The Movement #6

I hope the trend of having the covers look like revolutionary posters continues throughout the series. Or fascist, dictatorial posters when the law enforcement side is shown. Like Earth 2's covers!

A friend of mine mentioned how Marvel is coming out with a female Muslim superhero and he said, "I hate forced diversity." It's an odd statement to make when you're talking about fiction. What do you suddenly consider "forced?" It's not like they have the creators at sword point telling them what to write. Well, some editors might work that way. But even still, how good was "non-forced diversity" working for the comic book industry for the last eighty years? To get to a point where people don't think twice about the gender or ethnicity or religion or sexuality or cultural background of a character, you need a well balanced group of characters. The only reason people use the term "forced diversity" is because there is a flipside to that statement which is "white male is the status quo." If you go off-script with character creation, some people are going to grumble. But that script needs to be thrown out so that every character that is created can simply be the next individual character to come along. Comic book readers should not have a standard base white male idea in their heads. I don't even know why they'd want to!

My basic thought on diversity is fucking just go for it. Companies can't listen to outspoken people that can't handle change or difference. I don't give a fuck if a character is Malaysian, Canadian, or Spanish as long as they interest me. But you know, if you can reach a wider audience by increasing the representation of the various characters, do that! If you lose a reader because they can't handle different skin tones, fuck them. Who wants to cater to someone like that anyway? If you want to use the term "forced diversity," then I say diversity should be forced. Force it down our throats until it's commonplace. And once it's commonplace, you'll never again have to hear somebody use the term "forced diversity." It will just be status quo.

Also, remember that thing I said about fiction? Fiction is forced! It's contrived! Somebody has to think up something and there are many reasons why they choose the aspects of plot and character that they choose. Just make the characters interesting and people will read the comic book! Are you telling me there are people picking up Teen Titans simply because it's full of whiteness (if we ignore the stinky smoking sulfur woman) and avoiding The Movement because it's full of "forced diversity?" The Teen Titans is a horribly written pile of crap. The characters are bland, without motivation, and have only been reacting to time travel shenanigans and antagonists from the future. The Movement's characters actually have motivation to better their community. They're working for some kind of change even if they might occasionally go about it in really horribly awful ways. But at least they're fucking interesting!

I skipped a lot of points I could probably go on and on about but I'm still trying to get my thumb to bend like Vengeance Moth's from The Movement #5.

At the end of last issue, Tremor ended the naughty cop's trial early and freed them on their own precognizance. Katharsis didn't like that idea because not liking Tremor's choice allows her to flip the fuck out which is her most favoritist thing to do in the whole entire world.

Mmmm, shake powers.

Vengeance Moth tries to get the ladies to stop fighting but nobody listens to her. What's she going to do? Flit around and self-immolate in a nearby light bulb? But then Virtue arrives and shuts the fight down because Virtue will get in your head and bring all of your weird shit to light. Also she's just a bit intimidating when she strikes super cute poses while screaming her den mother head off. Tremor points out she simply wants to help people and getting their asses involved in a turf war with local law enforcement simply to put on some mock trial for the internet seems a bit antithetical to that goal.

Also they all figure perhaps they should try helping the delusional kid in the hoodie crouched in the corner composing mental letters to his mother about his frequent attempts to copulate with Satan.

No, don't cast him out, Burden. Fuck him. Fuck him right in the face! You know you want to! Hmm, I don't think I'd be a very helpful member of this team. Plus I'd constantly be making poo jokes.

Virtue orders Katharsis and Tremor to make up. When they were throwing punches, I had my money on Katharsis. But now Virtue has ordered them to an Ice Cream Eating Deathmatch. By the look on Tremor's face when she hears the news, I have a feeling she's going to kill this challenge. Plus I figure she must keep her body covered by that blanket for a reason! I'm saying she's a little chubby for her spandex. Hey, I'm not judging! I'm just pointing out she might have a bit of a body image issue. Now, I am speculating that it's weight related. It could also simply be that she's uncomfortable with even having a body at all.

While the girls go out for sundaes, Virtue and Vengeance Moth plan on performing an exorcism on Burden. Also, the cops get away.

I knew they were going to have to put Joe down. Human nature is the main reason we need the word "escalation." To be brutally honest though, I'm with Joe. That asshole Katharsis knocked out all of his front teeth! We all have are worst nightmares and I can't stand the idea of losing your front teeth. If Katharsis had done that to me, I would have...well, I probably would have just lain on the floor crying, blubbering, cradling my lost teeth, and rocking back and forth.

The worst nightmares I've ever had have been ones where some teeth have fallen out. Not knocked out! Just falling out while doing something else in the dream. I read somewhere (probably some Jungian thing lying around here somewhere) that a dream about losing ones teeth is about loss of power so Joe getting his teeth knocked out is actually a really good symbol for what needed to be done to him. In my conscious life, I don't actually worry about status or power or shit like that. But apparently my unconscious mind used to hate my forty hour work weeks working for businesses that cared more about their investors than their employees. Once I got out of that system, I stopped having the dreams of losing my teeth. I can't remember the last time I had a dream like that. Or a migraine! People talk about all the different perks to owning your own business but those might be the biggest two for me! Also, all of the free time because I make my own schedule. I don't make as much money as I might otherwise, but fuck that. Give me more leisure time! If I worked a forty hour work week, I think I'd be making...well, a lot more money than I am! But I clean floors and that would probably quickly wreck this middle-aged body! So instead, I work about fifteen to twenty hours per week. It's all about balance! Just like The Movement!

Whew. I wasn't sure I was going to get back on track there for a second.

Even though this story line is called The Graveyard Faction, I completely forgot about the Graveyard Faction! They're currently trying to ruin Mouse's day simply because he stopped a woman from getting her eyes gouged out. Maybe I'll find out their real names now and have to stop calling them Pigpen, Hester Prynne, Assholster, and Butterface. Currently, Mouse is sending his rats to infiltrate Assholster's pants.

I guess he's trying to disarm him?

I was going to scan some pictures of all the cute rats because I love Freddie Williams's rats but instead I thought I'd scan a picture of the rest of The Graveyard Faction.

See? Butterface, Hester Prynne, and Pigpen. Although I think I'll change his name to Emo Pigpen.

I was pretty good at guessing the names of the Dial H characters so I'm pretty sure I've got at least 75% of the names of the Graveyard Faction correct!

Or maybe 25% since the next page reveals I'm, incredibly, wrong on three of their names! Butterface is actually Monster Baby which I really like especially since she attacks Mouse by saying, "Want to kiss him to death. So hot." Hester Prynne is named Anguish which, I guess, explains the "A" on her chest. And Assholster is named Pallas. I still have a chance of being correct with Emo Pigpen.

Well I got the Emo right! But his name is Arson. Boring! Maybe it'll turn out to have some kind of double meaning with "Our Son."

Mouse's arm gets all burnt up from Arson's fire breath so I hope he has some regenerative abilities. Maybe he has a few medic mice at his disposal.

Back at headquarters, Virtue performs the exorcism on Burden by removing his fear. Perhaps once he loses the fear instilled in him by his religious parents about his powers being from Satan, he'll be able to look at them rationally. Or maybe he'll just lose them and become just another useless man. Although a useless man in a great looking hoodie.

Elsewhere in the city, Man Cannon comes face to face with The Cornea Killer. Although probably not for the first time since The Cornea Killer calls Man Cannon "Dad." I guess that means Mouse got away from The Graveyard Faction with the help of his rat army. He probably surfed them to safety.

Or not. Total wipeout.

The Movement #6 Rating: +2 Ranking. This is the best team book DC is putting out right now. I often think team books can't get the balance right and never spend enough time on the characters. The "characterization" usually just comes from how they utilize their powers in the big fight scenes. But Simone is doing a wonderful job taking her time with the characters. I just hope this comic sticks around long enough for these characters to become fan favorites. This title should really take the place of The Teen Titans. How can I get everybody that's currently buying the Teen Titans to drop that book and begin picking up this one? I guess all I can do is ask. No, fuck asking. I'm demanding it! If you're reading Teen Titans right now and not reading The Movement, knock it off. Strike that. Reverse it. Get out there and buy The Movement instead!