Monday, May 7, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man on Bullying Prevention #1



Somehow, becoming a bully yourself doesn't seem like the most effective way of preventing bullying...



85 comments:

kaingerc said...

"Let's all get together and make bullying kill itself.
Bullying's an ugly thing
Let's shove its face in the dirt and make bullying kill itself"

can't believe you didn't use this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nf-2OZ0a74

E. Wilson said...

You're not alone; Spider-Man 3 is one of my favorite movies of all time.

And the third guy who was about to make the Brace squeal like a piggy looks like a miscolored Speed Demon, a mercenary and one of Rhino's partners in the Sinister Syndicate.

...I really can't get over how tiny Spider-Man's head looks in the second comic....

Unknown said...

I was actually the victim of taunts because I was easily enraged myself. These comics... are eh. I will say this: The cover of the first one did have me laughing because of how much the way Spidey was holding the kid looked like the groom carries the bride off after a wedding. Can't wait for the new teen titans review next week.

AdamantiumRage said...

Linkara,
I think you made a mention of him before, but have you read any of the Bionicle comics by Greg Farshtey?

Kelleth said...

I have never seen his newer costumes since I've only manages to see 70's/80's comics with him as the villain But I am pretty sure that villain next to Sandman is the Speed demon
PS: I accidentally posted this in the wrong section. Sorry.

Mountain King said...

As much as I would like to hate this comic I actually think this does a good job!

Sorry but it does, look Bullying boils down to a social problem. people from one social group fear and do not understand people from others. "Nerds" and "Geeks" are often alienated by each different social group and seen as an easy target. The same for homosexuals and transsexuals.

There are three ways to deal with bullying, or the "alienation introduced by perceived social norms by other groups." The first is demonstrated by Brace; this is the abandonment of individual identity and changing yourself to conform with the social norm. The result, that of the other super-villains turning on him, is exactly what happens in real life. the bullies will always turn on you eventually, seeing you as an easy target.

The second way is Spiderman's solution, as it were; fear. To be afraid of the repercussions of standing with the bullied and oppressed due to being ostracised along with the victim. The result of this is, as demonstrated, is the crippling guilt that you didn't stand up for your friend, acquaintance or prefect stranger.

Finally we have the police officer, standing up for those like themselves despite the consequences and accepting them. Personally this is the option we should all go for. Fight what we personally believe is right. As such, in this story, the officer is the true hero (as she also saves Spiderman) showing that having the courage of your own convictions is the best way to go.

Don't forget in the Marvel-verse Spiderman is considered a villain, but she lets him go. The same goes for those that dug him out (and Spiderman's proof of heroism by digging the bad guy out himself, in spite of the predictable result) again casting the real people as heroes.

Sorry but this is a very well thought out, if short, comic. It might be PSA but it pulls it off and I think that, by encouraging the reader to think and examine the three perspectives, it is one of the very few good PSA comics.

Alright the one that you tacked on to the end was rubbish, made as much sense as a soup sandwich and the art was amazingly 90's (overly muscular and astoundingly bad biology) but the main conten really didn't deceive the AT4W treatment.

Thomas Fishwick

PS You think you had trouble with your last name try mine for a while. Fish-Dick might rhyme but try having kids four years younger than you chase you down school corridors chanting it…

Oh and snowflame again. As crazy as a bag of rats spinning in a centrifuge while five people play bag pipes… Exactly one eight off key with each other. Blindfolded and trapped in Silent Hill… With a goat. On a Wednesday. Around half past four in the morning.

Slyther2 said...

It's good to know that I am not the only one who enjoys watching the movie. I don't like it in a so bad it's good way, I GENUINELY like it. It has flaws sure (some more glaring than others) but it wasn't that bad in my opinion. Several reasons why Venom was the way he was (such as Raimi not wanting the character e.t.c. being thrown in at the last moment) and the cadre of villain did make things a little hard to follow but what I loved about it was that there was a lot going on. I think the Sam Raimi trilogy is pretty good overall and I hope the Amazing Spiderman will do good. What are your thoughts Linkara? What do you honestly think about Spiderman 3?

Coyote's Own said...

For Superhero Universe set Police Procedural, try "Gotham Central" by Rucka. It probably a bit more low-key then what you described (being st in Gotham and centering on Bet-family side of the DCU), but it's very well written.

Jesse said...

As strange as "Beat The Bully" is it actually had a more realistic ending. An apology doesn't always come right after the problem is resolved, but later on.

Sometimes it's only a misunderstanding and all those other "happy endings" people like to give.

All I did in high school was taunt the bullies back and then I was welcomed into the group. Got a job at VONS with one of them a few years later and found out they were only picking on me to "kill time." Real life is weirder than fiction some times lol.

Master Control Cynic said...

1) Linkara god shall forgive you for liking spiderman 3.

2) WHO IS PLAING SNOWFLAME? I can never find his name! Is it a relative? A friend? Another reviewer on TGWTG?

dxm said...

Try Bru's GCPD and Slott's She-Hulk for cops and lawers story.

ngrey651 said...

You know...I LIKE the first comic better than most PSA comics. It does a better combination of "teaching a lesson" and "flow of action" than most, and I agree with the idea of how it isn't a hero or victim's fault if bad guys do bad things. Being a villain doesn't admonish you of responsibility.

Then again, the end result moral is kinda...confusing to really figure out. And for the second story...the bad guy switched to good faster than a Yu-Gi-Oh character. XD

I did NOT see that Snowflame cameo coming. Friggin' HILARIOUS! And the way his eyes look, it looks like he's high as a kite. The slightly red-tinged eyes were a nice touch! You should let your friend know that. ;)

Canadian Otaku Gamer said...

Hmmm... Jubilee talking about peer pressure. Maybe she could have delivered a speech about that to Marvel editorial before they tried to make her character more appealing to Twilight fans. Poor Jubes gets no respect.

These PSAs seem to come in two flavours. Either they're heavy-handed and patronizing or weak and watered down.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"2) WHO IS PLAING SNOWFLAME? I can never find his name! Is it a relative? A friend? Another reviewer on TGWTG?"

My friend Will. I've put his name in the Credits before, but I just realized I forgot to this time. ^^;

Damienx247 said...

Idk if my last post went through since I received an error message for my last post, so I will try again.



Maybe Juan doesn't have superpowers, he might just be skilled in martial arts, and the writer didn't have time to add that info.

boooratt said...

Wow this was another great one!
Well, for the subject of bullying I'll tell the way things went for me which really are of no help to anyone. I was a short fat kid and got picked on for that but luckily when i hit puberty I grew to be fairly taller than most with a wide frame so that picking on me crap stopped when i looked like I could break them in half... even though I'm a passifist also a metalhead so I looked like a biker an that scares other people so no one messed with me. So all I can say is hopefully you come from a large built family and like the darker scarier stuff other people are frightened by!
Now for the comic the 1st one didn't look too bad as the art was pretty decent! And, it looked like a very standard Spidey fights new onetime villain story! Even though I'm not sure of that since you said this comic was numbered makes me thing there might be a part 2?! Is there?
Well, all I learned from these 2 stories is to never name a kid Danial because he will be a bully magnet! And I kind of new that before these comics since most people I've met name Danial are pretty much... I hate to say... so wimpy that they might as well paint a target on their backs! The smart one normally shorten their names the Dan which sounds tougher!
I'm guessing the Brace in this was a Cyborg or that was one of those grafted on exo-suit you see a lot of comicbook villains with! So basically he's going to be skinned alive! FOR KIDS!!
On the 2nd comic what the hell did Spider-Man even do here!? Why was he fallowing the kids in their school!? That was creepy! Also you missed a good his friend was a mutant story! Which if you think of it X-Men would've been a better setting for a Bullying story!

YAY, Snowflame! If you watch or have seen Metalocalypse you should do more Dr. Rockso jokes with him! XD

boooratt said...

PS: Isn't Sandman not that dark of a Villain to torture/horribly murder another low level villain over a petty mistake? Wasn't he trying to be a hero once before!? I know he's tried to kill Spider-Man before but that's different!

13th Doctor said...

Bullying is something of a controversial topic. I am glad that you admitted that you were not qualified to discuss it. As such, I was a victim of bullying quite frequently. I was also high-strung and easily angered in high school and was not exactly the most approachable person in the world. It is part of the reason I help adults with developmental disabilities; I want to help those who cannot help themselves.

These comics, while not overly stupid or offensive, did a lazy job conveying their respective messages.

As for Spider-Man3 (since everybody commented on it), I myself think that there was a good film in there somewhere but it got lost in its endless subplots and hamfisted execution. (Goddamn, that butler was a lazy deus ex machina!) What makes it even worse is that now I like the first two less because THIS is what they were ultimately building up to: singing and dancing routines. :/

Anonymous said...

I was expecting the music during the credits to cut off unexpectidly since I only know this music from the "Series of Unfortunate Events" movie.

LucasChad said...

Thomas Newman/Lemony Snicket FTW! I love that movie because I love Jim Carrey!

Plus, I hope Snowflame will be around this month because that last bit was a real gut-buster!

The Exiled One said...

I'm guessing the reason why Linkara liked "Spider-Man 3" and Doug didn't is because Linkara actually reads Spider-Man comics and Doug doesn't, so Linkara was more ready to swallow what the movie throws at him.

The Blue And The Gold said...

First off, I love Spider-Man 3 and until Iron Man (and then The Avengers) came along, it was my fave Marvel movie.

Second, the problem with Peter having a therapist? THEY'D be a supervillain soon enough, too!

Third, if all your friends jump off a cliff, jump off 50! At the same time! (Does anyone even still use that "If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" line?)

Also, apologies if this goes through twice, having a spot of bother with posting.

FugueforFrog said...

Yeah, Snowflame has a point there. I'd trust his word over Spidey.

I think Spidey's whole stance was destroyed the moment you showed the "They'll all pay" bit from Amazing Fantasy 15...yeah it was before Uncle Ben but it shows even Spidey had a dark side when it came to bullies. I don't get the point of The Brace anyway other than yet another stupid idiot in a costume fighting Spider-Man...though I loved seeing Daria on the show finally, and the random Jason scene.

BTW: not sure of the "Law" side but for good "Order" of comic book stuff, try to track down the Dan Slott run on She-Hulk. That gets into some fun stuff.

Karfsma778 said...

Gotta love Snowflame. Also one of the people who didnt hate spider-man 3, sure it had its flaws, but doesnt every movie?

LonewandererD said...

Watching these I do have to keep reminding myself that these are the same superheroes. The subjects of PSA's is important but I atill can't help but think that these superheroes with all their powers are better off dealing with problems in their area of expertise and leave the PSA's to youth councilers and Captain Planet, people who are more geared towards these problems.

Still, enjoyable as always Linkara :)

-LWD

ShadowWing Tronix said...

I actually get along with some of my former tormentors now and actually attended my last class reunion. Sometimes it all blows over.

I wonder if the little girl who told on Peter's bullies grew up to become that cop. They look similar.

revolverocelot2501 said...

"Now, after many years of being the victim of your juvenile bullying, I'm going to challenge you to a children's card game...and then I'll destroy the world!"

Mitchell Martinez said...

I enjoyed that point you made about Spider-man 3; just wanted to say. Also, I'm curious about that flip story with Jubilee. Was it equally as entertainingly goofy as How to Beat the Bully? I ask since Jubilee is my favorite X-men character(I FINALLY gave up on Cyclops after reading some of Avengers VS X-men).

Phantom Roxas said...

Since you mentioned Miller Time, I'm curious if we'll eventually see a Miller Time Month.

I definitely did not expect this to be a double feature, which was a nice bit. I expected the opening part of the second part to lead in to another One More Day joke, but you already used one, so it was nice to finally see your Orichalcos Duel Disk.

The Snowflame PSA was hilarious.

Ro9ge said...

I had to pause at 15:33 just to laugh for a minute. XD So very true. Saving the world and even the tiniest real life problems with card games!

Anonymous said...

All that legal stuff you said about the Marvel Universe?

She-Hulk.

That's exactly what she does in her book!

areoborg said...

That is why you should never taunt people named Jason unless you have super-powers.

We all have hockey masks and machetes just waiting to be used... no exceptions.

Someone once dared me to watch one of Linkara's videos. So I watched 50 of them. AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!

But I failed because I couldn't stream that many at once. -_-

Anonymous said...

have you read the one where spider-man was once molested by some creepy old man who looks suspiciously like uncle ben? yeah, it's that bad.

Nick Michalak said...

SNOWFLAME!!! Yes!

I always enjoy every episode, but it was nice to see a more light-hearted and less angered Linkara this week.

I was bullied as a kid. Not physically, but verbally. High school was my four year exil in the tenth level of hell because of this. Try going through high school with no friends and people picking on you on a regular basis. There were a few decent guys who spoke up for me every so often, but it never detered repeats of the situation. It pisses me off that there is this big movement against bullying now like it's a brand new thing. Where were these people twenty years ago when my childhood and teenage years were a complete miserable hell because of bullying? I'd like to know what they have to say about that.

Anyway, I do agree that these comics don't really have anything coherent or significant to say about preventing or dealing with bullies. It is an important subject that deserves visibility and action taken against it, but we'll need better comics than these.

As always, thanks for brightening my day, Lewis. A truly enjoyable episode.

-NJM

Bluecho said...

I had to look up Loverly Spring on YouTube before I realized where it was from. Knowing it now, that's hilarious.

Why not have Spiderman see a therapist? He really needs one, and Marvel already has a superpowered shrink in its backlog. It's Dr. Leonard Samson, the super psychiatrist with bright green hair!

You'd think Marvel would bring that guy back once in a while. Or maybe give him a miniseries! I'd read it.

August M. said...

Jubilee, such a boring character. Even as a vampire(which she's currently one), she's not interesting.

Great review.

Falcovsleon20 said...

"can't believe you didn't use this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nf-2OZ0a74 "

Cartman singing about his vagina might be a good reason why he avoided that song.

Unknown said...

Side note: There are two issues of Astro City that revolve around a lawyer trying to figure out how to get his client found innocent in a super-powered world. It goes badly.

(It's in the Astro City:Local Heroes TPB, BTW.)

Robyn said...

I never knew you liked Daria!

Also, how did you find a Snowflame costume? Did you make it from scratch, or did you buy individual pieces to make it? I can't imagine that there are Snowflame costumes laying around, but I've seen stranger things on the Internet.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Also, how did you find a Snowflame costume? Did you make it from scratch, or did you buy individual pieces to make it? I can't imagine that there are Snowflame costumes laying around, but I've seen stranger things on the Internet."

The Prop Lady made it for Will when we realized he could play him. XD

Nevermore said...

Yup, mystery villain looks like a miscolored Speed Demon.
http://marvel.wikia.com/James_Sanders_(Earth-616)

Who in turn started out as the Whizzer, a member of the Squadron Sinister, a team of Avengers villains patterned after DC's Justice League, with the Whizzer being the Flash equivalent.

He's not to be confused with the Whizzer of the Squadron Supreme, the Squadron Sinister's counterpart from an alternate universe the Avengers have have crossed paths with several times.

Or the Whizzer from the Supreme Power version of the Squadron Supreme.

Yeah, comics can be very confusing.

Dr. Ivo Robuttnik said...

I took Snowflame's advice, and now I'm 500 pounds, have an orange mustache, and I absolutely loathe hedgehogs.

ALL IN ALL I'D CALL HIS ADVICE A SUCCESS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

Laughing Hyena said...

@Ngrey651
And for the second story...the bad guy switched to good faster than a Yu-Gi-Oh character. XD"

Don't know if you ever watched the spin-off shows: Buuuuuttt....
Amon Garam/Adrian Gecko (GX: Third season) and Divine/Sayer (5D's) would probably beg to differ on that point.

In fact, Divine/Sayer showed up on one of Y Ruler of Time's lists, despite the fact he's an anime character and not a manga character:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/yrt/readright/28020-yrot-8-most-satisfying-manga-deaths

Also funny about the bad guy switching to good thing: Yu-gi-oh GX used it in reverse in season 2 as a destruction of the original series' "We beat you! Let's be friends now!".
GX's Society of Light: "All are welcome, all are welcome!" , or if you like, "For the greater good..."

Back to Topic:
More Snowflame please! Would love to keep seeing him at the end this month to counter or give really bizarre PSA messages.

Queen Anthai said...

For those who actually DO want to hear about dealing with bullying, my podcast Made Of Fail did an entire episode on it a while back, including perspective from an ex-bully.

You can find it at http://made-of-fail-pc.livejournal.com/18286.html.

biropg said...

technicly, since english doesnt have the letter Ø, the actual translation to norwegian is "law hill" not "leaf hill"

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Don't know if you ever watched the spin-off shows: Buuuuuttt....
Amon Garam/Adrian Gecko (GX: Third season) and Divine/Sayer (5D's) would probably beg to differ on that point."

Adrian was an AMAZINGLY complex character. I really wish we had seen more of him in Season 4, but ah well, he went wherever Bastion went.

Laughing Hyena said...

"I really wish we had seen more of him in Season 4, but ah well, he went wherever Bastion went."

If you want to know: Judai/Jaden didn't bring him back.
Most of the theories I've heard is that he wasn't an important enough person for Judai to care about and so Yubel didn't think of keeping him around in that hellish zone. Plus betraying and going up against Yubel, not a good idea.
And yeah, Yubel is my favorite sympathetic antagonist in Yu-gi-oh shows ever.

4kids went and did this with Amon Garam/Adrian Gecko: "Oh! Um, he was already sent back on the boat at the end of the season!"
Oh 4kids...

As for Misawa/Bastion: He hangs out with Taniya in another dimension.

The main problem with season four was that the Japanese voice actor for Judai wanted to end his job on the show: So they had to cut the plot down for him to leave on time. Still got a Evangelion-ish plot out of it, though. I'm still surprised no one's made a joke about season four by comparing the villains to the nothingness from the Never-ending story.

Also, in the GX volume 8 manga: It was revealed that GX season two was originally going to be a crossover movie between Yu-gi-oh and Yu-gi-oh GX. But it never happened.
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_VS._GX

Anonymous said...

I must, apparently, obey my lord and master Snowflame.

Cupcakes ahoy.

Lotus Prince said...

I can understand liking some parts of Spiderman 3, but the movie pissed me off because it completely rendered moot "With great power comes great responsibility" by making Uncle Ben's killer NOT the guy that Spidey let go in the wrestling ring. That just didn't sit right with me.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"The main problem with season four was that the Japanese voice actor for Judai wanted to end his job on the show: So they had to cut the plot down for him to leave on time. Still got a Evangelion-ish plot out of it, though. I'm still surprised no one's made a joke about season four by comparing the villains to the nothingness from the Never-ending story."

That'd explain why the season was so short. Still, don't know why people consider it THAT dark. The fear of potential failure was a theme touched on throughout the previous seasons. I actually thought season 3 was a hell of a lot darker.

"Also, in the GX volume 8 manga: It was revealed that GX season two was originally going to be a crossover movie between Yu-gi-oh and Yu-gi-oh GX. But it never happened.
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_VS._GX "

I've read about that. It certainly explains the visit to Domino City. I just wish Kaiba had had more than just a single cameo. He didn't fall for any of Sartorius' bullcrap and knew right away to have him followed and watched.

Ming said...

Great review on these two comics. I think these comics could have been done better, but that's just me.

Speaking of Spider-Man, I'm not going to say Spider-Man 3 was bad; what I will say is this: Spider-Man 3 could have been better if they had focused on just one main plotline and villain and removed stupid elements like the dance sequence.

Can't wait for the next PSA comic.

Phantom Roxas said...

Since someone mentioned him, Divine is hands down my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! villain. I'll also need to rewatch GX sometime, since I didn't watch the subs until Season 3.

I think the kid on the cover is supposed to be a younger version of Danny.

shikome kido mi said...

I thought the moral of the first one was that dealing with being bullied was on the shoulders of the victim and that if you deal with it poorly, horrible things might happen.

You know, like turning into a giant jerk and then being murdered by your new friends.

Anonymous said...

No one knows how to effectively deal with bullying and you can't expect a comic book to give any solutions or even advice on how to deal with bullies.

The best they can do is shine a spotlight on the problem and encourage an active dialogue about the problem.

Atlas said...

Wow, you're not even close on what your name is like.
First of all, if we take the spelling as it is, it's prenounced Lovhauv.
Not HOG.
The correct spelling is also Løvhaug, which is prenounced Luvehave in American weirdo language.
Now, that's why we have those 3 extra letters in Norway, since æ, ø and å has their own sound that doesn't match anything in English without mixing it with other letters.
You could at LEAST do som basic research on your own NAME and then not !"#%! annoy an entire county by completely destroying.
I am seriously mad at you now, Linkara, you just degraded our language to a halfassed one, as American, which is lacking letters for sounds that are in our mouth.
We DON'T. We have those 3 extra letters for a reason and don't need to retardedly mix it with other letters to make the sound of one.

Sijo said...

Linkara: Yeah, the fact that most Spider-Man villains turn out to be connected to (or even BE) some of his friends and relatives has been noticed for its absurdity over the years. There was actually a story once in which a group of villains he tangled with ended up including: A fat guy he knew from school (turns out he was a mutant), the brother of the thief who killed Uncle Ben (Seriously!) and... Peter's DENTIST?! And no, they didn't know who Spider-Man really was, it was all a coincidence I think!! Obviously the story was meant as a critique of this very fact, but since it IS canonical (as far as I know) it actually made things even more worse! (Brace, however, may not be.)

Titania Bird said...

Come to think of it...correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Aunt May the only person who didn't become a supervillain for Spidey?

Although, that would have been an interesting follow-up to OMD/OMIT. Aunt May finds out about the deal with Mephisto, gets angry at Peter for not letting her die, and gets some tech from Norman Osbourne or something to turn her into the Devil's Granny!

...Or something like that. I suck with superhero names.

Anonymous said...

the last super-villain kinda looked like Bullseye

Anonymous said...

Well. Hopefully we'll get to see that Jubilee comic someday. Even if it is a PSA. It has to be better than turning her into a vampire.

As for the comics you reviewed today...I'm not sure what to say. The problem I've noticed with PSA comics is that they're not always lousy, just really odd. Not to mention either poor at getting the point across or outright preachy. I applaud the concept, but I have to wonder about the execution.

Also, Coyote's Own suggested Gotham Central if you really want a police procedural set in a superhero universe. It's a good series.

Mad_Scientist said...

One thing I liked about the first comic was that the non-heroes showed some initiative and competence, first with the cop freeing Spider Man, and second with the civilians getting him out of the rubble.

Regarding Snowflame's PSA, what came to my mind was "if someone tells you to watch an original series Star Trek episode... watch 50(well, 56) of them... AT THE SAME TIME!"

Except you can't, since CBS took down the youtube video. The man, always keeping us down. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

So far the best advice about Bullying I've heard came from Mike D. of Red Bar Radio

http://redbarradio.net/shows/red-bar-radio-05-03-12

he starts at 1:08:00

Oliver said...

A police procedural with super heroes, parallel universes and the like?

If you haven't read Alan Moore's Top 10 yet...do so. Wonderful series that covers a wide range of emotions, from hysterically funny to genuinely sad. :)

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"I am seriously mad at you now, Linkara, you just degraded our language to a halfassed one, as American, which is lacking letters for sounds that are in our mouth.
We DON'T. We have those 3 extra letters for a reason and don't need to retardedly mix it with other letters to make the sound of one."

Well, one, my family has been pronouncing it and spelling it the way it is since at least my Grandparents. That's where I got the first translation of it.

Back when I worked at Barnes and Noble, I met a woman from Norway and decided to get official confirmation from someone who actually lived in the country and spoke the language and she confirmed it (more or less, I believe her exact words were "hill full of leaves"). If you're a citizen, great, but don't assume I just made this up out of the blue.

Also, I don't appreciate ableist language on this blog. At all.

The Exiled One said...

Are you seriously telling Linkara how to spell HIS OWN NAME?

O_O

Peteman said...

How does one eat 50 last cupcakes when there is only one?

RanmaFan85 said...

While this episode was pretty good, especially the surprise Snowflame stinger, I really look forward to next week's episode. I've been wanting to see you do something else Titans-related for a while now, since they're also my favorite Superhero group.

And before you ask, yes, it was partly because of the cartoon that I started reading about them, but the Terror of Trigon story really cemented my love of the team (Especially Raven). You've also said you'd get around to Titans #2 and on. Is that still on the horizon, out of curiosity?

On another subject, more relevant to this video, I too know how it is to be bullied, and it's not fun. Like you, I was one of those people that would react easily to it, especially in my middle school years, if not for one thing, then another that would get a reaction (I've since become more thick-skinned, for the most part).

TheDarkEricDraven said...

I honestly thought Luvhaug was like, a stage name. :0

rutana said...

If there's one comment on this topic I can't hear anymore, it's "Tell your teachers and get help, so they'll stop". Did this EVER helped?
I was bullied heavily in school, and I went to my mom AND teachers - and my mom talked with my teachers too... It never helped anything, since the kids didn't cared for it, because... what could the teacher do to them anyway? It mostly resulted in them bulling harder for either getting annoyed by the teacher or the hype that what they did hurt "so much", that I asked for help.

I think the best ways to deal with it is keeping the head high and make clear to yourself that someday this will end and life gets better - or hope that some other kids in class charge in, because they have more influence as a teacher could have...

Anonymous said...

Congratulations for finally crediting simple plan for use of their song, Linkara!

Greg said...

can we please, please, please, have snowflame fight the ultimate warrior

Phantom Roxas said...

The problem I found with bullying is that, since it's so persistent, you'll always have to keep going to the teachers. Eventually, the teachers just won't even try anymore, and any punishments they give to the bullies will be slaps on the wrist.

DefectiveType40 said...

I'm kind of with you on not really having any reference for bullying, Lewis. I was incredibly lucky in school--I think I was only ever bullied ONCE in elementary school. Even then it was only for, like, a day.

I'm honestly a little baffled that I was as well-liked in high school as I was. Not that I had a lot of friends or I was popular--I'm about as nerdy as they come, and the only reason I'd ever have a large group of people to hang out with regularly was because we were all band geeks. But even aside from them, everyone was usually really nice to me. Even the assholes I personally hated were perfectly pleasant to me, which was both confusing and a relief. I would probably credit this to the fact that I don't talk, like, AT ALL, unless I have something REALLY funny to say. And I could draw pretty well, I guess, though I'm not sure how or why that would contribute, especially given that I'm the neurotic type of artist who never lets anyone see his drawings.

Even when I started dressing in bowties and suspenders and jackets adorned with elbow patches my senior year, I was mostly met with compliments on it, with only a few snide remarks from people here or there. Even the aforementioned assholes were still perfectly pleasant toward me.

So really, the only advice I can give is this: Grow up in Washington. We are one hell of a geeky state.

Jarkes said...

Eh, I thought Spider-Man 3 was just kind of okay.

Also, I recognized the Pyramid Head thing in Snowflame's "PSA", but what were the other props he was holding? I know that they're connected to the different storylines of the show, but the only one I recognized was the Pyramid Head thing.

Anonymous said...

I;d reccomend the "Powers" series written by Brian Bendis as a good example of a police proceedural in a super powered universe. Some of the content is adult but it's very good, at lestcheck out "Who killed Retro Girl" for an taster.

Jarkes said...

"
Regarding Snowflame's PSA, what came to my mind was "if someone tells you to watch an original series Star Trek episode... watch 50(well, 56) of them... AT THE SAME TIME!"

Except you can't, since CBS took down the youtube video. The man, always keeping us down. Sigh."

Um... the original Star Trek series is not only on DVD and Blu-ray, but is also on Netflix Instant.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Um... the original Star Trek series is not only on DVD and Blu-ray, but is also on Netflix Instant."

They're referring to a youtube video someone put up where they had every episode of Star Trek playing simultaneously in 70 tiny screens at once, and yes all the audio was playing over it. It was actually quite fascinating.

Julie Sydor said...

My high school was very racist and sexist, but surprisingly non-homophobic. The teachers were cool with drinking/weed smoking, but would never try to stop bullying/name calling.

I think I might have graduated from some sort of alternate universe...

Ozaline said...

I think the first comic wasn't too bad the message wasn't too un-foccused, "it's a good idea to report bullying you witness but if it goes unreported that's no excuse to become a bully yourself." It presented that argument in a rather nuanced way giving both sides of the argument.

Ah cool didn't realize you were of Norweigan background too (I guess it makes sense since your from Minnesota which like Alberta has a lot of Nordic people), I got a bit of bullying for my Norweigan middle name actually (the kids were all comparing middle names). Does your family have Lutefisk and Lefsa at Christmas time?

A bit sad that that Catwoman anti-gun PSA I sent you didn't make the list for PSA hell month... oh well.

Jarkes said...

Hey, weird question: A while back, when the Entity arc was still going on, you said that the next arc would involve the mirror universe (something about something escaping from a glass cage, I can't really remember what). However, recently, you've been saying that the next upcoming storyline will involve the magic gun and (presumably) more of its backstory. Is the mirror universe ever going to appear again?

JLH said...

Dwayne McDuffie's Damage Control mini-series (all 3 or 4 of them) dealt with legal ramifications concerning the actions of Marvel Comics characters. They were played for laughs, but they were pretty damn good and worth tracking down if you haven't already read them (sadly they were never collected in trades).

Anonymous said...

Ah, our friendly neighborhood devil-dealer

you know, for some time I've been questioning Quesada's motives to brake-up Peter and Marry Jane
But now I understand.
He did it to re-unite Peter with his one true love
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/18863/2325543-ff_17.png
Come-on! Don't deny it!
You know it's true!
The shadow people said it, so iot must be true!
And the fan-girls sure agree

On another note
Have you read Dial H yet?
It's awesome!
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/05/02/dial-h-1-review/

Anonymous said...

Linkara,
Could you do the Spider-Man/Avengers financial advice comic?
http://practicalmoneyskills.com/avengers/

kriss1989 said...

What E. Wilson said, it looks like a slightly off color speed demon. Buuut it also looks a lot like a reversed color Tarantula, especially with the chest symbol. Actually, the chest symbol for Speed Demon is basically a lightning bolt color around his upper torso seperating his dark and light blue areas. The Tarantula has that chest symbol, but in dark blue/black while his main costume is a rich brown/red.

Viktor Matiesen said...

Okay, Im sure that there are comments that mentions both "Powers" byBrian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming and "Gotham Central" by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka or even "Top Ten" by Alan Moore and Gene Ha but I just felt that I needed to mention it.
Either way, awesome idea if you were thinking about how it would look like CSI, Criminal Minds and Law and Order, where they actually conduct somewhat realistic investigations about whether or not SPiderman or Superman is to blame for destruction of private proporties and such.

...Any takers? I could draw the comic?

DMaster said...

On a rewatch, something I noticed with the first comic: the art style was uncomfortably familiar. I checked the credits, and...THIS COMIC IS PENCILLED BY THE GUY FROM MARVILLE! AAAAAH!!!

Though he's fine here, admittedly. Not fond of the connection. Even less so that one of my favorite current series - Quantum & Woody - was co-created by this artist in the old Valiant. Q&W is connected with Marville. (shudder)