The Good
I have long been of the opinion that Art and Franco are incapable of writing a bad book, and GREEN TEAM #1 absolutely reinforces that notion. The Eisner-winning kings of the all-ages scene show off their versatility in DC's newest ongoing series, and I'm wondering if there's anything they can't do.
GREEN TEAM is clever and fun right out of the gate. There's a lot to communicate right away, so it's a little bit heavy on both dialogue and voiceover, but the scripting is tight and easy to follow. Art and Franco keep things incredibly grounded (especially considering the subject), and fluidly reference tech, pop culture, and the nexus at which they meet. Ironically -- considering that it's a revamp of a one-shot from the 1970s -- this may be one of the most zeitgeist-y books coming out of DC right now. Where else will you find portmanteaus like "poxpo," hashtags used casually in conversation, or pure passion for bleeding-edge tech and entrepreneurship?
And, for a set of characters that could, by all accounts, be completely unrelatable (unless you're a Rich Kid of Instagram), the teen trillionaires are charming and interesting. Sure, they have exotic pets and jet off to France for lunch, but a little bit of imaginative wish-fulfillment is both acceptable for the medium and appropriate to the premise of the book. Plus, they're future-minded and care about innovation; not entirely the worst way to prioritize their investments.
Ig Guara is off to an excellent start with character designs that fit in with the New 52 palette (Commodore's suit is sleek but structured, and has a Green-Lantern-meets-Cyborg feel to it) yet capture the book's own class warfare motif (the aforementioned suit is sophisticated and shiny, in contrast to Riot's homemade costumes).
The Bad
The book's premise (at least the one it's marketed under) begs for criticism, but it's so well executed that fault is hard to find. The threat posed by Riot is perhaps the only weak spot -- even with strength in numbers, a bunch of guys in handmade costumes with handguns aren't much of a match for high-powered tech and a private security team -- but they might be stronger than they appear. I am anxious to see more of the Green Team's superpowered tech; it's such a tease to reveal Commodore's suit and leave the rest of the team unarmed until at least issue #2.
The Verdict
Despite being presented as the less-sympathetic 1% to the underdog 99%ers of THE MOVEMENT, I found GREEN TEAM to be unabashedly fun. The teen trillionaires aren't flawless, but they're likable, and it's hard to hate a team of motivated kids who want to invest in innovation (especially when said innovation is clearly going to morph them into superheroes!). It's refreshingly light, it's culturally relevant, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.
51 Comments