Atoll Comics Round 10

Or changes to my top-ten

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding Black Widow and dropping The Movement.

Why Black Widow: I feel like Black Widow is one of the most under-utilized characters in the Marvel roster: she is a femme fatale super spy that exists in a universe with all kinds of weird and interesting spy-stuff in a epoch when real life espionage is growing ever more prominent. Add in a solid movie presence and its a no-brainer that there should be a Black Widow comic. And I want a good, ongoing Black Widow comic so badly. Black Widow by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto has the potential to be this. The first issue was pretty solid, with some fun spy action rendered with Phil Noto's excellent character acting and cinematic style. It also has an encouraging premise: that Black Widow is taking freelance jobs to fund her various penance projects. My one reservation is that it portrays a pretty mortal, chatty Widow.... which flies in contrast a bit with my idea of the hyper-efficient, quietly ruthless Black Widow that lives in my imagination. But, I'd like to see where the creative team will take things and give Black Widow a chance to win me over. If nothing else, it's a very well made comic.

Why not The Movement: The Movement suffers from too much movement, and not enough of The Movement. Let me explain: I feel like The Movement is trying to do waaaay too much too quickly in a way that is robbing the series of a lot of its potential impact. In just seven issues we have been thrown into a new, corrupt location where a never-before-seen protest/rebel movement with a diverse core group of misfit superhumans are fighting the authorities, some rich dude, a serial killer, and an anti-Movement superteam. There has also been a traitor from within, the addition of a new team member, and an internal ideological struggle within The Movement. In seven issues. While too much decompression is boring and urgency is usually good for comics, I feel like The Movement is failing to explore key series concepts, rushing through characterization, and triggering plot moments before they have had a chance to develop significance. Like, I still don't entirely understand why the setting of the The Movement is bad enough to justify kidnapping cops or how The Movement works. The traitor from within plot was wrapped up before we knew who all the characters even were. Or characters are dropping significant character points in narration boxes that don't organically fit their situations. (I also think the story would be better served by a different artist with a more realistic style and a greater ability to tie setting to story, since I feel like this story begs to feel more grounded and real.) And it kills me that I feel like this: I love the series premise, and I love the way Team Movement are interested in representing groups of people who are typically ignored by comics. I really want to like this comic, but the execution isn't there if I am only going to read ten comics.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a pretty good comic. It just isn't living up to my expectations. However, I could see that if you belong to the aforementioned typically-ignored-by-comics groups how this series might mean the world to you. So I hope it keeps going (and maybe improves a bit) and maybe I can give it another try someday.

(I understand that the comics market is ruthless and DC comics has a policy of dropping under-performing titles pretty quickly, so there is an impetus for creators to rapidly tell their story to try and win an audience and tell their story before the axe might drop. That said, I think The Movement would have been great if it say took a sane (as opposed to Burden) character... say, Misfit, and showed her in the corrupt setting and joining The Movement as an opening arc. Then taking the events of these first issues of The Movement and spreading them out over a few arcs to let the story breath. Maybe there is something to be said about giving creators the security to make longterm plans?)

Previously:

Atoll Comics Round 9: The Movement in and The Indestructible Hulk out

Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

Atoll Comics Round 9

Or changes to my top-ten

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding The Movement and dropping The Indestructible Hulk.

Why The Movement: Gail Simone and Secret Six. Secret Six was this absolutely perfect moment of a comic: twisted, perverse, hilarious, and heartfelt. It was great and now it is gone. And with it a giant Secret Six sized hole opened within me that goes un-filled week after week and month after month. It is my hope that with some room to grow The Movement may become something nearly as good as Secret Six. It has a diverse cast of outsiders fighting back, in a super-heroed-violenced-up-Occupy style, against authorities who have ceased to care for their people. Which is an interesting concept. But what really nabs me is the potential: I see moments of Gail Simone's amazing humour, sharp dialogue, and fantastic compassion. I see characters capable of profound empathy and passionate infighting and startling psychosis. I see the bones of a comic that is good and, if it can sort out its growing pains, could be fantastic. And I would like to be reading it when it does.

Why not The Indestructible Hulk: Too much Hulk, not enough Banner essentially. Mark Waid absolutely hooked me with the his take on Banner as a Science guy who just wants to make a contribution to humanity when he isn't giant and green and smashy. And so each issue followed, in a very loose way, something about Banner and his Science-team and something about Hulk breaking things. And for a while it was exactly what I wanted. The trouble is that Hulk kept getting in the way of the Banner sections I was more interested in... and at a certain point, since I'm only allowed to read ten on-going comics, it just wasn't enough of what I wanted. It didn't become the Banner centric thing I was hoping it would. Also, Lenil Francis Yu, the starting artist who was a big part of my jumping on board The Indestrutible Hulk, was moved onto other projects at Marvel which also contributed to this comics shrinking stature. It is still good comics, great comics even, just not what I had hoped it would be in a time when I'm only reading ten comics....

Previously:
Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

Measuring The Movement #3

Or wait, you mean Vengeance Moth isn't the techie?
By Gail Simone, Freddie Williams II, and Chris Sotomayor; DC Comics

I've been trying out The Movement recently because I desperately miss the bolus of madness and empathy that is the writing of Gail Simone. Particularly, the writing of Gail Simone on an ensemble book of unstable, desperate characters. And by that I mean, I miss Secret Six. Still. Every week. I miss it. And so I thought I try out The Movement, a comic about a ragtag group of marginalized people fighting back, Occupy style, against the authorities that ignore them. It's not quite Secret Six, and it's still growing into itself, but The Movement is pretty good.

It's definitely winning me over.

In Movement #3, Vengeance Moth, a wheelchair using team member whom we have never seen in action, reveals that she is not the techie member of The Movement. And she does so in a way that points out that assuming every character in a wheel chair is a super genius is pretty problematic and dumb. She tells us, in a roundabout way, to check our privilege and stop being ableist.

And oh man! I was totally guilty of assuming Vengeance Moth was the tech-savvy force behind The Movement.

But, I think there is more to my assumption than just being ableist, and I think it might be worth unpacking.

If I'm being completely honest, I am a little guilty of assuming Vengeance Moth would be an intellectual character due to her mobility issues. A character in a wheelchair has certain logistical limitations that make them maybe not the best candidates for parkour-esque motion through a cityscape or superheroic brawls. But limited mobility doesn't interfere with a person's mind, so it makes sense that she could contribute to the team in other ways. And, I mean, there is a precedent for this kind of approach with wheelchair using characters: the two most prominent characters with spinal injuries are Professor Xavier, a powerful telepath, and Oracle, an information technology specialist and hacker. But this kind of assumption is still pretty shitty and limiting and ableist. It's certainly food for thought, and for what its worth, I'm sorry I made it.

(Incidentally, the assumption that wheelchair using characters have to have a passive role in a superheroic team is also pretty dumb. Cape comics are complete, unadulterated fantasy, and literally ANYTHING is possible. There is no reason why a character who uses a wheelchair can't also be a fight-'em-up superhero. I mean, Daredevil is a blind acrobatic vigilante. Or Calamity, an athlete who had both his legs amputated who uses prosthetics to be a superspeedster, and Supernaut, a paralzyed war veteran who pilots a walking tank, from The Order. Or Komodo from The Avengers Initiative, a brilliant life scientist who had both legs amputated above the knee who transforms into a lizard lady. So really, it is just as likely that Vengeance Moth is a powerful telekinetic who can animate her legs or that she can turn into a giant Mothra monster.)

However, I think there are very real story reasons to think that Vengeance Moth was the tech-savvy member of The Movement.

To understand why we have to go back to The Movement #1, starting with the cover. The cover to this issue shows us all of the core team members of The Movement (at least so far). Going left to right we have Catharsis, Burden, Vengeance Moth, Virtue, Tremor, and Mouse. If you look carefully, you can make out a wheelchair handle behind Vengeance Moth. This is actually the only indication that Vengeance Moth uses a wheelchair in this issue.

(Which, I totally didn't see on my first pass of this comic! Unless a cover is really great (like Hawkeye #8), I barely look at it.)

The Movement #1 quickly establishes that The Movement (the team) is tech-savvy. We see ancillary-Movement protestors wearing silvery masks with small cameras imbedded in them and hold up phones displaying "i.c.u" on them. The implication being that the protestors are recording, and presumably broadcasting, the actions of the police caught on tape. And this, I think, suggests a certain level of skill: someone had to assemble the masks, and set up the wireless recording/broadcasting infrastructure. And all of this seems pretty integral to The Movements plans, so important in fact that we see the above scene BEFORE meeting any of The Movement. Which, I feel, if only in the conventions of team comics way, suggests that one of the core team members will be good at computers.

So, assuming that one of the core team members, displayed on the cover is a tech expert, I read the rest of the issue trying to deduce who the tech expert is. And this is what is shown in the first issue:

Virtue: is the leader of the team, and the moral compass of it. She has psychic/emotion powers. While she COULD be the tech, there is no evidence for it, and adding that to her other story duties seems like A LOT. So I assume its not her.

Catharsis: is the heavy of the team. She is hot-headed, strong, good at fighting, and has mechanical wings. She seems also to fit into the role of advocating for a more direct, violent from of protest for the Movement. She also does not display tech skill and doesn't have the temperament typically associated with being a techie. Also, the idea of camera-masks seems much to passive for her direct approach to protesting. So I assume it isn't her.

Tremor: has the power to make earthquakes and vibrations. She is very reserved and advocates for passive, moral high-ground protesting. While I don't see any reason why she couldn't be the tech character, there is absolutely no evidence for it yet in the comic. So I assume it isn't her either.

Mouse: is kind of a mouse-guy, I think? He has the power to control rats (or maybe rodents). He clearly shows a big kind heart, loves his rats, and may also be part rat. He very clearly has a perspective that is quite alien to most humans and is quite rodenty in attitude. I think it would be very, very unlikely that he is the tech character as he seems not at all suited to that kind of thinking.

Burden: turns into a demon, apparently. He was apparently raised in a religiously restrictive household and blames himself for his transformations. He may also maybe suffer from schizophrenia? As such, it he does not seem well suited to being a tech specialist. But beyond that, he is recruited to the team during the first issue which takes place AFTER the tech infrastructure has been established. So it can't be him.

Vengeance Moth: does not appear in the first issue. By process of elimination form The Movement #1, she is likely the tech character. And her absence supports this: Vengeance Moth might not be in the fight depicted in The Movement #1 because her role is more supportive/passive... like a tech specialist. And when you finally meet her, realize she uses a wheelchair and looks an awful lot like dearly retconned-out Oracle, it just supports the assumption. I mean, she has spectacles (which are often used as a visual symbol of intelligence in comics), has a laptop sized backpack, and yeah, she uses a wheelchair (which is at least associated with Oracle, the most prominent information technology expert in comics), so she looks like she might be the tech character.

I guess what I am trying to explain here is that the shape of the comic suggests that Vengeance Moth is the techie and that, more than her use of a wheelchair, was why I assumed she was the tech specialist of the team. I mean, I assumed she was the tech expert before I even realized she used a wheelchair.

Of course, there is still one more, not story-related reason for thinking Vengeance Moth is a techie. And that is Gail Simone.  Gail Simone is the writer, more than any other, who brought to life Oracle, the former Batgirl turned tech-guru following a paralyzing spinal injury. Oracle,  a character who was removed from continuity by the DC reboot and who was never properly replaced. (And honestly, I still think turning Oracle back into Batgirl was a pretty misguided choice: Female-Batman is a much less interesting concept than woman-overcomes-horrific-experience/injury-to-continue-doing-good.) Vengeance Moth therefore, at least superficially looked like maybe Gail Simone was trying to reintroduce an Oracle like character back into the DCU. Which, would be kind of great, wouldn't it?

And honestly, after learning she used a wheelchair but before I learned her name was Vengeance Moth, I kind of assumed she was literally the new Oracle.

So while there are certainly ableist reasons for assuming Vengeance Moth has to be a supergenius, there are also compelling story reasons and broader comics contextual reasons for believing she is probably the tech specialist of The Movement.

Regardless, we should all check our privilege and try not to make assumptions, no matter how well founded.