Hey Lewis, first of all does this count as an official episode on your episode list? Or is it technically a special one?
Also, did you read that Catwoman comic I gave you at the con? I'll be honest I was just going to show it to you but the moment you said you were looking for it AND your reactions to what I told you was in it convinced me it was a shoe-in for you to review it down the line so I decided to let you keep it! You're welcome :D
After being left speechless by last months epic and dramatic final to the latest phase of the Arc story line this is a nice change of pace. Your live show was a very clever little thing, I liked the way the audience joined in and got it going, predicting lines and jumping in. It seemed fun and a lot of people enjoyed it. There's not much to say about the comic. It's sort of like a massive mistake that someone decided to pick up and run with. It could have been an interesting idea having Peter and his powers part of a "school of martial arts' but unfortunately it's execution was crap and I'm being polite. Don't do it too often but once a year these live shows are a nice treat. Keep up the good work.
For those of you reading this post, see if you can spot me. :D
Though I do have one serious question. Is 8-bit Mickey naturally that hyper, or do you guys keep him on a steady diet of caffeine and sugar when he has to make public appearances?
Seriously. He arrived at the panel room a little before you did literally bouncing along through that lobby where everyone was lined up waiting to get in.
With 14:00 I'm pretty sure that is a reference to the Daode Jing in Daoism where the idea is that a true sage does nothing, but everything is accomplished. It makes more sense in context, trust me.
Sooo... it was written and drawn by an American (at least I assume he's American, his name didn't sound Japanese), but it's clearly a manga, but it lists Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief, and... I'm confused. Was it actually made in Japan, or was it just in the style of manga?
enjoyed this review. you have real presence on stage. I must say though I have this story in the Marvel Mangaverse collected edition and it reads a lot smother in context. the hulk first aperies in the avenger's story but has small cameos in each of the first six stories (except Manga FF). it's a sort of running gag. I liked the mangaverse Spiderman but that didn't stop me from enjoying the show, so good work.
This is what i love about at4w, the fact that its ptobrbly one of the only review shows that would work live!
While i agree that the spiderman comic was poor it certainly wasn't the worst out of the mangaverse. That award goes to "ghost riders" which to some extent is a rip off of Devil Man but the poor writing and (what i guess you can call) artwork meant that for me it was one of the worst comics i have ever read. If you ever feel the need to review another gem from the mangaverse may i suggest "New Mangaverse: Rings of Fate"? as i think this book deserves to be placed high Atop the 4th Wall...and then KICKED OFF.
He is a man! Punch! always knows the jive! Linkara! Another pretty hat? another show thats live! Linkara! Cons, fans, cosplayers dressed as ducks. Linkara! This comic sucks! Linkara!
Technically this doesn't count as manga, but I'm glad you checked this comic book. I was curious to know how the mangaverse looked like. I realize now that I didn't miss anything. You were awesome.
I laughed. Really, really hard. I don't know if the audience laughing encouraged me to do the same or what, but that was the most hilarious thing I've seen for a while. Tons of fun.
Man, next time you're doing something like this I'll have to see if it's at all possible for me to attend. Why must cons always be too far away and during times I have more important things to do?
I've been wondering how this Spider-Man Manga had went and O-o huh thats weird...its like Batman and Spider-Man switched places in that universe and I've gotta agree the great power comes great responsibility line does not work for this Peter Parker..He wasn't responsible for Ben's Death..
Just makes me wonder why do writers like to make Parkers life a living hell..
That was great! I was very happy to have been in the crowd when you had your show. The extra half-hour wait was definately worth it.
Thinking about Spidey's bolas... I can't help but think of the much-better Amazing Fantasy relaunch comics that started off with the character Araña. In fact, a lot of this comic had similarities to Araña's mythos... Spider-Clan to Society of Spiders. Kagekuri (or whatever that was) to the Sisterhood of the Wasp. Venom to Amun. Uncle Ben to Miguel. Huh...
Still, I was thrilled to see this episode live and I sincerely hope you'll come back next year... still gotta get you to autograph my copy of JLA/Titans The Technis Imparitive. ^^;
First off, I have to admit while I do enjoy your jokes during your regular reviews, there's something about your live shows that makes me shed tears of laughter. I was laughing all the way through the comic at the right moments, and those moments are brilliant! They are definitely going into your Funny entry on TVTropes.
And I was wondering why you were wearing something different in this. Man, I got to get out of the house and attend more conventions. And now more people are going to believe that you're becoming the next Doctor... not that it's a bad thing or anything. Not a fan of the Doctor, but that's not going to stop us from guessing if you are a Time Lord.
And I know you mentioned this that this is a special video, but TWO mangas back to back? Douchy's going to have a field-day with you on that. But then again, the Pokemon one was during the time of the end of the world and this isn't an official episode to your story. And then one contained a subject I know about but never heard of, and this one I had no idea and it was extremely funny.
Anyway, looking forward to next week for Secret Origins month and your Christmas episodes. I got a few questions now:
1) Are you going to announce the winner of the Pollo Redesign contest or did you it already? I can understand that you're busy, with what how last month was and now you're trying to catch up from last week's review, so there are the few of us that are curious about whose design won.
2) Where was Mickey in this video? It was a little hard of hearing the crowd in the background, so I couldn't tell if he was a part of this video or not.
3) What exactly is a "pocky" or whatever that snack you were talking about when you were doing your "wisdom"?
And that should do it for me. Now if you would excuse me, I'm off to write something in your TVTrope page.
Wow. I gotta say Mr. L, I LOVE your videos, but I think you're a natural in front of a crowd. Somehow I missed the last live one so this is the first time I've seen you in this sort of venue, and you were awesome! I hope you get the chance to do many more things like this in the future.
I was there! And I'm glad I was cause I missed your appearance last year and I was kicking myself all year because of it. It was a lot of fun, although I wish 8-Bit Mickey had retained a few clips. I also wish I had thought of the Name Rater, I wanted that ship. Oh well.
I suppose I'll also thank you again here for Captain America and the Return of the Asthma Monster and the autograph, I'll keep it safe!
@Cory of PRIVATE Corp: Pocky is a brand of Japanese confectionery, a biscuit stick dipped in chocolate or some other substance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky for more details.
OH god... Did someone just say "Hey, let's take every paper thin, cardboard cutout (borderline)offensive stereotype about asians in movies into a classic american/western story, without thinking about context, tradition or the REASON behind those tropes and how they would mix!" I wish I could one day come and see you, it looks so fun! :<
great live show. I actually found a fantastic four comic at my library that was drawn in manga style except with colors and I believe followed the continuity of the originals. Nice McCoy Costume. I went as my idea for the possible future 12th doctor with a suit jacket, black button down dress shirt, khaki pants, sneakers, a stupid looking big blue necktie and a cloth cap. Everyone said it wasn't anything the Doctor would because I lacked a bow-tie. Why couldn't the Doctor wear a cloth cap as his signature piece of clothing? Cloth Caps are cool.
Imagine if there had been a time skip between the two panels where Venom disappears where he takes off his bulky armor and slips out the window and puts it back on. But that is just my theory. Makes about as much sense as most manga. Also, Ronin is a masterless samurai. In assumed modern Japan/possibly America? Huh, seeing as this is a manga and he has superpowers apparently, I would have thought he was a ninja. Also, this is manga. Why are you surprised that kids are the main characters?
I think Peter must have that superpower that Maggie Simpson had when she saved Homer from drowning. I call it plot convenience power. Or the ninjas were just stuffed animals. That could walk. And throw punches.
I wish when I fell asleep in economics class, my teacher would send me back to my dorm to sleep. Then again, the education system is flawed enough as it is and his rep as a teacher is thin enough as it is. Is Spider-man Reign any good? Saw it, never finished it because when I got to the part with 80 year old Peter fantasizing about having sex with 30-35 Mary Jane, I threw up in my mouth. I got faux-philosophical crap too. When you drink your water, you are eating.
I know I've made a comment here buuuuuuuut something has come into my attention that Linkara needs to see. WE LIVE IN A UNIVERSE THAT EXSISTS A POWER RANGERS MMO! http://www.screwattack.com/trailers/power-rangers-online-trailer
Marvel Mangaverse was the brainchild of Ben Dunn, better known as founder of Antarctic Press, a company whose primary output consisted of OEL Manga, but did publish some actual Manga like:
Gojin (A tokusatsu-flavored manga: Star Trekker and Justice (Dojinshi translated in English): And the work of Ippongi Bang:
I gotta say, I really enjoyed that - you're two for two with live shows so far, 'cause that was awesome. Seems like you have a natural ability to work and feed off of a crowd - they were hanging on every word, and you got more and more into it in turn. The 7th Doctor gear didn't hurt, either. I initially thought 5th doctor, till I saw the vest.
You should definitely keep doing these live whenever you can.
At 5:45, with the “Peter you have the power” what song was that you did, I couldn’t figure it out?
There is Japanese spiderman show were his costume is in a device on his wrist and he has a giant robot. I half expected him to team up with the power rangers. If you are interested there are clips on youtube. Oh, and one clip I saw shows Spiderman using an Uzi.
King pin foreseeing a threat that he causes, Greek mythology all over again.
15:00 My head just exploded, please excuse me while I put it back together.
I will attempt that opposite dialogue thing “Only in torment is when you can find peace.
Silly Marvel. True manga would just set the story in Japan with all the consequences that ensues, maybe give Spider-Man some variations to his web attacks in the style of various Shonen fighting anime, perhaps modify the costume a little bit (but most likely not), and keep Spider-Man and Mary Jane married. Spidey'd still be a high school student, except he'd be a Japanese high school student.
Okay, now I'd like to see a true Spider-Man manga. That would be nice.
It's really too bad I couldn't swing going to that convention. Looks like it would have been worth it just for that. I hope the live review was as much fun for you to do as it seemed to be for the audiences both here and there.
And as a few others have said before, I kinda liked your 7th Doctor costume. Looked good on you.
Wow. That Spider-Man manga looks extraordinarily awful. I don't know much about manga, but I do know that it is diverse and doesn't fall into one particular genre or art style. However, it looks to me like this Spider-Manga use cliches and western assumptions about manga and Japanese culture, resulting in a real piece of shit.
Great live show, Lewis. I am not going to say much about the actual comic itself; you covered all the fine points. I think what they were going for that not "trying to become powerful" line is that power is best suited to those who don't seek it but that line was just poorly written. SKILL REQUIRES EFFORT, DUMBASS.
Loved your cry of "KHANNNN!!!!"
Also, where did you get your Doctor costume? And do they have Tenth and Eleventh Doctor outfits since they are my two faves?
You are so much more than a meme, Lewis. Never tell yourself different.
Yeah, you needed a break after that whole Entity ending. We can wait until next week for more Secret Origins...though this sort of works...maybe...well not really.
Personally sort of surprised you waited this long to do a Mangaverse comic but I think you sort of got across one of the concept's weakest points with the review: a lot of it was just a bunch of manga and Japanese cliches thrown into a Marvel setting. While I do admit there are some cool and interesting ideas done in the Mangaverse (hell, its cause of it I found out about the awesomeness of Tigra, who is great in this uni...and underrespected in 616), this Spidey comic sort of shows off the negative aspects of trying to blend the concepts of manga and comic books together if you don't have a legit story and just go with a bunch of cliches. Manga-style storytelling can exist in the West, but whenever they go with "manga", they rather just go with the known instead of something that actually works. Heck, even the weirdness of the "giant Venom and Kingpin" works in a series like One Piece because it's a universe where giants are a legitimate group of people leading to many characters of various sizes from even larger than typical humans to insane behemoths...and it all makes sense...whereas here it's just there.
Oh and nice catch and usage of Sailor Moon in your jokes. Someday I imagine a clip from the show to show up in AT4W legit but it's a start.
Woo, that was totally worth seeing! And yeah, the Japanese Spidey Manga sounds like it would've been an interesting read since, unlike the Japanese TV show, it actually stayed true to the original content (Although as a side note, that TV Show apparently inspired the idea of Super Sentai shows featuring giant robots fighting monsters, so wrap your head around that: Spider-Man inspired Power Rangers). In any case, it was kind of funny seeing you reviewing a Spidey Comic (Manga), since I just got a copy of Spider-Man: Skin Deep signed by Stan Lee (admittedly written by Straczynski and not Stan the Man, but hey, Spiderman Comic signed by Stan Lee) that I actually liked that really fit into the idea of Responsibility. This... This is just as you said, a weird mish-mash of Japanese story tropes that don't mesh together well in the setting or with the characters being featured, especially considering who these characters were supposed to be.
Great Live Show, by the way! I was at ComiKaze (Over in LA), but I would have loved to have swung by to the Midwest to check out Youmacon, but until I can, keep on being a MAN.
I laughed so hard at this. This is my new favorite AT4W episode, and that's saying something. Something about Dr. Octopus as a tiny teacher is just incredibly hilarious.
Yeah, that was Hulk. As anonnymous said, he was supposed to be running around through Mangavere one-shots, stomping on the plot, but most of them demoted him to being refferenced.
This whole paradox kind of philosophical thing is very well criticized (and in a very funny way also) in the movie Mystery Men. Have you seen it Linkara, and do you like it? It's one of my favorite paridy movies of all time (you could say that it's almost the father of Tropic Thunder, my favorite of all).
There's a character in the movie that is named Mistery Man that only speeks through riddles with this stupid kind of philosophic bullcrap. Ben Stiller's character in the movie even quotes "He always says things like that... if you want to go right, you have to go left, if you want to get up, you have to get down"... your comment on the spidey manga just remembered me of the movie.
You should on day do all the other mangaverse issues. Most of them are as bad and as annoying as this one.
You also know that there is a mini-series that work as a sequel to that mangaverse spider-man, don't you?
Hello. I've been watching your videos for a long while on TGWTG.com and have only recently realized this blog. While there are many things I would like to say I'll stick to this: a general comparison to your last (first) live show and this one.
You seem a lot more comfortable and animated (energetic) than your first time. How much of that is prep time I don't know. So all in all I wanted to say that you've exceeded your previous performance.
I do want to add that I have access to Shinkenger Fandubs if you'd like to use them for comparison to Samurai Rangers.
Running outa' time, thanks for your entertainment over the years.
Oh that was just awesome, will we see any more mangaverse stuff?
By the way, that Catwoman/Batman comic I promised you... yeah I had a move and some personal stuff so I was delayed sending it out, I'll put it in the mail tomorrow. Sorry about that.
The admittedly poor writing aside, I love Kaare Andrews. He (or is it she?) is a damn fine penciller. Just cuz you don't like the distorted anatomy style doesn't make it bad art, Linkara. Comics are not med-school anatomy books, anatomy doesn't have to be realistic.
It's called cartooning. exegeration is used to make stories more dynamic and tell the story better than just a bunch of pictures traced over photographs.
I find guys like Joe Mad and Andrews draw characters with more life than guys like Bryan Hitch. plus the realism style of art leads to homogenization amongst pencillers, creating a bunch of comics with no unique look that sets them apart from every other book on the shelf.
With more caricaturish art, you can much more variety. You can have manga inspired guys like Mad, or more traditional cartooning like Art Adams, or even Chuck Jones-ish art from other guys. With realism, you either get Alex Ross water paint style, delay-inducing Bryan Hitch pencils, or photo-tracers like Greg Land.
And this popular trend of "realism" as done more than just suck a lot of the fun and energy of comics by bringing them down to the "real world" level just to appease newbie fans introduced to the characters by the movies. As I said, it's led to homogenizing.
Guys like Carlos Pacheco, Mark Brooks, and even Kaare Andrews have sacrificed their old, cartoonish style for "realistic" pencils (Kaare seems to have developed a poor-man's Alex Ross shtick), and it's caused their art to lose a lot of the charm it once held and thus the drawing power of their names being on a title to me.
The live show was a nice surprise and it was a funny review. Just makes me more eager for the double feature next week. Wonder Woman + Fantastic Four = SQUEEEE!!!
Anyway, The Spidey manga was a rather bizarre story. So...does he have spider-powers or does he just have some fancy gear best equipped to accidentally kill himself with? I really can't tell. In fact, Peter's Emo Factor has apparently been cranked to 11. Venom looks like some roid-raged caricature while - WHOA!!!!
Kingpin's. Nipples. Are. SO. HUGE!!! What the HELL?!?
This live show is a nice change of pace after a cosmic horror-type story involving glitch Pokemon. I'm actually surprised you decided to dress up as the Seventh Doctor.
Anyway, I don't know what to make of this. I mean, a manga with Spider-Man as a ninja? I know Nightcat has ninja-style dancers, but this? This is actually bad; nothing but cliches and generalized assumptions about manga. I'm sorry but there's got to be better manga about Spider-Man out there.
RE: Unknown, that's a different Ralph Macchio. One that worked at Marvel from the mid-80s until just recently.
Interestingly, all of the Karate Kid movies feature a copyright notice in the credits mentioning DC Comics, due to their having the license for the trademark on the Legion of Super-Heroes' character Karate Kid.
I made a horrible mistake. I watched this at six a.m. my time and woke up my entire household... not good! However, it was a fitting end to the sixteen-odd hours I just spent watching every episode of AT4W that had a comic I was familiar with, and even some that I'd never heard of. So I guess you could say... I AM A FAN! (No that's not a typo!) P.S. Loved the Seventh Doctor cosplay... even though the jacket and hat looked more like it belonged to the fifth doctor.
Seems like you were having a real blast doing this one. I'm glad you did get around to doing some of the Marvel manga as it seems like it's a gold mine for these sorts of reviews.
I'm happy to see I'm not the only one that thought 5th doctor apon seeing that cosplay outfit. Still great review and makes me wish I was there to have joined in!
"The admittedly poor writing aside, I love Kaare Andrews. He (or is it she?) is a damn fine penciller. Just cuz you don't like the distorted anatomy style doesn't make it bad art, Linkara. Comics are not med-school anatomy books, anatomy doesn't have to be realistic.
It's called cartooning. exegeration is used to make stories more dynamic and tell the story better than just a bunch of pictures traced over photographs.
I find guys like Joe Mad and Andrews draw characters with more life than guys like Bryan Hitch. plus the realism style of art leads to homogenization amongst pencillers, creating a bunch of comics with no unique look that sets them apart from every other book on the shelf.
With more caricaturish art, you can much more variety. You can have manga inspired guys like Mad, or more traditional cartooning like Art Adams, or even Chuck Jones-ish art from other guys. With realism, you either get Alex Ross water paint style, delay-inducing Bryan Hitch pencils, or photo-tracers like Greg Land.
And this popular trend of "realism" as done more than just suck a lot of the fun and energy of comics by bringing them down to the "real world" level just to appease newbie fans introduced to the characters by the movies. As I said, it's led to homogenizing.
Guys like Carlos Pacheco, Mark Brooks, and even Kaare Andrews have sacrificed their old, cartoonish style for "realistic" pencils (Kaare seems to have developed a poor-man's Alex Ross shtick), and it's caused their art to lose a lot of the charm it once held and thus the drawing power of their names being on a title to me."
Yes, but there's a difference between "cartoonish exaggeration," like the stuff you mentioned, and "impossible body muscle proportions and positions that simply look silly at best, or ugly at worst," like... everything Rob Liefield ever drew.
Hey, another one I've actually read! I own the large trade that cllects the 1st Marvel Mangaverse story arc! And overall it's an okay comic, but each indevigual story by itself aren't that great! I'll put it this way basically Bruce Banner is working with a bunch of other Marvel sceintist character(well, their Manga counter parts at least) which are a female Iron-Man(Antonia Stark), a teenage genious Hank Pym, and Black Panther(who can turn into a Black Panther Furry) and they acsodently open a wormhole or something like that into the AMnga verion od Domomumu's universe and he turns Banner into the Hulk(and just a couple issues later this is reconted that the Hulk came out of Banner and that they're 2 seperate beings tyed together in the since that if one dies they both die. the whole sharing a soul thing) and this Hulk is like a Godzilla sized monster that sometimes has a tail and long hair and sometimes not! The Mangaverse story you should REALLY review at some point Linkara is the Punisher one! I'll exsplain why 1st off the Punisher is a woman(a Gaisha to be correct) with the skull makeup and insted of killing evil or bad people she goes out and SPANKS them because her secret identity she's really a sturn Dinmother or Schoolmom at an all girl's middle-school! And it's even aware of how weird this is by having a character actualy say that she's the most KINKIEST superhero! Also, this was the only comic in the whole Mangaverse that had ZER0 to do with the over all arc of the series. It didn't even have the basic cameo of the raampaging giant Hulk that this Spider-Man comic had! There's also the Ghost Rider one it had no real effect on the overall arc but it at least ended with the Hulk stepping on their villain and ending their story so it at least connected to the others that way! The best things I liked about the Mangaverse was it's take on the Avengers, Doctor Strange, Hydra, Tigress, and Thor's cameo at the very end as the Duel Ex Machia that shows up and saves the day... Read the Trade! Main problems the series had was it pissed off a lot of fans of characters that were basically screwed over in the universe like Nightcrawler, Peter Rasputin, Xavier, Venom, Black Widow, the whole Fantastic Four, and the Punisher! I wish I coul've been there at that con that looked like fun!
After your last episode I half expected you to have a week off, you certainly are a workaholic at this eh? (but then again so am I XD).
For a second live show I didn't think you had much to improve on since you really nailed it again by entertaining the audience and even poking fun at yourself which I respect, the comic/manga was a good choice considering your rules and because it makes these lives shows a lot more special.
This manga I knew existed and believe me even I too thought the plots were too outrageous even for a Japanese Manga based on a American Comic Book, heck even the manga drawing style is really exaggerated in not a good way but I digress.
Great job on the live show and as usual keep up the great work ^_^
I'll never understand why they made Kingpin like Jabba the Hut and Venom like Darth Vader. It's like the writers were reading Spiderman and watching Star Wars at the same time and figured " You know, this just might work."XD
Hope you enjoy the CSI: Dying in The Gutters comics. I figured all the guest apperiences(and covered product placement)on this arc, it would be an interesting read. even though it's one issue short.
Doctor who cosplay and yet another manga review? my first thoughts "I love you even more now" so just had to stop by your blog to comment on that since I do not have a that guy with the glasses account
Actually, no one in this manga seems to be Japanese: They all have their normal - American - names, and most importantly, nobody wears a school uniform. So this manga is in color, is read from left to right AND doesn't feature Mary-Jane in a sailor fuku. What a let-down :P
And why doesn't he have any powers (aside from martial arts)? If you really wanted to make a manga-version of Spider-Man, they should've cranked his powers up to eleven! Trying to be more down to earth is the wrong approach.
The only TRUE Japanese Spider-Man has a giant robot, anyways XD
"Reepicheep-chan has left a new comment on the post "Return of Atop the Fourth Wall LIVE!":
I was always under the impression the mangaverse was meant to be a parody series..."
I think it was! Because most of the stories were mostly anime and manga steroe types! Like this one of the boy ninja, but it could've been worse... they could've turned Spider-Man into a pubesent girl princess!
I watched this video when it came out a few days ago and loved it. I made a decision to see you live if I ever had the chance, even if I had to cross both a sea and a country to get there. It's excellently exciting.
But that's not what I wanted to comment about. I don't know if you've ever heard of "Bakuman"-- it's a manga written by Ohba and Obata, authors of Death Note. (I'm going to guess you've heard of Death Note, all things considered.) It's a very cool story of two mangakas, clearly modeled off the authors themselves, working their way through the manga world in an attempt to make the best manga ever, originally in order for one of them to get a girl to marry him. It's a very good demonstration of how well Ohba and Obata can make a story about mostly-normal people extremely exciting and action-packed.
So they released a new chapter today, as they do weekly in SJ, and I was incredibly amused when I came to this page... http://www.mangafox.com/manga/bakuman/v11/c055/8.html
"Zombie Gun" is made up, but that's obviously not what caught me. "Spiderman". Since they're talking about the "best manga in the world"... they mean the Spiderman manga? The one I saw just days previously in AT4W Live?
So I burst out laughing, and couldn't help but drop the fact here. The idea that lord(s) of deep, complex, non-mainstream manga Ohba and/or Obata think the Spiderman manga-- the terrifying one in the video above-- is tantamount to the best in the world?! I just find this incredibly silly and am forced to whimsically assume they're Linkara fans and slipped in this tidbit shortly before the chapter went to print.
"Yes, but there's a difference between "cartoonish exaggeration," like the stuff you mentioned, and "impossible body muscle proportions and positions that simply look silly at best, or ugly at worst," like... everything Rob Liefield ever drew."
And everything Mad! draws has even more impossible proportions than Liefeld's (and I bristle at you saying everything Liefeld drew was poorly-proportioned since Cable was really the only hyper-exaggerated character he drew in X-Force, so that makes me think you haven't actually seen much of Liefeld's work.) Yet Mad!'s work is still pure awesome.
The same thing goes for Andrews - his art still gets the story across in a kinetic and exciting fashion. I especially like his two issues of Ultimate X-Men and the Astonishing X-men mini he did with Warren Ellis. Not only was the art visually pleasing in the latter, but he did an interesting update on the "movie" costumes introduced in Morrison's run; I actually wish those esigns had been incorporated into the main books.
This realism trend is making comics visually boring I think, and the opinion of realismover cartooning is being furthured through this site I think. However, this may be unintional on Linkara's part.
I think he does have a bit of a bias against exagerated cartooning, but for the most part people are just taking his complaints with Liefeld as his opinion on all art with exagerated proportions. The problem with Liefeld is the actual composition of the figures (ie, they don't "look right," they're too stiff)not the fact that he exagerates anatomy.
"So I burst out laughing, and couldn't help but drop the fact here. The idea that lord(s) of deep, complex, non-mainstream manga Ohba and/or Obata think the Spiderman manga-- the terrifying one in the video above-- is tantamount to the best in the world?! I just find this incredibly silly and am forced to whimsically assume they're Linkara fans and slipped in this tidbit shortly before the chapter went to print."
Weeeeell it's more likely that they're talking about the 1970s version, or since manga is just another word for comics, they might refer to mainstream Spider-Man, but who can say? XD
Nice review, Linkara, but I have one qualm. Because of the camera's lighting it was very difficult to tell what was happening on some of the panels, particularly the last one.
Next time, you might want to replace some of the video with the images directly from your slideshow.
I found this on YouTube and thought it showed a better version of this comic's basic concept http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkdh1WE3LD8&feature=related It's pretty well done for a fanmade animation!
Just watched your Star Trek 2 review and the sad thing is that when you did the Khan joke for Senseiiii, their panel was better than what IDW put in Wrath of Khan.
Hey Lewis, first of all does this count as an official episode on your episode list? Or is it technically a special one?
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you read that Catwoman comic I gave you at the con? I'll be honest I was just going to show it to you but the moment you said you were looking for it AND your reactions to what I told you was in it convinced me it was a shoe-in for you to review it down the line so I decided to let you keep it! You're welcome :D
After being left speechless by last months epic and dramatic final to the latest phase of the Arc story line this is a nice change of pace. Your live show was a very clever little thing, I liked the way the audience joined in and got it going, predicting lines and jumping in. It seemed fun and a lot of people enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThere's not much to say about the comic. It's sort of like a massive mistake that someone decided to pick up and run with. It could have been an interesting idea having Peter and his powers part of a "school of martial arts' but unfortunately it's execution was crap and I'm being polite.
Don't do it too often but once a year these live shows are a nice treat. Keep up the good work.
Thomas
It's cool. These things happen. On the plus side we get TWO Secret origin Month reviews:D
ReplyDeleteHoray! I'm in the crowd somewhere.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you reading this post, see if you can spot me. :D
Though I do have one serious question. Is 8-bit Mickey naturally that hyper, or do you guys keep him on a steady diet of caffeine and sugar when he has to make public appearances?
Seriously. He arrived at the panel room a little before you did literally bouncing along through that lobby where everyone was lined up waiting to get in.
With 14:00 I'm pretty sure that is a reference to the Daode Jing in Daoism where the idea is that a true sage does nothing, but everything is accomplished. It makes more sense in context, trust me.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen the Japanese Spiderman TV show where he pilots a giant robot?
ReplyDelete"Hey Lewis, first of all does this count as an official episode on your episode list? Or is it technically a special one?"
ReplyDeleteNot an official episode, just a special one. ^^
Can you please make the next AT4W Live, Brute Force #3. Or if you can't make it a regular episode.
ReplyDeleteWE NEED MORE BRUTE FORCE!!!!!!!
BTW, OMD is undone. MJ is falling back with Peter and the "spell" is weakening.
ReplyDeleteShows what happens when Quesada left.
Sooo... it was written and drawn by an American (at least I assume he's American, his name didn't sound Japanese), but it's clearly a manga, but it lists Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief, and... I'm confused. Was it actually made in Japan, or was it just in the style of manga?
ReplyDeleteenjoyed this review. you have real presence on stage.
ReplyDeleteI must say though I have this story in the Marvel Mangaverse collected edition and it reads a lot smother in context. the hulk first aperies in the avenger's story but has small cameos in each of the first six stories (except Manga FF). it's a sort of running gag.
I liked the mangaverse Spiderman but that didn't stop me from enjoying the show, so good work.
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ReplyDeleteThis is what i love about at4w, the fact that its ptobrbly one of the only review shows that would work live!
ReplyDeleteWhile i agree that the spiderman comic was poor it certainly wasn't the worst out of the mangaverse. That award goes to "ghost riders" which to some extent is a rip off of Devil Man but the poor writing and (what i guess you can call) artwork meant that for me it was one of the worst comics i have ever read.
If you ever feel the need to review another gem from the mangaverse may i suggest "New Mangaverse: Rings of Fate"? as i think this book deserves to be placed high Atop the 4th Wall...and then KICKED OFF.
Chris
p.s Love the 7th doctor suit!
He is a man! Punch!
ReplyDeletealways knows the jive!
Linkara!
Another pretty hat?
another show thats live!
Linkara!
Cons, fans, cosplayers dressed as ducks.
Linkara!
This comic sucks!
Linkara!
You're more then a meme to me at least.
ReplyDeleteNice doctor cosplay by the way.
Technically this doesn't count as manga, but I'm glad you checked this comic book. I was curious to know how the mangaverse looked like. I realize now that I didn't miss anything. You were awesome.
ReplyDeleteShow of hands, who thinks Spider-Man: Reign will be reviewed next year on the show?
ReplyDeleteI laughed. Really, really hard. I don't know if the audience laughing encouraged me to do the same or what, but that was the most hilarious thing I've seen for a while. Tons of fun.
ReplyDeleteMan, next time you're doing something like this I'll have to see if it's at all possible for me to attend. Why must cons always be too far away and during times I have more important things to do?
I've been wondering how this Spider-Man Manga had went and O-o huh thats weird...its like Batman and Spider-Man switched places in that universe and I've gotta agree the great power comes great responsibility line does not work for this Peter Parker..He wasn't responsible for Ben's Death..
ReplyDeleteJust makes me wonder why do writers like to make Parkers life a living hell..
That was great! I was very happy to have been in the crowd when you had your show. The extra half-hour wait was definately worth it.
ReplyDeleteThinking about Spidey's bolas... I can't help but think of the much-better Amazing Fantasy relaunch comics that started off with the character Araña. In fact, a lot of this comic had similarities to Araña's mythos... Spider-Clan to Society of Spiders. Kagekuri (or whatever that was) to the Sisterhood of the Wasp. Venom to Amun. Uncle Ben to Miguel. Huh...
Still, I was thrilled to see this episode live and I sincerely hope you'll come back next year... still gotta get you to autograph my copy of JLA/Titans The Technis Imparitive. ^^;
First off, I have to admit while I do enjoy your jokes during your regular reviews, there's something about your live shows that makes me shed tears of laughter. I was laughing all the way through the comic at the right moments, and those moments are brilliant! They are definitely going into your Funny entry on TVTropes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was wondering why you were wearing something different in this. Man, I got to get out of the house and attend more conventions. And now more people are going to believe that you're becoming the next Doctor... not that it's a bad thing or anything. Not a fan of the Doctor, but that's not going to stop us from guessing if you are a Time Lord.
And I know you mentioned this that this is a special video, but TWO mangas back to back? Douchy's going to have a field-day with you on that. But then again, the Pokemon one was during the time of the end of the world and this isn't an official episode to your story. And then one contained a subject I know about but never heard of, and this one I had no idea and it was extremely funny.
Anyway, looking forward to next week for Secret Origins month and your Christmas episodes. I got a few questions now:
1) Are you going to announce the winner of the Pollo Redesign contest or did you it already? I can understand that you're busy, with what how last month was and now you're trying to catch up from last week's review, so there are the few of us that are curious about whose design won.
2) Where was Mickey in this video? It was a little hard of hearing the crowd in the background, so I couldn't tell if he was a part of this video or not.
3) What exactly is a "pocky" or whatever that snack you were talking about when you were doing your "wisdom"?
And that should do it for me. Now if you would excuse me, I'm off to write something in your TVTrope page.
Wow. I gotta say Mr. L, I LOVE your videos, but I think you're a natural in front of a crowd. Somehow I missed the last live one so this is the first time I've seen you in this sort of venue, and you were awesome! I hope you get the chance to do many more things like this in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou're still funnier than many stand-up comedians I know... sometimes a script really is the better way to do it.
ReplyDeleteI was there! And I'm glad I was cause I missed your appearance last year and I was kicking myself all year because of it. It was a lot of fun, although I wish 8-Bit Mickey had retained a few clips. I also wish I had thought of the Name Rater, I wanted that ship. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I'll also thank you again here for Captain America and the Return of the Asthma Monster and the autograph, I'll keep it safe!
@Cory of PRIVATE Corp: Pocky is a brand of Japanese confectionery, a biscuit stick dipped in chocolate or some other substance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky for more details.
ReplyDeleteOH god... Did someone just say "Hey, let's take every paper thin, cardboard cutout (borderline)offensive stereotype about asians in movies into a classic american/western story, without thinking about context, tradition or the REASON behind those tropes and how they would mix!"
ReplyDeleteI wish I could one day come and see you, it looks so fun! :<
great live show. I actually found a fantastic four comic at my library that was drawn in manga style except with colors and I believe followed the continuity of the originals.
ReplyDeleteNice McCoy Costume. I went as my idea for the possible future 12th doctor with a suit jacket, black button down dress shirt, khaki pants, sneakers, a stupid looking big blue necktie and a cloth cap. Everyone said it wasn't anything the Doctor would because I lacked a bow-tie. Why couldn't the Doctor wear a cloth cap as his signature piece of clothing? Cloth Caps are cool.
Imagine if there had been a time skip between the two panels where Venom disappears where he takes off his bulky armor and slips out the window and puts it back on. But that is just my theory. Makes about as much sense as most manga. Also, Ronin is a masterless samurai. In assumed modern Japan/possibly America? Huh, seeing as this is a manga and he has superpowers apparently, I would have thought he was a ninja. Also, this is manga. Why are you surprised that kids are the main characters?
I think Peter must have that superpower that Maggie Simpson had when she saved Homer from drowning. I call it plot convenience power. Or the ninjas were just stuffed animals. That could walk. And throw punches.
I wish when I fell asleep in economics class, my teacher would send me back to my dorm to sleep. Then again, the education system is flawed enough as it is and his rep as a teacher is thin enough as it is.
Is Spider-man Reign any good? Saw it, never finished it because when I got to the part with 80 year old Peter fantasizing about having sex with 30-35 Mary Jane, I threw up in my mouth.
I got faux-philosophical crap too. When you drink your water, you are eating.
...huh the Consulting Editor is in fact Ralph Macchio. As in the star of the Karate Kid.
ReplyDeleteI know I've made a comment here buuuuuuuut something has come into my attention that Linkara needs to see. WE LIVE IN A UNIVERSE THAT EXSISTS A POWER RANGERS MMO! http://www.screwattack.com/trailers/power-rangers-online-trailer
ReplyDeleteMarvel Mangaverse was the brainchild of Ben Dunn, better known as founder of Antarctic Press, a company whose primary output consisted of OEL Manga, but did publish some actual Manga like:
ReplyDeleteGojin (A tokusatsu-flavored manga:
Star Trekker and Justice (Dojinshi translated in English):
And the work of Ippongi Bang:
J.A.P.
I gotta say, I really enjoyed that - you're two for two with live shows so far, 'cause that was awesome. Seems like you have a natural ability to work and feed off of a crowd - they were hanging on every word, and you got more and more into it in turn. The 7th Doctor gear didn't hurt, either. I initially thought 5th doctor, till I saw the vest.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely keep doing these live whenever you can.
At 5:45, with the “Peter you have the power” what song was that you did, I couldn’t figure it out?
ReplyDeleteThere is Japanese spiderman show were his costume is in a device on his wrist and he has a giant robot. I half expected him to team up with the power rangers. If you are interested there are clips on youtube. Oh, and one clip I saw shows Spiderman using an Uzi.
King pin foreseeing a threat that he causes, Greek mythology all over again.
15:00 My head just exploded, please excuse me while I put it back together.
I will attempt that opposite dialogue thing “Only in torment is when you can find peace.
Silly Marvel. True manga would just set the story in Japan with all the consequences that ensues, maybe give Spider-Man some variations to his web attacks in the style of various Shonen fighting anime, perhaps modify the costume a little bit (but most likely not), and keep Spider-Man and Mary Jane married. Spidey'd still be a high school student, except he'd be a Japanese high school student.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I'd like to see a true Spider-Man manga. That would be nice.
It's really too bad I couldn't swing going to that convention. Looks like it would have been worth it just for that. I hope the live review was as much fun for you to do as it seemed to be for the audiences both here and there.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a few others have said before, I kinda liked your 7th Doctor costume. Looked good on you.
Wow. That Spider-Man manga looks extraordinarily awful. I don't know much about manga, but I do know that it is diverse and doesn't fall into one particular genre or art style. However, it looks to me like this Spider-Manga use cliches and western assumptions about manga and Japanese culture, resulting in a real piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteGreat live show, Lewis. I am not going to say much about the actual comic itself; you covered all the fine points. I think what they were going for that not "trying to become powerful" line is that power is best suited to those who don't seek it but that line was just poorly written. SKILL REQUIRES EFFORT, DUMBASS.
ReplyDeleteLoved your cry of "KHANNNN!!!!"
Also, where did you get your Doctor costume? And do they have Tenth and Eleventh Doctor outfits since they are my two faves?
You are so much more than a meme, Lewis. Never tell yourself different.
Lastly, any plans on coming to NYC events?
At first, I was angry at the lack of new episode.
ReplyDeleteThen I saw you were dressed as the Seventh Doctor (who is my favorite) and then I did a complete 180.
Calling the next live title: Son of Atop The Fourth Wall LIVE!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you needed a break after that whole Entity ending. We can wait until next week for more Secret Origins...though this sort of works...maybe...well not really.
ReplyDeletePersonally sort of surprised you waited this long to do a Mangaverse comic but I think you sort of got across one of the concept's weakest points with the review: a lot of it was just a bunch of manga and Japanese cliches thrown into a Marvel setting. While I do admit there are some cool and interesting ideas done in the Mangaverse (hell, its cause of it I found out about the awesomeness of Tigra, who is great in this uni...and underrespected in 616), this Spidey comic sort of shows off the negative aspects of trying to blend the concepts of manga and comic books together if you don't have a legit story and just go with a bunch of cliches. Manga-style storytelling can exist in the West, but whenever they go with "manga", they rather just go with the known instead of something that actually works. Heck, even the weirdness of the "giant Venom and Kingpin" works in a series like One Piece because it's a universe where giants are a legitimate group of people leading to many characters of various sizes from even larger than typical humans to insane behemoths...and it all makes sense...whereas here it's just there.
Oh and nice catch and usage of Sailor Moon in your jokes. Someday I imagine a clip from the show to show up in AT4W legit but it's a start.
Woo, that was totally worth seeing! And yeah, the Japanese Spidey Manga sounds like it would've been an interesting read since, unlike the Japanese TV show, it actually stayed true to the original content (Although as a side note, that TV Show apparently inspired the idea of Super Sentai shows featuring giant robots fighting monsters, so wrap your head around that: Spider-Man inspired Power Rangers). In any case, it was kind of funny seeing you reviewing a Spidey Comic (Manga), since I just got a copy of Spider-Man: Skin Deep signed by Stan Lee (admittedly written by Straczynski and not Stan the Man, but hey, Spiderman Comic signed by Stan Lee) that I actually liked that really fit into the idea of Responsibility. This... This is just as you said, a weird mish-mash of Japanese story tropes that don't mesh together well in the setting or with the characters being featured, especially considering who these characters were supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteGreat Live Show, by the way! I was at ComiKaze (Over in LA), but I would have loved to have swung by to the Midwest to check out Youmacon, but until I can, keep on being a MAN.
I laughed so hard at this. This is my new favorite AT4W episode, and that's saying something. Something about Dr. Octopus as a tiny teacher is just incredibly hilarious.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was Hulk. As anonnymous said, he was supposed to be running around through Mangavere one-shots, stomping on the plot, but most of them demoted him to being refferenced.
ReplyDeleteOk, seeing the seventh doctor say "I am a MAN" *punch*
ReplyDeleteThat was great.
And I was curious, have you read the 70's Spider-Man Manga?
This whole paradox kind of philosophical thing is very well criticized (and in a very funny way also) in the movie Mystery Men. Have you seen it Linkara, and do you like it? It's one of my favorite paridy movies of all time (you could say that it's almost the father of Tropic Thunder, my favorite of all).
ReplyDeleteThere's a character in the movie that is named Mistery Man that only speeks through riddles with this stupid kind of philosophic bullcrap. Ben Stiller's character in the movie even quotes "He always says things like that... if you want to go right, you have to go left, if you want to get up, you have to get down"... your comment on the spidey manga just remembered me of the movie.
You should on day do all the other mangaverse issues. Most of them are as bad and as annoying as this one.
You also know that there is a mini-series that work as a sequel to that mangaverse spider-man, don't you?
Hello. I've been watching your videos for a long while on TGWTG.com and have only recently realized this blog. While there are many things I would like to say I'll stick to this: a general comparison to your last (first) live show and this one.
ReplyDeleteYou seem a lot more comfortable and animated (energetic) than your first time. How much of that is prep time I don't know. So all in all I wanted to say that you've exceeded your previous performance.
I do want to add that I have access to Shinkenger Fandubs if you'd like to use them for comparison to Samurai Rangers.
Running outa' time, thanks for your entertainment over the years.
So what was that song BEFORE the trademark man-punch?
ReplyDeleteOh that was just awesome, will we see any more mangaverse stuff?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, that Catwoman/Batman comic I promised you... yeah I had a move and some personal stuff so I was delayed sending it out, I'll put it in the mail tomorrow. Sorry about that.
This... was different... But as you said, it could be a lot worse.
ReplyDeleteLoved the outfit even though I'm not overly familiar with the Seventh Doctor.
Fiery Little One
The admittedly poor writing aside, I love Kaare Andrews. He (or is it she?) is a damn fine penciller. Just cuz you don't like the distorted anatomy style doesn't make it bad art, Linkara. Comics are not med-school anatomy books, anatomy doesn't have to be realistic.
ReplyDeleteIt's called cartooning. exegeration is used to make stories more dynamic and tell the story better than just a bunch of pictures traced over photographs.
I find guys like Joe Mad and Andrews draw characters with more life than guys like Bryan Hitch. plus the realism style of art leads to homogenization amongst pencillers, creating a bunch of comics with no unique look that sets them apart from every other book on the shelf.
With more caricaturish art, you can much more variety. You can have manga inspired guys like Mad, or more traditional cartooning like Art Adams, or even Chuck Jones-ish art from other guys. With realism, you either get Alex Ross water paint style, delay-inducing Bryan Hitch pencils, or photo-tracers like Greg Land.
And this popular trend of "realism" as done more than just suck a lot of the fun and energy of comics by bringing them down to the "real world" level just to appease newbie fans introduced to the characters by the movies. As I said, it's led to homogenizing.
Guys like Carlos Pacheco, Mark Brooks, and even Kaare Andrews have sacrificed their old, cartoonish style for "realistic" pencils (Kaare seems to have developed a poor-man's Alex Ross shtick), and it's caused their art to lose a lot of the charm it once held and thus the drawing power of their names being on a title to me.
Hmm...I read the second volume of Mangaverse's Spiderman stories drawn by Benn Dunn it was actually pretty good if I remember it correctly.
ReplyDeleteHave to say that was one hilarious review. It does make me wonder if you will do any future reviews of the Marvel "Mangaverse".
ReplyDeleteHaha, cultural differences, haha!
ReplyDeleteThe live show was a nice surprise and it was a funny review. Just makes me more eager for the double feature next week. Wonder Woman + Fantastic Four = SQUEEEE!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, The Spidey manga was a rather bizarre story. So...does he have spider-powers or does he just have some fancy gear best equipped to accidentally kill himself with? I really can't tell. In fact, Peter's Emo Factor has apparently been cranked to 11. Venom looks like some roid-raged caricature while - WHOA!!!!
Kingpin's. Nipples. Are. SO. HUGE!!! What the HELL?!?
Okay, I am so scarred for life...
This live show is a nice change of pace after a cosmic horror-type story involving glitch Pokemon. I'm actually surprised you decided to dress up as the Seventh Doctor.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't know what to make of this. I mean, a manga with Spider-Man as a ninja? I know Nightcat has ninja-style dancers, but this? This is actually bad; nothing but cliches and generalized assumptions about manga. I'm sorry but there's got to be better manga about Spider-Man out there.
Say, you going to do Spider-Man Reign soon?
RE: Unknown, that's a different Ralph Macchio. One that worked at Marvel from the mid-80s until just recently.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, all of the Karate Kid movies feature a copyright notice in the credits mentioning DC Comics, due to their having the license for the trademark on the Legion of Super-Heroes' character Karate Kid.
I made a horrible mistake. I watched this at six a.m. my time and woke up my entire household... not good!
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was a fitting end to the sixteen-odd hours I just spent watching every episode of AT4W that had a comic I was familiar with, and even some that I'd never heard of. So I guess you could say... I AM A FAN! (No that's not a typo!)
P.S. Loved the Seventh Doctor cosplay... even though the jacket and hat looked more like it belonged to the fifth doctor.
Seems like you were having a real blast doing this one. I'm glad you did get around to doing some of the Marvel manga as it seems like it's a gold mine for these sorts of reviews.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see I'm not the only one that thought 5th doctor apon seeing that cosplay outfit. Still great review and makes me wish I was there to have joined in!
ReplyDeletehey! Spiderman: Reign was actually good
ReplyDeleteif you happen to do another Marvel Mangaverse, you should totally team up with Y Ruler of Time
ReplyDelete"The admittedly poor writing aside, I love Kaare Andrews. He (or is it she?) is a damn fine penciller. Just cuz you don't like the distorted anatomy style doesn't make it bad art, Linkara. Comics are not med-school anatomy books, anatomy doesn't have to be realistic.
ReplyDeleteIt's called cartooning. exegeration is used to make stories more dynamic and tell the story better than just a bunch of pictures traced over photographs.
I find guys like Joe Mad and Andrews draw characters with more life than guys like Bryan Hitch. plus the realism style of art leads to homogenization amongst pencillers, creating a bunch of comics with no unique look that sets them apart from every other book on the shelf.
With more caricaturish art, you can much more variety. You can have manga inspired guys like Mad, or more traditional cartooning like Art Adams, or even Chuck Jones-ish art from other guys. With realism, you either get Alex Ross water paint style, delay-inducing Bryan Hitch pencils, or photo-tracers like Greg Land.
And this popular trend of "realism" as done more than just suck a lot of the fun and energy of comics by bringing them down to the "real world" level just to appease newbie fans introduced to the characters by the movies. As I said, it's led to homogenizing.
Guys like Carlos Pacheco, Mark Brooks, and even Kaare Andrews have sacrificed their old, cartoonish style for "realistic" pencils (Kaare seems to have developed a poor-man's Alex Ross shtick), and it's caused their art to lose a lot of the charm it once held and thus the drawing power of their names being on a title to me."
Yes, but there's a difference between "cartoonish exaggeration," like the stuff you mentioned, and "impossible body muscle proportions and positions that simply look silly at best, or ugly at worst," like... everything Rob Liefield ever drew.
Hey, another one I've actually read! I own the large trade that cllects the 1st Marvel Mangaverse story arc! And overall it's an okay comic, but each indevigual story by itself aren't that great!
ReplyDeleteI'll put it this way basically Bruce Banner is working with a bunch of other Marvel sceintist character(well, their Manga counter parts at least) which are a female Iron-Man(Antonia Stark), a teenage genious Hank Pym, and Black Panther(who can turn into a Black Panther Furry) and they acsodently open a wormhole or something like that into the AMnga verion od Domomumu's universe and he turns Banner into the Hulk(and just a couple issues later this is reconted that the Hulk came out of Banner and that they're 2 seperate beings tyed together in the since that if one dies they both die. the whole sharing a soul thing) and this Hulk is like a Godzilla sized monster that sometimes has a tail and long hair and sometimes not!
The Mangaverse story you should REALLY review at some point Linkara is the Punisher one! I'll exsplain why 1st off the Punisher is a woman(a Gaisha to be correct) with the skull makeup and insted of killing evil or bad people she goes out and SPANKS them because her secret identity she's really a sturn Dinmother or Schoolmom at an all girl's middle-school! And it's even aware of how weird this is by having a character actualy say that she's the most KINKIEST superhero! Also, this was the only comic in the whole Mangaverse that had ZER0 to do with the over all arc of the series. It didn't even have the basic cameo of the raampaging giant Hulk that this Spider-Man comic had!
There's also the Ghost Rider one it had no real effect on the overall arc but it at least ended with the Hulk stepping on their villain and ending their story so it at least connected to the others that way!
The best things I liked about the Mangaverse was it's take on the Avengers, Doctor Strange, Hydra, Tigress, and Thor's cameo at the very end as the Duel Ex Machia that shows up and saves the day... Read the Trade!
Main problems the series had was it pissed off a lot of fans of characters that were basically screwed over in the universe like Nightcrawler, Peter Rasputin, Xavier, Venom, Black Widow, the whole Fantastic Four, and the Punisher!
I wish I coul've been there at that con that looked like fun!
Curse you, Linkara. Now He-man's theme song is stuck in my head.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I'm looking forward to the next week and the double feature!
Glad to see a good episode as soon as I get out of the hospital. I'm already feeling better now!
ReplyDeleteAfter your last episode I half expected you to have a week off, you certainly are a workaholic at this eh? (but then again so am I XD).
ReplyDeleteFor a second live show I didn't think you had much to improve on since you really nailed it again by entertaining the audience and even poking fun at yourself which I respect, the comic/manga was a good choice considering your rules and because it makes these lives shows a lot more special.
This manga I knew existed and believe me even I too thought the plots were too outrageous even for a Japanese Manga based on a American Comic Book, heck even the manga drawing style is really exaggerated in not a good way but I digress.
Great job on the live show and as usual keep up the great work ^_^
hey Linkara, instead of doing 2 episodes next week, you should do one episode and a commentary on "Electric Tale of Pikachu #1"
ReplyDeleteI'll never understand why they made Kingpin like Jabba the Hut and Venom like Darth Vader. It's like the writers were reading Spiderman and watching Star Wars at the same time and figured " You know, this just might work."XD
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy the CSI: Dying in The Gutters comics. I figured all the guest apperiences(and covered product placement)on this arc, it would be an interesting read. even though it's one issue short.
Doctor who cosplay and yet another manga review? my first thoughts "I love you even more now" so just had to stop by your blog to comment on that since I do not have a that guy with the glasses account
ReplyDeleteso yeah love it ^^
"I am a MEME!" *punch*
ReplyDeleteI know this is off-subject, but here's something you may find funny
ReplyDeletehttp://pyrodarkfire.deviantart.com/art/Green-Ranger-s-in-trouble-267858326
Hey, Linkara, just a heads-up:
ReplyDeleteDarkwing Duck #18 and DuckTales #6 come out today.
Actually, no one in this manga seems to be Japanese: They all have their normal - American - names, and most importantly, nobody wears a school uniform.
ReplyDeleteSo this manga is in color, is read from left to right AND doesn't feature Mary-Jane in a sailor fuku. What a let-down :P
And why doesn't he have any powers (aside from martial arts)? If you really wanted to make a manga-version of Spider-Man, they should've cranked his powers up to eleven! Trying to be more down to earth is the wrong approach.
The only TRUE Japanese Spider-Man has a giant robot, anyways XD
I was always under the impression the mangaverse was meant to be a parody series...
ReplyDelete"Reepicheep-chan has left a new comment on the post "Return of Atop the Fourth Wall LIVE!":
ReplyDeleteI was always under the impression the mangaverse was meant to be a parody series..."
I think it was! Because most of the stories were mostly anime and manga steroe types! Like this one of the boy ninja, but it could've been worse... they could've turned Spider-Man into a pubesent girl princess!
That was incredible.
ReplyDeleteI watched this video when it came out a few days ago and loved it. I made a decision to see you live if I ever had the chance, even if I had to cross both a sea and a country to get there. It's excellently exciting.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not what I wanted to comment about. I don't know if you've ever heard of "Bakuman"-- it's a manga written by Ohba and Obata, authors of Death Note. (I'm going to guess you've heard of Death Note, all things considered.) It's a very cool story of two mangakas, clearly modeled off the authors themselves, working their way through the manga world in an attempt to make the best manga ever, originally in order for one of them to get a girl to marry him. It's a very good demonstration of how well Ohba and Obata can make a story about mostly-normal people extremely exciting and action-packed.
So they released a new chapter today, as they do weekly in SJ, and I was incredibly amused when I came to this page... http://www.mangafox.com/manga/bakuman/v11/c055/8.html
"Zombie Gun" is made up, but that's obviously not what caught me. "Spiderman". Since they're talking about the "best manga in the world"... they mean the Spiderman manga? The one I saw just days previously in AT4W Live?
So I burst out laughing, and couldn't help but drop the fact here. The idea that lord(s) of deep, complex, non-mainstream manga Ohba and/or Obata think the Spiderman manga-- the terrifying one in the video above-- is tantamount to the best in the world?! I just find this incredibly silly and am forced to whimsically assume they're Linkara fans and slipped in this tidbit shortly before the chapter went to print.
"Yes, but there's a difference between "cartoonish exaggeration," like the stuff you mentioned, and "impossible body muscle proportions and positions that simply look silly at best, or ugly at worst," like... everything Rob Liefield ever drew."
ReplyDeleteAnd everything Mad! draws has even more impossible proportions than Liefeld's (and I bristle at you saying everything Liefeld drew was poorly-proportioned since Cable was really the only hyper-exaggerated character he drew in X-Force, so that makes me think you haven't actually seen much of Liefeld's work.) Yet Mad!'s work is still pure awesome.
The same thing goes for Andrews - his art still gets the story across in a kinetic and exciting fashion. I especially like his two issues of Ultimate X-Men and the Astonishing X-men mini he did with Warren Ellis. Not only was the art visually pleasing in the latter, but he did an interesting update on the "movie" costumes introduced in Morrison's run; I actually wish those esigns had been incorporated into the main books.
This realism trend is making comics visually boring I think, and the opinion of realismover cartooning is being furthured through this site I think. However, this may be unintional on Linkara's part.
I think he does have a bit of a bias against exagerated cartooning, but for the most part people are just taking his complaints with Liefeld as his opinion on all art with exagerated proportions. The problem with Liefeld is the actual composition of the figures (ie, they don't "look right," they're too stiff)not the fact that he exagerates anatomy.
"So I burst out laughing, and couldn't help but drop the fact here. The idea that lord(s) of deep, complex, non-mainstream manga Ohba and/or Obata think the Spiderman manga-- the terrifying one in the video above-- is tantamount to the best in the world?! I just find this incredibly silly and am forced to whimsically assume they're Linkara fans and slipped in this tidbit shortly before the chapter went to print."
ReplyDeleteWeeeeell it's more likely that they're talking about the 1970s version, or since manga is just another word for comics, they might refer to mainstream Spider-Man, but who can say? XD
Nice review, Linkara, but I have one qualm. Because of the camera's lighting it was very difficult to tell what was happening on some of the panels, particularly the last one.
ReplyDeleteNext time, you might want to replace some of the video with the images directly from your slideshow.
Love the Seventh Doctor outfit. Not sure how people could confuse you with the Fifth, though. The umbrella should have been a dead giveaway.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, did you make the handle for that umbrella yourself, or did you get it from somewhere?
I found this on YouTube and thought it showed a better version of this comic's basic concept http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkdh1WE3LD8&feature=related It's pretty well done for a fanmade animation!
ReplyDeleteJust watched your Star Trek 2 review and the sad thing is that when you did the Khan joke for Senseiiii, their panel was better than what IDW put in Wrath of Khan.
ReplyDelete