christophertburley:Step 1. Read Gail Simone’s new book, The...

christophertburley:

Step 1. Read Gail Simone’s new book, The Movement (available in digital at comixology.com or from you local comic shop).

Step 2. Tell me what you think.

My take: Simone’s funneled populist outrage through a halftone filter, which is pretty damn thought provoking.

The premise: there’s something heroic in the idea that our cynicism and belief that the better world we seek lies not in the mediated rhetoric or appointed/elected agents of our institutions, but within our own willingness to finally stop complaining and take some responsibility for the world we live in.

This is dangerous stuff, people.

It’s the same impulse that led to Selma, to the Seattle worker’s strike, to suffrage, to India’s overthrow of colonial rule.

But it’s also the impulse that led to prohibition, to lynchings, to book burnings, and vigilante attacks against outsiders throughout history.

In other words, the why and the how are pretty damn important when it comes to populism.

I’ll be interested to see how Simone considers the morality of the people through the lens of a comic.

What do you think?

Great post.

I do consider the morality of all characters…I just don’t think anyone ends up purely on the side of the angels in this book.