Review: Milk Wars
Quick Summary
Pros: The concept behind this event is incredibly imaginative, which keeps the whole thing interesting. The book’s messages are both solid and are handled in a way that makes them fun to decipher. The conclusion is optimistic and works well with the rest of the narrative. The opening and closing chapters look gorgeous.
Cons: There are a few moments that are less exciting than others.
Overall: This bizarre crossover event manages to be entertaining and enlightening at the same time. It uses the story of a corporation’s manipulation of reality to stage an adventure that is interesting on almost every page. It also uses this story to delve into metaphors that show how important individuality is to society and how this plays into the creative levels of the comic book industry. Readers who enjoyed any of the Young Animal titles or who are interested in a weird, yet thoughtful, crossover should absolutely pick this one up.
Story
Milk Wars is an incredibly interesting crossover partly because of how mysterious the storyline is and partly because of how different it is from every other comic out there. The entire adventure is a wacky and imaginative trip through reality and even a few dimensions that could exist above reality. This trip works as a love letter to being weird, one that assures readers that being different is ok and that everyone should strive to be who they truly are inside. It also takes a hyper-critical look at the comic book industry that points out a number of its larger flaws, while still managing to end with a tone of optimism that implies things could change for the better. There are points here that are less exciting than others but, overall, this is a great story.
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Milk Wars starts out with a wonderfully bizarre premise that invokes mystery and intrigue at the entire time. It deals with a corporation bent on homogenizing and then selling the DC Universe as an entity. In doing so, they brainwash a number of popular heroes, leaving it up to Young Animal characters to free them one by one. A few of these rescue missions are a bit dull in places but most of them are incredibly interesting and unique. All of this is done to deliver the book’s two main messages.
The first of these messages is the more obvious one, that it is ok to be weird. The harsh reality imposed by Retconn is a metaphor for the strict constraints society places on individuals. These restraints homogenize humanity as a whole, presenting a clean image but causing individuals to fail to live up to their full potential. Only by breaking free of this mold and accepting who they truly are inside are the heroes able to be as powerful and amazing as they can possibly be. This is a wonderfully wholesome message that is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever felt different or weird at any point in their life.
The second message is a thorough critique on the mainstream comic book industry. Rita Farr and Eternity Girl’s suffering at the hands of Retconn is a metaphor for the careless treatment of intellectual property by comic book publishers. Constant reboots, strict editorial oversight, and a general disinterest in the history of the character reflect things that have happened to a number of characters out there. This message even ties in with the book’s first message by suggesting that comic books themselves are being cleaned up and censored, preventing them from saying anything real or doing anything that would be too disruptive to the company’s morals.
Both of these messages relate back to one another for the story’s optimistic conclusion. In the end, the heroes were able to defeat Retconn by embracing the atypical powers of the characters. In this way, the narrative suggests that individuals and comic book publishers can be better by embracing the atypical aspects within themselves. It gives the finale a hopeful spin and even inspires readers to help instigate this change within their own life. This makes for a great ending and a solid way to close the event.
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Art
The artwork in Milk Wars is pretty average for the most part. The majority of the middle chapters end up looking alright but do little to truly amaze in any significant way. They tell the story they need to tell and look good while doing so but aren’t particularly memorable.
Luckily, the opening and closing chapters are far more memorable and end up looking great. The opening chapter, penciled by Aco, is fantastically structured and is done so with a level of imagination that matches the story being told. This can be seen in pages that resemble the shape of a milk jug, a central motif in the story, and others that resemble a window being shattered, representing the splintered reality of this narrative. The final chapter, penciled primarily by Dale Eaglesham, sees similar levels of creativity. It sees characters go through uniquely depicted bouts of metaphysical angst and other characters that literally walk right off the page. These two chapters push the book from something average to something much better.
Continuity
Milk Wars is a crossover event taking place across all of the Young Animal series from DC Comics. This event takes place after the second volume of each series, meaning it takes place directly after:
- Doom Patrol Vol. 2: Nada
- Mother Panic Vol. 2: Under Her Skin
- Shade, the Changing Girl Vol. 2: Little Runaway
- Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye Vol. 2: Every Me, Every You
The story started here continues in a number of new Young Animal titles. This includes:
- Eternity Girl
- Mother Panic: Gotham A.D.
- Cave Carson Has an Interstellar Eye
- Shade, the Changing Woman
This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below.
- The Justice League of America seen in this story began back in Justice League of America Vol. 1: The Extremists (Review).
- One page in the first chapter shows a number of real comic book covers. These include:
- The first appearance of this version of Black Canary in Justice League of America #75, now collected in Justice League of America: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2.
- The first appearance of the Ray in Ray #1.
- The first appearance of Vixen in Action Comics #521.
- The first appearance of Ryan Choi as the Atom in Brave New World #1.
- The first appearance of the Caitlin Snow version of Killer Frost in Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #19, now collected in The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man Vol. 3: Takeover (Review).
- The first appearance of Lobo in Omega Men #3.
- The first appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1, now collected in Superman: The Golden Age Vol. 1.
- Shade mentions the fact that Wonder Woman’s origin story was a lie. This is a reference to the discoveries she makes in Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies.