Episode 1387 Talkback: Off the Racks - Battlestar Galactica #1, The Green Team #1, The Movement #1

Pants

This month, DC 'occupies' Off the Racks with not one, but two selections, The Movement #1 and The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires #1, flanked by Battlestar Galactica #1 from Dynamite Entertainment. (1:08:14)

Listen here.

Greg

I didn't pick up any of those to read, eager to listen nontheless.

mwhitt80

Murd you have given me hope for Green Team

Chuck_Melville

I like what I've seen of both The Movement and The Green Team thus far.

BlackUmbrella

I like Freddie W's art on The Movement. Was not really a fan of his Captain Atom experiment, and I felt he was perhaps a mismatch for Green Arrow. But his style on The Movement reminds me almost of Robert Crumb, and I think it's a nice departure from what you see in almost every other mainstream book... which is essentially a mild variant of the approved house style of the publisher.

I actually appreciate that at the very moment when his work was gaining wide approval and he had a successful how-to book under his belt, Freddie Williams started experimenting. That's awesome, and I can spare a few bucks a month to support it.

greyman24

I think Jamie's bringing too much to his read of Green Team. It isn't a replacement for Superman Family Adventures, and I could understand why it'd be a disappointment if it's read as that. Dan Didio contacted Art and Franco to do this entirely separate from DC's (flawed...horrible...choose whichever adjective you want) decision to cancel SFA.

When I read Green Team, I took it just for what it was--a fun, all ages (not kids, but all ages) book that a teenaged version of me would probably enjoy on its own merits. Piling on expectations of "was it worth cancelling Family Adventures?" or "we get THIS instead of Wally West?" will just set yourself up for disappointment.

Oh, and I agree with everyone's assessment of The Movement. Nothing whatsoever of interest. With Green Team, I got the feeling that there were plenty of places the story could go that would be interesting. With Movement, I got the feeling that anything of interest would be many issues away, and I'm just not that into it.

LibraryBoy

I feel like there's a kernel of a good idea in The Green Team, it just didn't get expressed as well in the first issue as I would've liked. I'm curious to see where it goes, I guess, but whether or not I get that second issue is pretty dependent on what else is coming out that week. If it's a big enough week, it's likely to get bumped for budgetary reasons.

The Movement, on the other hand, was pretty bad. Worse than that, it was bland! If a lot of the rest of DC right now is echoing the 90s, this represents that part when everyone was trying to do their own riff on a Milestone book (which even DC was guilty of at the time, which I always thought was weird since they published Milestone, but whatever).

I don't expect either of these to last very long, though. These both look like "one trade's worth and done" to me.

As for Superman Unchained, I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would, but no one will ever convince me those fold-out pages existed for any other reason than to drive up the price another buck. I'm likely to check out the second issue so long as that stupid gimmick isn't a recurring thing.

Elsiebub

Nice ep, guys. I had zero interest in any of these issues, but it was nice to hear you guys talk about 'em.

BlackUmbrella said:

I like Freddie W's art on The Movement. Was not really a fan of his Captain Atom experiment, and I felt he was perhaps a mismatch for Green Arrow. But his style on The Movement reminds me almost of Robert Crumb, and I think it's a nice departure from what you see in almost every other mainstream book... which is essentially a mild variant of the approved house style of the publisher.

Whoa, I'd definitely buy every issue of The Movement if Crumb was the artist (and/or writer). :-) DC should have made Crumb a part of the artistic process and given the title Vertigo branding!

bralinator

I thought Marvel's latest Morbius series was pretty boring and weak. Then DC's The Movement came along... (yawn)

Chuck_Melville

I'm surprised that everyone seems to dislike The Movement so much. I thought it was promising. It's got an edgy vibe that feels similar to one of Steve Gerber's comics, but hasn't quite touched that level. I didn't feel it was slow or that the art was in any way lacking. I do think it has to be allowed a bit more play. I'm perfectly willing to allow Simone a few more issues to go where she wants to go; I only hope DC is as generous.

mwhitt80

What I got from the reviews were DC's Movement is a fitting description. You know 'cause you all thought it was crap.

dubbat138

I am very interested in that new BSG comic. Might have to order the issues.

CaptShazam

Chuck_Melville said:

I do think it has to be allowed a bit more play. I'm perfectly willing to allow Simone a few more issues to go where she wants to go; I only hope DC is as generous.

That is what DC is known for. An editorial staff that allows its writers creative freedom and time to develop stories and characters
:-S

nweathington

I was somewhat intrigued by the Green Team and The Movement concepts, but my spider sense was tingling and I held off on picking them up. Glad I did.

alienal

Overall, I would probably say BORROW for all three choices in that for me to "PANTS" a comic, it's gonna have to be REALLY bad. I think most comics deserve at least one read. On the other hand with all three of these comics, nothing grabbed me hard enough to continue after that first issue. Oh, well. Oh, by the way Jamie, I really doubt that DC cancelled Superman Family Adventures so that Art and Franco could do the Green Team. It was probably more like they cancelled SFA and then asked them IF they wanted to do The Green Team. Maybe you knew that but it was just the way you said it. I do agree with you that both the Green Team and Movement concepts seem to be trying to capitalize on new items that are no longer in vogue and they don't do it well, but it can be done well in some cases (as seen in something like Lazarus). Okay, well on to more playing CGS catch-up...!