How will Commodore and Co. escape from the Riot Act? See what Art Baltazar and Franco have cooked up in our review of The Green Team #2, coming up right after the jump!
If I could review this issue in one statement, it would simply read “this book is a lot of fun.” But because my editors have informed me that I need to write more than that, expect more text lauding the efforts of the creative team. Allow me to ask, what do you get when you put a superficial, struggling actress inside one of Iron Man’s suits? The answer is, “shenanigans – loads of good old-fashioned shenanigans.”
Positives
Most of this issue is told from the perspective of the narcissistic Cecilia, Commodore’s actress girlfriend. The way she is written embodies all of the stereotypes people have about Hollywood. She is arrogant, selfish, and promiscuous. Putting the focus on her in the middle of an action heavy comic set piece turns out to be a stroke of genius. I was in stitches laughing at her reactions, first as she’s held at knifepoint, then later when she’s in a version Commodore’s battle armor. What I really appreciated throughout was that Baltazar and Franco kept Cecilia’s voice consistent throughout. Even though she goes through this outrageous action sequence, she demands her hotel room replace their stock towels with Versace ones.
The most common complaint I hear about DC titles in the New 52 is that they are too serious and lack fun. This book takes that criticism and punts it to the curb. The look and feel of The Green Team would make you think it belongs in another publisher’s stable. This includes the pencils by Ig Guara. His work is very much in the vein of Marcos Martin and Brett Booth, which fits the tone of this book perfectly.
Negatives
This reads like a #1, which isn’t the best thing for a #2. Even worse, we don’t know much about these characters. With the size of the cast, and being only two issues in, I don’t find myself caring much about any of them. This series may have been better served by focusing on a couple characters like Mohamed or Commodore for the first few issues before shifting the focus to supporting members like J.P. or Cecilia. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and as a result the issue’s cliffhanger fell flat to me.
Verdict 
(4/5)
Baltazar, Franco and Guara deliver a solid, entertaining read that would serve as a fine addition to anyone’s pull list. The title has the potential to tell a really great story. The only question is, will its sales be good enough to allow for that story to be told?
