JLA/Doom Patrol Special #1 – Milk Wars Part 1

October 16, 2020

For context, I am coming into Milk Wars knowing very little about Gerard Way’s run on Doom Patrol, or much of the Young Animal line in general. However, what draws me to this series is the Meta angle of the narrative.

This opening issue sees a corporation known as Retconn wanting to make the world more market friendly. They do this by using milk to change Happy Harbour into an almost Pleasantville esc world. Complete with corrupted versions of the Justice League. A clear standout being Lobo now resembling a Mister Rodgers type figure. However, Superman is not so easily turned, requiring a version of him to be made from the ground up in a new garb, now known as Milkman Man! The delivery man of the ‘purifying’ milk.

When the Doom Patrol stumbles across Happy Harbour, they are confronted by this version of the Justice League. A member of the Doom Patrol, Casey Brinke, discusses how she is in fact a comic book character brought to life, causing the Doom Patrol to use real world comics to revert the corrupted Justice League back to their regular form. However, since Milkman Man has no ‘real’ form, it’s revealed that he is somehow Casey’s son…..

The two teams now team up to undo what Retconn have done.

As someone coming in with incredibly little context, this is undeniably confusing in places, but not unreadable. The confusion here does not lead to frustration, instead, it inspires a want to understand and learn as much about the character backgrounds as possible. The actual plot moving forward, defeating Retconn, is clear and understandable, but it’s this wacky mix of characters and strange back stories that really makes you want to keep going. The art is both fun and creative, mirroring this extreme story. Here’s to part 2!