DC/Young Animal: Milk Wars
(Collects: Milk Wars #1-5 & Doom Patrol (2016) #3)
by
STORY: Jon Rivera, Cecil Castellucci, Jody Houser, Gerard Way, Steve Orlando, Magdalene Visaggio
ART: Sonny Liew, Dale Eaglesham, Langdon Foss, Mirka Andolfo, Ty Templeton, Aco, Frank Quitely (covers)
STORY: 6 / 10
ART: 9 / 10
OVERALL: 7.5 / 10
This was a most conundrum inducing story/event/crossover for me as a comic reader generally and as a DC comic reader specifically.
It was fun. But it was a bit dull.
It was interesting and different. But it was kind of cheesy and derivative.
It had great characters and dynamic moments. It had really convoluted and boring moments.
It was quirky and amusing. It was plain silly.
It had great art that was a nice change from DC’s in-house and mainstream lines.
In the end: It was definitely more innovative and pushing into new territory than the average DC comic, which is why despite the above, it gets a positive rating from me overall.
The comic was a great idea – DC’s Young Animals line has been doing a great job with titles like Mother Panic, Shade and Doom Patrol and this series made me want to try out Cave Carson and anything else they bring in this line.
With these stranger-than-normal titles and their corner of the world as the base, we got to see our mainstream trio of Batman-Wonder Woman-Superman (DC’s Holy Trinity) being drawn into a weird-ass adventure (and eventually the whole J.L) the likes of which they probably would NEVER get to do in the main DCU.
THAT made this a fun book. The concept of the “Milk” and the people behind the scenes orchestrating it all (no spoilers here!) and the way they were woven into the universe as a whole – I REALLY liked the concepts.
And the characters all felt interesting and had their own voices and stood out almost across the board.
BUT, something about the execution, the moments, the way it all played out… I don’t know if it could have been done better, would it being longer/shorter a storyline have helped? I can’t guess at this point what it was that kept a story that on the one hand felt like it SHOULD have been a bigger deal and had way more impact fun-wise but on the other hand despite all the high concepts and big-heroes and action, felt… decidedly middle of the road in the end.
Nope. I take that back, let me rephrase that.
This book was not overwhelming as some big events and nonsense tends to be (which was great!), it wasn’t underwhelming and banal/cliched/derivative either – strangely this is a book that actually was just simply.. Whelming.
I actually, honestly have no other way to describe it.
THE LAST WORD:
Read it for something different and for some quirkiness and such and definitely if you’re a fan of the Young Animals line – but I’m sad to say that despite all it’s got going for it, this is not a must read for almost anyone.
ALL THAT SAID: The weird art, the hilarious moments (like Cliff and Lobo becoming buddies and the Community League!) and the sheer balls-to-the-walls strangeness to me were worth the read.
One Happy Monk's Reviews 