Comic Title: Milky #3
Publisher: AAM-Markosia
Story/Letters: Joshua Saxon
Artist: Gian Fernando
Colors: DC Alonso
Cover: Unai Ortiz de la Zarate
Having thoroughly enjoyed the preceding entries, I’m pleased to see that in issue #3 Milky retains its humor and incisive observations of human nature and fragility. Writer Joshua Saxon leans into this comic meditation on fear and how, for some, it can override our better intentions. For others, fear often belies compulsory motivational substrata, informing our behavior and personal interactions, and driving a hyperactive mechanism to insulate us from unprocessed grief or trauma. While we can wax philosophical on the nature of causality, accountability, and weight of unconscious biases, in the heat of the moment it is the individual choices we make that determine our humanity.
Vikinder and friends presently find themselves in some sticky situations, providing fertile ground for Saxon to further expound on their insecurities. He has a way of leading this grandiose narrative with enough sincerity that one can remain enraptured as the breakneck escalation of the action skews into the truly bizarre. On display is a measured descent into absurdity wagered against the writer’s heartfelt foundation, and it works quite well. While I would have loved to see issue #3 given proper room to stretch the viable proportions of Vikinder’s story, I’ll concede that it’s a massive fable to squeeze into four issues and I applaud this team for their tenacity in plotting and execution.
With Vikinder and Dave captured, Mrs. Boggins and Ghost must mount a daring offensive to rescue them. In the intervening panels shared by the elderly curmudgeon and the sardonic young loner, we get a glimpse of Mrs. Boggins’ evolution into the battleax that we’ve come to know. Learning of her early years as an engineer for the RAF during WWII and the recent loss of her husband grants some clarity around her course demeanor. While not wholly misplaced, she comes to admit that her rage was blinding, ultimately forcing her to cut herself off. Contrite in her awareness, it is at this moment that she shares the breadth of her vast knowledge. It is a fitting allegory for the profound gifts of experience that our elders can share if we’re willing to receive them, and her ingenuity proves invaluable as the duo presses forward.
Noting that events zip along only a touch too quickly isn’t a slight against Milky by any measure. It’s a testament to the inviting familiarity of this world and the inescapable charm of its inhabitants. It’s a little demoralizing knowing that issue #4 will see the conclusion of this adventure. Again, the art team of Fernando and Alonso have delivered an impeccably detailed adventure, rife with the apt pop culture homages that have come to be expected from this series. I cannot wait to see how the final issue ties everything together in what I expect to be an uproarious and genuinely gratifying finale.
You can also check out our interview with Milky writer, Josua Saxon, here!
Christian Davenport
cable201@comicattack.net
