Darcy Van Poelgeest Talks Writing The Doom Patrol for DC Comics

Darcy Van Poelgeest is the Eisner Award-winning writer behind Little Bird and Precious Metal (with collaborator Ian Bertram). In 2026, Van Poelgeest will be joined by Niko Henrichon (Pride of Bagdad) for DC’s new Doom Patrol series as part of the All-In Initiative. I spoke with Van Poelgeest about the book, his history with Doom Patrol, and what readers can expect! Check out our conversation below.

The Doom Patrol is broke. Adopting a heroes-for-hire business model to stave off financial and emotional ruin, the team finds itself responding to a simple case — a missing cat. But when this case proves to be far from simple, the world's strangest heroes find themselves pulled into a truly out-of-this-world situation! And elsewhere, beyond the view of Robotman, Elasti -Girl, and Negative Man — and perhaps even beyond the veil of our reality — a ghost of the team's past is preparing to cross into their world.

The visionary team of Eisner Award-winning writer Darcy Van Poelgeest (Little Bird) and legendary artist Niko Henrichon (Spectators, Pride of Baghdad) ushers the Doom Patrol into a new age for DC Next Level.

Firstly, how did this opportunity come to be? Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this your first work with DC? How does it feel?

It’s funny, I’m trying to piece this together because it was a while ago now but I believe Precious Metal had just completed its run and although we’re incredibly proud of that book and it seems to be picking up steam as time goes on, it largely flew under the radar when it was released in 2024. I was pretty depressed about how that when, maybe two or three days apart from one another, two separate editors from DC reached out to see if I had any interest in working with them. I was a bit surprised because it wasn’t anything I’d pursued in any real way but the timing couldn’t have been better. The result of one of those things became The Doom Patrol series. The other series is moving ahead as well but it’s a ways out yet and I don’t think I can talk about it.

So yes, it is my first work with DC. And because I essentially grew up with a stack of DC comics next to me at all times (as well as pinned up on my bedroom wall) it’s all a bit surreal, as you might imagine.

What is your personal experience with Doom Patrol? What are some of your favorite runs and moments? Despite not being an A-list DC Comics title, it has had some seriously impressive creators, including Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollack, Richard Case, and more.

Like a lot of people my age, I discovered the Doom Patrol through Morrison’s run when I was probably just a bit too young to be reading it. And later ended up collecting that whole series (including Pollack and Kupperberg’s runs), which I bought complete off some guy in an alley. I loved it, of course. And this is going to sound crazy, but I do remember thinking that perhaps it would be good to have them all, just in case I end up writing it one day. That wasn’t something I actually thought. It was more like a weird intrusive thought. And perhaps, looking back now, a kind of manifestation.

More recently, I’ve really enjoyed the original series by the creators of the Doom Patrol, Arnold Drake, Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani. And that's really where I’ve spent most of my time in terms of research and preparation for this new series.

Working with Niko Henrichon, what is that like? He's the artist behind my favorite graphic novel ever (Pride of Baghdad); his style seems like a great fit for Doom Patrol.

I mean, it’s a dream. And Niko was really the only artist I considered. It was just an immediate thought for me. I was seeing the story in my mind through his work. Niko is brilliant and I think when people read it they’ll understand how he’s just the perfect choice for the kind of story we're telling.

I know you can't talk about spoilers, but the covers so far show four core members. Can we expect more familiar faces *cough Crazy Jane cough.* And is this run forging something new, or can we expect the recent events of Unstoppable Doom Patrol to impact this book?

Yes, this is a difficult thing to get into without spoilers. But I can say a couple of things. The first is that I’m not particularly interested in big sprawling teams, I’m interested in this idea of a family. I’m interested in getting to know these characters is a really deep kind of way. So I wanted to strip things back to start, give myself, and readers an opportunity to know these characters in a way they deserve to be known. 

That doesn’t mean there won’t be others. I think people will be surprised at what this team might look like at times. But my immediate focus is Niles, Cliff, Larry, and Rita. As well as…well, no, I can’t say. They’re probably watching me right now. I have to be careful. 

As far as any other run that’s come before this, I basically try to consider it all canon. It’s fun for me to just embrace it all. But at the same time, I have my own vision for the team and it important that new readers can join in here and feel like they’re getting everything they need.

Ian Bertram's cover for this book is fabulous. Was it a no-brainer to have him do a variant after your past collaborations on Little Bird and Precious Metal?

Yes, it was a no-brainer, and the results are incredible. I was ready to beg, but thankfully it didn’t come to that!

The Doom Patrol #1 arrives at comic book stores on September 2nd, 2026.