JLA/Doom Patrol #1 is the first part of the Milk Wars event, where members of the Young Animal line meet with members of the main DC universe ranging from the Trinity to Swamp Thing. This first issue is a solid start to the event and really sets up how crazy this event will be. However it falls slightly in the fact that the final Doom Patrol issue has yet to released, which leaves some questions about what was meant to be in between. The art by ACO is great and fits the bizarre meld that is this crossover.
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
“MILK WARS” part one! Welcome to the un-event of the year! Kicking off a line-wide adventure, DC’s Young Animal collides with the DC Universe to bring you a different kind of crossover.
The Doom Patrol has discovered that an interdimensional corporation called RetCo has been stealing stories, reconfiguring them and repackaging them for new markets. Our gang of misfit heroes have felt the touch of this nefarious company, and it has already started to change them. Even scarier, though, is how deeply RetCo has embedded itself into current continuity, using the radioactive milk of psychic cows to quell the more dangerous impulses of the Justice League and turn them into heroes safe for the masses. And to kick this off, RetCo has gone all the way to the top.
Meet Milkman Man, heretofore unknown final son of Krypton, who was sent to our planet to save him from the destruction of his homeworld, only to be adopted by an evil dairy farmer and raised to love all things dairy!
Co-plotted by Steve Orlando and Gerard Way, with art by ACO (MIDNIGHTER), this extra-sized special starts “Milk Wars” with a splash!
Plus, who is Eternity Girl, and how does she connect to this whole scheme? A special four-part back-up feature by Magdalene Visaggio (Kim and Kim) and Sonny Liew (The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye) begins here.
So tell me about it.
The issue opens up by setting the premise that Retconn is moving from broadcast to real estate by showing a model home to Lord Manga Khan, their new client. The issue then shows the main villain(?) Milkman Man delivering milk to a household in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, which ends with their deaths. The Doom Patrol then come flying out of a portal from somewhere in Danny the Ambulance and landing in the middle of the street.
See, this is where the issue gets slightly confusing. It seems to be going off of the events of Doom Patrol #11 which, as of this issue’s release, isn’t yet out. The Doom Patrol then enter the house from earlier and find that there’s a weird mutated cow like creature inside. The JLA has been turned into the Community League of Rhode Island and it’s revealed that Happy Harbor was chosen due to Mount Justice apparently being where Earth first had contact with ‘the God of Superheroes.’
The banter throughout the issue is fantastic and I would expect no less from Gerard Way and Steve Orlando. The book also sets up the rest of the crossover including the Cave Carson issue — it was previously unknown how it’d tie into the event.
The short backup at the end of the book is a small Silver Age-type story about a superhero that’ll end up becoming Eternity Girl with some nice Silver Age homage art.
The issue has beautiful art by ACO which includes a four page spread of the Doom Patrol against the Community League of Rhode Island and it is absolutely stunning to look at. There aren’t many other books that have a four page spread that looks this great — think Jim Lee’s Batcave spread in All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. There is also a two page spread showing the JLA in their Community League forms alongside the covers of their first issue debuts which again looks absolutely amazing. This is one pretty book.
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