This week on Indy Gems we have a blast from the past, Fun with Milk and Cheese. “Milk and Cheese is not a postmodern statement about our culture of violence. It is not a celebration of a non-vegetarian lifestyle. It is not a paean to television. It is not a cynical commentary on the junk-worship our society has developed. And it is not a device for reinforcing the confidence of the newly pseudohip. It’s a comic book, stupid.” – An exerpt from the back cover of Fun With Milk and Cheese.
Fun With Milk and Cheese
Publisher: Slave Labor Graphics
Published: 1998
Writer: Evan Dorkin
Artist: Evan Dorkin
Dairy products gone bad is the only way one can describe Milk & Cheese. Milk & Cheese are the creations of Evan Dorkin, and are published by Slave Labor Graphics. Slave Labor Graphics publishes some truly great indy comics like Lenore, Dork, and Milk & Cheese. Evan has also worked on Dork, Hectic Planet, and Beasts of Burden. He is a Harvey and Eisner award winner, whose work has been published by Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. He and Sarah Dyer have scripted episodes of the animated Superman show and Batman Beyond. They both worked together on Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast.
I was lucky enough to have a friend who read these comics, and was even luckier when he let me borrow his for a little bit. He has since made sure to get all of these comics back forcing me to actually go out and buy them. So I picked up a copy of Fun With Milk and Cheese. Milk & Cheese are driven by violence and booze, one never knows what they will do next. It is fitting though considering they were created at 3am in a Manhattan diner, after a night at CBGB’s. In one issue they bust into this guys house and procede to beat the living snot out of him. The entire time they are spouting off facts about a tanker full of maple syrup wrecking. As they leave this guy’s apartment they say “Catalogue these facts, Charles L Hurlburt. Yes, there will be a test!” They eventually return and beat him senseless again while asking him questions about the wreck.
Here is an exerpt from the first page, just to give you an idea of how well written this comic is: “Greetings. We are the show-business success stories known as Milk and Cheese. We appear before you now in order to establish and illustrate the savy nature of the Milk and Cheese onslaught of funny entertainment and crass showmanship. This is what we do! We perform in humorous drollery meant to entertain the likes of you. But don’t let that fool you! You are not the boss of us! We are Fierce comedy practitioners! WE ARE FULL TIME MANIACS!!!”
There have been a total of 7 Milk & Cheese comics printed, but no real numbering system exists though. Issue 1 is called Milk & Cheese #1, while issue 2 is Milk & Cheese’s Other #1. Issue 3 is known as Milk & Cheese’s Third #1, and issue 4 is Milk & Cheese’s Fourth Number One. Fun With Milk and Cheese collects all four of these issues, plus some new material. Then they actually have a second issue, Milk & Cheese’s First 2nd Issue. Following that they released Milk & Cheese 666, and Milk & Cheese’s Latest Thing. That is all the books I’m aware of and if anybody knows of others let me know, I would love to read them.
If you are in the mood for some nonsensical mayhem and mischief, check out any of the Milk and Cheese comics. They are well written, quirky, and full of ingenious humor. You can’t go wrong with Milk and Cheese. Check out the official Dorkin/M & C website: http://www.houseoffun.com/milkandcheese/index.html
Scott Andrews
scott@comicattack.net
Amazing…I am actually wearing my black Milk and Cheese T shirt right now! I also, long ago (and maybe still somewhere) had Evan do a Milk on an actual small milk carton…ah, those were the days.
I love me some Milk and Cheese.
This sounds absolutely hilarious!
milk and cheese has got to be one of the best indy books of all time. It can be real hell to find some issues of it, but it is a must read. I was lucky enough to get some in an ebay lot I picked up a while back and loved it!
Looking for some Milk and Cheese right now actually.
I love Dorkin’s art. He did another book called Pirate Corps which I only have one issue of and it’s awesome! He’s a funny dude.
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