The Movement #1 Review
***SPOILER FREE REVIEW***
When I first heard of The Movement, I was rather excited. It had all the elements of a sleeper hit: a well known, creative writer in Gail Simone (Batgirl), an artist with a unique style in Freddie Williams (Captain Atom) and new, potentially interesting characters. Unfortunately, The Movement #1 is more miss than hit, and a title that is more likely to share the New52 fate of "Mr. Terrific" than "Animal Man."
Simone creates a non-linear narrative that is both difficult to follow as well as unlikeable. At no time in this comic is a single compelling or likable character written. The youths that form The Movement, besides getting the briefest of introductions (thus making them instantly forgettable), are all written with a chip on their shoulders and smugness without any explanation. Their sanctimonious attitudes and defense of a murder would be far more tolerable if we knew their modus operandi. In addition, the cops are written as a terribly cliched, corrupt, amoral police force more befitting of poorly written Batman fan fiction than a mainstream DC title. While I usually enjoy Simone's work, this is easily the worst writing of her's I've ever read.
Freddie Williams art was a great fit for a surreal, metaphysical title like Captain Atom, but seems really muddled and overly done for a comic like The Movement. Possibly Williams was trying to portray the ugliness of the Coral City, but all he does is make his art look ugly with far too heavy inks and sluggish looking line work. Chris Sotomayor's colors further contribute to the unattractiveness of this title.
I can honestly say the best thing about this title is Amanda Conner's cover. Everything else about this title was subpar and severely disappointing. I honestly couldn't recommend this comic to anyone, as its neither a good introduction to these new characters and setting, nor a good looking comic. Simone and Williams both lay an egg with this title.
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