New Comic-book Night - 7/3/13

I was a little bit disappointed today when I arrived at the comic shop, and the owner checked my folder and said there was nothing for me. I had thought that Gail Simone's Red Sonja was due out this week, but I guess it was delayed.  I think the reason is that the previous Red Sonja series, which was supposed to end in June on issue 80, has gotten behind. They apparently released issue 78 today, and have been putting them out much faster than once a month to get them finished. But my guess is, Dynamite probably doesn't want to put out two Red Sonjas at the same time.

That left me with only one new print title to purchase this month -- another Gail Simone title, The Movement #3.  Since I had nothing else to buy, I went ahead and got the final trade paperback of the 2005-2011 Supergirl series, "Bizzarrogirl."  This is the ninth out of nine trade paperbacks they published. I already have 1-5 and 7, and 6 and 8 are being shipped to me as I write this.  That will complete the fourth Supergirl series for me, except for the last 8 issues (60-67), which are not collected in any trade paperbacks.  As a result, I will have to buy them individually. I started with issue 60 today, and I plan to buy perhaps 1 or 2 a week until I have them all.

Since I am still waiting for the earlier trades, I didn't read the new Supergirl stuff yet. Thus, the only new comic I read today was The Movement #3.  A mini-review follows.

The Movement #3 - I have been teetering on the edge of dumping this series basically since issue 1.  There were multiple reasons why the first two did not go down well.  First, the art is awful. I've never seen the work of the artist, Freddie Williams II, before, but it's sloppy and unpleasant to look at.  However, I have been able to stomach bad art before in the name of a good story, so the art, while definitely an issue, is not a deal-breaker all by itself.  A second problem is that I don't like the overall concept -- which is basically a bunch of bratty teens rebelling against "the man."  Third, none of the characters are remotely sympathetic or likable, and some of them are down right repulsive (like the guy whose main power is to control rats, or the one who turns into a devil).  I've been hoping with each issue that Gail Simone can turn it around, but issue 3 was, if anything, even worse than the first two, and I can see no further point to continuing to read this series.

I tried to like this series... I really did.  But I just can't get on board with either the overall message, or with the unappealing characters.  I'm not wasting my time with this series any longer.  Time to try something else.