Lewis, may I just say, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for opening the review with Lady Gaga. My day has been pretty weird and kind of meh so far and this COMPLETELY saved it for me. It's a minor point in the review, I know, but you just made this Little Monster and avid Atop the Fourth Wall fan (are we still calling ourselves the Bear Patrol, peeps?) unfathomably happy today. Bless you, sir!
Good review Linkara, too bad "The Others #1" wasn't interesting enough to be its own review but it gave us the chance to see Robo Bear vs Cyber Gorilla.
Oh yeah in terms of marketing didn't you know? Brute Force, after years of nothing, became "Beast Wars" XD.
Look forward to the PSA Hell next week (Yeah I misread the schedule before FTL).
Nice work! Brute Force was awesome! The Others: not so much.
In slightly related news: I was at a comic book store last week, going through the back issues bins & they had Sultry Teenage Super-Foxes #1 & 2. I smiled when I saw them & was half tempted to buy them but didn't. I know if I want them, they'll probably still be there. I don't think anyone is really looking for those comics. :)
Alright before I dig in theres a couple of points I want to make from your little side swipe at BP. First it's BP not British Petroleum, as it is now an international company that is based in the UK simply due to it's connection to international markets. Calling it "British Petroleum" is the same as me saying "American Microsoft." Second The pipes that burst were installed by an AMERICAN contractor. I wouldn't bring this up if it wasn't for the fact the US media and certain high ranking members of the US Government keep truing to foist the problem off as some sort of vast British conspiracy.
BP is responsible, yes, but accidents happen. We don't come crying to you and the media every time you're incompetent military accidentally bombs civilian and ally targets do we? No mostly because you wouldn't acknowledge it if we did. (Sorry, I guess I'm a little ticked at the one sided view presented over there and over here. For Christ's sake can someone at least try to get their facts straight in the news before blaming people?)
Rant over, moving on to the first comic. The Others was probably pumped out of the Image pressing office, using the giant writers mould I guess they have there, as a catch penny. Because they were popular for a time Image just seemed to produce this sort of generic crap to pull in as much as they could until the comic book reading public wised up and demanded sense, intelligence and cohesive writing. As usual it might not deserve burning, but I'm certain there's a deep dark pit somewhere that we could throw every issue into.
It's going to take something spectacular to make me care about that company again. Giant cybernetic animals would probably do it though.
I've never liked US Marvel comics, call it personal preference or just a dislike of soap opera story-lines that Marvel seemed full of. You'd think that after thirty years J. Jameson (of Spiderman's Daly Bugle of course) would get tired of persecuting the same guy for little or no real reason. They just seemed to find a formula for a comic and stick to it. At least DC had some development, even if it was minuscule.
However the idea of thinly disguising an environmentalist message in a comic by making the heroes genetically and cybernetic enhanced psychopathic animals was pure fantastic madness. I've really got to look this one up, I wonder how many issues it lasted before common sense finally reared it's head and the editors-in-chief paid attention.
No matter how little sense, logic or intelligence involved Brute Force had the feeling of good fun. It can't be taken seriously and I don't think it's meant to. It's entirely possible the whole thing could be a parody of environmentalist messages several comics seem to have embedded in them. I might be reading too much into it but the comic felt a little too on the nose to be serious.
Finally onto the review itself. There wasn't anything spectacular about it. It was fun, but it didn't feel as inventive as previous reviews. In someways your recent episodes have felt like fillers, going through the motions while drawing out your Lord Vyce arc.
Wow... These were awesome. Both reviews were great, though I have to admit I prefered Brute Force. Simply because it was so incredibly awesome. Also you could do a really good Joey Wheeler voice. For Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, of course.
No, but seriously, as a furry myself, I would've figured I'd be more interested in The Others but wow, that was cliche and dull. I mean, really? The king is ill and a person of malcontent takes the throne in his stead to wage war? REALLY? Although I'll admit the bunnygirl was nice. *cough*
ANYWAY, as for Brute Force, wow, now THAT'S a story. Cyborg animals fight in the name of the environment? Ted Turner should've taken some notes.
Also you flubbed there and said 'endure' instead of 'ensure'.
Also also, I see you're using your newfound knowledge of the wonderful Tarja-era Nightwish to good use at the end.
Oh yeah in terms of marketing didn't you know? Brute Force, after years of nothing, became "Beast Wars" XD."
...I thought it got turned into Battle Beasts? *shrugs* Same split off franchise to Transformers, I guess.
It's interesting that you mentioned furries, Linkara; I was going to ask you if this qualified as the "furry episode" of AT4W. I mean, heaven knows that you'll be unlikely to review any real furry comics (because, y'know, they're mostly porno comics and all...what, you thought I was making a crack at the furry community? Though, now that I think about it, a "history of" segment detailing the furry fandom and its contribution to indie comics would be something to see).
I'm saddened we never got to see a Brute Force animated series or something like that. I would've loved to hear what the hypothetical theme to a show with ROBO-BEAR! would've sounded like.
Next week, it's one of the "Spider-Man in Canada" PSA comics. Should be interesting.
When we see the Multicorp building with the helicopter in front... that is either the biggest helicopter in the world, or two people try to pass each other in the building, someone's getting shoved out the window.
Okay, first the bad: I felt the review of The Others was incredibly boring, not-very-well explained, and, a bit ranty. There are legitimate uses of Issue 0 as an origin story (James Robinson's Starman). More importantly, forced rage over a comic that's really nothing more than bland and boring isn't funny. If you want to use anger effectively, check out how AVGN does it. (I don't mean copious profanity, just in terms of of timing and delivery.)
On the OTHER hand, the review of Brute Force was fantastic, and easily your best review in a long time. You went into the background, showed the flaws in the comic's writing, and did some great riffing. You looked and sounded like you really cared about that review, when a good number of reviews over the past year have seemed like a chore. It helps when you're working with such an awesomely silly comic.
Anyway, hope you don't take this as overly critical, because I really enjoyed this video and would love to see more in this vein.
I love Multicorp's logo. It looks exactly like the logo of Engulf and Devour, from Mel Brooks's "Silent Movie." Engulf and Devour was of course an evil company, and its slogan was "We have our fingers in everything." :)
So.. Brute Force was like the crappy and stupid version of We3?
Or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG sandbox adventure I ran with biogenetically morphed sentient animals fighting off zombies in a biological research lab.
Which was actually pretty awesome unlike this comic.
Man, late 80s/early 90s Marvel was awful wasn't it?
And we thought comics' double threat of Quesada and Didio did horrible things...
But a question: You mentioned Marvel's Star Comics imprint yet this book and most of the examples you used were of mainline Marvel and not the Star imprint. *
Shogun Warriors, Godzilla, Micronauts, ROM, GI Joe, and Transformers were all mainline Marvel printed books. (I don't remember if Crystar and Sectaurs were. Or Starriors, a miniseries I loved so much I am currently upset I can't find it and will probably just buy it again.)
Heck, most of the above besides GI Joe and Transformers were part of mainline Marvel continuity. So technically Raideen and Combattler V might be precursor machines to the TWO different lines of Marvel transforming mecha. (The Toybiz one was a great goofy fun comic. It was silly, it knew it was silly, and it had Spidey mentioning that ridiculous 90s Fantastic Four story were he, Wolvie, Ghost Rider, and I think the Hulk all teamed up.)
Though heck. Given all this 80s nostalgia I sort of want to see you cover the DC Robotech miniseries or Marvel's Shogun Warriors run.
Even though I remember enjoying the Robotech mini, and I got a lot of fun out of Shogun Warriors even without having read it as a kid. The art is seriously Kirby inspired.
Sheet, an 80s toy comic month/season could give you plenty of fodder to cover unless you need pure garbage to talk about.
* Though a recent X Babies miniseries pretty much made the Marvel owned Star properties part of the Marvel universe and removed much of the silly while keeping the core concepts. Sort of like a reimagined Battlestar Galactica, though still kid friendly in this case. If they took those revamps, made books of them, and I had kids? I would buy them to read to said children.
Holy crap, I hope this comic actually got a sequel because I would give my left kidney to see Mecha Shark and Techno Octopus in action. Mr. Frost kind of one-upped the scientist in terms of sheer, balls-to-the-wall crazy awesomeness.
Terrific review, and yet more proof that Ghost Love Score makes everything better. :D
Great review. I've followed along for almost a year now and while I always take enjoyment, a few of the joke had me laughing pretty hard. I really could have used a Batman vs. Heavy Metal gag at the end though.
@Mountain King Um, about that little tirade about BP...you're aware that the B and the P come from British Petroleum, the company's previous legal name, right? It's still a commonly used name to refer to the company despite the legal name change. It's only been BP since 2001- before that, since 1954 it was British Petroleum Company. Calling BP "British Petroleum" is nothing like calling Microsoft "American Microsoft" because nationality has nothing to do with anything- Microsoft never carried a name like that, but BP did. It's more like still calling EB, Electronics Boutique, its previous legal name from which the new name derives its origins. Similarly, this also renders your ranting about the nationality of the faulty equipment completely irrelevant
Oh no the enclave where is the vault dweller when you need him oh well i could be worse an intergalactic empire could be attacking or an alien race could have taken over the world an relocated the rest of the humans to different cities or the grox could be attacking continuity alarm going off then expaloding
Calling it "British Petroleum" is the same as me saying "American Microsoft." No, it isn't. BP was called British Petroleum for 89 years; Microsoft was never called "American Microsoft".
Really, my only complain here is that the "bias in the media" joke was painfully shoehorned in. Unless you're talking bias in general, does Fox News ring a bell?
I mean, I'm not saying that all the political jokes are bad, the BP joke fit perfectly and, even as a liberal leaning moderate, the Michael Moore crack you made in one particular review (don't remember which one) was decent. Not to mention that, while I disagree with your views on the subject, your nuclear weapons* bit in your Superman IV review with the Nostalgia Critic was quite humorous.
* Though they do bring about some incentive to stay at peace, I don't think nuclear weapons alone have prevented war and that we should be making efforts to disarm ALL nuclear nations. At the same time, however, I know its not as simple as someone like Superman going in and saying "let's get rid of all the nukes!" to make it happen. I feel that it'll take a long ass time, but eventually humanity will be able to live in a world without nuclear weapons.
The dolphin would die with it's head outside of the water for so long (which makes me sad because cyborg dolphin is my favorite). I love this comic! It's like a goulash of Transformers meets Capt. Planet meets Animorphs and it really is so bad it loops around to win!
I really shouldn't complain about animal anatomy fail since it's redundant and unavoidable when it comes to anthropomorphic characters in general, but the snake's head in "The Others" creeped me. It's a snake and isn't remotely anthropomorphic (the samurai helmet doesn't make it anthro, artist) so WHY does it have a human-like skull?!?
Is that...is that a cyborg dolphin you're riding on the title card? Somebody get Kevin Seimbada on the phone, his Rifts stuff is getting ripped off!
Eh, that cover is noticeable. It's not interesting for more than six seconds, but you will notice it.
Venn diagram beams is a surprisingly apt description. The physics of such a thing are making my head hurt just looking at it. Perhaps the otherworldly geometries of the Great Old Ones have been manifested in image comics? That would sadly make a lot of sense...
That is the worst anthropomorphic rabbit ever. I know good art is too much for Image, but...that is still the worst anthropomorphic rabbit ever.
Holy shit. They are cyborg dolphins! KEVIN, THEY'RE TAKING YOUR STUFF! (Yeah, Rifts can sort of "no, this was not made on crack, crack was made on this" at times.)
Linkara, you do realize you used your Kent Brockman voice for a woman, right? :P
I can't remember "heat" ever being a term for "this is good". "Hot" yes, "heat" no. Stan Lee is detectable by his bad slang?
I detect a musical YugiOh Abridged reference. Though it works.
Wow, what a spectacularly awful and yet awesome comic!
It seems like in the 90s, there were a lot of environmentally themed kids' shows and comics which gave little to no practical advice on how kids themselves could do their part. I guess because any ridiculous premise could get a green light if it had an environmental message? I love how in many of these series it's implied that whoever is causing pollution should be directly physically attacked in order to solve the problem, as if they're the boss of a video game. It made me very jaded and powerless feeling growing up to discover that you can't simply go in there and stop some one evil boss who's acting illegally and can be attacked with impunity to make the world a better place. I think simplifying things in this way in the shows during my childhood did more harm than good in retrospect.
Also, I think Grant Morrison's WE3 did the whole 'animals as weapons' idea far better, although, it doesn't really fall into the trap of presenting as a good idea, as it actually demonstrates through the comic how uncontrollable the animals are.
please can we have an apology for the BP thing as the "mountin king" said they are BP NOT BRITISH PETROLIOM, there are more american shareholders then british ones, and the rig was made buy a seperate compony, BP were just using it. (now hey did do some shady dealings with the guy who should be cheking it, but that the regulaters fault as well as BP's).
You'd think that SyFy channel would've jumped all over the "Robo Bear vs. CyberGorilla" idea by now. As a matter of fact, that whole comic seemed oddly reminiscant of just that kind of so-bad-it's-good B-movie.
I was also wondering if any mention of We3 was going to be made. I'm not sure how anyone else feels about this in partiuclar, but up till All Star Superman, I considered it to be one of the best things Morrison and Quitely's ever did together.
Okay, normally I don't care for comments repeating just one line found particularly hilarious... But, "Does Flipper have to choke a bitch?"
Seriously, that was priceless. Along with the rest of the 'Brute Force' review.
My question is, did we ever actually see the gorilla talk? Theoretically, if it was given the same sort of technological upgrade as the rest of the animals, it should be able to speak, but did it ever actually say anything during the comic? I mean, it was given enough panel time, you'd think it would have said something...
Oh, and I love how these reviews randomly inspire thoughtful debate on complex topics. Kudos to doing your part to increase our awareness as a society.
MFlorian - I sent Linkara a grab-bag of oddball comics back around February. It only included the first issue of this series. If you managed to send him issues 2-4 more power to you.
Ah, a double feature. Well, sort of. Actually, it was sort of like Batman Returns. I always felt that, when they were putting that together, at some point one guy said, "Look, The Penguin just isn't going to be able to carry this movie, so we better stick in someone else as well..."
Not to say that using The Others as a "short feature" and following up with Brute Force was a bad idea. Far from it. I think you are right in saying that Image comics tend to be simply variations on the same tune, and the tune isn't very engaging to begin with.
I must confess, both The Others and Brute Force reminded me of 80's syndicated cartoons, though nether was as much fun. Image does what Image does: Style over substance, like a hallow piece of plastic fruit. Yes, it might look pretty and shiny, but that's it. The Others have fairly detailed art, but that's about it.
Brute Force, on the other hand, is more like one of those "fruit punch" beverages, you know the ones, that when you look at the label closely, says that it "contains no fruit juice". Sure, it might taste alright, and it may quench your thirst, but it is no match for the real deal. Brute Force looks like a comic made by a focus group: "Say, what do the kids like? Robots, animal characters, and things that transform into vehicles? Great! Will just combine everything, and the money will practically print itself!" Too bad they didn't check into WHY those particular things were popular...
As always, looking forward to your next installment.
Yeah, I sent him the entire miniseries; along with some other stuff. I was confused because when I offered, he said he had been looking for it for awhile.
If you sent that comic in February, then you beat me out by 4 months.
Ah well.
Still, good choice in donation. Brute Force is insane.
I am suddenly filled with the urge to track down Transformers: Beast Wars again, and finally finish watching that crazy series.
Awesome review as usual, Linkara. The first minute of the Brute Force bit had me in hysterics over how ridiculous the comic was. Not that the rest wasn't good, but that first minute was absolute gold. Are we sure Marvel wasn't, you know, on something while they were writing that mess?
I thought 'The Others' was a bit too bland to get really worked up about, but 'Brute Force' more than makes up for it.
It's one of those things where you really have to wonder where the creators got the idea - it's so ludicrous that it's hard to think how you could even conceive of such a ridiculous concept. And what makes it really great is that they played it mostly straight. If there were more attempts at making it a comedy, it would just have been lame as opposed to being awesome.
A lot of people have mentioned this already, but I think it would be hilarious if Grant Morrison had used this as the basis of 'WE3.' I wouldn't even put it past the guy, considering his other eclectic influences.
Why does the bear have an exposed navel? Seems a bit of a vital area to leave open. Or maybe it's just that fat. Or likes showing off it's cute lil belly ring
I am surprise you didn't made a Road Rover crack or reference. I mean think about, Brute Force is just like them, but Road Rovers were funny and awesome in a good why, while this is too bad and ridiculous.
Lets face it. If we're were 4 and 5 years old again...
A cyborg dolphin in a street line yellow shell would be a bad ass figure to pit against Han Solo when Cobra command fails to use Optimus Primes evil twin brother.
I mean the opportunities to use such confusingly badass action figures would have been limitless. Its just a shame that they never marketed this line even as a one off series that would never hit the shelves of a discount department store 10 years down the road when a few crates are unearthed in a warehose somewhere.
I agree that one fight scene was enough make me try to find a copy of this pitiful piece of entertainment.
If I'm not mistaken, Todd MacFarlene had a cyborg Gorilla that was a former lab experiment. Seems to be a common trend to make gorllias into robots.
As a kid I so would've bought a cyborg dolphin action figure. Heck, I'd buy one now. Really excellent set of reviews, especially for Brute Force, it's hard to resist the lure of absolute insanity.
One note for the few complainers on here: If the joke had been about Kentucky Fried Chicken, would you write out a huffy comment demanding an apology since they've legally changed their name to KFC? Probably not, eh? It was just topical humour, not a stab at Britain. Britain is awesome, after all, they gave the world Doctor Who.
Best revie in a long time. I would love to see more of Brute Force, specially seeing them fighting Heavy Metal, I mean, look at that shark with wheels with spikes! It makes absolutely no sense, and that's awesome.
That was a pretty interesting review. For some reason these comics reminded me of Lego's series of comics called "Bionicle" for their line of products under that name. I'm not sure if you heard of them, but they might be an idea worth checking out. I can't remember if the comics were good or bad, considering my childhood bias. XD
Also, love the fact that you used a Nightwish song here. Especially since it was a Nightwish + Tarja song. :P
You know, "Brute Force" is so good, its in the Criterion Collection. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/08/cartoonists-for-criterion/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Lewis, may I just say, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for opening the review with Lady Gaga. My day has been pretty weird and kind of meh so far and this COMPLETELY saved it for me. It's a minor point in the review, I know, but you just made this Little Monster and avid Atop the Fourth Wall fan (are we still calling ourselves the Bear Patrol, peeps?) unfathomably happy today. Bless you, sir!
ReplyDeleteGood review Linkara, too bad "The Others #1" wasn't interesting enough to be its own review but it gave us the chance to see Robo Bear vs Cyber Gorilla.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah in terms of marketing didn't you know? Brute Force, after years of nothing, became "Beast Wars" XD.
Look forward to the PSA Hell next week (Yeah I misread the schedule before FTL).
You and Brute Force just totally made my day. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteNice work! Brute Force was awesome! The Others: not so much.
ReplyDeleteIn slightly related news: I was at a comic book store last week, going through the back issues bins & they had Sultry Teenage Super-Foxes #1 & 2. I smiled when I saw them & was half tempted to buy them but didn't. I know if I want them, they'll probably still be there. I don't think anyone is really looking for those comics. :)
I thought Brute Force #1 would make a great review. It makes me sad that we never got an actual Brute Force action figure line.
ReplyDeleteAlso you got to love Pierce's sweet 1990 ponytail.
Alright before I dig in theres a couple of points I want to make from your little side swipe at BP. First it's BP not British Petroleum, as it is now an international company that is based in the UK simply due to it's connection to international markets. Calling it "British Petroleum" is the same as me saying "American Microsoft." Second The pipes that burst were installed by an AMERICAN contractor. I wouldn't bring this up if it wasn't for the fact the US media and certain high ranking members of the US Government keep truing to foist the problem off as some sort of vast British conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteBP is responsible, yes, but accidents happen. We don't come crying to you and the media every time you're incompetent military accidentally bombs civilian and ally targets do we? No mostly because you wouldn't acknowledge it if we did. (Sorry, I guess I'm a little ticked at the one sided view presented over there and over here. For Christ's sake can someone at least try to get their facts straight in the news before blaming people?)
Rant over, moving on to the first comic. The Others was probably pumped out of the Image pressing office, using the giant writers mould I guess they have there, as a catch penny. Because they were popular for a time Image just seemed to produce this sort of generic crap to pull in as much as they could until the comic book reading public wised up and demanded sense, intelligence and cohesive writing. As usual it might not deserve burning, but I'm certain there's a deep dark pit somewhere that we could throw every issue into.
It's going to take something spectacular to make me care about that company again. Giant cybernetic animals would probably do it though.
I've never liked US Marvel comics, call it personal preference or just a dislike of soap opera story-lines that Marvel seemed full of. You'd think that after thirty years J. Jameson (of Spiderman's Daly Bugle of course) would get tired of persecuting the same guy for little or no real reason. They just seemed to find a formula for a comic and stick to it. At least DC had some development, even if it was minuscule.
However the idea of thinly disguising an environmentalist message in a comic by making the heroes genetically and cybernetic enhanced psychopathic animals was pure fantastic madness. I've really got to look this one up, I wonder how many issues it lasted before common sense finally reared it's head and the editors-in-chief paid attention.
No matter how little sense, logic or intelligence involved Brute Force had the feeling of good fun. It can't be taken seriously and I don't think it's meant to. It's entirely possible the whole thing could be a parody of environmentalist messages several comics seem to have embedded in them. I might be reading too much into it but the comic felt a little too on the nose to be serious.
Finally onto the review itself. There wasn't anything spectacular about it. It was fun, but it didn't feel as inventive as previous reviews. In someways your recent episodes have felt like fillers, going through the motions while drawing out your Lord Vyce arc.
Thomas
AKA Mountain King
I wouldn't be shocked if Brute Force was actually Grant Morrison's inspiration for We3.
ReplyDeleteWow... These were awesome. Both reviews were great, though I have to admit I prefered Brute Force. Simply because it was so incredibly awesome. Also you could do a really good Joey Wheeler voice. For Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, of course.
ReplyDeleteFuuuurriiiiiies. >8U
ReplyDeleteNo, but seriously, as a furry myself, I would've figured I'd be more interested in The Others but wow, that was cliche and dull. I mean, really? The king is ill and a person of malcontent takes the throne in his stead to wage war? REALLY? Although I'll admit the bunnygirl was nice. *cough*
ANYWAY, as for Brute Force, wow, now THAT'S a story. Cyborg animals fight in the name of the environment? Ted Turner should've taken some notes.
Also you flubbed there and said 'endure' instead of 'ensure'.
Also also, I see you're using your newfound knowledge of the wonderful Tarja-era Nightwish to good use at the end.
OMG!
ReplyDeleteBrute Force is the spiritual predecessor of Werewolf the Apocalypse!
It's all there!
Wild animals with guns and evil corporations included!
Holy shit! Nightwish? I would never imagine you using one of their songs in your videos.
ReplyDeleteRobo Bear vs Cyber Gorilla was almost as epic as Yor glide-kicking a purple mutant caveman from the future with dead giant bat.
"Kriken said...
ReplyDeleteOh yeah in terms of marketing didn't you know? Brute Force, after years of nothing, became "Beast Wars" XD."
...I thought it got turned into Battle Beasts? *shrugs* Same split off franchise to Transformers, I guess.
It's interesting that you mentioned furries, Linkara; I was going to ask you if this qualified as the "furry episode" of AT4W. I mean, heaven knows that you'll be unlikely to review any real furry comics (because, y'know, they're mostly porno comics and all...what, you thought I was making a crack at the furry community? Though, now that I think about it, a "history of" segment detailing the furry fandom and its contribution to indie comics would be something to see).
Why is the female reporter speaking like a man? Was that a joke and I am just dumb? ^_^;
ReplyDelete-What does the other d do?
ReplyDeleteMakes the name copywrightable?
I would have loved Brute Force toys.
I'm saddened we never got to see a Brute Force animated series or something like that. I would've loved to hear what the hypothetical theme to a show with ROBO-BEAR! would've sounded like.
ReplyDeleteNext week, it's one of the "Spider-Man in Canada" PSA comics. Should be interesting.
Did anyone think of "We3" when they saw Brute Force?
ReplyDeleteBrute Force reminds me a bit of Archie comics' Mighty Mutanimals. Only the Mutanimals were alot cooler.
ReplyDeleteBut hey... at least I know where they might have gotten the idea for the Mighty Mutanimals now... or the very least Armaggon the shark of da future.
Altho Armaggon is way cooler (except for you know blowing Raphael's eye out of it's socket :P)
When we see the Multicorp building with the helicopter in front... that is either the biggest helicopter in the world, or two people try to pass each other in the building, someone's getting shoved out the window.
ReplyDeleteTHAT. WAS. AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's amazing how once in awhile you find one gem among the pile of turds that's just so terrible and yet still so amazing.
Also, HUGE props for use of Nightwish! I hope you can work some more metal into your reviews in the future. Rock on man!
Super robot-animals are created to protect the environment, and end up destroying some of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is better known as Godzilla Syndrome.
What no Kangaroo Jack rap reference for the rapping Kangaroo, disappointing. Otherwise another great review once again keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteGood Reviews, Lewis.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I must inform you that the newscaster from "Brute Force" was implied to be female, not male.
Also, are you ever gonna do '90's Captain America? i'd love to see you review "CapWolf" or "Heroes Reborn" Captain America.
I am well aware that the newscaster is female.
ReplyDeleteEvery reporter and newscaster I do the Tom Brokaw voice for.
A two-for-one review AND a closer from Nightwish! Excellent!
ReplyDelete"Cyber Bear vs. Cyber Gorilla vs. Giant Octopus vs. Megashark: This time...ITS AWESOME"
ReplyDeleteWow, a double dose. Thanks Link!
Amzing!!! I gotta love the Bearzooka!!
ReplyDeleteDude I hope that you can get the second issue of Brute Force!
Great video. I also was reminded of the TMNT spin-off team the Might Mutanimals. Why is it animal super teams have to be all about saving the earth?
ReplyDeleteThe two D's are for a double dose of pimpin'
ReplyDeleteOkay, first the bad: I felt the review of The Others was incredibly boring, not-very-well explained, and, a bit ranty. There are legitimate uses of Issue 0 as an origin story (James Robinson's Starman). More importantly, forced rage over a comic that's really nothing more than bland and boring isn't funny. If you want to use anger effectively, check out how AVGN does it. (I don't mean copious profanity, just in terms of of timing and delivery.)
ReplyDeleteOn the OTHER hand, the review of Brute Force was fantastic, and easily your best review in a long time. You went into the background, showed the flaws in the comic's writing, and did some great riffing. You looked and sounded like you really cared about that review, when a good number of reviews over the past year have seemed like a chore. It helps when you're working with such an awesomely silly comic.
Anyway, hope you don't take this as overly critical, because I really enjoyed this video and would love to see more in this vein.
Kind of reminds me of Grizzly Shark vs. Sea Bear. I haven't read it, but Robo-Bear vs. Cyber-Gorilla somehow brings that up.
ReplyDeleteI love Multicorp's logo. It looks exactly like the logo of Engulf and Devour, from Mel Brooks's "Silent Movie." Engulf and Devour was of course an evil company, and its slogan was "We have our fingers in everything." :)
ReplyDeleteSo.. Brute Force was like the crappy and stupid version of We3?
ReplyDeleteOr a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG sandbox adventure I ran with biogenetically morphed sentient animals fighting off zombies in a biological research lab.
Which was actually pretty awesome unlike this comic.
Man, late 80s/early 90s Marvel was awful wasn't it?
And we thought comics' double threat of Quesada and Didio did horrible things...
But a question: You mentioned Marvel's Star Comics imprint yet this book and most of the examples you used were of mainline Marvel and not the Star imprint. *
Shogun Warriors, Godzilla, Micronauts, ROM, GI Joe, and Transformers were all mainline Marvel printed books. (I don't remember if Crystar and Sectaurs were. Or Starriors, a miniseries I loved so much I am currently upset I can't find it and will probably just buy it again.)
Heck, most of the above besides GI Joe and Transformers were part of mainline Marvel continuity. So technically Raideen and Combattler V might be precursor machines to the TWO different lines of Marvel transforming mecha. (The Toybiz one was a great goofy fun comic. It was silly, it knew it was silly, and it had Spidey mentioning that ridiculous 90s Fantastic Four story were he, Wolvie, Ghost Rider, and I think the Hulk all teamed up.)
Though heck. Given all this 80s nostalgia I sort of want to see you cover the DC Robotech miniseries or Marvel's Shogun Warriors run.
Even though I remember enjoying the Robotech mini, and I got a lot of fun out of Shogun Warriors even without having read it as a kid. The art is seriously Kirby inspired.
Sheet, an 80s toy comic month/season could give you plenty of fodder to cover unless you need pure garbage to talk about.
* Though a recent X Babies miniseries pretty much made the Marvel owned Star properties part of the Marvel universe and removed much of the silly while keeping the core concepts. Sort of like a reimagined Battlestar Galactica, though still kid friendly in this case. If they took those revamps, made books of them, and I had kids? I would buy them to read to said children.
I think I'm going to use Dr. Pierce's "Animals + Weapons" diagram as a desktop wallpaper.
ReplyDeleteWait, Alison with an old man voice?
ReplyDeleteAh, I see our esteemed Mr. Lovhaug has discovered the epic GLORY of Nightwish. =)
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, I hope this comic actually got a sequel because I would give my left kidney to see Mecha Shark and Techno Octopus in action. Mr. Frost kind of one-upped the scientist in terms of sheer, balls-to-the-wall crazy awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteTerrific review, and yet more proof that Ghost Love Score makes everything better. :D
Anytime anyone uses any part of "Ghost Love Score," my brain explodes from the awesome. That made my evening.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I've followed along for almost a year now and while I always take enjoyment, a few of the joke had me laughing pretty hard. I really could have used a Batman vs. Heavy Metal gag at the end though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the entertainment!
I was honestly expecting you to do a "Khaaaan" joke there. I love it when you do the unexpected.
ReplyDeleteBrute Force had an INTERESTIGN premise at least. Make animals smart, and turn them into soldiers.
But i much prefer the Road Rovers cartoon from 97'. They were all one species, and they embraced the silliness of the whole thing.
What I liked most of all is how you reviewed a comic, and actually enjoyed yourself!
I want to see more "So bad it's good" episodes.
I thought the talking space dolphin from fifty two was ludicrous but a cyborg dolphin with a gun wow.
ReplyDelete@Mountain King
ReplyDeleteUm, about that little tirade about BP...you're aware that the B and the P come from British Petroleum, the company's previous legal name, right? It's still a commonly used name to refer to the company despite the legal name change. It's only been BP since 2001- before that, since 1954 it was British Petroleum Company. Calling BP "British Petroleum" is nothing like calling Microsoft "American Microsoft" because nationality has nothing to do with anything- Microsoft never carried a name like that, but BP did. It's more like still calling EB, Electronics Boutique, its previous legal name from which the new name derives its origins. Similarly, this also renders your ranting about the nationality of the faulty equipment completely irrelevant
Oh no the enclave where is the vault dweller when you need him oh well i could be worse an intergalactic empire could be attacking or an alien race could have taken over the world an relocated the rest of the humans to different cities or the grox could be attacking continuity alarm going off then expaloding
ReplyDeleteWait a minute, the snake's name was Thrall? How does he hold the Doomhammer without hands?
ReplyDelete...I thought it got turned into Battle Beasts? *shrugs* Same split off franchise to Transformers, I guess.
ReplyDeleteActually, Battle Beasts came first. (Collect all 84!)
Calling it "British Petroleum" is the same as me saying "American Microsoft." No, it isn't. BP was called British Petroleum for 89 years; Microsoft was never called "American Microsoft".
Brute Force better make it into Marvel vs Capcom 3. They're a perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteGotta love the so bad its good comics.
ReplyDeleteReally, my only complain here is that the "bias in the media" joke was painfully shoehorned in. Unless you're talking bias in general, does Fox News ring a bell?
I mean, I'm not saying that all the political jokes are bad, the BP joke fit perfectly and, even as a liberal leaning moderate, the Michael Moore crack you made in one particular review (don't remember which one) was decent. Not to mention that, while I disagree with your views on the subject, your nuclear weapons* bit in your Superman IV review with the Nostalgia Critic was quite humorous.
* Though they do bring about some incentive to stay at peace, I don't think nuclear weapons alone have prevented war and that we should be making efforts to disarm ALL nuclear nations. At the same time, however, I know its not as simple as someone like Superman going in and saying "let's get rid of all the nukes!" to make it happen. I feel that it'll take a long ass time, but eventually humanity will be able to live in a world without nuclear weapons.
The dolphin would die with it's head outside of the water for so long (which makes me sad because cyborg dolphin is my favorite). I love this comic! It's like a goulash of Transformers meets Capt. Planet meets Animorphs and it really is so bad it loops around to win!
ReplyDeleteI really shouldn't complain about animal anatomy fail since it's redundant and unavoidable when it comes to anthropomorphic characters in general, but the snake's head in "The Others" creeped me. It's a snake and isn't remotely anthropomorphic (the samurai helmet doesn't make it anthro, artist) so WHY does it have a human-like skull?!?
Is that...is that a cyborg dolphin you're riding on the title card? Somebody get Kevin Seimbada on the phone, his Rifts stuff is getting ripped off!
ReplyDeleteEh, that cover is noticeable. It's not interesting for more than six seconds, but you will notice it.
Venn diagram beams is a surprisingly apt description. The physics of such a thing are making my head hurt just looking at it. Perhaps the otherworldly geometries of the Great Old Ones have been manifested in image comics? That would sadly make a lot of sense...
That is the worst anthropomorphic rabbit ever. I know good art is too much for Image, but...that is still the worst anthropomorphic rabbit ever.
Holy shit. They are cyborg dolphins! KEVIN, THEY'RE TAKING YOUR STUFF! (Yeah, Rifts can sort of "no, this was not made on crack, crack was made on this" at times.)
Linkara, you do realize you used your Kent Brockman voice for a woman, right? :P
I can't remember "heat" ever being a term for "this is good". "Hot" yes, "heat" no. Stan Lee is detectable by his bad slang?
I detect a musical YugiOh Abridged reference. Though it works.
Wow, what a spectacularly awful and yet awesome comic!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like in the 90s, there were a lot of environmentally themed kids' shows and comics which gave little to no practical advice on how kids themselves could do their part. I guess because any ridiculous premise could get a green light if it had an environmental message? I love how in many of these series it's implied that whoever is causing pollution should be directly physically attacked in order to solve the problem, as if they're the boss of a video game. It made me very jaded and powerless feeling growing up to discover that you can't simply go in there and stop some one evil boss who's acting illegally and can be attacked with impunity to make the world a better place. I think simplifying things in this way in the shows during my childhood did more harm than good in retrospect.
Brute Force sounds like Battle Beasts. They need to do a crossover with Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos!
ReplyDeleteThat whole newscaster bit during Brute Force: "This is Alison Fitzpatrick reporting..."
ReplyDeleteExcellent stuff! xD
Also, I think Grant Morrison's WE3 did the whole 'animals as weapons' idea far better, although, it doesn't really fall into the trap of presenting as a good idea, as it actually demonstrates through the comic how uncontrollable the animals are.
ReplyDeleteplease can we have an apology for the BP thing as the "mountin king" said they are BP NOT BRITISH PETROLIOM, there are more american shareholders then british ones, and the rig was made buy a seperate compony, BP were just using it. (now hey did do some shady dealings with the guy who should be cheking it, but that the regulaters fault as well as BP's).
ReplyDeleteon an unrelated note, great review as usual.
Samson
London, England
Thank you to Paul S for his donation of Brute Force?!
ReplyDeleteWhen I sent that mini-series in June, you said you were looking for it for a long time - not that someone else already gave it to you.
You'd think that SyFy channel would've jumped all over the "Robo Bear vs. CyberGorilla" idea by now. As a matter of fact, that whole comic seemed oddly reminiscant of just that kind of so-bad-it's-good B-movie.
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering if any mention of We3 was going to be made. I'm not sure how anyone else feels about this in partiuclar, but up till All Star Superman, I considered it to be one of the best things Morrison and Quitely's ever did together.
Okay, normally I don't care for comments repeating just one line found particularly hilarious...
ReplyDeleteBut, "Does Flipper have to choke a bitch?"
Seriously, that was priceless. Along with the rest of the 'Brute Force' review.
My question is, did we ever actually see the gorilla talk? Theoretically, if it was given the same sort of technological upgrade as the rest of the animals, it should be able to speak, but did it ever actually say anything during the comic? I mean, it was given enough panel time, you'd think it would have said something...
Oh, and I love how these reviews randomly inspire thoughtful debate on complex topics. Kudos to doing your part to increase our awareness as a society.
MFlorian - I sent Linkara a grab-bag of oddball comics back around February. It only included the first issue of this series. If you managed to send him issues 2-4 more power to you.
ReplyDeleteAh, a double feature. Well, sort of. Actually, it was sort of like Batman Returns. I always felt that, when they were putting that together, at some point one guy said, "Look, The Penguin just isn't going to be able to carry this movie, so we better stick in someone else as well..."
ReplyDeleteNot to say that using The Others as a "short feature" and following up with Brute Force was a bad idea. Far from it. I think you are right in saying that Image comics tend to be simply variations on the same tune, and the tune isn't very engaging to begin with.
I must confess, both The Others and Brute Force reminded me of 80's syndicated cartoons, though nether was as much fun. Image does what Image does: Style over substance, like a hallow piece of plastic fruit. Yes, it might look pretty and shiny, but that's it. The Others have fairly detailed art, but that's about it.
Brute Force, on the other hand, is more like one of those "fruit punch" beverages, you know the ones, that when you look at the label closely, says that it "contains no fruit juice". Sure, it might taste alright, and it may quench your thirst, but it is no match for the real deal. Brute Force looks like a comic made by a focus group: "Say, what do the kids like? Robots, animal characters, and things that transform into vehicles? Great! Will just combine everything, and the money will practically print itself!" Too bad they didn't check into WHY those particular things were popular...
As always, looking forward to your next installment.
"please can we have an apology for the BP thing..."
ReplyDeleteHow about "no" and just roll with the joke?
So this is your furry issue? Meh, guess they can't all be Usagi Yojimbo.
ReplyDeleteSo I usually don't comment but I just have to say the clown that holds up the scientist with the goatee looks like the Nostalgia Critic. Just saying.
ReplyDeletegreat review but were the spikes on the gorilla's armor really needed after all it was meant to be a life support machine for him not combat armor.
ReplyDeleteHey Paul S.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I sent him the entire miniseries; along with some other stuff. I was confused because when I offered, he said he had been looking for it for awhile.
If you sent that comic in February, then you beat me out by 4 months.
Ah well.
Still, good choice in donation. Brute Force is insane.
Nice review. Also, yay Nightwish!
ReplyDeleteWhen you mentioned Cyborg Bees with electric guitars I was kind of expecting a "Bees. My God." reference. ;)
ReplyDeleteI am suddenly filled with the urge to track down Transformers: Beast Wars again, and finally finish watching that crazy series.
ReplyDeleteAwesome review as usual, Linkara. The first minute of the Brute Force bit had me in hysterics over how ridiculous the comic was. Not that the rest wasn't good, but that first minute was absolute gold. Are we sure Marvel wasn't, you know, on something while they were writing that mess?
Can't wait until next week! (:
I thought 'The Others' was a bit too bland to get really worked up about, but 'Brute Force' more than makes up for it.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those things where you really have to wonder where the creators got the idea - it's so ludicrous that it's hard to think how you could even conceive of such a ridiculous concept. And what makes it really great is that they played it mostly straight. If there were more attempts at making it a comedy, it would just have been lame as opposed to being awesome.
A lot of people have mentioned this already, but I think it would be hilarious if Grant Morrison had used this as the basis of 'WE3.' I wouldn't even put it past the guy, considering his other eclectic influences.
@ Token Fembot: You should watch all of Beast Wars.
ReplyDeleteIn fact there is a rather appropriate posting made recently as to why:
http://www.shortpacked.com/blog/blog/why-beast-wars-is-awesome/
Next time: Can the Brute Force hope to defeat SNOWFLAME?
ReplyDeleteWhy does the bear have an exposed navel? Seems a bit of a vital area to leave open. Or maybe it's just that fat. Or likes showing off it's cute lil belly ring
ReplyDeleteI am surprise you didn't made a Road Rover crack or reference. I mean think about, Brute Force is just like them, but Road Rovers were funny and awesome in a good why, while this is too bad and ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteLets face it. If we're were 4 and 5 years old again...
ReplyDeleteA cyborg dolphin in a street line yellow shell would be a bad ass figure to pit against Han Solo when Cobra command fails to use Optimus Primes evil twin brother.
I mean the opportunities to use such confusingly badass action figures would have been limitless. Its just a shame that they never marketed this line even as a one off series that would never hit the shelves of a discount department store 10 years down the road when a few crates are unearthed in a warehose somewhere.
I agree that one fight scene was enough make me try to find a copy of this pitiful piece of entertainment.
If I'm not mistaken, Todd MacFarlene had a cyborg Gorilla that was a former lab experiment. Seems to be a common trend to make gorllias into robots.
I would play the heck out of those toys! Dude, this review was positively gleeful. This was good for us. Excellent job, sir.
ReplyDeleteOhmygoddolphin.
Omg I want that animals + brute force picture you drew as my desktop background. could you possibly post the image at some point?
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I so would've bought a cyborg dolphin action figure. Heck, I'd buy one now.
ReplyDeleteReally excellent set of reviews, especially for Brute Force, it's hard to resist the lure of absolute insanity.
One note for the few complainers on here: If the joke had been about Kentucky Fried Chicken, would you write out a huffy comment demanding an apology since they've legally changed their name to KFC? Probably not, eh? It was just topical humour, not a stab at Britain. Britain is awesome, after all, they gave the world Doctor Who.
Best revie in a long time. I would love to see more of Brute Force, specially seeing them fighting Heavy Metal, I mean, look at that shark with wheels with spikes! It makes absolutely no sense, and that's awesome.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Cyborg gorilla fighting robo-bear. :)... Indeed, very awesome...
ReplyDeleteBut can it top a doctor (who is also a ninja) dressed as an astronaut surfing a rocket-powered robot Dracula?
The dolphin on the cover reminds me of this: http://www.rgbpicture.com/img/weird/crazy-pics/crazy-pics06.jpg
ReplyDeleteThat was a pretty interesting review. For some reason these comics reminded me of Lego's series of comics called "Bionicle" for their line of products under that name. I'm not sure if you heard of them, but they might be an idea worth checking out. I can't remember if the comics were good or bad, considering my childhood bias. XD
ReplyDeleteAlso, love the fact that you used a Nightwish song here. Especially since it was a Nightwish + Tarja song. :P
You know, "Brute Force" is so good, its in the Criterion Collection. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/08/cartoonists-for-criterion/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
ReplyDeleteCovers done by C Scott Morse.
I actually have Brute Force #1!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read it, the innate awesomeness of Robo-Bear Vs. Cyber-Gorilla did indeed make me search long and hard for issue #2, sadly to no avail.
The Noid is, has been, and will always be, completely terrifying.
ReplyDelete"WHAT DOES THE OTHER D DO!?"
ReplyDeleteI presume it prevents lawsuits because one of the big two trademarked "Guard."
I just saw this review yesterday. This morning I checked out Marvel's website, and came across Deadpool Bi-Annual #1.
ReplyDeletehttp://marvel.com/comics/issue/50958/deadpool_bi-annual_2014_1
So freaky.