A comic in which having people at a rave would actually be an improvement. For one thing, I actually know what goes on at a rave, unlike this story.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Raver #1
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75 comments:
Near as damn it a solid hour of Linkara, and it's not my birthday. I'll start with The Raver Review and move on to the living, wide-awake, nightmare that is Trial Of The Incredible Hulk. On the other hand this is the Raver Review so…
Koenig's stories have never really made sense. Or have made a sort of anti-sense To quote You have to look at every answer in a mirror, while standing on your head. Either you have an epiphany or you black out, either way the result is the same.
The reason I bring that quote up is simple. That is a perfect example of how to set up a mystery with questions that make no sense at first glance but eventually pays off at a later date. It's obvious that was the sort of thing Koenig was going for, a sort of artful confusion that worked like onion. Layer after layer that you are supposed to make more sense of each issue.
The flaw of this is, of course, you got to have readers that are willing to sit through issue after issue of bull-crap to get to the non-sensical reason that had been invented to explain the military grade nonsense.
Koenig's a good actor and competent director, but he really needs someone to hold him back when it comes to writing. Yes he's creative but that doesn't mean good, there is a reason writers rules like Chekov's Gun exist. They help people feel comfortable. A good writer is like a chess master; plays by the rules everyone knows, but still pulls twists and turns that you don't see coming. Here, like The Infinite Vulcan, we see Koenig as an enthusiastic amateur but the rules still escape him.
Good review, but as a massive fan I can't wait for next weeks Transformers review!
Thomas
Lewis, I will never, ever, ever get tired of seeing you wear that Obelisk blue uniform. It brings joy to my day every time.
Judging by the whole "mental breakdown that warps reality" thing, I would say that he's called Raver because he's "raving mad".
That's the only logical reason I can think of.
It's a little sad, the concept of the comic is very interesting, a great set up for story telling on par with having a Tardis. even before you revealed the plot I was enjoying trying to puzzle out what was happening, I really enjoy stories that start in medias res and you have to figure it out, but unfortunately the comic itself was so jumbled it compounded the confusion a hundred fold. As I said, sad.
That was...better than I thought it'd be. I thought we were in for something like Superman #701, not Dead/Alive's writing with better art.
Raver #1 aka Lost the comic.
I'm with you here Linkara. Interesting story, awful execution.
The name "Raver" : it may be a coincidence, but it sounds like the french word "rêveur", which means "dreamer" and would fit the eerie situations our protagonist finds himself in.
Am I the only one who think about Bester first when I see Walter Koenig ?
It's funny, Raver #1 reads like other stories published before or after it, which makes it seem filled with cliches.
- Mental link between a normal guy and the hero ? Omega the Unknown
- Alternatively, schizo hero : The Badger (from First comics)
- Super power lottery ? Resurrection Man
- Shapeshifting contest ? the Impossible Man and Warlock had one in a New Mutants special or annual.
Also, I find the ending : strangely similar to Phantasmagoria 2: A puzzle of flesh (hero as a boy, power of friendship solves the situation. Just as stupid as in this story)
Maybe the "Hos" are like super future space fanboys of Godfrey Ho, and the scenes that would have made sense of all this involved ninjas, but were cut because they didn't have the rights to footage . . .
Also, the Carwash of Doom? I can only say "no no don't do it no" because that thing is the kind of story that makes you dumber the more you read it.
So, no no don't do it no.
Linkara, I gather there would have been more explanation if the series would have been allowed to continue. Then again, it is creator-owned, so I guess even Mr. Koenig doesn't feel the need to continue it.
As for Raver's powers, the 2nd issue explains that he only gets powers that are useless to solving the problem. Maybe Norman used to retreat into a fantasy world whenever problems arose, and this is forcing him to learn to cope with the real world?
I think you forgot to make a video track visible again at the end there. Images don't correspond to the words your saying. :)
On another note, I totally wanted to see you argue with yourself more with those pointless argument panels! I was expecting you to start talking over yourself when the word balloons were next to each other, but you cut too soon. :(
For some reason, I am now reminded of Les Mis's confrontation between John Valjon and Javert. But that argument made much more sense.
This comic reminds me of Melody of Oblivion (Raver came first) for some reason; I wonder if future issues would have involved a human dairy farm.
I feel like there was supposed to be some sort of parallelism between Norman's initial situation and the new reality; the real world had an authority figure that relied on bribery to retain control, while the new reality had a tyrant who forced people to behave. Perhaps it was supposed to be some sort of commentary on society and a critique of both solutions; heck, Raver's premise had a great potential for stories like this, where Raver helps Norman gain a new perspective on the world. It's too bad the whole thing was so poorly explained and structured, and the dialogue so awkward that if there was any lesson learned, it would be lost on the audience, who probably wouldn't get that there was supposed to be a lesson. It feels like they were trying to do something really exceptional and unique here, but they dropped the ball--like, REALLY dropped the ball. Of course, that's all assuming they were attempting what I thought they were, but I don't speak for the writer, so what do I know?
Hey! Vanilla rules!
Also, that was a Pteranodon
the difference between a Pterodactyl and Pteranodon is the shape of their skulls
Pterodactyl's lack the prolonging in the back of their head
And you know, the premise reminds me of the Czechoslovakian comic Oskar Ed (Czechoslovakian because it was written and drawn by a Slovak author, but released by a Czech publisher) by Branko Jelinek
It's about a man who, besides the fact that he's been born without a face, has the ability to unknowingly warp reality around himself whenever he's experiencing extreme emotions (he accidentally destroyed the world like this at least three times, once through a nuclear holocaust, once by turning the world into a dessert and having it eaten, and once by simply erasing all of reality)
I think it did get an English language release, but I'm not sure if it's available in the US
And you know, considering the nature of the character and plot, Raver my in fact be Snowflame
Would explain allot
"I think you forgot to make a video track visible again at the end there. Images don't correspond to the words your saying. :)"
It seems to be a problem with Premiere when exporting WMV files. If you notice a cross-fade whenever a video clip ends, it's because sometimes when they're exported, the image will hold for a second or two before it actually resumes with what it's SUPPOSED to be doing. It does that with still images, too, for no rhyme or reason.
Okay, since no one has mentioned the teacher, I feel safe posting this.
Was the point of the comic that the teacher's methods were correct? Her false dichotomy was that you either can spank the kid or give them cookies, and "Raver" solved the problem by giving the BBEG cookies (being his friend) and proving you didn't need to spank the kid. Seriously is the comic trying to make that point?
Looking up "Rave" on Wiktionary gave me links to French words meaning to dream, to hallucinate, and to be delirious. All of which seem to fit with the story.
I'm guessing whoever came up with the name was being a bit too clever.
I can't believe how much ST: The Animated Series looks just like the "Space Heroes" on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show on Nickelodeon.
"I can't believe how much ST: The Animated Series looks just like the Space Heroes on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show on Nickelodeon."
That's because Space Heroes are supposed to be a Star Trek parody
Man I miss the ultraverse. These were some fun books. Ultraforce cartoon use to be netflix. Man I always wonder why marvel buried this line. I wouldn't be surprised to find out marvel could come to some agreement but rather use rights excuse to keep it buried.
To the comic? Big chunks of story that seem to be missing? Are we sure Grant Morrison didn't write this?
Hey, was that Velma Dinkley hiding behind Raver in one of the "abnormals" panels? Or maybe just reading this comic is enough to induce hallucinations...
I had no idea Koenig was such an awful writer. Thanks for the heads-up, and the history on Malibu was really interesting too.
"It seems to be a problem with Premiere when exporting WMV files. If you notice a cross-fade whenever a video clip ends, it's because sometimes when they're exported, the image will hold for a second or two before it actually resumes with what it's SUPPOSED to be doing. It does that with still images, too, for no rhyme or reason."
Ah well there's you're problem! Real video editors wouldn't use Windows Media Format! /troll
No, I'm kidding; I love your work.
But seriously, when I was doing video work years ago, the Windows Media format would give me the most trouble. Sure they always came out to the smallest file size (which is very handy) but the stupid format always seemed to have a mind of its own. Often times the reason a clip wouldn't work or play properly in Premiere (or even other editors, if I didn't have Premiere on hand) was because it was in WMV format. Using a different format, like AVI, usually made the video behave (at the cost of 2-3 times the file size). I usually resorted to only using WMV if I need to transfer the file or upload it, and only the finished product. I would staunchly avoid using the clip as a source in the timeline just to avoid the problems!
I guess what I'm saying is perhaps see if something like MP4 or another format works better...
Of course, I haven't been in the video editing business since HD became a norm, so all these file sizes are probably already restrictively huge as is... o_o
Keep up the awesome work! :D
Tustin2121
Even through the comic is a horrible mess in the storytelling department, like you pointed out, there is still a really unique feel to it.
If they introduced an more interesting flawed character, who pretty much has this mystical cures on his back, this could be an deep character portrait. Following him through problematic and creative worlds ala Sliders and giving him different super-powers, he has to use to solve a the worlds problem, could be actual existing. Especially if there are subtle symbolismen to the characters personal flaws. Or similar to the fantastic Videogame Psychonauts let us explore the mind of other people and solve there mental problem in a metaphor world.
It is properly possible, that something like this was actual in the mind of the original author, who simply had not the talent to write a good story, character and script around his idea.
That Raver robot totally looks like a VF-1S from Macross/Robotech... or a Wasp from Battletech. I really can't tell the difference.
Well if the kids are from up here in Canada and had summer jobs and seeing our government's current employment insurance policies, then yes it might be a good idea to get them interested in some other jobs.
As much as I like Mr. Koening on Star Trek, I couldn't help but think that he had unintentionally created "The Big-Lipped Alligator Moment the Comic."
Unfortunately, as Mr. Linkara said, the biggest problem with the story is that we literally know nothing about how anything here works. Is Norman/Raver trying to right the issues of individuals or humanity kind of like Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap? Is the inter-dimensional destruction being caused by Norman or the people he has to confront? Why does Raver have to fix it?
But the biggest problem that I can see is that the issue presented to us wasn't resolved. The kid (who we see to as out-of-control) was shirking his responsibility in messing up the girl's statute, not bringing up some deep moral or philosophical issue about chaos and order in society.
Honestly, forget about the kids, Linkara is the one who deserves a cookie (or twenty) for trying to figure this kind of stuff out.
Hey Linkara!!! Since you SUPPOSEDLY CLAIM you read ALL the comments then read this!
Linkara I suggest you do "Frank Miller Febuary" or "Miller Month" if you don't like including the actual month.
You could review stuff like Batman" Year One or the rest of the ASBAR Series.
I aslo have a free joke for you! It goes like this:
So, Robocop and Batman walk into a bar............
The rest of that joke is up to you my friend! Good luck!
If it weren't for the real world scenes also lacking sense, I would have said that Koenig was going for a more "realistic" approach to a dream. It lacks any kind of internal logic, but makes a bizarre sort of sense to those experiencing it.
Of course the fact that real dreams tend to lack an internal consistency is part of the reason that dreams in fiction don't tend to try for that kind of realism.
The sad part about this comic is that it has a legitimately interesting concept but poor execution. I'd love to see a series with a similar plot (person with problems in their day-to-day life gets transported to a parallel world where they become a hero and have to face the world's villains in a metaphorical context that leads to them learning the lesson of the week).
Funny you should touch upon this topic Linkara.
Jonathan Hickman, who has taken over the Avengers from Brian Michael Bendis (Thank God) is having the Avengers run into the Ultraverse in issue 7! In fact, there's rumor of some of those characters joining the Avengers!
It's pretty awesome, and Hickman is the guy you want to do these things!
Nice review. No storyline yet, but I'm sure we'll return to that soon.
"I would like to remind you all that books are 'full of thinking.'" Unfortunately, it's not very good thinking. But great line.
I liked seeing 90s kid two weeks in a row, though I'll admit I wish he'd go "what you see is what you get" again one of these days. But I suppose there's only so many times you can make that joke. . . . And no worries on the sweater/cardigan thing. I'll never understand why so many of your fandom are so picky about things that aren't even that important to the comic, even if they are just trying to help.
Carwash of doom next week? If it's as bad as the horror stories I've heard online, we should be in for a treat. (Except for you, Lewis. I'll never understand how you get through these every week.)
I think I know one problem with Walter Koenig's writing: he is unable to create new, exciting characters. Star Trek TAS (which was more of a saturday morning kids cartoon show than the adult... okay, adolescent program its predecessor was) already had established characters for the ship's cast (except Chekov wasn't really a main character in TOS, he could have been protrayed by a wig on a stick for the most part).
What Koenig lacks is the ability to write characters. Wait, I just said that. What he also lacks is an understanding on that comic books - while sequential like TV episodes or (limited) animation - work differently than the two means of production mentioned. I guess he didn't have a skilled comic book author lending him a hand to make the script (and by god do I hope he at least wrote a script) work in comic book format.
That's been your DerKork wall of text for the week, Lewis (and everyone else).
Woo! Malibu! I've been looking forward to you talking about Malibu. Ultraverse comics, shortly before the acquisition by Marvel, were sold in three packs at bargain stores for cheap. It was actually how I got into comics weirdly enough. I noticed a lot of Ultraverse heroes have similar gimmicks to existing, more famous heroes, but have a spin to them that does a debatable okay job of making them their own thing. Like the human torch knockoff that was a homosexual and his flames could change color to change effects. He even had a well thought out healing flame that didn't work of viruses or cancers, instead speeding them up due to the nature of the flame and the illness. Too bad Ultraverse didn't get a chance to fully develop. I really enjoyed them.
... So this is Resurrection Man in Sliders as written by Scott Ciencin?
Wow, that was...I have no idea. I honestly don't know how to react to this. It's too confusing to say anything. I will say it reminds me of the first issue of Resurrection Man. It has a similar setup (dropping the audience into the story without explaining who the main character is or what his powers are), but unlike this comic, Resurrection Man at least establishes what he can do without being confusing. Here, unless you come into this already knowing his powers and what triggers new ones, you have no idea what's happening.
I remember the Ultraverse. Unlike everyone else trying to copy the success of Marvel and Dc at the time, they planned the universe first and then developed it with help of some experienced creators. The result were comics that were every bit as good to read as the main two's. I greatly enjoyed being there for their start, and was greatly disappointed when Marvel caused their fall (intentionally or not.) Anyway I look forth to seeing Lewis review some of those comics in the future.
(Raver isn't worth any comments. It was a senseless mess.)
Wait, is that the VF-1 Valkyrie Battloid that Raver transformed into?
I was so hoping for a Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck clip during that back and forth argument:
Wabbit Season! Duck Season! Wabbit Season! Wabbit Season! Duck Season - FIRE!!! *BOOM*
Such a nice and missed opportunity for a mlp reference at the end...
(but I don't think you're a fan of the show, so it doesn't surprise me XD)
I must honestly say that I find the concept of the comic extremly interesting. It's really something that fits my taste. And if I can dare to make some theories just by watching the review, I would say that the story was actually about bullying.
We saw at the beginning that this kid was a bully - jumping on another kid and breaking something without even a bit of guilt are very good indicators.
When you're a bully, you probably feel like the king of your own world, like a leader. You sometimes pick someone out you don't like and as long as everyone else is looking away or does what you want (beat someone else up, giving you their stuff), everything's fine.
I really saw remarks on this in the set up of the story.
Also the randomly appearing cats could be explained by this, as the statue broken was a cat statue.
I felt like the whole "Raver" story was like a mind-trip for both, Norman and the kid, giving an inside on the kids mind, including recently happened stuff (the cats) and when the Raver "wins", the person changes to the better - as we see in the end that the statue is fixed again and the kid seems to get along with the girl as well.
This would also explain the Dragons and the Robots, and the huge amount of ice cream, as... well, boys like this kind of stuff from a writers perspective? (and probably a sexy lady as well? XD)
It doesn't help that it's so barely explained though. If my theory is right, there's no hurting in explaining it, so you could really get into it and try to figure the psych of the concerning person out. Also, a story like this could really get a huge potential, when people know what it is about.
It's really a shame that it's not built up more.
It's really a shame about the ultraverse. Marvel killed it to make room for more Clone Saga specials. I hope you'll do Black September or The Phoenix Resurrection.
Lewis, is it possible that there was a #0 or #1/2 issue of Raver that Malibu released that explained all of the bizarre gaps in Norman/Raver's backstory? I only mention it since #0 and #1/2 issues were a big thing back in the '90's (along with holofoil covers, bad writing and awful artwork).
As for the "Carwash of Doom!", my sources have told me that Ratbat and Swindle actually intended to use the carwash a as an insurance dodge for the Decepticon governor of Iacon. In fact he expected a battalion of Autobots to show up and trash the place three weeks before Buster Witwicky did. Little did Ratbat suspect, Grimlock had seized leadership of the Autobots following Optimus Prime's untimely demise in a freak videogame related mishap. Grimlock ordered the Autobots to repair the Ark and find a way to refuel it, and proceeded to ignore the Decepticons' shenanigans. I'll say one thing for Grimlock: he was an awful Autobot Leader, but he made the Ark fly on time. :)
"Hey, was that Velma Dinkley hiding behind Raver in one of the "abnormals" panels? Or maybe just reading this comic is enough to induce hallucinations..."
Okay, so I wasn't the only one wondering why Velma from Scooby Doo was hanging out in the panel.
This...
wow. Did they take out vital panels to make the comic shorter?
Fun review, though.
Had to pause the review when 90's Kid showed up, mostly because I was embarrassingly thinking the exact same thing about the "not!" Ah the mark of being in junior high and high school in the 90's.
Minus the hat being backwards I dressed like 90's kid now that I think of it.
Also, this is one of my favorite of your costume mid-rolls.
And yay for getting to Car Wash of Doom! I've been morbidly curious since it got mentioned way back with Transformers Gen 2 comics.
Holy crap, I LOVE the title card to this episode!! There should have been a subtitle saying "You cannot comprehend the true form of Raver's plot" though!
Judging from what you said about the "premise" of this comic, it sounds like it could have made for a fairly interesting comic book series, but the poor execution and utter lack of coherency made this into one of the most confusing and nonsensical comics ive ever seen you review, well aside from the ultimate warrior comics that is.
However, i am very curious about the ultra verse series of comics that you mentioned, particularly the prototype, and i think id like to check out a few of em so thanks for the recommendation Linkara:)
Suddenly I feel in the mood for Rum Raisin after this. (or figure out what Dragonfly Ripple is...)
I think somehow watching the review that I sort of imagine how the heck Raver's power works. Whenever he ends up encountering some sort of "problem" with a person, he literally enters that person's reality in the Raver form; it is this person's rules due to their own mentality. In order to fix the main reality, he has to defeat this alternate reality...or something; it sort of makes sense but it still doesn't explain why a destructive jerk brat would want to create some sort of suppresive utopia. And I think there was a panel that showed the cats before the whole climax thus them being around and the weird thing with the kittens in the climax.
I figured 90s Kid would know of "...NOT!"; makes me wonder if there are any terrible Wayne's World comics where he can show how it really works.
"Lewis, is it possible that there was a #0 or #1/2 issue of Raver that Malibu released that explained all of the bizarre gaps in Norman/Raver's backstory? I only mention it since #0 and #1/2 issues were a big thing back in the '90's (along with holofoil covers, bad writing and awful artwork)."
I considered that, but couldn't find any evidence of a #0 issue.
Big_Mad_Draco said...
If it weren't for the real world scenes also lacking sense, I would have said that Koenig was going for a more "realistic" approach to a dream. It lacks any kind of internal logic, but makes a bizarre sort of sense to those experiencing it.
Of course the fact that real dreams tend to lack an internal consistency is part of the reason that dreams in fiction don't tend to try for that kind of realism.
For a comic that actually pulled it off, check out one of the first comics ever made, Little Nemo in Slumberland. It's from the early 1900s, and it's really very good. Being in the public domain, there are many different reprint books, or there's a website displaying pretty much the whole series.
I highly recommend it.
Which would you say is more disjointed Raver, or the Warrior comic book mini-series? BTW when are you finally going to review "The Ultimate Warrior Is Furious"? Your joint review of the Warrior comic book with Spoony was one of the funniest things ever!
A comic (or any story told in a serial format) tossing you into a plot without explaining everything is a potentially good idea. If done with skill, then it can slowly explain things and fill in the back-story in an interesting manner over the course of a couple of issues.
Heck, I once ran a science fiction RPG in which I started the players off as prisoners on a strange planet with their memories of the last few days wiped. And--because I took the trouble to have it all gradually make sense--it was an awesome gaming session.
Judging from your review, it feels like Raver simply didn't make sense from the get-go. If the intention was to be intriguing/mysterious and then slowly explain the situation, then the comic fails spectacularly. To tell a story in this way, the writer HAS to plan ahead and know where he eventually wants to go. Raver gives the impression of just making it up as it goes along.
I always thought Koenig wrote the episode with the Orion pirates, not the giant clone Spock. Oh well, live and... learn?
Ha! I actually REMEMBER READING AN INTERVIEW WITH KOENIG about this!
And Doctor "Izin" is a pun; "Doctor Is In." He explicitly patterned it after the librarian in the classic Trek episode "All Our Yesterday" named Mister Atoz. A to Z. (No one got that joke either.)
There was supposed to be a page inside the front cover explaining the plot and premise of this comic but it got left out in production. Koenig himself complained that the omission makes the comic utterly incomprehensible and just sort of shakes his head about it.
Tangentially, Koenig's "Things to Come" comic from Bluewater is insane. Also incomprehensible, but in a very, very good way.
What I usually suspect with stories like this one is that the writers had some really interesting ideas, but they just wanted to be sooo deep and sooo phylosophycal and symbolic with them, that no one else gets what they wanted with it. It's actually kind of sad, with less mystery and more explanation this one may have been a good comic.
As Lester said it,
"It was so ambiguous that it was ambigooey!"
I agree with the anonymous poster above me. I really want to know which was the bigger load of nonsense, Raver, Warrior, or Marville?
Damn it!
Reaver is SCP-507!
Please someone try to contain him, unless he ends up bringing back a dating-sim starring the cast of AtFW
Awesome that you did Malibu. However, I call bullcrap on that claim that Marvel wasn't trying to kill the competition. As far as I'm concerned, they certainly were. Now before you go "Then why haven't they bought other companies?", let me give you reasons. DC would have way too much baggage. Image has too much history with Marvel since their founders originally worked there. Dark Horse wouldn't be profitable in the long run and too much of a mess with everyone actually owning their stuff. Malibu had lots of potential and they wanted a piece of that pie. And then to put a nail in the coffin, I believe they ruined every property on purpose.
I realize that this is a bit off-topic, but it's not everyday you find something that would hit so close to home
http://kevinbolk.deviantart.com/art/Dear-Kids-These-Days-348489570
This really should spread, it's a very annoying issue nowadays
So how exactly do they know that if Raver doesn't beat the enemy he can never change back? Has this happened before?
And Raver's assuming he can ONLY transform when his opponent does? What about 'you can only transform when not restrained' or 'you can only transform when in sunlight'?
Lastly, WHY did Raver agree to the crazy doctor's idea?
well that was incredibly bizarre what kind of stuff did the writher use before he wrote this. Chinacat?
Loved the earthbound reference.
Please give me the name of that star trek episode I really want to watch it.
Everytime I hear an explanation about Raver, I keep getting more confused. Did no one working on this comic ever stopped to ask? Because the whole concept is getting stupid by the second.
You've had 90s Kid three weeks in a row. It must be easy to get material for him.
Nice Earthbound reference in the titlecard
This episode wins for the title card alone.
Yes I am that big of an Earthbound/MOTHER fanboy and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
A mention of Snowflame and no Snowflame bit? Unforgivable. (Although I assume it's because you ran out of time (especially since you noted "cardigan" as a mistake and that you didn't have time to put in a Linksano bit.)
But still, I now arbitrarily demand a video of a new show. Snowflame and 90's Kid are cops. Harvey Finevoice is the irate chief who wants to take them off the case. Dr. Linksano is the weird forensic guy.
This would be printing money and you know it.
As to the episode... wow, either you did a bad job relaying the comics content (and experience tells us that's likely not the case) or that was one of the most disjointed messes we've ever seen on the show.
There's some coolness in the concept, as it's very similar to DC's Resurrection Man (even the appearance is somewhat similar). But... basic storytelling, people!
This comic actually reminds me a lot of the Future Shock comic. Mostly in that it doesn't make much sense, but feels like it would make a lot more sense if it had been two or three times as long and they hadn't had to cut out all the panels telling you what's going on.
To Dave:
So your idea is basically Car 54, Where Are You but with crazy-stupid people with one being a cocaine addict?
I'm sorry. I can't make heads or tails of this. Maybe if I see how the other issues look, I might actually confirm whether or not this comic actually sucks.
Good review. Looking forward to Transformers next week; that comic won't be as confusing as Raver.
To Movie-Brat:
Or any other buddy cop show with crazy-stupid people, and one who is a cocaine addict.
Admit it, you want to see it too. :)
nifty review, as usual.
i have to say, i think the thrid time actually, that despite the confusion and infinite vagueness of this series, i kinda like the powers of the protagonist. his power seems to be, technically, specific adaptation. he takes on a power best suited to either overpower or force a stalemate with the villain of that scenario, whatever that scenario is supposed to be.
...... here is a bit of strange news, and forgive me if i am repeating something you already heard, i know that annoys you. it seems the peter parker from spiderman..... is still alive. more accurately, it seems his soul returned to his body, although doc oct's mind is still in control and unaware of peter's presence..... obviously set up as a fail safe if the idea of octopus proves to be a total flop, but for some reason that..... that almsot makes sense. i do not know if it is even a good idea or they are ripping something else off, far as i know they are, but it kinda makes sense almost.
I actaully kinda like Raver, and i actually think i'll try to snoop around for one.
With what you explained for the comic, i think i'd really enjoy this comic.
It's creative, and albeit crazy, i find it a really interesting idea.
Also, in my opinion, from a character design standpoint, the colors are balanced, and he looks badass.
Even if from a strict analysis standpoint this comic sucks, i think i'll enjoy it :D
Great review as always Linkara. Norman's catch-phrase : "I AM A MANCHILD !" ?
To Dave:
Well it'd be fun I'll say that.
To Dave:
Well it'd be fun I'll say that.
It's good to be curious! About many things! You can think about things and make believe! All you have to do is think! and they'll grow...
-Mr.Rogers...
Linkara you almost made me cry
Wow that was a confusing comic... Even the explanation of what happens is vauge. How exactly does he twist reality? Does he physically twist reality? Or is it all in his mind? Oh gosh, this is just as confusing as Southland Tales! Good review as usual.
'The colours are brown with a side-order of brown'? Aren't all comics like that now?
Well, a lot...
I wonder if there was a sticker ripped off your cover that took a bit off the foil, rather than residue? But I'd still think that'd feel bumpy.
As for the teacher's out-of-control classroom: All schools are gonna be like that soon, didn't you know? (Simpsons reference).
I puff and pant in my mind sometimes... kind of. It can be hard to think, and my thinking gets even more disjointed when I'm no longer hausted.
I was hoping you'd play I Love Rocky Road!
JB:
"Shapeshifting contest? the Impossible Man and Warlock had one in a New Mutants special or annual."
It was an annual.
Mountain King:
"there is a reason writers rules like Chekov's Gun exist."
Is that a pun?
(That rule is Anton Chekov's, not Pavel's, but in this context... you know that, this is for all the people who are about to tell me that.)
~ Mik
I've actually owned this comic for a good many years. It's one of my favorites, and it took me a while to really grasp it. Notice how in the beginning, all the kids jumped on the one "bad" kid for wrecking the cat statue (cat statue = cats the evil genius was going to smash in the end) then the kid deferred blame to Norman. Then take in how when confronted, everyone picked out a scapegoat for the monster to take. They maintained their peace by creating a sort of universal boogeyman. "Certain people are to blame for things going wrong, baseball cards are the root of evil!" Look at the news these days, people blame video games for school shootings.
Norman took in all the stupid little details of the situation he was in to create his little delusion. The kid becomes an evil mad scientist because he yelled at Norman and the kids become citizens looking for someone to cast blame on. The fact that he does it as a monster is just a little bit of comic book unreality since Norman is stark RAVING mad. Raver himself is just a sort of extension of Norman he either created himself or the Ho did to act as a Janitor to fix whatever mess Norman makes when he creates his little pocket universes. Unfortunately, Norman's the one in charge of where he is and what powers he ends up with... and I don't think Norman even knows he's doing it. As for the attractive lady, I got nothing other than the fact that as milquetoast as town as he's in, to see a woman dressed like that is pretty weird, though for a while I thought SHE was the scientist in another disguise about to turn on them.
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