It'll take a real act of God to wipe this one from my memory...
Monday, April 19, 2010
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98 comments:
Wait isn't the green lantern costume created by the ring anyway so kyle should have reverted to his street clothes after his ring died...
Ugh... talk about an interesting premise ruined. Thankfully, the first three issues of Top Cow's City of Heroes tie-in comic show how to do a "superheroes coping with the loss of powers" concept correctly. You can find it here if you'd like.
http://www.cityofheroes.com/media_and_downloads/official_comic_archive/comic_archive.html
What Rumda said about the Green Lantern costume.
Also, why did Steel fall done in the beginning? I'm not that familiar with the character. Does he have technical and metahuman powers?
Nice review btw. I enjoy your rants about contunity issues.
And since when was Supergirl an Angel? O_o
green ninja apparently during the event technology also failed for the duration but started again after steel hit the ground
Hmmm ...
Obviously god is evil and wants humankind destroyed by Lex Luthor. By some sort of Roboggedon. Or a kind of Technohenna. Would make sense compared to the rest of the book.
That's why Batman is the greatest hero. "Oh? You guys all lost your powers? SUCKS TO BE YOU!" *grappling-hook exit like a boss*
What about Captain Marvel? He's magic based. I suppose his powers came from gods but that just makes Wonder Woman pretty much existing (remember, clay figure granted life by the Greek Pantheon) a bigger inconsistency.
I remember reading this series and thinking that it was terrible. It tries to be deep and spiritual by bringing religion into it, but that is obnoxious at best. Glad to see it get the AT4W treatment.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't BATMAN be the most powerful hero on earth? He's always been one of the biggest of the big guns, and he has NO powers -- even his tech toys are just toys that augment the fact that he's the worlds greatest detective, a really scary jerk, etc.
I just had to slap my self around the head. This sounds like bad fanfic, written by someone who's read a wiki and two Archie Comics.
If you're going to write a comic-Universe wide "event", Especially if it is an elseworlds imprint you better know everything about every character you use and know what you're doing.
One of my all time favourite DC characters is Swamp Thing, mostly for his position as an eternal outsider. More at home with people like Constantine and the Phantom Stranger (where the hell were they?) than the JLU. Simply waving a writers pencil like a magic wand and saying they no longer exist isn't just lazy writing it's pure ignorance.
This has to be one of the worst elseworld comics I've ever heard of, given the hit and miss of everything under that umbrella title that's saying something! Now if you will excuse me I'm going to dig out my copy of Animal Man. That knew how to deal with a God in comics... That or something with Deadpool in it.
Now that I think about it. Why can't STAR labs, Steel and other groups make special armor to compensate for their lack of powers? That way they can still be heroes and not be so emo.
The suspension of disbelief is creating a world which abides by a set of laws that while maybe not being reality, hold some sort of internal logic.
For example, Scrubs has Death appear frequently, however since the we see is directly influenced by Zach Braff's fantasies, we except this.
As you said, this break its own internal consistency. And hang on! To my knowledge, though this may be a different version, Doctor Fate's abilities all originated from his Helmet, besides that he was normal. The event should have merly taken the Helmet and powers away? Not just lazily took him away cause the plot demanded it!
Words fail me.
1) Random thought: I'd really like to see more cowboy/Western-type Elseworlds. Cowboys are awesome. Superheroes are awesome. Ergo, cowboys + superheroes = DOUBLE SUPER AWESOME.
2) I would love to see a story about a common person's view on what happens on a day-to-day basis in the DC universe. "Huh. Talking gorilla robbing the bank. Guess I better hold off cashing my check until tomorrow. Oh, wow, there goes Superman beating up Cthulhu. That's pretty awesome."
3) Martian Manhunter can't shapeshift? OH GOD, PLEASE TELL ME HIS PSYCHIC ICE CREAM POWER IS OKAY!
4) JLU-J'onn voice! XD
5) *facepalm @ J'onn's ramble about "normality"*
6) I'm calling it early: this J'onn is a secret mole or something! A Skrull!
7) Calling people from the moon? Must be one hell of a bill.
8) I hadn't thought about it until you brought it up, but yeah, what the hell is up with Supes and J'onn losing their powers? That's just dumb. Hell, if we're going to say "Supes and J'onn lose the abilities that are natural to their own species" we might as well say that Batman suddenly forgets all his karate skills and such for all the sense it makes.
9) Jeez, you'd think these folks' superpowers were the only thing keeping them mentally fit. I think frickin' Rorschach had a better grip than these whiners do. "Waaaaaugh! I lost my powers so I can't do ANYTHING AT ALL! I shall sit here and eat bonbons and watch the Golden Girls until the Great Spook stops being such a meanie and gives me my powers back. ;_____; *emo tear*"
10) "The government is happy there are no superheroes!" thing is just plain idiotic. I understand a bit of hesitation and apprehension when it comes to all these metahumans and such running around unchecked, but I don't think a government that's gotten so used to Superman punting Doomsday around like a football will be all "good riddance!" Yeah, there's still the Army and the cops and the firefighters around, but as much as I respect the fine folks in uniforms, I would much prefer Superman or Wonder Woman showing up to protect the country (or world) against a horde of alien locusts or something. Part of it is just scale. The cops and firefighters save individuals, neighborhoods and cities; Supes saves worlds.
If the first installation was this nonsensical, I shudder to think what next week's gonna be like. XD At any rate, I look forward to it!
@ Emi
"2) I would love to see a story about a common person's view on what happens on a day-to-day basis in the DC universe. "Huh. Talking gorilla robbing the bank. Guess I better hold off cashing my check until tomorrow. Oh, wow, there goes Superman beating up Cthulhu. That's pretty awesome." "
I believe Marvel did something similar once. Never read it though.
The continuity alarm said "I'M BACK BABY!" That does make me scratch my head a bit...hmmmm...
Should we beware any impending anvils in the next two installments, Lewis, or shall I properly pad my head to smack my face against the wall?
So, Red Tornado is the 2nd to Last Airbender?
I thought you did a good job of pointing out the flaws of the miniseries, but you didn't make many jokes. Most of the review was you analyzing (which makes sense since you want to point out the flaws) the issue and getting angry. The problem is that you didn't create any humorous moments or poke fun at anything.
I've noticed that you've been doing this a lot in your reviews. You seem more content to just get angry when you see something bad and just use that as humor. Which is fine every now and then, but if you use it every time, it can get tiresome. Where is the witty banter you used to have? I remember that you got angry during the Superman: At Earth's End review and pointed out what was wrong with that comic, but use still had a lot of great banter. Like your running gag about how Superman keeps talking about his Best Buddy for Life, Batman. It went on so much that it ended with a great, "Finally, Bruce we can get married like we always wanted to."
Getting angry and pointing out the flaws in something doesn't solely create humor.
The thing is, Goose, that stuff like this doesn't allow for a lot of jokes - there's just incredibly dumb plot point after plot point and not enough really ludicrous things that lend themselves to humor. I do what I can, but some things are just like that.
This seems like a story more fit for an X-Men "What if..." story. Granted they would have to ignore the existence of non-mutant superhumans, but I think X-Men works better as its own separate universe anyway.
I love Garth Ennis, the man knows how to write characters
Well anyway, this is a really dumb execution of a decent premiss.
So many things got ignored.
If this is really the will of God, then I can imagine him being a douche-bag and randomly take the abilities away from heroes in order to torment them.
I mean, he IS omnipotent and he has done much worse things before
(sorry if I offend any decent religious people here)
I also can imagine the New Gods experiencing the same problems and being confined to their home planets Genesis and Apocalypse
What however does itch me is the fact how they completely ignore the fate of the Amazons and the people of Atlantis.
Simply writing the top-tier mystics out of the story also seems like utterly lazy writing.
And the OOCness is just the last nail in the coffin.
I see your point for this review, but you've done the same thing with reviews like Star Trek/X-Men and The Dark Knight Strikes Again Part 2. Those are both comics that have plenty of ludicrous moments.
Also, there the joke that I referenced was anything ludicrous at all. It was just the ongoing quotes from Superman where he keeps talking about Batman. You turned those quotes into a joke where Superman secretly loved Batman. I don't think you have to make fun of big large ludicrous things. You can make fun of smaller things.
Wow, it's like a worse verison of house of M, I didn't think that was even possible!
You kinda missed my fave line.
"Il give you a hand...WITH GATTLING FINGERS!" :) I love that giant robot, the only part i laughed at..other then Superman's full emo log + why lois leaves him.....
I actually have Star Trek/X-Men, and Kirk hitting on Jean and the bit with the Doctors McCoy are pretty much it for levity. (Unless you count Gladiator punching the Enterprise. I can see how somone would be amused by that.)
Another inconsistency is we see the Golden Age Green Lantern, whose ring was powered by magic as opposed to the science based rings of the Green Lantern Corps.
The thing is that as an Elseworlds tale, this all could be easily avoided. It's Elseworlds, it doesn't have to follow the then-current DC continuity. Don't want to dwell on Aquaman's people? Make him the only surviving Atlantean. Don't want to deal with the mystical based heroes? Simply don't establish them in this universe. Etc. I could see this being an awesome story in a universe that only featured the core seven Justice League members, but no they for some reason thought it had to match the then current status quo which makes it harder to swallow.
A few random observations:
-I get that Wonder Woman wouldn't be able to fly and wouldn't have super strength if her powers were taken away, but should her armor still work? It's not directly tied to her powers.
-Why would superman be sad about about loosing his powers? Doesn't Superman solve plenty of problems as Clark Kent? Sure nothing on a major scale, but he isn't useless either.
I may be wrong since I don't really read many comics, but I remember that Superman once got premonitional dreams about tragedies for some reason (I only bought the issues that I found when I got the money and that was the first I founfd about that plot) and actually got rid of his Clark Kent alterego (BTW the way that Lois knew this is because he got rid of... I think... his full drawer of glasses :P), put a SATELITE and started to watch constantly all the television networks looking for posible disasters. Why would that help him with that? I don't know.
BTW, I think that the character that you didn't recognize is called Outburst and was the kid whose house was destroyed during The death of Superman (and if I'm not mistaken he also appears in the comics about the premonitions)
Sorry for the double comment :P but after writing the last one, I went to check on google about Outburst and actually found the numbers cover (I lost it years ago) it's Superman: The Man of Steel # 86 (released in 1999 since thats the number it says on comic vine and I don't know if there was a number reebot somewhere)
Thanks internet!!!
I think this takes place after Hawkman returned in JSA as Carter Hall, the reincarnated Egyptian prince. I don't think he's an alien here.
That one could write this comic while seemingly understanding so little about heroes is most baffling. It is their choices that make them who they are, not their abilities however useful they may be.
I highly disagree with you Goose. Lewis's show is not just about the comedy. It's a comprehensive review of comic books either good or bad (although mostly bad) from someone who loves the medium. He has to take his time and break this comic down to show it's flaws and why this is a poor read. And it is a poor read. Whoever wrote this obviously not only does know the characters he's writing but the entire plot essentially becomes a cop out and there's no point to reading it at all. I think Lewis is very funny, but not every episode has to be a stand up comedy routine. Keep up the good work Linkara.
That was PAINFUL. I can't wait to see next week's destruction. Is it bad that I'm hoping for an epic meltdown at the end of this like in Amazons Attack and Maximum Clonage? Lol keep up the good work Lewis!
Great review as always. I'm surprised your continuity alarm didn't EXPLODE at some point.
Two questions, though.
1. Is the third act of this comic going to reveal another plot thread of yours?
2. I once saw a Necro Critic video where he gave you a comic. What is it and are you ever going to review it?
You know, it's really sad that I've read this. Hated it then too, but Doug Moench has produced some decent comics. This one was aweful. Looking at his Comic book bibliography, it looks like he's done significantly less work since then). I can find three things released the next year, a couple more in 2002, one each in 2003 and 2004 and the rest of his comics writing credits after that seem to be reprints of his earlier work until just last year.
Given how prolific he was before that, I have to wonder if maybe someone realized how bad it was.
@Scott Tibbs: Oh, who the hell even KNOWS with Hawkman anymore?
"I highly disagree with you Goose. Lewis's show is not just about the comedy. It's a comprehensive review of comic books either good or bad (although mostly bad) from someone who loves the medium. He has to take his time and break this comic down to show it's flaws and why this is a poor read. And it is a poor read. Whoever wrote this obviously not only does know the characters he's writing but the entire plot essentially becomes a cop out and there's no point to reading it at all. I think Lewis is very funny, but not every episode has to be a stand up comedy routine. Keep up the good work Linkara."
I know that Linkara's show isn't just about the comedy. My problem with this episode is that it has too much analysis and not enough jokes.
I think Linkara is funny too, but I'm not going to be silent and not say what my feelings are on how good his endeavors are.
Honestly that was awful. I know that people like to make DC Comics more like Marvel, but I'd expect the end of Spiderman 2 where Spiderman is lifted up by the people of the train than the comments we got for Superman.
And the inconsistence with mystical and tech heroes was grating like Peter David's Supergirl and the Green Lanterns. With Alan Scott, his ring is powered by the magic collected by the Guardians of the Universe called the Starheart. And Kyle really should not have been effected at all since it is as you said, tech.
And this gets me to another point that has often bugged me when it happens in stories with Superman and Martian Manhunter such as JLApe or this one. They are alien, so a ray that turns humans into apes or zaps powers away really shouldn't work on them since its natural. Honestly, this bugs the hell out of me.
Honestly what probably should have happened to Superman if he is hit by a human to ape ray should be random. It would be like the scene with Metallo and the Parasite in Superman: Last Son. With Metallo testing yellow kryptonite on a Phantom Zone Prisoner, they discover that it turned the guy into a ant. They then laugh and crush the ant. See that makes more sense than Superman turns into an ape.
But at least Lex Luthor was written correctly. Though it would have been fun to have Darkseid roll in after the governments of Earth don't seem to care.
Scene: Darkseid floats above a burning Washington DC. Parademons and Darkseid's Court surrond him. He smiles down at the President who was giving a press conference on something pointless near the Lincoln Memorial.
President Man: You shouldn't have powers. Haven't you watched the news Mr. Rockfaced Man.
Darkseid: Insect! [The Red Eyes are flairing] I care not for your talking heads.
President Man: But they told me supervillians lost their powers.
Darkseid begins to laugh. Omega Beams zoom out zigzaging along the way.
President Man: AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Darkseid: Your screams were not the melody that I wanted, but [Darkseid looks at the ashes of the former President.]. . . you obviously were not much sport either. For I am no villian.
Darkseid floats down to the ground, and then he walks over to the seated Lincoln.
Desaad: Great Darkseid is it wise to parade around Earth so balantly.
Darkseid's eyes blare red for a moment with a quick glance back at Desaad.
Darkseid: Desaad, do not make the same mistake as the puppet of those screens.
Two Parademons tear down telepropmters.
Darkseid: For as you know, I am god. And my word is law. And I have passed judgement on this world depraving their greatest of their powers to prove to them how weak they really all.
Darkseid tears out the statue of Honest Abe. And he seats down in the throne.
Darkseid: Now Godfrey bring forth the people so they can learn that Darkseid is law for now and everymore.
Darkseid laughs.
See that's better than JLA: Act of God. Why you ask? Because the point of the story is so layered on the reader it isn't funny. Trying to reduce superheros to everyday heroes isn't that bad an idea, but it comes off as silly here especially when there should be panic in the eyes of some of the heroes.
What happens the next time Darkseid or even Lobo comes by. Especially Lobo. I really doubt that Booster Gold and Blue Beetle can stop Lobo. He will drink America's supply of beer dry and come back for more or kill us all.
And if that doesn't kill us, we will gladly accept Darkseid's antilife after Lobo gets done with us. But the writer never considered that scenario because he wanted to tell a story about the real heroes like police, paperboys, and Rex the Wonder Dog. He just really was to hamhanded with it.
And again, somebody should have thought, "You know Aquaman is natural a waterbreather."
Speaking as a practicing Jew (Reform,in case you were wondering), I got one thing to say:
Coming from my faith tradition, wouldn't it make more sense if G-D would have just come down on the earth, and wrestled with them?
I mean if he wanted to bring home the point that super powered beings needed to be humble (assuming that's the take home moral here), he could have just laid the smackdown on them like he did to Jacob.
Nothing like having your maker come down to give you a permanent limp, to bring home the message that you aren't the biggest dog in the yard.
Besides the image of G-D making Gorilla Grodd tap out to an arm bar is awesome beyond words.
I am atheist, but I can easily read a story where a god (being it christian or any other religion) exists if written well, wich this thing is not, why would a god strip heroic people of their powers and let villians run free? if such an entity canalter Superman's biological structure and he can't make Luthor comatose or loss his scientific knowledge? the guy actively tries to kill people all the time. This thing also depends on the fact that only the christian god exists and the other supernatural and god liek entitites of the DCU don't or that they are not gods. it like a terrible fan fic.
Woohoo! Something I submitted got reviewed. ^_^
And man, that was as bad as I remembered it being. This is the very definition of an idiot plot, given how out of character the heroes are acting. It gets especially bad with heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman and Kyle Rayner later on, but also bites for guys like Captain Marvel as well.
One big issue I had with this is that they had the guys most likely to be able to deal with their power loss acting like whinny crybabies. Kyle Rayner and Billy Batson are two guys who spend most of their time as normal human beings who turn their powers on when they were needed. They might not like their powers being gone, but they should be so use to normal life that this shouldn't be an issue for them. This should have been their time to shine, to help other heroes deal with their power loss and cope, but Billy barely gets any screen time and Kyle . . . . well . . . . you'll see.
All in all, solid review Linkara. Looking forward to the other two issues being torn into.
Now get to work on Superman: Distant Fires. ;)
LJ and Tezzle, it is agreed. Batman is the most powerful, non-superpowered superhero. He's also the most powerful superhero ever. :D
I'm hoping Batman either high-tails it out of this comic like he did in Amazon Attacks... or that he calls in his replacement... Crazy Steve. But not before saying something along the lines of...
"Bees. My God."
I mean... It has to fit somewhere, right? JLA: Act of GOD... :D... BEES! :D...
On a different note... Linkara does do a pretty good JLU J'onn voice... "Maybe... and maybe not!"
Poor superheroes, though... Being made to look like idiots... Maybe some divine retribution will rain down on the idiots who allowed this comic to exist...
Will you do a review of Red Son?
I give you a ten out of ten for finding all those logical inconsistencies. I always appreciate good critical thinking.
Excellent review, I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.
@Green Ninja:
Marvel did something almost (Almost? Heck, I'm surprised there was never a lawsuit over it) identical, I have it as part of the What If? Secret War collection.
Briefly, the Scarlet Witch says 'No more powers' instead of 'no more mutants' and all the powers, except the tech-based stuff (Stark even makes armor for some of the ex-heroes), stop working. It's *much* better than this dreck.
The comic gets MORE non-sensical from here? Unless the now ex-heroes begin to rape one another out of angst or act like monkeys, flinging their waste around, I believe it is not possible for this to get any more non-sensical, sir.
One question though. Where did the Amazing Giant Man got his giant speedo? I bet that's a more amusing story than 3 issues of seeing super emos.
Okay, right idea, but why, WHY did you have to stuff it up by making everybody an idiot, rip huge inconsistencies open in the plot, and wreck continuity?
Why didn't Superman and all the other non humans just disappear? And they don't explain what the source was? WHAT THE HELL?! I was thinking of an insane celestial being who wanted "All to be equal". Not explaining it is a copout! Hell that Equanox guy from Batman: Brave and the Bold could have been the big bad if this thing was written at a later time. A villain like him would be a perfect fit!
Oh wow, this is bad. I mean, there are some superhoes who treat their superpowered existence as some sort of ongoing alternative therapy session (for prime example, albeit Marvel, see: Iron Man (not that I don't like him, but geez, the man has issues)), but even then, wouldn't they be want to try and find out where their powers went? Or their missing mystical colleagues for that matter? It's not like "superheroes lose their powers" is such an original concept to begin with, and usually, it motivates them as long as there is still a chance for this all working out in the end.
On the other hand, great commentary. I look forward to next week!
holy shit
thanks man!an hour of free entertainment.
theres just too many great things to say about the ranger retrospective.
its like history/reelz channel quality.
cant wait for more
I'm not incredibly into comics, but I've recently discovered your series and can't tell you enough how much I'm enjoying it. The writing is superb, the reviews well thought out, and the jokes spot-on. What really impresses me is that you remain a class act during the entire episode and throughout all the episodes I've watched, a trait I appreciate and that most of the other reviewers whose series I've found have sorely and markedly lacked.
It's been a long time since I've found a series that keeps me consistently amused and intrigued episode after episode. AT4W delivers and will likely be my go-to pick-me-up for quite a while. Thank you for that and keep up the good work.
That said, I'm pretty sick of seeing mopey and/or useless Superman in comics. Honestly, I'll take IC writing over massive trauma!plot any day. I'm not sure how this can get worse, but I can't wait until next week to find out.
I also Highly disagree with Goose. Jokes should NOT be thrown in for purely for increasing entertainment value. This week's episode was fantastic and would not have been 'better' by adding more 'jokes'. The entertainment and jokes should come naturally from the ridiculousness of the material, and if no Good jokes can come out of it, then I say do away with them and only keep the absolute best jokes. If you go writing something, thinking about having to add 'jokes', you will never create enjoyable contextual humor. You'll get a disconnected suffocating clutter of independent jokes that go no-where and add nothing to the enjoyment. Linkara, if you're reading this, keep going with the angry analysis, AVGN style. It works.
The Green Lantern rings are not magical?
They always seemed like that to me with all the stuff about being powered by people's emotions and being connected to god-like entities.
It just seemed to abstract to me to acknowledge it as science
I actually liked Act of God. I don't see how you can bring up red rain, speeding bullets red son, and still complain about "x" acting out of character. I'll grant whiny or emo but it's an elseworlds. While powers/faces may be similar, it's shouldn't be hard to imagine that past events are different. As to why they didn't contact more advanced cultures, I figured the other cultures were dead, depowered and/or couldn't contact Earth's heroes. Either way since they have no bearing on the story, why waste a panel/page on, "y" mystical being feels really useless because he/she doesn't know what is happening and can't fix it.
"I actually liked Act of God. I don't see how you can bring up red rain, speeding bullets red son, and still complain about "x" acting out of character. I'll grant whiny or emo but it's an elseworlds."
Alternate events in their histories completely reshape who the characters end up being - not so here. This was pretty clearly supposed to be the DC Universe circa 2000.
"While powers/faces may be similar, it's shouldn't be hard to imagine that past events are different. As to why they didn't contact more advanced cultures, I figured the other cultures were dead, depowered and/or couldn't contact Earth's heroes."
Aquaman's entire life was about his wife and his people, he brings up the fact that he needs to contact them and find out what happened to them... and then it's immediately dropped. The Amazons are Wonder Woman's entire backstory and they don't even get a single mention.
"Either way since they have no bearing on the story, why waste a panel/page on, "y" mystical being feels really useless because he/she doesn't know what is happening and can't fix it."
Because a character like Zauriel IS an angel - LITERALLY. As such, when in the third issue Wondy is postulating that it's all a test by God, it's awfully convenient that an angel of God is no longer around to say, "No, God wouldn't do that, that's stupid."
i go by ackofgod on utube any way i a big fanof u Lewis Lovhaug plz do a Supergirl (film) review
Wow.....just wow.....looks like Superman At Earth's End, One More Day and Countdown have some company now in the top fails in comics refered to on your show!
This is just plain goofy, with enough out-of-character moments, to make me wish for the simple days when radioactive super plants were beaten by the silver-age Batman!
So until Warrior speaks normal english, MAKE MINE LINKARA!
@juan.deviant
I think the premise would be that big-g God trumps the little-g gods. Of course, said God would have to be completely EVIL to do something like this. It's one thing to have a more distant God who doesn't actively go about performing miracles all the time, but this God is intentionally doing something not just evil but, as Linkara pointed out, random, illogical, and stupid. This goes way beyond Biblical overreactions with smiting. Maltheism, anyone? In a story like this, you sort of want the superheroes to gang up and kick this God's ass.
Though apparently it's never explicitly said this is God...? I guess I'll see in the next two issues.
"I also Highly disagree with Goose. Jokes should NOT be thrown in for purely for increasing entertainment value. This week's episode was fantastic and would not have been 'better' by adding more 'jokes'. The entertainment and jokes should come naturally from the ridiculousness of the material, and if no Good jokes can come out of it, then I say do away with them and only keep the absolute best jokes. If you go writing something, thinking about having to add 'jokes', you will never create enjoyable contextual humor. You'll get a disconnected suffocating clutter of independent jokes that go no-where and add nothing to the enjoyment. Linkara, if you're reading this, keep going with the angry analysis, AVGN style. It works."
Linkara had jokes in his earlier reviews that worked.
And again, I don't think having ludicrous things happen is the only way to get humor. The person doing the reviewing can make something funny. I've seen other reviewers do it.
And also, yes, having someone get angry over something can be funny. But, when you use that gag every time it can get very tiresome. Its like beating a dead horse.
If you're talented enough as a writer then your jokes could be really good.
See, out of everything you complained about, I'm amazed you didn't go for the blatantly obvious "STEEL SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE LIGHT." He built his armor himself! That's like Batman's utility belt being affected!
Also kind of bugged me that Supergirl didn't revert to Linda Danvers instantaneously, given how at that point, it was one of her metahuman abilities to morph between Linda and Supergirl.
(BTW, Green Ninja, Supergirl was an Earth-born angel when Peter David was writing her. A lot of people hated it and I do not know why, because it was a fantastic and extremely original take on the character.)
Awesome video, that. I'm tickled that you used a song by Dishwalla after the title sequence.
Now THERE'S a name I haven't heard in years.
"See, out of everything you complained about, I'm amazed you didn't go for the blatantly obvious "STEEL SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE LIGHT." He built his armor himself! That's like Batman's utility belt being affected!"
People apparently keep forgetting that "technology disrupted for a single second" thing that I mentioned...
@Yogurt: I would pay to see big-g God wrestling with Superman, or whoever.
Can we say BEST CROSSOVER EVER?
Does this mean Superman or Green Lantern will have Superboy Prime's voice next episode?
I like Linkara reviews as they are. All the joke I need is Linkara getting angry at a comic he is reviewing. He doesn't need to dress as a clown and say joke after joke. All he needs is, take a shitty comic and review it just the way he knows how to do it.
But anyway... what a piece of comic you have there, Linkara. Great Review!! can't wait for the next one.
Internal to DC Multiversal canon, there's been established a vague idea of "low-energy universes" (via Grant Morrison's aborted JLA run) where superpowers, magic, supertech... are all severely muffled or wholly fail to function. The fundamental nature of such universes is such that they simply can't support such powers; like trying to breathe the air on top of Everest, it's present but too thin to support life.
It looks like the planet Earth got dropped down to a lower energy-level... somehow. (Without affecting the rest of the universe? No more aliens ever show up?) ...and why does Star Saphire have her powers later?
I'm just saying, if you ignore the purely INTERNAL stupidity of this book, the 'phenomena' itself does KINDA make sense. The "Black Event" which taketh away is the natural inversion of the White Event which suddenly made superpowers possible int he New Universe. (And wasn't there something similar in the Dakotaverse?)
As a basic concept, that CAN kinda-sorta "work" within the framework of the DCU. "The super-physics turned off." (Superphysics brown-outs were the core premise of Millenium!)
The basic concept COULD work within the 'rules' of the universe. ...but this story utterly fails to make it work.
SUPERMAN IS WRITTEN SO HORRIBLY OUT OF CHARACTER.
THE BATWANK IS HORRIBLE
IT'S LIKE DKSA/ASBAR ALL OVER AGAIN
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
LOL! I'm surprised the Continuity Alarm hadn't been going off throughout the review... Or maybe it was just waiting for the opportunity to be annoying. XD
You know, ever since I was a little girl and got into my mother's supply of Batman comics, I've been fascinated by comic books. But until recently, I hadn't ever really followed them. Sure, my fiance loved comics and even worked at a local comic shop soon after I met him, but he tended towards Marvel while I never quite got into Marvel comics. Linkara, because of you, I now know of several DC comics to check out... and more than several to stay away from. Now all I need is a review of a Green Lantern crapfest peppered with recommendations with a good place to start with that series and I'll be set.
There were only a couple of funny moments in this review, but for the most part... I rather enjoyed watching Linkara point out all the stupid in this comic.
Goose, I think you might be picking on Linkara a little too much. It's difficult to keep up a constant energy level week after week (He did kind of seem like he might have been tired during this review, but that could be just me)... Cut the guy a little slack. It's not like we're paying for this... It's free entertainment!
The comic, on the other hand, is something that people have probably paid for in the past (dearly paid for)... and thoroughly deserves to be trashed for being so awful. If I don't get as many chuckles as I usually do from Linkara's previous reviews, then hey... That's fine. I still found this review to be quite enjoyable.
And... like everyone else, I'm curious to see how this comic could possibly get any worse...
(I'm hoping to see Dr. Linksano, sometime... Perhaps in the next review? :D)
Yay, one of the few TGWTG contributors who has been posting reliably these last few weeks. I can't wait until everything gets back on track again.
My personal favorite continuity error is the one where Batman just flat-out forgets that Black Canary has superpowers.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! Blasphemy! Tell me it isn't so, David! Tell me it isn't so!!
In the words of TV's Frank...DEEP HURTING! DEEP HURTING!
I have to disagree about the cop's death. Death is rarely dignified, and the dead are rarely even vain.
Batman, out there to show you how to win everything ever without powers. That is the power of Kevin Conroy's voice!
Thank you for your rant. No, really, thank you. You summarize the concept of suspension of disbelief so much better than I.
I'm going to have argue with you about Superman. Superman's greatest strength, his defining characteristic, is that he cares. His capablity for empathy is even presented as one of his defining traits in 52. That he occasionally plays the PTSD basket case is a very much a part of his nature. He must, or he doesn't care anymore.
well BC powers are secondary to her fighting prowess so the loss of them just deprives her of a single tool rather than making her completely useless
"Goose, I think you might be picking on Linkara a little too much. It's difficult to keep up a constant energy level week after week (He did kind of seem like he might have been tired during this review, but that could be just me)... Cut the guy a little slack. It's not like we're paying for this... It's free entertainment!"
I get what your saying. Sometimes it is hard to write funny material and do a weekly show. However, that doesn't mean I don't have the right to point out what I think is wrong. Nor, do I think I'm being mean to Linkara. And, if it is hard for Linkara to do a weekly show and hard for him to write funny material, why do a weekly show? He could always release shows like Spoony or any other reviewers.
And, yes, even though this is free entertainment, Linkara still gets paid for his work. Which means I have the right to say what I think about a show that is using my time to entertain and make money.
And even if Linkara didn't make any money, I'd still say what my opinion was. I don't see what I shouldn't say my opinion when someone has created something that is supposed to entertain. Besides, I'd imagine that Linkara would want to know what someone thinks of his show, whether positive or negative thoughts.
The black light appears to have taken away the author's ability to do any research. The only way to make Wonderwoman give up her tiara is by prying it out of her cold, dead fingers. I love your explaination of Martian Manhunter and why its especially dumb that he loses his powers. He's one of my favorites.
I haven't read many Elseworlds stories, but my favorite is Gotham by Gaslight.
Mr. Lovhaug,
I fear I must ask forgiveness for a great sin.
I bought this series when it came out, and was so caught up with the whole "no more super-powered heroes" thing that I failed to noticed the flaws that, after you have spotlighted them, seems so obvious in hindsight. I failed to see the idiocy inherent in the story. Oh, the shame...
Of course, your review was excellent, insightful, and (of course) hilarious. Can hardly wait for the next installment.
Linkara,
As a fan I'm going to have to partly agree with TheGoose here. You were a bit too heavy on the anger in this review and it needed more bits of levity and humor like some of your older episodes such as Superman: At Earth's End.
Also speaking of trying to comment on God in comics, have you seen Liefeld's The Godyssey #1
People apparently keep forgetting that "technology disrupted for a single second" thing that I mentioned...
*facepalm* Oh, DURR.
Okay, but give me the point about Linda/Supergirl. :P
I still disagree with Goose. While Linkara has been proven as a good comedy writer, he is a reviewer first and foremost. Before he started doing these videos, he did excellent work picking apart comics; reviewing things is what he does best. Forgive me if I'm misinformed, but ATFW is about reviewing bad comics. Linkara is his own kind of reviewer and is not Mike Nelson.
On Green Lantern:
I hate to say it, but I think there may, possibly, be an excuse for Kyle's ring not working- at the time, Kyle's ring was genetically tied to him, only he could make it function (hence him not handing it to one of the old GLs).
So the black light event could have taken away Kyle's 'power': That is, the power to be the one who could operate the fully-functional ring on his finger.
Green Lantern is not the only one who should be naked. If Flash's costume comes from the speed force, and Jesus Krishna MacAllah took away the speed force, then Flash ought to be in his birthday suit too.
"I still disagree with Goose. While Linkara has been proven as a good comedy writer, he is a reviewer first and foremost. Before he started doing these videos, he did excellent work picking apart comics; reviewing things is what he does best. Forgive me if I'm misinformed, but ATFW is about reviewing bad comics. Linkara is his own kind of reviewer and is not Mike Nelson."
I'm not saying that Linkara is or should be Mike Nelson. Once again, my problem is is that this episode had too much of Linkara picking apart flaws and using anger as humor, instead of having more jokes and making fun of the comic itself.
well BC powers are secondary to her fighting prowess so the loss of them just deprives her of a single tool rather than making her completely useless
Yeah, but Bats explicitly puts her on a list of heroes "who never had powers, and therefore had nothing to lose." I'm not trying to pull out the Continuity Alarm, I just think it's funny.
Allow me to jump on the bandwagon and also vehemently disagree with TheGoose, furthermore stating that I find episodes far less entertaining when all they contain are cheesy jokes and no analysis. It's okay to joke here and there but it shouldn't be a requirement. Without analysis, however, there's no reason to say that a comic sucks.
I like analysis too. But, I also like it when Linkara makes fun of comics.
So far, this seems kinda strange. It's an Elseworld's tale, but it involves the then-current versions of the characters, and so-far the story seems kinda run-of-the-mill.
As another commenter alluded, this is essentially a retread of the story in Distant Fires, another Elseworlds book, in which:
Everyone loses their powers.
No one acts in a consistent fashion.
Superman and WW get together and have a son who is the culmination of the book.
That one is actually crazier, because they explain that it is nuclear weapons that cause EVERYONE to lose their powers, and everyone without powers to die, but it also causes the Joker to go sane. Weird.
Also, the underlying point seems to be that, "The World was not made for beings such as us!" Thus, the re-emergence of powers destroys the whole world...but, Superman sends his kid off to another world, which, hopefully, WILL be made for beings with powers.
Oh, and his kid is named BRUCE. I hate myself now.
Superman lost his powers? The first thing he does is go to the fortress of solitude and use the green crystal; like he did in Superman 2.
Problem solved.
Steel is black right? Did they just kill the only POC in this comic mini-series?
That part about Hawkman I know theres an alien one but what if THIS Hawkman was Carter Hall and not Katar Hol. just saying
Replying the about Hawkman: nevermind both use Thanagarian/Nth Metal tech so who cares
I'm gonna have to say that I'm sort of a coward.
I'm with you in that I wouldn't start bitching at Supes if I saw him fall down hurt like that - but I'm afraid I wouldn't exactly respond heroically by trying to help like you would. I would start running as fast as I could, because I would be wondering what, exactly took down such a powerful superperson and how far behind it was, and if I was trapped (such as by a flood, like in this situation) I would curl up in a fetal ball and hide. Panic would have been a more entertaining and realistic response for the bystanders then the complaining, I think. And I love the "Are we suddenly in the Marvel Universe?" quip. I've never understood why people in the Marvel Universe are so quick to turn on the heroes who have saved them hundreds of times over.
This comic always gives me a headache. Wasn't even an "Act of God" since Moench himself admitted that the "Black Light" was just a freak accident.
"I mean, he IS omnipotent and he has done much worse things before. "
Nope. He hasn't. All he did in the OT and NT was give people exactly what they have coming due to their actions: punishing crimes and rewarding righteous behavior. Hence his title of "Judge of the Living and the Dead". So even if this was an "AoG" it would be completely out of character.
Anyway...
Still don't see why everyone was kissing Batman's ass. Yeah, he's a great hero and all but come on! Even for a batfan this has to get excessive.
That and they killed Steel! How could they kill the one black dude in the entire comic!?
Something I noticed while rewatching. There seems to be a scene with Oracle reminicing about her days as Batgirl and her own loss of abilities after the whole Killing Joke incident. I find this a little intresting for two resons.
One is that it seems to imply that her main motivation for helping the heroes is her relating to their situation. The other is that it implisity makes the other heroes look worse. I mean, she got paralized from the waist down, and she didn't sit around acting emo while watchng reruns of Hogan's Heroes. No, she became Oracle, one of the best hackers in the DC Universe. She's arguably able to do more good than she could before. I mean, it just seems weird.
Then agien, maybe I'm reading into something that's not there. Not really sure what she was saying anyway,, I could barely see the text for that part and I don't have a copy of the book myself, so who knows (other than those who have actually read the book).
Also, out of curiousity, did Booster Gold know about this event? I mean, he is from the future, and he worked in a musium with a huge superhero exibit, and he was a history major specializing in the age of heroes, and the Black Light Event seems like it'd be a big deal historically.
Posting waaaaaaay late here, but I've only recently found your reviews and begun watching.
Here's another point that I bring up as a Garth fan. Just as Kyle should have kept his abilities as they were tech based...
Beast Boy/Changling has also always been tech based. A machine made by his parents, or a science serum... but it's tech. Also, technically if this black light even just reverted him to human... he should be DYING. Beast Boy got his powers because it made his default just far enough away from human to make him immune to the virus that he got from the monkey bite - at least originally... that point was lost over time, that was originally why he couldn't shift into humans or anything 'too close' to a human.
...
sorry, totally random ramble there. My sibs and I did a head tilt and stare during the Teen Titans plot where Beast Boy became 'normal' again and sat there going 'wait, doesn't this mean the virus should start killing him now?' We had the same reaction with this comic so... yeah it's 3 am, I'm going on no sleep due to person trying to break in so I'm weird from lack of sleep, sorry. =_=;;
Also, we just wanted to say that we LOVE the continuity of your videos and how you introduce plot elements early on, often in subtle ways so that they have a pay off later. Forget checkov's gun, you've got checkov's armory AND plot bricks just flying everywhere! ^^
"My sibs and I did a head tilt and stare during the Teen Titans plot where Beast Boy became 'normal' again and sat there going 'wait, doesn't this mean the virus should start killing him now?'"
I imagine that the virus, not being able to reproduce after so many years, would probably just die off by that point.
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