Tag Archives: Cave Carson

Review: Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye/Swamp Thing Special #1

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CaveSwampIn its penultimate chapter, “Milk Wars” gets grody and corporate as Cave Carson, his daughter Chloe, and the hockey mask wearing vigilante Wild Dog team up with Swamp Thing against brainwashed cubicle dweller types and a spot-on parody of those soulless, yet addictive Pop Vinyl figures. Jon Rivera’s scripting is a little on the nose as far as the corporate satire goes, but is more than redeemed by some funny one-liners (A guy reading his fellow co-workers name badge while beheading him takes the cake.) and the cast chemistry between Cave, Chloe, and Wild Dog.

But the best part of Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special #1 is the interplay between Langdon Foss’ (Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier) art and Nick Filardi that threads together like one of Swamp Thing’s tendrils. When Swamp Thing bursts into one of one Retconn’s (Evil mind-controlling and metafictional corporation) offices and wakes up Cave and the crew from a milk induced stupor, Filardi throws up the puke green, and Foss gets grotesque with faces and various liquids. It’s very third act of Hateful Eight, but without the two hours of self-indulgent dialogue. Sometimes, epiphanies about being rat in a cage, or cubicle slave in a cave aren’t beautiful come to Jesus moments, but involve puking your guts up.

However, Foss and Filardi can do sleek and beautiful too when Cave and Chloe try to blow the office and attempt to rescue those under lactose tolerant mind control. Foss channels his inner John McTiernan and also Michael Avon Oeming’s work in the original Cave Carson comic with air vent escapades and excavations that use every inch of the CaveOffice.jpgpage and turn overcrowded cubicle space into an action playground. Filardi contributes to the tense mood with pinks and blues that are the polar opposite of the clinical off white palette he uses for the office scenes earlier in the book. Almost, every page has Ben-Day dots giving the book an old school comic gone deranged feel.

Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special explores similar themes of conformity and corporate subservience as the other “Milk Wars” comics, but also riffs off the viscous body horror of Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, and John Totleben Saga of the Swamp Thing run. Swamp Thing’s first big splash page is an homage to the classic “Anatomy Lesson” story with a chopped up body emerging out of his green form. Langdon Foss’ take on Swamp Thing finds a happy medium between the sad, detailed Bissette/Totleben Swamp Thing and the more cartoonish Swampy like in the Justice League Dark animated film. It might not be as regal or easy on the eyes, but erring on the cartoon side helps when Swamp Thing starts punching office workers or emerging from a Green salad. Yeah, this is a pretty weird and great comic, and there’s even a much less sexual, but just as psychedelic allusion to Swamp Thing’s magic fruit.

On the Eternity Girl backup story front, Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew turn in their best work yet in a minimalist, yellow tinged parody of comics that break the fourth wall. Basically, when you run out of ideas or stories just tear everything down. The two pager is quite cathartic in age of reboots, reimaginings, and fresh starts and has elegant layouts and line work.

Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special is a tiny bit office drone satire with a portion of DC “mature readers” body horror and is mostly a damn fun caper from Jon Rivera, Langdon Foss, and Nick Filardi. It’s gross, thrilling, and thought provoking (Sometimes all at once.) and provides a segue to the “Milk Wars” finale without taking up too much space from this adventure.

Story: Jon Rivera Art: Langdon Foss Colors: Nick Filardi
  Backup Story: Magdalene Visaggio Backup Art: Sonny Liew 
Story: 7.9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics/Young Animal provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #1

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cavecarson_1With 78 years of accumulated history, the DC Universe is really a strange place, and writers Gerard Way and Jon Rivera and artist Michael Avon Oeming mine that strange side in Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #1, the latest release from Way’s Young Animal print. Cave Carson is a Silver Age era “daredevil” hero, who was created in response to characters like the Challengers of the Unknown, but with a side of spelunking. His adventures were featured in backup stories for books like Brave and the Bold and Showcase , and Cave has made cameos in comics like the villain Eclipso’s solo series and even Infinite Crisis.

Way and Rivera make Cave a compelling character by giving him the very relatable problem of dealing with grief and escaping into the hallucinations of his cybernetic eye to avoid the emotions surrounding the death of his wife, Eileen. The comic doesn’t fall into the melodramatic trap of making Cave’s daughter Chloe, a total rebel, and him being a deadbeat dad, but there is some strain in their relationship as depicted in a diner scene. Oeming draws Cave as listlessly scanning his daughter with his eye before she snaps him out of it, and he finally opens up about how all the minerals and things he discovered underground couldn’t save his wife. This panel is the melancholy heart of Cave Carson.

Colorist Nick Filardi makes Cave Carson #1 drearier than an entire year of rainy days while occasionally making the book’s color palette look like someone dropped acid when Cave uses his cybernetic eye. The grey skies during Eileen’s funeral look like actual skies and not some kind of film noir knockoff, and there is not an ounce of brightness as Cave returns to his home and lab. Oeming’s double page spread shows the sudden nature of grief as he condenses an entire funeral and road trip in two pages, and Filardi’s bleak color scheme finishes the job. However, he’s not afraid to get a little weird, like the puke green shade he picks out for the monster that looks to be Cave Carson’s first antagonist.

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While keeping the story very stand alone, Way and Rivera place Cave Carson firmly into the both the science hero and mad scientist tradition of Silver Age comics where every hero was scientist, or fought them. He is more comfortable talking shop with Will Magnus and the Metal Men or running his fingers through his old spelunking vehicle than having normal human interactions. And, like in Doom Patrol, Way (and Rivera) doesn’t tip off his the twists and turns of plot too soon through the use of the Ben-Day dot filled flashbacks, a possibly extradimensional monster, and an intriguing fellow on the final page, who has the body of a superhero, but the wardrobe of a serial killer. However, Cave Carson #1 gives readers a good idea of what makes its hero tick along with his problems and interests before monsters start exploding.

Michael Avon Oeming has one of the most aesthetically pleasing art styles with his angular figures finding a perfect balance between Mike Mignola and Bruce Timm just like Cave Carson has a little superhero and a little body horror going for it wrapped in a science fiction package. Gerard Way and Jon Rivera also make Cave Carson himself a likeable protagonist with dry sense of humor and love for science buried beneath his sadness.

The combination of character study from Way and Rivera with exemplary storytelling and atmosphere from Oeming and Nick Filardi and just a touch of Silver Age whimsy are a few reasons why Cave Carson #1 is my favorite Young Animal comic so far.

Story: Gerard Way and Jon Rivera Art: Michael Avon Oeming Colors: Nick Filardi
Story: 9 Art: 10 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.