and the Geomancers. While most of them are disastrous and inflict apocalyptic amounts of damage on both sides, there was also The War of Nerves:
Mesh agent: Each side would ignore the other in an attempt to irritate the enemy into submission.
Crazy Jane showing she's Not So Above It All when the Mesh offer the Doom Patrol to accompany them:
Robotman: What d'you think? Chief?
Crazy Jane: Are they talking about going to space? Tell them we'll do it! Tell them we'll go!
Issue #45 might just be the funiest Doom Patrol issue period, due to in no small part the tons of Bathos Beard Hunter emanates. Ernest Franklin is without doubt a deeply unpleasant and messed-up psycho, but he's also completely ridiculous. Due to a hormone deficiency he can't grow a beard, so he hates and envies anyone who can. This of course leads him to go after Niles Caulder. Cue massive doses of Large Ham and Chewing the Scenery.
Beard Hunter: * After killing a comic book store clerk * I think of that punk's sick legacy; a whole subculture of good kids afraid of buying their favourite comic books because of his smartass criticism and his know-everything sneering beard. Well. Not so clever now, are you? Punk. I'd have jumped down, but it looked kind of high and I didn't want to hurt my foot again, like last time.
The Bearded Gentlemen's Club of Metropolis also deserves a mention due to how obsessed and bizarre they are with beards, almost to the point of pogophilia:
When he is finally fighting the Chief, Ernest is so incompetent that he is defeated with stuff like sunflower oil and Campbell soups. What really sells it is his Punisher-esque inner narration.
Beard Hunter: * Slipping on oil * I go down like a five dollar hooker. Goddamn! Have to make it look like I meant it. * Crashing on a stand of canned soup * 57 varieties. Feels like I took 58. Can't let him see I'm crying.
After he pathetically dies, we see him reach the afterlife and this follows.
God: Ernest. We're three heaveanly visitors come with a message for you. The message is: It's true about award-winning writer/artist Ron Mc Murray and his grasp of the english language.
Beard Hunter: Shit! Beards! Beards! I forgot He has a beard.
His Heroic Wannabe tendencies are lampshaded by his mother, who he lives with:
Ernest's Mom: Your Oscar's in the mail, Miss Streep!
Ernest: You know where I've been, mom. I've been out on the streets, fighting my lonely war against facial hair. Why do you have to keep asking me the same thing every time?
Ernest's Mom: Facial hair! You're thirty-six years old, Ernest. Don't you think it's about time you had a girlfriend?
Issue #53 is an Homage to Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four, spoofing grandiose narration and Lee's dialogue, so it's bound to raise some laughs.
The Trenchoat Brigade cameo... As superheroes. It's pretty ridiculous to see John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Dr. Thirteen and Mr. E dressed and acting like traditional superheroes.
During Morrison's penultimate issue, Rebis reappears, having figured out hir identity: Hir wears tightie-whities, a laced bra and a pearl collar, and defeats the freaking Candlemaker dressed in that!
The fact that Dorothy's construct of Robotman is only able to say "shit" and grin is pretty amusing.
Cliff goes to the grocery store in issue 67, where he gets noticed by a child and his mother.
Boy: Mommy! It's Michael Jackson. Mother: No, sweetheart. I don't think so.
The concepts of the SRS is a pretty good example of Black Comedy: Ghosts of people who died on sexual accidents and now work on an erotic hotline.
Niles, despite being reduced to a talking head on an ice tray, hasn't toned down his ego in the slightest. Nor his sweet tooth. This is shown with the Running Gag of him drinking chocolate milkshakes despite the fact that since he lacks an esophagus or a stomach he just spills it on the floor.
"Cliff, don't forget. Feed head! - Dorothy"
He later fixes his mobility issues by attaching himself to an SRS called Alice with which he seems to develop an Odd Friendship. It's as weird as it is suprisingly cute.
The Codpiece◊ is without question one of the funniest villains faced by the Doom Patrol ever, since his gimmick is based entirely on wearing armor with a gun mounted on the crotch because of certain insecurities.
Volume 3
This exchange between Fast Forward and Cliff on the first issue of Arcudi's run.
Fast Forward: None of us here is ashamed of who we are, man. And if you are, if you got some kind of psychological, why, then - I can't see you teaching me nothin'.
Robotman: Look, you son of a- No, no, wait. First lesson: You're so proud of your powers; look thirty seconds into the future
◊ is without question one of the funniest villains faced by the Doom Patrol ever, since his gimmick is based entirely on wearing armor with a gun mounted on the crotch because of certain insecurities.
