My elementary school distributed this comic my 5th Grade year, and even then I knew how stupid this comic was. I'm glad ya finally reviewed it! Still to this day I don't know why an elementary school would want to pass out a comic that shows a woman and her baby being burned to death.
Ahh Linkara, have you ever read the Darwin Awards page?
I can guarantee that half the incredibly, mind numbingly, dumb things that these characters do have been "bettered" in real life. From the man that shot himself in the head to prove that his spy pen was real to the man that tried to thaw his own engine by setting it on fire and who knows what in between.
Hell, just watch one of Nash's WTFIWWY episodes to realise that stupidity isn't just popular, it's an epidemic!
And here I thought this was a PSA about stupid people using vapor to get high or something. But cleaning with gas, was this such a problem in the 90s that there had to be a PSA about it?
This really doesn't seem like a good villain for Dare Devil, not just because it is a ghost thing, but really he shouldn't see it, seeing how gasses don't make much noise unless it escaping from a leak (even with it talling).
Also with gas prices I think soap and water is the better, cheaper, and less flammable way to clean something.
Wow....just wow, this has to be one of the dumbest comics I have ever seen on your show, and that is saying A LOT! Still, it at least produces funny episodes, and insightful stuff; never knew that about gasoline being used to clean things, save for the one 1000 Ways To Die, but I thought that was just a method of that biker screwing with that woman.
REALLY? I haven't even watched more than the pre-title sequence yet, and... WOW.
Now, I admit, I have used gasoline as a cleaning solvent before. But that was OUTDOORS, on a day when there was a strong breeze, wearing rubber gloves and a rubber apron, and I was using it to clean CAR PARTS THAT CAN'T HAVE WATER CONTAMINATE THEM. (Items in the automatic transmission, for the record.)
I've never, EVER used it to clean ANYTHING that's supposed to be in prolonged contact with my skin, or which ISN'T normally in contact with an even NASTIER flammable petroleum-based liquid like automatic transmission fluid. (For the record, if you're going to change the fluid on your automatic transmission, for GOD'S sake, get rubber gloves that stretch up to the shoulder, and a rubber apron, because that stuff is NASTY AS HELL. And it'll leach into your body through the skin if you let it...)
The mid 90s, and people were still using gasoline for cleaning clothes? WHAT. THE. HELL.
Remember the scene from fight club with the exploding apartment? It was inspired by friends of the author scrapping up tile with gas to loosen up the glue, the refrigerator clicked on and boom out the kitchen window they went. From the writers commentary track no one was killed but it did inspire the writer.
I dunno about early 90s USA (trget audience) but in eraly 90s former communistic countries this was common at the time. Admittedly people were normaly smart enough to use ind well vented place - gas vapors can easily ignite only if oxygen-gas vapors mixture is correct. And even the only for most resilient stains.
I loved that rifftrax short! "Hank loves it when my negligee reeks of diesel fuel." :D
I don't think that's quite right, with the statement about gasoline vapors being able to ignite at well below zero, since if that were the case, my car would have combusted each and every time I put fuel in it. After all, its the temperature of the ignition source that matters, not the temperature of the surrounding environment.
I'm no expert, but I doubt that there would be any vapors left to smell after several days in the remains of a burned out building.
Wait... bike kids kept a bucket of water on hand in case of a fire (unless they threw the bucket of gasoline on the fire to try and put it out, which would be par for the course with the stupidity of this comic) but didn't bother with the fire extinguisher?
I could believe that the mother lighting up the cigarette next to a petrol can could happen.
I nearly had something similar happen to me, when a housemate decided to light up next to me spray painting out on our front step once. Had I been spraying at the time, the propellant would have likely caught and burned us both. Some people really are that stupid.
Also, I don't know about in the US, but a lot of the stuff they used petrol for in this comic is stuff over here Surgical Spirit (Rubbing Alcohol) could be used for, which is far less flammable. I think we've been using alcohol for stuff like that for decades, insane petrol use must have died out in the UK a while ago.
Oh wow, I didn't know that people back in the old days used Gasoline to clean stuff... And thank goodness there are MUCH better alternatives in this day and age.
Also, a webcomic about the awesomeness that is Snowflame? MUST... READ...
Actually, there was an episode of Detective Conan covering the gas can in a closed garage. The fumes build up and a spark from static electricity set the entire room ablaze, killing the person.
It's on Youtube: Detective Conan episode 524 and 525. It's a two part episode (it has english subtitles). It's worth watching, as it's one of my favorite episodes!
Hey linkara, have you ever read the Daredevil: Born Again storyline by Frank Miller, before he went cookoo of course, and if so, what did you think of it, and would you reccomend it for new readers?
I love this review! Especially for the Daft Punk usage! XD I just gotta say before I start on the comic I knew about that Snowflame comic from DA! And it is cewl! I do wish they'd bring him back in the reboot as a joke villain like Deadpool or Lobo!
I think what they meant by cut fromt he same... whatever as mankind they meant she looks human... but I could be wrong!?
You gotta love the way comics try to come up with names for their characters! Because I wouldn't have named that thing Vapora if I jusr ran into it and needed something to call it! You do know if they brought this character back she'd be the perfect love interest for like Pyro or one of the many fire-based-villains or demons in the Marvel universe! I don't know of anyone out side some mechanics that use gas as a cleaner! And they use it to clean off oil and dirt form tools and then leave them out to dry. I'm sure this comic spawned from like the 4-5 stupid people in the world at that time that did something like this and got killed and were in the news and the world(or the US at least) lost their shit over it and thought everyone else was this stupid and needed to be warned NOT to do it! Like any and all social panics we've had over the years! Is it just me though or is anyone else convinced that Vapora isn't evil she's just one of Marvel's embodiment(s) of a force of nature like Lady/Madam Death? In this case just good old fashion Darwinism in that she only targets the people too dumb for their own good to be allowed to survive on to reproduce!?
Ok, I'm a little depressed from this comic as I've noticed that that baby wasn't ever rescued that I recall you showing so that mother and kid burned to death somewhere off panel while Dare devil rescued that other girl from the garage!?
I use to have a book called "The Stupid history of the Human Race." There is a part that relates to the subject.
I don't remember when this took place, but a man was taking care of his laundry. His put gas in the washer, and while the machine was washing it created a spark causing the machine to explode. It took out most of the first floor of his house. Later when he was asked about the incident he was quoted as saying "I feel kind of stupid now."
All I could think of after I read it was "kind of" is and understatement.
As a fellow mid-20's Minnesotan, I'm surprised you don't remember seeing this PSA as a child. I remember it playing all the time during cartoons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU93NgrF44Y
Although, even as a 6 year old, I was confused as why they were putting gas on a bike chain. When my parents explained it to me, I said, "But that's stupid."
In the 90's in Argentina i remember that the schools... yes you read right, THE SCHOOLS, use gas to clean the floor, this was in 1997. So yes even in that not so far away era assholes exists...
Is it just me or does Daredevil fight the stupidest villains ever? I mean, Vapora and Surgeon General alone should just get together a whole group of lame-os to just prove that for every Bullseye out there, there are....them.
This was a hilarious episode, mostly because everyone in the comic was an idiot and Vapora made no sense. Maybe a colder villain like a Michael Myers could have worked to show the threat of gas, but we got...her and a ton of idiots cleaning stuff with gas. Yeah, way to throw the message at us, Marvel.
And the silliest part: next week is a PSA with Batman to close the month...and considering what happens to Batman on this show, that should be fun.
I remember about 11 years ago there was an article in the newspaper about an idiot who soaked his clothes in gasoline to get some stains out and then put them directly into the clothes dryer.
The resulting explosion blew out the windows of the apartment complex's laundry facility and he was found stunned with singed eyebrows.
It's pretty amazing how stupid people are. It's scary that they vote.
This is the best episode you've done in months. I usually don't like PSA Hell (since the targets are usually so bad that reaming them is like shooting fish in a barrel), but this one is just so DELIGHTFULLY insane.
Let that be a lesson to you kids. Never get between Snowflame and his fuzzy slippers.
On a side note, who's to day that Snowflame won't return. Seeing how the Batman and Green Lantern books made it through the reboot more or less unscathed, I believe it is possible to see him return. I feel all it would take is for one writer to create an epic story to return Snowflame to the DC universe.
I do apologize for any possible grammatical errors. I feel I am losing my touch in writing.
Am I the only one who was expecting some sort of inclusion of the gas station scene from Zoolander? It would have worked perfectly with the "cleaning the bike" rant, or with the dumb woman cleaning her rug.
Nice review. I think I figured out the villain From what I gathered, the Vapora thing was killed ("Cut from human circles") because of a desperate father (Vapora going after the kid) so she makes a deal with the devil to become a d-jinn and find a replacement daughter. That's just... no.
Oh. The scene where the cop asks Matt if he's a war vet when he smells the chemical... that could be a reference to Blind Fury. Sorry if I come out of left field with this.
Why did they have to go with third degree burns at all? Obviously this comic was never intended for anyone other than children and obviously you can't actually what real third degree burns look like to children but if that's the case then WHY would you use the burns at all? Plenty of people die of smoke inhalation, it's a plausible way for her to go. I call bad writing already from a writer who didn't know when to quit.
This might be nitpicking, but cigarettes actually don't light up gasoline. The lighter is something of a stupid risk (they do stop burning when you let go but the vapors might be set off by it) but the cigarettes starting a fire isn't the problem. The real problem is that not only was the parent negligent enough to leave a canister of gasoline next to an infant, she smokes next to it and clearly doesn't have the room well ventilated. Even if the fire didn't start that baby would at best have mental problems for the rest of their life. Other note, I don't want to contradict you on this and I DEFINITELY don't want to defend this comic but if the creature were making sound too high or low for a regular human to hear it would work (after all Daredevil can use some kind of echolocation to move). Of course the writers never had the intelligence to actually suggest this.
Anyway for a creature that's supposed to be brainless she actually has a rather good vocabulary.
(Bit surprised you didn't use the Yugioh Abridged 'Stronger')
With this kind of comic it makes you wonder.....ARE THE CITIZENS IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE COMPETING WITH THE DC UNIVERSE CITIZENS IN A CONTEST TO SEE HOW STUPID THEY ARE? Good God does this COMIC SUCK!
1- before hitting the play button the first thing i thought was "oh look, a comic about kids using gasoline to get high", and if you don't believe me, please listen to "Lacquer Head" by primus. "Lacquer head knows but one desire Lacquer head sets his skull on fire Lacquer head knows no in betweens Huffin' on bags of gasoline"
2- i'll never understand why the industry it's excited to make those poor excuses of a comic to advertise and spread propaganda. i'm never opposed to raise awareness about certain issues, but, nobody has the responsibility to talk people out of killing themselves.
3- The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.
4- (2) was a bad joke. sorry.
5- this is going to "my favourite review list".
6- excuse my sucky english, i'm normally speaks and write in spanish...
@Mountain King That's nothing. I read about one Darwin Award winner who decided to take up armed robbery. His target? A gun shop. In a state allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns, which many of them do. And in order to get inside, he had to step around a PARKED POLICE CAR out front. And it's only when he finally saw the police officer right next to the cashier that he declared a stick up.
I will leave it to your collective imaginations as to what level of boned that guy was. We really need Tera to get on that series about being a better criminal. Or maybe not, since stupid criminals aren't as big a threat as smart ones.
As for the comic, did anyone get a mildly pedophilic vibe from the way Vapora insisted on keeping the small child for herself? And what was with that explanation for Vapora anyway? If they'd just said she was the sentient manifestation of all vapor, I'd have bought it. Or had it be an anthropamorphic metaphor for vapor in general, and just had Daredevil save people from vapor with Vapora being represented symbolically.
But no, instead we got...whatever the hell that was.
And yes, the current Mark Weid run of Daredevil is fantastic. DD himself doesn't brood, rarely if ever uses overlong narration, and has a generally upbeat attitude.
WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? You do not use gasoline like that. No one uses gasoline that way, and yet this comic suggests that everyone is that stupid to use gasoline to rub gum off carpets or wash bikes.
And this villain is a sentient cloud of gas vapor? This is the dumbest idea for a villain since the Surgeon General. Whoever came up with Vapora should be ashamed.
This comic is the worst PSA comic I've heard of in PSA Hell month and should be burned on sight.
PS: Great job tearing apart this bad PSA comic and a Snowflame appearance.
Yeah, I think I actually use a specialized washing gasoline product to clean my bike. Mind you, this is not "from the satanic pump" gas, just a commercial cleaning agent based on gasoline. You hardly even smell any vapours from it so it is most likely watered down for safe usage. Even then, I usually clean my bije in the backyard in the open air.
I don't understand why special PSA comics are made when these issues could be tackled just as easily in regular issues. Wonder Woman for example encountered some of the problems caused by drugs and it wasn't made into a PSA and that didn't diminish the story that was being told.
Muahahaha, now that I have Snowflame's fuzzy slippers, I can control the cocaine market and use the wealth it will bring...TO FLY ROUND-TRIP TO FRESNO!! And while I'm on the topic of Snowflame, there is a webcomic about him?! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW SOONER?!
Oh and review was good, had this comic as a kid and I wouldn't wipe my ass with it 20 years ago and I wouldn't today, at least DD wasn't an overmuscled mini-Hulk knowing 90's artwork, blah blah blah. MUST READ SNOWFLAME WEBCOMIC NOW.
Gasoline as a cleaning agent is a new concept to me too, but considering people used to think that making a soft drink out of cocaine would be good for their health, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Vapora's dialogue had me laughing out loud. So much needless repition, so much random underlining... Frank Miller didn't have a hand in this, did he? Nah, I guess not. He didn't mention Angel's age once.
Not even half a minute of searching. Yeah, there are survivors even with 80%. So yeah, it is possible and not the reason to go bitching and screaming. Guess we learn something everyday.
Other thing - you complain about more than one cover in comic, "stopping in the middle", like with Youngblood case - giving two "intros" is NOTHING like that. Totally.
Oh, and you want to check K. A. Pryde. She pulled off weirder shit than this smoke lady.
"Not even half a minute of searching. Yeah, there are survivors even with 80%. So yeah, it is possible and not the reason to go bitching and screaming. Guess we learn something everyday."
I never said it was impossible for someone to survive, but even the Yahoo Answers one says it doesn't look good, especially in a case where so much of the body has been burned to that degree. And yes, I did google search on this one.
"Other thing - you complain about more than one cover in comic, "stopping in the middle", like with Youngblood case - giving two "intros" is NOTHING like that. Totally."
I have no idea what the hell this sentence is referring to. I complain about more than one cover? Yeah, the inside cover - most of the time comics just have another ad placed inside of it, but PSAs tend to have inside covers about the company that sponsors them or something along those lines.
And I don't know what the hell you mean by "stopping in the middle" or why you're bringing up Youngblood.
"Oh, and you want to check K. A. Pryde. She pulled off weirder shit than this smoke lady."
Indeed. But suspension of disbelief lets me get away with that. This is a comic spouting actual science. And Kitty Pryde is a human being with unusual abilities. Vapora is a creature with a rudimentary intelligence born of GASOLINE VAPOR.
Longtime viewer here, really hate for my first comment to be something this morbid.
One of my more disturbing childhood memories (can't remember the exact year, but it would have been in the early Nineties, around the time this comic was made) was hearing a story on the radio about a woman and her daughter who both died of burn injuries. The woman had used gasoline to shampoo her daughter's hair.
Yeah, unbelievable as it seems now, I think back then, this comic really was talking about a real problem.
First, great review, you were INCREDIBLY funny.....
BUT.....
Either A) You get MIRACULOUSLY better the minute you quit.
OR B) Second hand smoke is dangerous.
BOTH OF THOSE THINGS CANNOT BE TRUE AT THE SAME TIME.
Those goddam "Truth" idiots want everyone to believe that smoking and tobacco companies are SATAN. That smokers are somehow being TRICKED into it
And NO. No I am not ENCOURAGING Smoking! I think it is a purely STUPID habit! However it is on the SMOKERS to change the habit! NO ONE IS BLAMING HOSTESS FOR THEIR ADVERTISING TWINKIES TO ME. I AM THE ONE WHO EATS TO MANY TWINKIES.
I'm sorry, this is a tangent. I just REALLY resent irresponsibly made PSAs like, well, THIS one.
Great review Lewis. I'm gonna check out that Snowflame thing.
Damn only use Petrol as a fuel. However will I do those experiments that require petrol either in future. Oh well might as well use the chlorofom instead...........
Oddly a very good episode though I swear I laughed more than any episode for a while at this one and its even got me to comment on here.
Also useless thing but didn't Dare Devil also have the lie detector powers thing in the film with the idea being he can hear the heart beat and breathing and be able to tell if its an obvious lie or not ?
I'm at kind of a loss for why there was some perceived need to make this comic. I would have thought that most people would have known better than to use gasoline for everyday cleaning by 1993. Or if not, I'm pretty sure, as you and others have mentioned, I'm sure that by then, there were other relatively cheaper solvents that could be used for most of the applications shown here. After all, by then, gas prices were somewhere either side of a dollar a gallon, if memory serves, which was still fairly expensive at the time.
As I'm pretty sure I saw at least one other commenter say, I could have sworn this one was going to be about huffing and would involve at least one person keeling over from either breathing the wrong thing or getting blown up by exploding fumes.
When you mad that comment about occultists and gasoline, I was disappointed that there wasn't a skit where teens in dark robes cast some black magic beside a gasoline container or a gas station.
You know, this comic actually has some relevance to something I see every day. There's a bunch of "Keep her in her can" stickers on a very old locker at the hospital I work with guess who's ugly mug on them? That's right, VAPORA. I was WONDERING where I'd seen her face before...now I know. Funny how something like that can just appear out of the blue, isn't it?
I assume these PSA comics are more intended for the distribution to children, rather than adults, as most PSA comics are (and based on the number of people in the comments who received these as kids). Which is stupid, because most of the idiotic things done in the comic were perpetrated by an adult, as it's apparently an old-fashioned way of doing things. And instead of addressing it from that angle (I know you did this as a kid, but it's dangerous and here's an alternative) it just goes GASOLINE BAD.
My point is: presumably, this is intended for kids to bother their parents about? I know that my school encouraged us children to nag our parents about quitting smoking (fyi: didn't work). I just mean that this is a little outside the realm of PSA work, because the message isn't really intended for the children the comic was going to be distributed to, but their parents and older siblings. It just seems like an incredibly odd thing to make a PSA about.
Uh... Lewis. Buddy. Pal. My father was an auto mechanic. I know a lot of grease monkeys who work on cars in their driveway. I know people who stain wood and paint for a living. Guess what. They use gasoline as a solvent to clean themselves and their tools.
The reason being that, unlike soap, gasoline actually dissolves shit like paint, varnish, and other crap you get them on your hands.
And guess what else. They don't blow up, because most people are smart and know not to have lit cigarettes or other hazards around gasoline fumes.
Oh that Snowflame comic you link is fantastic; Julie definitely deserves to go pro! Thanks for sharing it.
Great review, I never knew gasoline cleaning was a thing either. Vapora makes no sense because she doesn't contribute to the story and just detracts from the message.
TV's Mr. Neil: As an artist, i use kerosene or mineral turpentine to clean brushes when painting with oils (the wood turpentine is used to thin the paint and making it looks more "watery"). Also kerosene is used to clean the xylographic inks from our hands and tables when printing woodcuts. the greasy paint or ink is better dissolved with it.
A 47-year-old Appleton man charged with arson for starting a fire in his apartment that forced 11 neighbors from their homes told police he was just cleaning his apartment.
With gasoline. While smoking.
Ernest D. Krajniak said the fire started when he tossed his lit cigarette into a pile of gas-soaked clothes and cushions at the building on Appleton's southeast side.
Instead of pulling the building's fire alarm, he yelled "fire" a couple times before walking to the Menasha Police Department to ask for an ambulance to take him to be treated for burns to his face, arms and back.
"Krajniak stated that he wasn't thinking," according to a criminal complaint filed Monday by Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz.
He told police he knew gas is flammable.
"I should have never used that," he said.
Calumet County Judge Donald Poppy set a cash bond for $2,500 when Krajniak appeared in court Monday.
Krajniak was treated at a hospital for burns he received in the fire for a day after the blaze, which was reported at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
Witnesses told police Krajniak bought gas twice that day at a nearby station. He told police he planned to clean his apartment with the gas, and pulled everything out of his closet and piled it in the bedroom. The pile was near about five gallons of gas he had poured into plastic ice cream buckets.
Krajniak told police it was a mistake to throw the cigarette and he was sorry for what had happened.
Firefighters said the blaze caused extensive damage to the first-floor apartment where it began and heavy smoke damage throughout the building.
Tenants from 11 other apartments in the building were forced from their homes, and officials expect they won't be able to return home until later this week.
A preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause exists to proceed with the charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday.
ok, sorry to bother you with this on here, but I refuse to get my self a twitter-account
I remember you complained about Zatanna's new costume Well, apparently one of the sub-plots in the current Justice League Dark story-arc (which just started in issue 9) focuses on Zatanna gaining her old outfit The group is hired by Steve Trevor, and Zatanna is promised her father's hat, tuxedo, and trunk (all of which are kept in a secret vault by the US government) as reward
You know, I can accept the character of Vapora on a few levels. The overall idea is certainly dumb but an intangable, intelligent creature which feeds off the feeds of the fear and pain of others - those aspects seem okay. The big question thoug: Why the hell was the gritty, realistic, streetfighting DareDevil fighting it? There were plenty of better heroes for this: Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, hell even Thor might be good. But DareDevil? He's about as good a hero to fight this thing as the Punisher!
As for the comic itself - proper ATFW material. Utterly stupid, insanity which feels like it should have come out of the Silver Age, borderline Frank Miller-esq text boxes. No complaints or criticisms worth making about this review. Okay, one small one - i'm surprised you didn't question why Vapora wasn't immolated by the fires she caused. She was made up of the same highly flammable fumes which readers were being warned about after all.
I got bored and after seeing some one saying that remember this campaign from their childhood I decided to look up Vapora on a Google Search and she and this comic actually have a ComicVine article. And, that is saddening for me as I've read some good Elseworlds titles that were one-shots like this and all most sites have on them is the cover and the names of the people involved and nothing more but here's what it's got on this boo there! "Vapora is a semi-humanoid cloud of gasoline vapor which, like gasoline fumes themselves, can cause the slightest spark to ignite into deadly flames; although invisible to ordinary human senses, she can be detected by Daredevil's radar sense.
Vapora is a sentient mist or vapor that emerges from gasoline cans to feed on the human misery and anguish she can cause with her destructive and deadly abilities. Vapora would strike a family when a dad brought a gasoline can into the kitchen to help remove some tiles when an accident occurred and the house burst into flames. Daredevil was on the scene and managed to pull out a young girl named Angel Jusko from the flames but she suffered third degree burns on seventy-five percent of her body and smoke inhalation. Matt Murdock returned back to the home with a fire inspector and he was able to see Vapora with his heightened senses while the inspector was providing information on the dangers of gasoline vapors. Vapora would strike again when a mother was using gasoline to clean her floor and was set on fire when she lit her cigarette. Vapora was still hungry for more pain and appeared in a garage when two boys were cleaning their motorcycles with gasoline. One of the boy's younger sister named Laura was in the garage when a spark ignited the vapors. The sister was trapped in the garage when Daredevil appeared and fought Vapora before she could claim another life. Vapora had Laura in her clutches but Daredevil was able to free her when he sprayed Vapora with a fire extinguisher. Matt Murdock was in court the following and successfully defended the landlord from arson charges when he explained that misuse of gasoline caused these accidents. Murdock was informed that Angel would survive and he was happy with the news but back in his head, he knew Vapora would strike again. Creation
Vapora was created by Mindy Newell and Mike Harris in 1993 and first appeared in Daredevil vs Vapora # 1. Character Evolution
Vapora was created as a villain during a collaboration with Marvel and an educational program sponsored by the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This comic would help any adult or child by providing information on the dangers of gasoline vapors and its harmful/deadly effects. Powers & Abilities
Vapora is a sentient gasoline vapor that could combust into flame when it came into contact with any fire or ignition source. Vapora was invisible to the naked eye, capable of flight and could also suffocate its victims with her fumes."
Hmm... I've just realised this whole comment is made up of petty corrections; so I'll start with - great review, as always.
Daredevil's lie detector powers are long-established; they even (as somebody else has mentioned) ran through the movie.
A gas pipe doesn't carry petrol (even though you call petrol 'gas').
You went with Dust in the Wind by Kansas, not Blowin' in the Wind by Dylan? Odd choice... and no PSB's 'My Heart Starts Skipping A Beat'? Or Bowie's 'Cat People (Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline)'? Oh, well...
I've been told that sparks don't ignite petrol - only open flames. I've never tried it, though.
"This is like making a PSA telling people not to ram their heads into cement walls, or that Sonic PSA that tells kids not to ride in the dryer!"
Yeah, about the Sonic thing... it was clumsily worded, but some kids actually DO try to hide in dryers, and accidentally close themselves in because dryer doors don't have handles on the other side. Not so much about riding them as much as it being kids foolish enough to think that it's a good hide and seek hiding spot. But that's not what the AoStH thing said. They made it sound like the kids went into the dryers and then TURNED THEM ON, which doesn't happen at all (mainly because it would be impossible for that to happen). It was about as clumsily worded as the "if someone touches you" thing (not going to quote it in full).
Also, the "prove you're not a robot" thing seems to have been taken up a notch. It now uses punctuation, numbers, and occasionally PICTURES with blurred out text. And it uses real words a lot more often too.
There was a scandal with the use of gasoline as a way of cleaning the elderly in nursing homes. Maybe they just liked to listen to their screams, or it saved them the use of towels. I dunno.
After coming back to this review...I'm partially wondering why they didn't use a temporally insane Mayhem from Cloak and Dagger. Since she was an established anti-hero/rogue element in the marvel universe at that point in time. Just use the fact She's got a mental stability of a break away glass bottle getting gently tapped on a wood frame and you got yourself a better story. and replace the normal little kids with some mobsters children. Said mobsters who was involved with Mayhem's origin (she was killed by being gassed to dead by corrupt cops and mob members then revived into an undead super powered state by C&D). Then have that mob members being tracked by Daredevil and there you go you got a story.
I can't believe I actual came up with a better story line....
The frustrating thing to me is. Despite how flawed PSA comics can be, as a concept, and additionally how flawed this particular comic is, the message could have been put out anyway.
A talented writer would have easily been able to insert this as a sub-plot into a regular Daredevil comic, as being part of his attorney work. Since writers love to pad out their stories with human interest bits anyway, he could have lampshaded it as
"I didn't even realize people cleaned this way, at least sane people don't"
Or something clever. And then on to the A-plot, and maybe an asterix and a information website in the margins "Turns out some do Http... that is if the PSA itch needed a bit more scratching.
This not only would have been less hed scratching, but gotten the message in a wider circulation.
But what would critics do if there was logic applied by writers? I guess it would be kind of boring.
For some very odd reason, this comic kinda reminds me of what we would be given from the fire prevention booths when we would go to watch fireworks every year. Exepct we got coloring books that talked about shit we already know and we would thorw them out 1 to 2 days after we got te damn things. x)
Anyways, nice review. this is one of my fave episode becuse I showed this one to my younger sister and she was laughing with me for most of the video. ^.^
I worked as a mechanic when I was a teenager (family business). We routinely used gasoline and diesel fuel (gasoline works better) to clean plenty of things for many reasons:
1.- Being an auto mechanic shop, most stuff that got dirty was soaked in grease, soot, oil, etc. Soap and detergent are borderline useless to remove gunky transmission fluids.
2.- Most of the parts cleaned were metal and would get ruined if you washed them with water.
3.- Special cleaners were too expensive and took time to order, they also got lost easily. Gas was everywhere, always, and it was cheap.
4.- Since gas evaporates, all you had to do was soak, wipe and let dry. When you do it with a single piece, you're lazy. When you're dealing with near a hundred gears and valves per day, it's necessary.
5.- Some things, like packing adhesive or sealants, are pretty much impossible to remove without non-polar solvents, unless you want to chip off bits of metal too.
6.- The actual fire risk is pretty manageable if you don't have sources of ignition nearby and the place is well ventilated.
My elementary school distributed this comic my 5th Grade year, and even then I knew how stupid this comic was. I'm glad ya finally reviewed it! Still to this day I don't know why an elementary school would want to pass out a comic that shows a woman and her baby being burned to death.
ReplyDeleteAhh Linkara, have you ever read the Darwin Awards page?
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee that half the incredibly, mind numbingly, dumb things that these characters do have been "bettered" in real life. From the man that shot himself in the head to prove that his spy pen was real to the man that tried to thaw his own engine by setting it on fire and who knows what in between.
Hell, just watch one of Nash's WTFIWWY episodes to realise that stupidity isn't just popular, it's an epidemic!
Thomas
You know you didn't mention it, but I guess that the dumbass mother and her baby died in that comic since we never saw what happened with them.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought this was a PSA about stupid people using vapor to get high or something. But cleaning with gas, was this such a problem in the 90s that there had to be a PSA about it?
ReplyDeleteThis really doesn't seem like a good villain for Dare Devil, not just because it is a ghost thing, but really he shouldn't see it, seeing how gasses don't make much noise unless it escaping from a leak (even with it talling).
Also with gas prices I think soap and water is the better, cheaper, and less flammable way to clean something.
I "like" how the comic seems to imply that all gasoline fumes everywhere are somehow both quasi-sentient and irredeemably evil.
ReplyDeleteWow....just wow, this has to be one of the dumbest comics I have ever seen on your show, and that is saying A LOT! Still, it at least produces funny episodes, and insightful stuff; never knew that about gasoline being used to clean things, save for the one 1000 Ways To Die, but I thought that was just a method of that biker screwing with that woman.
ReplyDeleteGood episode dude!
WOW.
ReplyDeleteREALLY? I haven't even watched more than the pre-title sequence yet, and... WOW.
Now, I admit, I have used gasoline as a cleaning solvent before. But that was OUTDOORS, on a day when there was a strong breeze, wearing rubber gloves and a rubber apron, and I was using it to clean CAR PARTS THAT CAN'T HAVE WATER CONTAMINATE THEM. (Items in the automatic transmission, for the record.)
I've never, EVER used it to clean ANYTHING that's supposed to be in prolonged contact with my skin, or which ISN'T normally in contact with an even NASTIER flammable petroleum-based liquid like automatic transmission fluid. (For the record, if you're going to change the fluid on your automatic transmission, for GOD'S sake, get rubber gloves that stretch up to the shoulder, and a rubber apron, because that stuff is NASTY AS HELL. And it'll leach into your body through the skin if you let it...)
The mid 90s, and people were still using gasoline for cleaning clothes? WHAT. THE. HELL.
Remember the scene from fight club with the exploding apartment? It was inspired by friends of the author scrapping up tile with gas to loosen up the glue, the refrigerator clicked on and boom out the kitchen window they went. From the writers commentary track no one was killed but it did inspire the writer.
DeleteHow did you NOT have a 90s Kid reference when talking about stupid people in the 90s?
ReplyDeleteI dunno about early 90s USA (trget audience) but in eraly 90s former communistic countries this was common at the time.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly people were normaly smart enough to use ind well vented place - gas vapors can easily ignite only if oxygen-gas vapors mixture is correct. And even the only for most resilient stains.
I loved that rifftrax short! "Hank loves it when my negligee reeks of diesel fuel." :D
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's quite right, with the statement about gasoline vapors being able to ignite at well below zero, since if that were the case, my car would have combusted each and every time I put fuel in it. After all, its the temperature of the ignition source that matters, not the temperature of the surrounding environment.
I'm no expert, but I doubt that there would be any vapors left to smell after several days in the remains of a burned out building.
Wait... bike kids kept a bucket of water on hand in case of a fire (unless they threw the bucket of gasoline on the fire to try and put it out, which would be par for the course with the stupidity of this comic) but didn't bother with the fire extinguisher?
SNOWFLAME!
Man everyone in that comic was stupid great review.
ReplyDeleteAlso have you heard about the Daredevil run by Mark Waid? I love it and I highly recommend it.
I really hope someone adds this to the comic section of the "Too Dumb To Live" trope on TV Tropes.
ReplyDeleteYou just didn't care about anyone in this because of how stupid they are.
Hope next week no one is nearly this stupid.
I could believe that the mother lighting up the cigarette next to a petrol can could happen.
ReplyDeleteI nearly had something similar happen to me, when a housemate decided to light up next to me spray painting out on our front step once. Had I been spraying at the time, the propellant would have likely caught and burned us both. Some people really are that stupid.
Also, I don't know about in the US, but a lot of the stuff they used petrol for in this comic is stuff over here Surgical Spirit (Rubbing Alcohol) could be used for, which is far less flammable. I think we've been using alcohol for stuff like that for decades, insane petrol use must have died out in the UK a while ago.
Oh wow, I didn't know that people back in the old days used Gasoline to clean stuff... And thank goodness there are MUCH better alternatives in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a webcomic about the awesomeness that is Snowflame? MUST... READ...
Actually, there was an episode of Detective Conan covering the gas can in a closed garage. The fumes build up and a spark from static electricity set the entire room ablaze, killing the person.
ReplyDeleteIt's on Youtube: Detective Conan episode 524 and 525. It's a two part episode (it has english subtitles). It's worth watching, as it's one of my favorite episodes!
Yay SNOWFLAME!
ReplyDeleteHey linkara, have you ever read the Daredevil: Born Again storyline by Frank Miller, before he went cookoo of course, and if so, what did you think of it, and would you reccomend it for new readers?
ReplyDeletePs: great review by the way, ALL HAIL SNOWFLAME!
I love this review! Especially for the Daft Punk usage! XD
ReplyDeleteI just gotta say before I start on the comic I knew about that Snowflame comic from DA! And it is cewl! I do wish they'd bring him back in the reboot as a joke villain like Deadpool or Lobo!
I think what they meant by cut fromt he same... whatever as mankind they meant she looks human... but I could be wrong!?
You gotta love the way comics try to come up with names for their characters! Because I wouldn't have named that thing Vapora if I jusr ran into it and needed something to call it!
You do know if they brought this character back she'd be the perfect love interest for like Pyro or one of the many fire-based-villains or demons in the Marvel universe!
I don't know of anyone out side some mechanics that use gas as a cleaner! And they use it to clean off oil and dirt form tools and then leave them out to dry. I'm sure this comic spawned from like the 4-5 stupid people in the world at that time that did something like this and got killed and were in the news and the world(or the US at least) lost their shit over it and thought everyone else was this stupid and needed to be warned NOT to do it! Like any and all social panics we've had over the years!
Is it just me though or is anyone else convinced that Vapora isn't evil she's just one of Marvel's embodiment(s) of a force of nature like Lady/Madam Death? In this case just good old fashion Darwinism in that she only targets the people too dumb for their own good to be allowed to survive on to reproduce!?
Ok, I'm a little depressed from this comic as I've noticed that that baby wasn't ever rescued that I recall you showing so that mother and kid burned to death somewhere off panel while Dare devil rescued that other girl from the garage!?
"Where are Snowflame's fuzzy slippers, dammit!?"
I use to have a book called "The Stupid history of the Human Race." There is a part that relates to the subject.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember when this took place, but a man was taking care of his laundry. His put gas in the washer, and while the machine was washing it created a spark causing the machine to explode. It took out most of the first floor of his house. Later when he was asked about the incident he was quoted as saying "I feel kind of stupid now."
All I could think of after I read it was "kind of" is and understatement.
You know how I've said I judge PSA comics on a curve? They never made one steep enough to make this comic work. Ever.
ReplyDeleteLinkara smokes? Never struck me as the type.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow mid-20's Minnesotan, I'm surprised you don't remember seeing this PSA as a child. I remember it playing all the time during cartoons:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU93NgrF44Y
Although, even as a 6 year old, I was confused as why they were putting gas on a bike chain. When my parents explained it to me, I said, "But that's stupid."
In the 90's in Argentina i remember that the schools... yes you read right, THE SCHOOLS, use gas to clean the floor, this was in 1997. So yes even in that not so far away era assholes exists...
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or does Daredevil fight the stupidest villains ever? I mean, Vapora and Surgeon General alone should just get together a whole group of lame-os to just prove that for every Bullseye out there, there are....them.
ReplyDeleteThis was a hilarious episode, mostly because everyone in the comic was an idiot and Vapora made no sense. Maybe a colder villain like a Michael Myers could have worked to show the threat of gas, but we got...her and a ton of idiots cleaning stuff with gas. Yeah, way to throw the message at us, Marvel.
And the silliest part: next week is a PSA with Batman to close the month...and considering what happens to Batman on this show, that should be fun.
Yes, gasoline for cleaning.
ReplyDeleteI remember about 11 years ago there was an article in the newspaper about an idiot who soaked his clothes in gasoline to get some stains out and then put them directly into the clothes dryer.
The resulting explosion blew out the windows of the apartment complex's laundry facility and he was found stunned with singed eyebrows.
It's pretty amazing how stupid people are. It's scary that they vote.
Now, THIS is a bad PSA comic! I love just how stupid the problem being addressed was.
ReplyDeleteThis is like making a PSA telling people not to ram their heads into cement walls, or that Sonic PSA that tells kids not to ride in the dryer!
Ugh this comic makes my brain hurt. But the Snowflame p.s.a. made it all better. SNOWFLAME FOREVER!
ReplyDeleteThis is the best episode you've done in months. I usually don't like PSA Hell (since the targets are usually so bad that reaming them is like shooting fish in a barrel), but this one is just so DELIGHTFULLY insane.
ReplyDeleteLet that be a lesson to you kids. Never get between Snowflame and his fuzzy slippers.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, who's to day that Snowflame won't return. Seeing how the Batman and Green Lantern books made it through the reboot more or less unscathed, I believe it is possible to see him return. I feel all it would take is for one writer to create an epic story to return Snowflame to the DC universe.
I do apologize for any possible grammatical errors. I feel I am losing my touch in writing.
Am I the only one who was expecting some sort of inclusion of the gas station scene from Zoolander? It would have worked perfectly with the "cleaning the bike" rant, or with the dumb woman cleaning her rug.
ReplyDeleteNice review.
ReplyDeleteI think I figured out the villain From what I gathered, the Vapora thing was killed ("Cut from human circles") because of a desperate father (Vapora going after the kid) so she makes a deal with the devil to become a d-jinn and find a replacement daughter. That's just... no.
Oh. The scene where the cop asks Matt if he's a war vet when he smells the chemical... that could be a reference to Blind Fury. Sorry if I come out of left field with this.
Linkara! I found some media that glorifies drugs! It's called snowflamecomics.com!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I had to. XD SNOWFLAME!!!!
Why did they have to go with third degree burns at all? Obviously this comic was never intended for anyone other than children and obviously you can't actually what real third degree burns look like to children but if that's the case then WHY would you use the burns at all? Plenty of people die of smoke inhalation, it's a plausible way for her to go. I call bad writing already from a writer who didn't know when to quit.
ReplyDeleteThis might be nitpicking, but cigarettes actually don't light up gasoline. The lighter is something of a stupid risk (they do stop burning when you let go but the vapors might be set off by it) but the cigarettes starting a fire isn't the problem. The real problem is that not only was the parent negligent enough to leave a canister of gasoline next to an infant, she smokes next to it and clearly doesn't have the room well ventilated. Even if the fire didn't start that baby would at best have mental problems for the rest of their life.
Other note, I don't want to contradict you on this and I DEFINITELY don't want to defend this comic but if the creature were making sound too high or low for a regular human to hear it would work (after all Daredevil can use some kind of echolocation to move). Of course the writers never had the intelligence to actually suggest this.
Anyway for a creature that's supposed to be brainless she actually has a rather good vocabulary.
(Bit surprised you didn't use the Yugioh Abridged 'Stronger')
Using gasoline to...? No, I don't even want to know. This is beyond dumb.
ReplyDeleteFiery Little One
With this kind of comic it makes you wonder.....ARE THE CITIZENS IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE COMPETING WITH THE DC UNIVERSE CITIZENS IN A CONTEST TO SEE HOW STUPID THEY ARE? Good God does this COMIC SUCK!
ReplyDeletegrettings from argentina!
ReplyDelete1- before hitting the play button the first thing i thought was "oh look, a comic about kids using gasoline to get high", and if you don't believe me, please listen to "Lacquer Head" by primus.
"Lacquer head knows but one desire
Lacquer head sets his skull on fire
Lacquer head knows no in betweens
Huffin' on bags of gasoline"
2- i'll never understand why the industry it's excited to make those poor excuses of a comic to advertise and spread propaganda. i'm never opposed to raise awareness about certain issues, but, nobody has the responsibility to talk people out of killing themselves.
3- The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
4- (2) was a bad joke. sorry.
5- this is going to "my favourite review list".
6- excuse my sucky english, i'm normally speaks and write in spanish...
@Mountain King
ReplyDeleteThat's nothing. I read about one Darwin Award winner who decided to take up armed robbery. His target? A gun shop. In a state allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns, which many of them do. And in order to get inside, he had to step around a PARKED POLICE CAR out front. And it's only when he finally saw the police officer right next to the cashier that he declared a stick up.
I will leave it to your collective imaginations as to what level of boned that guy was. We really need Tera to get on that series about being a better criminal. Or maybe not, since stupid criminals aren't as big a threat as smart ones.
As for the comic, did anyone get a mildly pedophilic vibe from the way Vapora insisted on keeping the small child for herself? And what was with that explanation for Vapora anyway? If they'd just said she was the sentient manifestation of all vapor, I'd have bought it. Or had it be an anthropamorphic metaphor for vapor in general, and just had Daredevil save people from vapor with Vapora being represented symbolically.
But no, instead we got...whatever the hell that was.
And yes, the current Mark Weid run of Daredevil is fantastic. DD himself doesn't brood, rarely if ever uses overlong narration, and has a generally upbeat attitude.
Hey, we do have a new New Guardians series, you won't get a better opportunity than that!
ReplyDeleteWTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? You do not use gasoline like that. No one uses gasoline that way, and yet this comic suggests that everyone is that stupid to use gasoline to rub gum off carpets or wash bikes.
ReplyDeleteAnd this villain is a sentient cloud of gas vapor? This is the dumbest idea for a villain since the Surgeon General. Whoever came up with Vapora should be ashamed.
This comic is the worst PSA comic I've heard of in PSA Hell month and should be burned on sight.
PS: Great job tearing apart this bad PSA comic and a Snowflame appearance.
Yeah, I think I actually use a specialized washing gasoline product to clean my bike. Mind you, this is not "from the satanic pump" gas, just a commercial cleaning agent based on gasoline. You hardly even smell any vapours from it so it is most likely watered down for safe usage. Even then, I usually clean my bije in the backyard in the open air.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why special PSA comics are made when these issues could be tackled just as easily in regular issues. Wonder Woman for example encountered some of the problems caused by drugs and it wasn't made into a PSA and that didn't diminish the story that was being told.
ReplyDeleteMuahahaha, now that I have Snowflame's fuzzy slippers, I can control the cocaine market and use the wealth it will bring...TO FLY ROUND-TRIP TO FRESNO!! And while I'm on the topic of Snowflame, there is a webcomic about him?! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW SOONER?!
ReplyDeleteOh and review was good, had this comic as a kid and I wouldn't wipe my ass with it 20 years ago and I wouldn't today, at least DD wasn't an overmuscled mini-Hulk knowing 90's artwork, blah blah blah. MUST READ SNOWFLAME WEBCOMIC NOW.
Why do I have this weird image of Lord Vyce fighting Vapor in my head?
ReplyDeleteGasoline as a cleaning agent is a new concept to me too, but considering people used to think that making a soft drink out of cocaine would be good for their health, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
ReplyDeleteVapora's dialogue had me laughing out loud. So much needless repition, so much random underlining... Frank Miller didn't have a hand in this, did he? Nah, I guess not. He didn't mention Angel's age once.
Stopped after 8 minutes. It's unwatchable. And not funny.
ReplyDeleteMiraculous is actually you doing a research - now that's funny.
Goin' Linkara style - "you must be a moron to not know what a goddamn spear looks like [insert silent hill clip here for lulz]".
But hey, you want to read this
http://allnurses.com/burn-nursing/third-degree-burns-330779.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080603053910AAKFCkO
Not even half a minute of searching. Yeah, there are survivors even with 80%. So yeah, it is possible and not the reason to go bitching and screaming. Guess we learn something everyday.
Other thing - you complain about more than one cover in comic, "stopping in the middle", like with Youngblood case - giving two "intros" is NOTHING like that. Totally.
Oh, and you want to check K. A. Pryde. She pulled off weirder shit than this smoke lady.
"Not even half a minute of searching. Yeah, there are survivors even with 80%. So yeah, it is possible and not the reason to go bitching and screaming. Guess we learn something everyday."
ReplyDeleteI never said it was impossible for someone to survive, but even the Yahoo Answers one says it doesn't look good, especially in a case where so much of the body has been burned to that degree. And yes, I did google search on this one.
"Other thing - you complain about more than one cover in comic, "stopping in the middle", like with Youngblood case - giving two "intros" is NOTHING like that. Totally."
I have no idea what the hell this sentence is referring to. I complain about more than one cover? Yeah, the inside cover - most of the time comics just have another ad placed inside of it, but PSAs tend to have inside covers about the company that sponsors them or something along those lines.
And I don't know what the hell you mean by "stopping in the middle" or why you're bringing up Youngblood.
"Oh, and you want to check K. A. Pryde. She pulled off weirder shit than this smoke lady."
Indeed. But suspension of disbelief lets me get away with that. This is a comic spouting actual science. And Kitty Pryde is a human being with unusual abilities. Vapora is a creature with a rudimentary intelligence born of GASOLINE VAPOR.
Longtime viewer here, really hate for my first comment to be something this morbid.
ReplyDeleteOne of my more disturbing childhood memories (can't remember the exact year, but it would have been in the early Nineties, around the time this comic was made) was hearing a story on the radio about a woman and her daughter who both died of burn injuries. The woman had used gasoline to shampoo her daughter's hair.
Yeah, unbelievable as it seems now, I think back then, this comic really was talking about a real problem.
Hooooo..... Okay..... Calming down.......
ReplyDeleteFirst, great review, you were INCREDIBLY funny.....
BUT.....
Either A) You get MIRACULOUSLY better the minute you quit.
OR B) Second hand smoke is dangerous.
BOTH OF THOSE THINGS CANNOT BE TRUE AT THE SAME TIME.
Those goddam "Truth" idiots want everyone to believe that smoking and tobacco companies are SATAN. That
smokers are somehow being TRICKED into it
And NO. No I am not ENCOURAGING Smoking! I think it is a purely STUPID habit! However it is on the SMOKERS to change the habit! NO ONE IS BLAMING HOSTESS FOR THEIR ADVERTISING TWINKIES TO ME. I AM THE ONE WHO EATS TO MANY TWINKIES.
I'm sorry, this is a tangent. I just REALLY resent irresponsibly made PSAs like, well, THIS one.
Great review Lewis. I'm gonna check out that Snowflame thing.
Damn only use Petrol as a fuel. However will I do those experiments that require petrol either in future. Oh well might as well use the chlorofom instead...........
ReplyDeleteOddly a very good episode though I swear I laughed more than any episode for a while at this one and its even got me to comment on here.
Also useless thing but didn't Dare Devil also have the lie detector powers thing in the film with the idea being he can hear the heart beat and breathing and be able to tell if its an obvious lie or not ?
Lian harper is being introduced as apart of the young justice character , thoughts lewis?
ReplyDeletePony for Snowflame!
ReplyDeletehttp://c-puff.deviantart.com/art/SNOWFLAME-303713608
You are questioning the stupidity of these people?
ReplyDeleteLewis! This is the Marvel universe! People here have the self-preservation sense of a lemming!
So if I post a link to this, that makes me a linkar (because poor literacy is kewl), which makes me some kind of linkara, right?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Darth Vapora finds your lack of faith disturbing.
I'm at kind of a loss for why there was some perceived need to make this comic. I would have thought that most people would have known better than to use gasoline for everyday cleaning by 1993. Or if not, I'm pretty sure, as you and others have mentioned, I'm sure that by then, there were other relatively cheaper solvents that could be used for most of the applications shown here. After all, by then, gas prices were somewhere either side of a dollar a gallon, if memory serves, which was still fairly expensive at the time.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm pretty sure I saw at least one other commenter say, I could have sworn this one was going to be about huffing and would involve at least one person keeling over from either breathing the wrong thing or getting blown up by exploding fumes.
When you mad that comment about occultists and gasoline, I was disappointed that there wasn't a skit where teens in dark robes cast some black magic beside a gasoline container or a gas station.
ReplyDeleteOh well, fun review regardless!
So Linkara, I know this isn't related to the review but what do you think of the Young Justice Cartoon so far?
ReplyDeleteYou know, this comic actually has some relevance to something I see every day. There's a bunch of "Keep her in her can" stickers on a very old locker at the hospital I work with guess who's ugly mug on them? That's right, VAPORA. I was WONDERING where I'd seen her face before...now I know. Funny how something like that can just appear out of the blue, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLewis, I think you are seriously underestimating the stupidity of the human race
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NXQoQD_Jb4
I assume these PSA comics are more intended for the distribution to children, rather than adults, as most PSA comics are (and based on the number of people in the comments who received these as kids). Which is stupid, because most of the idiotic things done in the comic were perpetrated by an adult, as it's apparently an old-fashioned way of doing things. And instead of addressing it from that angle (I know you did this as a kid, but it's dangerous and here's an alternative) it just goes GASOLINE BAD.
ReplyDeleteMy point is: presumably, this is intended for kids to bother their parents about? I know that my school encouraged us children to nag our parents about quitting smoking (fyi: didn't work). I just mean that this is a little outside the realm of PSA work, because the message isn't really intended for the children the comic was going to be distributed to, but their parents and older siblings. It just seems like an incredibly odd thing to make a PSA about.
Uh... Lewis. Buddy. Pal. My father was an auto mechanic. I know a lot of grease monkeys who work on cars in their driveway. I know people who stain wood and paint for a living. Guess what. They use gasoline as a solvent to clean themselves and their tools.
ReplyDeleteThe reason being that, unlike soap, gasoline actually dissolves shit like paint, varnish, and other crap you get them on your hands.
And guess what else. They don't blow up, because most people are smart and know not to have lit cigarettes or other hazards around gasoline fumes.
Oh that Snowflame comic you link is fantastic; Julie definitely deserves to go pro! Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, I never knew gasoline cleaning was a thing either. Vapora makes no sense because she doesn't contribute to the story and just detracts from the message.
TV's Mr. Neil:
ReplyDeleteAs an artist, i use kerosene or mineral turpentine to clean brushes when painting with oils (the wood turpentine is used to thin the paint and making it looks more "watery"). Also kerosene is used to clean the xylographic inks from our hands and tables when printing woodcuts. the greasy paint or ink is better dissolved with it.
A 47-year-old Appleton man charged with arson for starting a fire in his apartment that forced 11 neighbors from their homes told police he was just cleaning his apartment.
ReplyDeleteWith gasoline. While smoking.
Ernest D. Krajniak said the fire started when he tossed his lit cigarette into a pile of gas-soaked clothes and cushions at the building on Appleton's southeast side.
Instead of pulling the building's fire alarm, he yelled "fire" a couple times before walking to the Menasha Police Department to ask for an ambulance to take him to be treated for burns to his face, arms and back.
"Krajniak stated that he wasn't thinking," according to a criminal complaint filed Monday by Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz.
He told police he knew gas is flammable.
"I should have never used that," he said.
Calumet County Judge Donald Poppy set a cash bond for $2,500 when Krajniak appeared in court Monday.
Krajniak was treated at a hospital for burns he received in the fire for a day after the blaze, which was reported at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
Witnesses told police Krajniak bought gas twice that day at a nearby station. He told police he planned to clean his apartment with the gas, and pulled everything out of his closet and piled it in the bedroom. The pile was near about five gallons of gas he had poured into plastic ice cream buckets.
Krajniak told police it was a mistake to throw the cigarette and he was sorry for what had happened.
Firefighters said the blaze caused extensive damage to the first-floor apartment where it began and heavy smoke damage throughout the building.
Tenants from 11 other apartments in the building were forced from their homes, and officials expect they won't be able to return home until later this week.
A preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause exists to proceed with the charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday.
The Appleton Post Crescent, April 7th 2009
ok, sorry to bother you with this on here, but I refuse to get my self a twitter-account
ReplyDeleteI remember you complained about Zatanna's new costume
Well, apparently one of the sub-plots in the current Justice League Dark story-arc (which just started in issue 9) focuses on Zatanna gaining her old outfit
The group is hired by Steve Trevor, and Zatanna is promised her father's hat, tuxedo, and trunk (all of which are kept in a secret vault by the US government) as reward
You know, I can accept the character of Vapora on a few levels. The overall idea is certainly dumb but an intangable, intelligent creature which feeds off the feeds of the fear and pain of others - those aspects seem okay. The big question thoug: Why the hell was the gritty, realistic, streetfighting DareDevil fighting it? There were plenty of better heroes for this: Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, hell even Thor might be good. But DareDevil? He's about as good a hero to fight this thing as the Punisher!
ReplyDeleteAs for the comic itself - proper ATFW material. Utterly stupid, insanity which feels like it should have come out of the Silver Age, borderline Frank Miller-esq text boxes. No complaints or criticisms worth making about this review.
Okay, one small one - i'm surprised you didn't question why Vapora wasn't immolated by the fires she caused. She was made up of the same highly flammable fumes which readers were being warned about after all.
I got bored and after seeing some one saying that remember this campaign from their childhood I decided to look up Vapora on a Google Search and she and this comic actually have a ComicVine article. And, that is saddening for me as I've read some good Elseworlds titles that were one-shots like this and all most sites have on them is the cover and the names of the people involved and nothing more but here's what it's got on this boo there!
ReplyDelete"Vapora is a semi-humanoid cloud of gasoline vapor which, like gasoline fumes themselves, can cause the slightest spark to ignite into deadly flames; although invisible to ordinary human senses, she can be detected by Daredevil's radar sense.
Vapora is a sentient mist or vapor that emerges from gasoline cans to feed on the human misery and anguish she can cause with her destructive and deadly abilities. Vapora would strike a family when a dad brought a gasoline can into the kitchen to help remove some tiles when an accident occurred and the house burst into flames. Daredevil was on the scene and managed to pull out a young girl named Angel Jusko from the flames but she suffered third degree burns on seventy-five percent of her body and smoke inhalation. Matt Murdock returned back to the home with a fire inspector and he was able to see Vapora with his heightened senses while the inspector was providing information on the dangers of gasoline vapors. Vapora would strike again when a mother was using gasoline to clean her floor and was set on fire when she lit her cigarette. Vapora was still hungry for more pain and appeared in a garage when two boys were cleaning their motorcycles with gasoline. One of the boy's younger sister named Laura was in the garage when a spark ignited the vapors. The sister was trapped in the garage when Daredevil appeared and fought Vapora before she could claim another life. Vapora had Laura in her clutches but Daredevil was able to free her when he sprayed Vapora with a fire extinguisher. Matt Murdock was in court the following and successfully defended the landlord from arson charges when he explained that misuse of gasoline caused these accidents. Murdock was informed that Angel would survive and he was happy with the news but back in his head, he knew Vapora would strike again.
Creation
Vapora was created by Mindy Newell and Mike Harris in 1993 and first appeared in Daredevil vs Vapora # 1.
Character Evolution
Vapora was created as a villain during a collaboration with Marvel and an educational program sponsored by the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This comic would help any adult or child by providing information on the dangers of gasoline vapors and its harmful/deadly effects.
Powers & Abilities
Vapora is a sentient gasoline vapor that could combust into flame when it came into contact with any fire or ignition source. Vapora was invisible to the naked eye, capable of flight and could also suffocate its victims with her fumes."
hey linkara i found this really cool website that you may want to do a shout out for it in the next review.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.therealbatmanchronologyproject.com/
its a site that tries to make a cohesive timeline for the batman comics.
check it out you may like it.
thanks.
Hmm... I've just realised this whole comment is made up of petty corrections; so I'll start with - great review, as always.
ReplyDeleteDaredevil's lie detector powers are long-established; they even (as somebody else has mentioned) ran through the movie.
A gas pipe doesn't carry petrol (even though you call petrol 'gas').
You went with Dust in the Wind by Kansas, not Blowin' in the Wind by Dylan? Odd choice... and no PSB's 'My Heart Starts Skipping A Beat'? Or Bowie's 'Cat People (Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline)'? Oh, well...
I've been told that sparks don't ignite petrol - only open flames.
I've never tried it, though.
Oh, and best SNOWFLAME yet!!!
I love the smell of gasoline in the morning, especially when I walk past a filling station (or "garage" as we call it in these parts)...
ReplyDeleteI also love the smell of kerosene in the morning when I walk onto a plane at the airport.
This just came up on Snopes, and seemed appropriate:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/history/document/horseless.asp
"This is like making a PSA telling people not to ram their heads into cement walls, or that Sonic PSA that tells kids not to ride in the dryer!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, about the Sonic thing... it was clumsily worded, but some kids actually DO try to hide in dryers, and accidentally close themselves in because dryer doors don't have handles on the other side. Not so much about riding them as much as it being kids foolish enough to think that it's a good hide and seek hiding spot. But that's not what the AoStH thing said. They made it sound like the kids went into the dryers and then TURNED THEM ON, which doesn't happen at all (mainly because it would be impossible for that to happen). It was about as clumsily worded as the "if someone touches you" thing (not going to quote it in full).
Also, the "prove you're not a robot" thing seems to have been taken up a notch. It now uses punctuation, numbers, and occasionally PICTURES with blurred out text. And it uses real words a lot more often too.
"She suffered third degree burns all over her body"
ReplyDeleteCome on, Linkara, no Silent Hill Origins joke?
Oh, the Snowflame bit at the end was worth watching . It made up for the crappy comic.
ReplyDeleteThere was a scandal with the use of gasoline as a way of cleaning the elderly in nursing homes. Maybe they just liked to listen to their screams, or it saved them the use of towels. I dunno.
ReplyDeleteAfter coming back to this review...I'm partially wondering why they didn't use a temporally insane Mayhem from Cloak and Dagger. Since she was an established anti-hero/rogue element in the marvel universe at that point in time. Just use the fact She's got a mental stability of a break away glass bottle getting gently tapped on a wood frame and you got yourself a better story. and replace the normal little kids with some mobsters children. Said mobsters who was involved with Mayhem's origin (she was killed by being gassed to dead by corrupt cops and mob members then revived into an undead super powered state by C&D). Then have that mob members being tracked by Daredevil and there you go you got a story.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I actual came up with a better story line....
The frustrating thing to me is. Despite how flawed PSA comics can be, as a concept, and additionally how flawed this particular comic is, the message could have been put out anyway.
ReplyDeleteA talented writer would have easily been able to insert this as a sub-plot into a regular Daredevil comic, as being part of his attorney work. Since writers love to pad out their stories with human interest bits anyway, he could have lampshaded it as
"I didn't even realize people cleaned this way, at least sane people don't"
Or something clever. And then on to the A-plot, and maybe an asterix and a information website in the margins "Turns out some do Http... that is if the PSA itch needed a bit more scratching.
This not only would have been less hed scratching, but gotten the message in a wider circulation.
But what would critics do if there was logic applied by writers? I guess it would be kind of boring.
For some very odd reason, this comic kinda reminds me of what we would be given from the fire prevention booths when we would go to watch fireworks every year. Exepct we got coloring books that talked about shit we already know and we would thorw them out 1 to 2 days after we got te damn things. x)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, nice review. this is one of my fave episode becuse I showed this one to my younger sister and she was laughing with me for most of the video. ^.^
I worked as a mechanic when I was a teenager (family business). We routinely used gasoline and diesel fuel (gasoline works better) to clean plenty of things for many reasons:
ReplyDelete1.- Being an auto mechanic shop, most stuff that got dirty was soaked in grease, soot, oil, etc. Soap and detergent are borderline useless to remove gunky transmission fluids.
2.- Most of the parts cleaned were metal and would get ruined if you washed them with water.
3.- Special cleaners were too expensive and took time to order, they also got lost easily. Gas was everywhere, always, and it was cheap.
4.- Since gas evaporates, all you had to do was soak, wipe and let dry. When you do it with a single piece, you're lazy. When you're dealing with near a hundred gears and valves per day, it's necessary.
5.- Some things, like packing adhesive or sealants, are pretty much impossible to remove without non-polar solvents, unless you want to chip off bits of metal too.
6.- The actual fire risk is pretty manageable if you don't have sources of ignition nearby and the place is well ventilated.