The Movement 1: Class Warfare

Comic Info

The Movement #5

Reprints The Movement #1-6 (July 2013-January 2014).  The Movement is more than a team.  The Movement is a message to the rest of the world.  In a part of Coral City called the ’Tweens, the Movement is gaining ground and the poor and looked down upon are starting to fight back.  Led by a superhuman named Virtue, the Movement is out to take back the city and take what they feel they have earned.  Unfortunately for the Movement, money has power and stopping those in control could be impossible.

Written by Gail Simone, The Movement Volume 1:  Class Warfare is part of the New 52 relaunch of the DC Universe.  The series features art by Freddie Williams II.

I generally am not a huge fan of Gail Simone’s writing.  I realize she’s a bit of a pioneer in the comic book world, but her style is often 50/50 (or maybe 60/40 for me).  The Movement has some interesting concepts and commentary, but it seems to lack the bite I need from the series.

The idea is that lower class is fighting back.  This is especially an apt study today since the gap between the wealthy and lower class seems to be widening every year.  Here, superpowers aren’t just held by the wealthy and physical power is distributed to all classes.  The lower classed superhumans have banded together to make a stand for their city and their rights…this is a good idea.

The Movement #6

The story’s development however takes too childish of an approach to it and is poorly executed.  I don’t even know how old most of the characters are supposed to be.  I thought they were all teens but in the “flashback” issue, Katharsis is revealed to be in her twenties or so since she graduated from police academy, acted as an officer, and left the job in disgrace…this not only makes her behavior unrealistic, but it also has me wondering why she hangs out with a bunch of kids who take a childish approach to big issues.

I also thought that the series was almost an Elsewhere story (DC’s version of Marvel’s What If?).  It turns out that it is set in the DC Universe with Amanda Waller’s hiring of Tremor to infiltrate the Movement.  It makes the Movement’s actions even more questionable since no other superheroes show up to help or stop them in this volume.  Waller isn’t the only ties to the DC Universe, Katharsis also first appeared in Simone’s Batgirl, and Rainmaker was part of Gen13.

The Movement almost works.  That is probably my biggest objection to much of Gail Simone’s writing…it is almost there.  She has some good ideas, but I think the presentation is pretty weak.  The Movement didn’t move very far.  The series ended with the next volume, but they did get a reference in Arrow.  The Movement 1:  Class Warfare was followed by The Movement 2:  Fighting for the Future.