DC Comics 2018
Written by Jon Rivera
Illustrated by Langdon Foss
Coloured by Nick Filardi
Lettered by Clem Robins
“MILK WARS” part four! Swamp Thing has detected a disturbance in the Green, and his hunt for it has led him to RetCo headquarters. There he finds Cave Carson and his crew struggling against being assimilated into RetCo’s diabolical narrative. Is it possible for Swampy and Cave to destroy the organization from the inside? Plus, find out how their efforts help Eternity Girl in the final installment of her backup story!
Not going to lie I was looking forward to this one when it was announced more than any of the others. I have adored Cave Carson’s return and to see him and Swamp Thing together just makes the fanboy inside me squeal in delight. While I know this is all a part of this Milkman Man nonsense it was still so worth it to see this team up. Jon goes above and beyond what I thought could happen here and it was marvellously done. The way he structured this story was fantastic the way that this open up and we see our cast of characters in this trance like state well it just started off on that proverbial right foot.
There are moments here that will rock your world and I mean that. That feeling when you think Cave lactose intolerant but it turns out to be something else was unexpected and delightful. The way that we see all this and how it flows through the pages shows me that Jon means business and really enjoys and is good at what he does. You can tell when a writer has that fire and passion for what they do and for me I feel that with Jon it’s like he appreciates these characters as much as I do and to feel that connection is amazing.
Langdon and Nick do some inspired work here on the interiors. That we are in Cave’s world it makes sense that the artwork give off the vibe of his series and the guys do that and so much more. How they brought Swamp Thing into the book was beyond a wow moment I mean c’mon, then the whole time we see Swamp Thing the tone, feel and look of him fits perfectly into Langdon’s style. The use of page layouts so that we see these angles and perspective in the panels shows off an amazing eye for storytelling and I am kind of understating what we see because damn this shit is good. The attention to detail, the imagination and creativity on display and how it just makes the reader feel is sensational.
I love the fact that Swamp Thing can feel something wrong through this disruption in the Green and since he is unable to investigate beyond the outside he enlists Cave and his teams help. The whole concept works, the villainy that we see here makes for the kind of reading that makes for epic arcs in books. With his daughter and Wild Dog by his side I don’t think there is anything the group cannot do and working side by side with Swamp Thing is this strange dream come true.
Somehow some way there is this hope and optimism in this that you forget existed in comic books. Things are bad and sometimes you have to do something you hate or get angry over but then to see that and still feel like the characters haven’t lost that special something which is why we follow them is utterly fantastic. It isn’t ironic at all that the best storytelling at DC is set outside their “established” universe and instead is on the fringes. Even if you don’t want to read the whole thing, don’t but read this one it’s superbly written and illustrated.