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Fun With Milk And Cheese
(W/A) Evan Dorkin
A carton of hate, a wedge of spite, and satire and mayhem combine in Evan Dorkin's Fun with Milk & Cheese . This book collects the first four issues of the Eisner Award-winning series!
A carton of hate, a wedge of spite, and satire and mayhem combine in Evan Dorkin's Fun with Milk & Cheese . This book collects the first four issues of the Eisner Award-winning series!
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 19, 1995
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About the author
Evan Dorkin
278 books143 followersEvan Dorkin is an American comics artist and writer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 18, 2021
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the January 1998 edition with a theme of "Worst of '97 & When Worst is Good":
INTRODUCTION
I thought about doing a best-of-'97 year-in-review this month. Looking back though, I realized my column is generally positive (the lowest grade I've given out is a single D), and I've already told you about the books I've liked this year. Meanwhile, this week, my back's bothering me, "Riven" won't work on the computer, the modem is playing mindgames with me, the car is broken, and too much was spent on Christmas presents. In other words, I'm feeling cranky. So let's look at the worst of '97. Here are a few items which bothered me. Keep in mind, many more awful comics exist than you'll find listed here; these are only the ones I had the misfortune of reading.
p.s. I couldn't help it. I had to slip in some positive reviews. Skip on down to QUANTUM & WOODY and MILK AND CHEESE if you want to find the good stuff.
FROM THE BACKLIST
MILK AND CHEESE #1-7 (Slave Labor Graphics)
The worst role models in comics are a pair of dairy products gone bad. The carton of milk known as Milk and the wedge of cheese named Cheese are obnoxious, booze-swilling, ultraviolent bastards. Their attitudes are bad and their behavior is reprehensible. I'd hate them if only they weren't so darn cute and funny.
MILK AND CHEESE is a comic with a single joke: Milk and Cheese get annoyed at some person, group, or trend and then run around beating the snot out of everyone in sight. That's it. Every time. Milk and Cheese have clobbered fat people, comic book fans, Star Wars fans, old people, restaurant employees, the French, people with tattoos and piercings, cult members, renaissance fair attendees, and even their own creator. It's a testament to the incredible skill of writer/artist Evan Dorkin that he can keep this limited concept fresh and hilarious page after page. It helps that MILK AND CHEESE is measured out in small doses: issues are published 1-2 years apart and consist of several 2-6 page short stories.
Frankly, I think Evan Dorkin is an underappreciated genius. Dorkin's writing and art complement each other perfectly: frenzied, yet sharp and pointed. His PIRATE CORP$/HECTIC PLANET series was humorous and twisted, evolving from science fiction into a slacker relationship comic. He even made Marvel's BILL & TED comic an enjoyable experience. His contributions to INSTANT PIANO (Dark Horse Comics) were the best part of that short-lived anthology. I eagerly anticipate the next installment of his DORK comic (Slave Labor Graphics) which collects old and original short works.
I can't think of any humorist working in comics today who even comes close to Dorkin. If you're looking for some honest-to-god belly laughs, snack on some MILK AND CHEESE this month and watch PREVIEWS closely for whatever project Dorkin does next.
Grade: A-
INTRODUCTION
I thought about doing a best-of-'97 year-in-review this month. Looking back though, I realized my column is generally positive (the lowest grade I've given out is a single D), and I've already told you about the books I've liked this year. Meanwhile, this week, my back's bothering me, "Riven" won't work on the computer, the modem is playing mindgames with me, the car is broken, and too much was spent on Christmas presents. In other words, I'm feeling cranky. So let's look at the worst of '97. Here are a few items which bothered me. Keep in mind, many more awful comics exist than you'll find listed here; these are only the ones I had the misfortune of reading.
p.s. I couldn't help it. I had to slip in some positive reviews. Skip on down to QUANTUM & WOODY and MILK AND CHEESE if you want to find the good stuff.
FROM THE BACKLIST
MILK AND CHEESE #1-7 (Slave Labor Graphics)
The worst role models in comics are a pair of dairy products gone bad. The carton of milk known as Milk and the wedge of cheese named Cheese are obnoxious, booze-swilling, ultraviolent bastards. Their attitudes are bad and their behavior is reprehensible. I'd hate them if only they weren't so darn cute and funny.
MILK AND CHEESE is a comic with a single joke: Milk and Cheese get annoyed at some person, group, or trend and then run around beating the snot out of everyone in sight. That's it. Every time. Milk and Cheese have clobbered fat people, comic book fans, Star Wars fans, old people, restaurant employees, the French, people with tattoos and piercings, cult members, renaissance fair attendees, and even their own creator. It's a testament to the incredible skill of writer/artist Evan Dorkin that he can keep this limited concept fresh and hilarious page after page. It helps that MILK AND CHEESE is measured out in small doses: issues are published 1-2 years apart and consist of several 2-6 page short stories.
Frankly, I think Evan Dorkin is an underappreciated genius. Dorkin's writing and art complement each other perfectly: frenzied, yet sharp and pointed. His PIRATE CORP$/HECTIC PLANET series was humorous and twisted, evolving from science fiction into a slacker relationship comic. He even made Marvel's BILL & TED comic an enjoyable experience. His contributions to INSTANT PIANO (Dark Horse Comics) were the best part of that short-lived anthology. I eagerly anticipate the next installment of his DORK comic (Slave Labor Graphics) which collects old and original short works.
I can't think of any humorist working in comics today who even comes close to Dorkin. If you're looking for some honest-to-god belly laughs, snack on some MILK AND CHEESE this month and watch PREVIEWS closely for whatever project Dorkin does next.
Grade: A-
May 24, 2007
they hate what you hate and they hate you.
How my mother ever let me out of the house at 15 wearing a shirt that said "Gin makes a man mean" I'll never know. Thanks Dorkin.
How my mother ever let me out of the house at 15 wearing a shirt that said "Gin makes a man mean" I'll never know. Thanks Dorkin.
March 8, 2008
BOOZE UP AND RIOT! Milk and Cheese are dairy products gone bad, and what that means for us is that they inflict brutal violence on plenty of well-deserving targets (and sadly a few that do not, but you can't have an omelet without breaking eggs). You can actually see Evan Dorkin's drawing style evolve and improve over the course of the book, and by the end of it his lovingly detailed full-page illustrations of shattering gin bottles, jaw-shattering punches and other types of mayhem are real works of art. Plus, it's got as many pop culture references per square inch as an average episode of "Family Guy" (but in a GOOD way). Highly recommended.
February 1, 2011
Forget flower power . . . brick power for life!
The first time I picked this up several years ago, I loved it. The part of me that longed for new Beavis and Butthead episodes rejoiced. The part of me that used to spend hours in front of the television watching that episode of Ren & Stimpy with Ewalt and Abner trying to hang 'em some yunguns, yeah, that part of me was happy too.
Which leaves me wondering what the hell happened. Where did that part of me go? I still really enjoy Milk & Cheese, but now I enjoy it because of the artwork, which is wonderfully overwhelming at times. The violence is so excessive that I still crack a smile when I see someone's tongue flailing in the wind as one of the protagonists nails their head with a hammer. There is so much going on in some of the panels that I still catch new things every time I look through this collection.
I really enjoy the meta elements as well, the fact that Dorkin parodies his own formula at times, and the fact that Milk & Cheese break the fourth wall to critique their own performance.
If you're young and pissed, this book is for you. If you're not so young and not quite as pissed, there's probably something in here for you as well.
The first time I picked this up several years ago, I loved it. The part of me that longed for new Beavis and Butthead episodes rejoiced. The part of me that used to spend hours in front of the television watching that episode of Ren & Stimpy with Ewalt and Abner trying to hang 'em some yunguns, yeah, that part of me was happy too.
Which leaves me wondering what the hell happened. Where did that part of me go? I still really enjoy Milk & Cheese, but now I enjoy it because of the artwork, which is wonderfully overwhelming at times. The violence is so excessive that I still crack a smile when I see someone's tongue flailing in the wind as one of the protagonists nails their head with a hammer. There is so much going on in some of the panels that I still catch new things every time I look through this collection.
I really enjoy the meta elements as well, the fact that Dorkin parodies his own formula at times, and the fact that Milk & Cheese break the fourth wall to critique their own performance.
If you're young and pissed, this book is for you. If you're not so young and not quite as pissed, there's probably something in here for you as well.
July 12, 2022
For reasons that I can't fully fathom, I was immediately enamored with the images of Milk and Cheese. Was it the boxy heads or face filling features or the almost always in motion over-sized feet and hands. Maybe. But I suspect it really was the greasepaint Groucho eyebrows appropriately borrowed from the original menace of mayhem--unless you count Attila The Hun. There is really little point to all this but to wreak havoc--quite literal and visceral physical destruction--while being self referential and breaking the fourth wall but it is very amusing for awhile. Best read in small doses or enjoyed as originally published individually in various comic collections where they would benefit from clearly standing out from everything else around it. While each comic skewers a different subject, too often it is "second verse, same as the first". I almost always enjoyed them and suspect I would have enjoyed them more had I stumbled across them in the 80's when they originally debuted. Of course, I could never truly bad mouth anything that references Merv Griffin, lawn darts and catching Monk at the Pussycat Lounge. And of course beating up a record store clerk at least in part because he'd never heard of Nat King Cole didn't hurt either.
April 11, 2008
Only with the support of milk and of cheese can I today drink a pint of gin in one sitting and not wake up the next day wondering why I'm not wearing any pants in the middle of Union Square and it's 1pm in the afternoon on a Monday when it was a Tuesday morning when I started drinking. I think the nutrients and vitamins help. From cows. Like steak. I really like steak.
September 15, 2015
One of those cult comics from the '90s, Milk and Cheese turns out to be surprisingly durable twenty years later. This is my first time reading it, by the way. I'd compare Dorkin's work here to Stephan Pastis's Pearls Before Swine (turning your focus squarely on social anarchist Rat). Good stuff. Glad I finally experienced it for myself.
March 6, 2008
My favorite exhortation from this book: "DRINK LIKE COPS!"
February 11, 2008
This is a one joke comic, but it's one damn funny joke!
April 22, 2023
Initially I would even think of 5 stars. But after a few pages, the formula becomes recognisable and less original. Still enjoyable though! The shock value is still there in every comic strip for their explicit graphical violence and absurdity of alcoholic anthropomorphic "dairy products gone bad" in New York.
I especially liked the frequent breaking of the 4th wall, the characters' consciousness that they were part of a comic, the social critique and puns. The drawings were fun too. Still fun to read 30+ years later, some cheese really ages well.
I especially liked the frequent breaking of the 4th wall, the characters' consciousness that they were part of a comic, the social critique and puns. The drawings were fun too. Still fun to read 30+ years later, some cheese really ages well.
December 31, 2020
Pure fucking chaos, and luckily I am a huge fan of chaos. Milk and Cheese are two characters who exist solely to cause havoc, which could get stale if Dorkin weren’t so unabashedly committed to it. Glad to end the year on a high note.
May 14, 2020
These guys are hilarious! They say and do the things we all subconsciously wish we could! The art is great. I love Evan's attention to detail! The perfect books to read when you're in a bad mood!
April 6, 2021
Got the chance to meet the artist when I picked this up, I believe at a MoCCA Fest. Extra star for the sweet Milk & Cheese Zippo lighter I also picked up.
January 13, 2026
violence is so funny
January 16, 2020
MERV GRIFFIN!
Evan Dorkin's Milk and Cheese are archetypes for the kind of insane, violent, hilarious characters present in much of today's graphic and animated media, and while not originators of the style, they do it damn well. The psychotic nature of the duo, presented in pages saturated with dialog and beautifully detailed art, serves to bewilder, threaten, and indulge the reader with the raw chaos of absurd violence. Completely entertaining, this book will make you deep-belly guffaw, after which you'll feel bad for laughing at cartoon murder.
A horrible, awful, terribly funny comic.
Evan Dorkin's Milk and Cheese are archetypes for the kind of insane, violent, hilarious characters present in much of today's graphic and animated media, and while not originators of the style, they do it damn well. The psychotic nature of the duo, presented in pages saturated with dialog and beautifully detailed art, serves to bewilder, threaten, and indulge the reader with the raw chaos of absurd violence. Completely entertaining, this book will make you deep-belly guffaw, after which you'll feel bad for laughing at cartoon murder.
A horrible, awful, terribly funny comic.
June 14, 2007
Man, maybe I just missed the boat on Evan Dorkin. I remember coming across Milk and Cheese in high school and finding it rather uproarious, but slogging through this collection was painfully boring. I seriously do not doubt that it's got value, it just wasn't for me. No ravishing social commentary combined with lulz @ violence, just boring.
Kinda sad I couldn't enjoy it more. :(
Kinda sad I couldn't enjoy it more. :(
August 16, 2008
Comic book writer-artist Evan Dorkin almost seems to be using Milk & Cheese as a way of venting about (and laying to waste) all the things that make him dizzy with rage. Good god, this book must've been the ultimate therapy for him. If you're looking for anything resembling a plot, then you'll likely hate this. If, however, you're looking for pure anarchic mayhem, this book is just about perfect.
November 15, 2008
This was LOL funny in high school (the late 1980s). Now it's kind of preciously asinine. Makes me nostalalgic, more than anything, for that time in my life when I could giggle over sketches of a carton of milk and a wedge of cheese inflicting violence on New York City.
July 30, 2013
Even better than I remember it being when I was a kid. This book was way funny, but what I think made it even more funny to me, was that my copy was used from the Fargo Public Library with FOR CHILDREN all over it.
November 18, 2007
So, uh, it's about these "dairy products gone bad" named Milk and Cheese. Running amok, causing random chaos, good time.
February 12, 2008
One-joke, but fun!
February 14, 2008
this is the best comic book ever. taught me all about random violence by a carton of milk and small hunk of cheese. so beautiful. 'when dairy products go bad!' oh, i blush!
June 16, 2008
Everyone should read about the carton of hate and wedge of spite. Everyone.
May 29, 2010
Hmm I wish I'd read these when they came out and I was way younger. Missed the boat I guess! Don't really get it!
March 18, 2012
One of my all-time favorite comics. I love this sort of weirdness.
"I'm angry! We chose to go by the system! We played by the rules! We sold out! We bought in! Now...we RAMPAGE!"
"I'm angry! We chose to go by the system! We played by the rules! We sold out! We bought in! Now...we RAMPAGE!"
September 30, 2018
i found the comedy to be childish. there were a couple of "good" bad puns but otherwise it didn't grab me. i couldn't finish it.
May 9, 2014
I LOVE THIS! Playful art, absurd characters, chaotic brutality.... This is very amusing.
April 17, 2016
These are the kind of underground comics I wish more folks still produced! While some of the content is for shock value only, the majority of it is self-aware and satirical brilliance.
December 3, 2025
It's just that effing funny
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews