Monday, October 4, 2010

Silent Hill: Dead/Alive #1 and 2

Photobucket
Photobucket

There was a Silent Hill comic here. It's gone now. Nah, just kidding - there's nothing related to Silent Hill in this thing.

NOTE: If you're having trouble watching the episode because it said it was removed, just try using the direct link here: Direct Episode Link

The episode has not been removed at any point - it's just some confusion because I've been uploading a version or two in my attempts to fix the problem people have had with skipping through the video (so far I'm afraid I haven't had much luck).

ANOTHER NOTE: Okay, guys, seriously, any more posts about quantum physics and that stupid cat are going to be deleted. I did not need tons and tons of comments and e-mails telling the same information about Schrodinger's stupid cat. It was a JOKE. Point made. Read the comments ahead of time to ensure someone else hasn't gotten there first about this kind of thing.




89 comments:

Kriken said...

Great review Linkara, it's sad to see great franchises like Silent Hill be given to incompetent writers. I found the ending to be pretty good (Even though I've never played any Silent Hill game and don't know which one you're referencing) it felt creepy enough.

Keep up the reviews and some Prozac might help with your rage issues against these comics XD.

crystarr said...

Ash, the Seventh Doctor and Treguard?!? This is officially my idea of Geek Heaven! :)

Also, would it be nitpicky of me to say that a light left on wouldn't fall under Schrödinger's cat as a system tracking how long it was left on for would count as obseration? Yeah...I'll just be going now!

Thomas said...

This reminded me of the review for Homecoming made by the german gaming show Mtv GameOne. They compared it with american remakes of japanese Horrormovies and illustrated this by changing a filmposter from subtle horror to machineguns and explosions, all with America Fuck Yeah playing in the backround.

areoborg said...

I'm sure that other people are going to comment on the Schroedinger's Cat thing, but it serves to illustrate just how weird quantum physics really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT7xJ0tjB4A

Trevor said...

Poor Linkara, he's not only stuck with a crappy comic now he's lost his mind. I'll admit: I don't play Silent hill games, but they at least look frightening and fascinating to play. After seeing the images and reading the text from these IDW minis, there's no way in Hell I would read these comics. How will Linkara escape the depths of "Dead/Alive"? Will Iron Liz and Harvey Finevoice be awaiting him in Silent Hill?

TheHistoryBuff said...

There appears to be an issue with the content. I am not getting any video.

Thomas said...

Oh and by the way Schrödinger wanted to explain that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics was wrong. It just crossed my mind watching the video a second time.

Mountain King said...

Oh god you opened yourself up to this one, Schrödinger's cat was an example of the flaw behind quantum theory. The best example of this problem is the argument; "If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound", if there is no one to observe the event is it sound or simply noise (and yes there is a difference). The whole point is that until the state of the cat is ascertained (by outside observation) it theoretically exists in both states, it is simultaneously both dead and alive and as it is nether does it actually exist?
Quantum theory is a complete mess because, to put it simply, it's a complete mess. No one, and I mean no one, has come up with a satisfactory answer for any questions asked about it. It's one of the many things that science is still scrambling for an explanation for (just look up Heisenberg's theories that you can't know what speed a particle is moving and is direction at the same time to turn your brain into mush).
That a comic, as mindless as this one, churns out pseudo-philosophical ideas that the writer gleaned from pulp and popular culture just makes me want to die. They don't understand what they are saying and just muddy the waters for those of us that do! The whole thing adds to the idea that Science is some sort of magic that takes years to learn and master.
There is almost nothing here to praise as an interesting story. While I can't comment on the rest of the comic, at least not yet, what you showed was painful in so many ways. The art was crude, the story telling was blunt and the characters were so two dimensional that they would snap if you tried to bend them under scrutiny.
I do keep harping on about it, but when a relatively independent publisher such as 2000AD (that is not connected to Disney and Warner Brothers and is owned by a indi games designer) can, after almost 34 years, still produce better and far more original comics than this crap I wonder just how this is produced. Surely somewhere along the way IDW heard the words quality control? Then again they must think that slapping the "Silent Hill" name on something automatically sells it to brain dead fanboys. Sort of like having the live action Transformers films have the name Optimus Prime in them…
You were quite right with your throwaway line about the writer looking up a few monsters on wikipedia. On that note I don't think the artist did anything other that look up a few prototype images on Google and that was the research, on both sides of the process.
I'm looking forward to the next couple (or three) episodes the same way I look forward to passing a train wreck while on the motorway (read Freeway if you live in the U.S.) Very glad I wasn't involved in the bloody mess and rather interested the outcome.

Thomas
AKA Mountain King

PS
I also like your "clean version" of the comic. While I don't think of myself as prude I do think there is time and place for swearing. For example stubbing your toe is not an excuse to drop so called F-Bombs, however a giant demon, with a vaginal mouth in place of it's chest, spewing tentacles and slime as it's slithering towards you from a nightmarish parallel dimension does deserve a well meant "Fuck me!"
As such this comic doesn't have that sort of imagery and doesn't deserve cursing.

PPS
As awesome as "groovy" is thank god they didn't use "This is my Boom-stick…" And I can only applaud the sting after the credits.

(I also posted this twice as I got a message telling me it didn't work the first time. If it did work just delete this one, otherwise I'll check up and edit or delete this one, sorry in advance)

Lotus Prince said...

This comic is just plain painful. No one who touches the Silent Hill series outside of the video games seems to realize that everything is symbolic. If the Twin Victims are in the comic, then there had better be a damn good reason.

Also, at the part where the guy said "I walked into a painting of a world that shouldn't exist, and jumped into a nightmare," I instantly thought of Mario 64. :-P

BS Digital Q said...

Groovy- the new Bat Credit Card. =D

Anonymous said...

Awesome, Linkara! As a huge fan of Silent Hill, it's great to see you take another crack at the attempted destruction of the franchise.

What I find really, really sad about this is that Dying Inside (and, by extension, Dead/Alive) predates the 2006 movie. So as disappointing as that film was, it becomes ten times worse when one considers that the makers actually decided to reference that godawful comic by naming the villain Christabella (and seriously, what in the hell was wrong with Dahlia? That did not need to change! THAT MOVIE SHOULD NOT EXIST!)

Anyway, looking forward to the continuation next week. And hi, Liz! Nice to see you again :)

~MagMarcy

Jurf Rokstar said...

I'm not that much of a horror buff nor have I played the Silent Hill games at all and can write a better Silent Hill story that this. Yeah and I think Linkara is stuck in the Otherworld.

KaiKasparek said...

"Cristobella swears enough in this comic, do you really want MORE?"


YES!! MOAR!!!

JosephRipken said...

Schrodinger's cat;
As a huge nerd I can clear this up. when it's explained what's usually left out is that the poison is set up to a trap that releases it when a sub atomic particle hits the trap.
Now, according to the uncertainty principle the location of a particle is only fixed when viewed by an observer. (I know it sounds weird and I'm not explaining it well but trust me, there's been a lot of experiments that back this up) so if there is no one to observe, whether the switch has been hit by the particle isn't fixed until the result is observed. Therefore the cat can be considered both alive and dead.

It's a thought experiment only since the cat is actually an observer so this wouldn't prove anything if you tried it. The reason it doesn't work that way with the electric bill is because the electric company is observing it.

Drakonis said...

Great review Linkara!
Especially liked how you could do something far creepier AND more Silent Hill related with around 1 minute at the end ;)
I'm excited for the next parts. Played through Silent Hill: Shattered memories a second time a few days before you announced there would be more Silent Hill comic reviews this year. So I'm kinda hyped up for you live action parts :)

Anonymous said...

I have a dog named Bear. And I'm happy with it. :)

Mildra said...

Great review, despite how painful it must have been.

As for that Issacs character, all I can think of is Ivan Issacs from Priest, but my mind tends to wander towards good books in order to preserve what little sanity I have left.

That aside, are there any horror comics outside of silent hill that you'd recommend? I'm a bit curious as to what makes horror in seqential art "work".

E. Wilson said...

I've never played Silent Hill, despite enjoying most horror fiction I've taken the time to read. Having said that...this is incredibly lame horror fiction. There's a whole genre of comics that seems to think that sketchy, unfinished art is somehow scary.

It's really not.

As for the end-of-episode revelations, I've long thought that the 90's Kid was a figment of your imagination, manifesting from deep-set shame at once enjoying an issue of Spawn in a youthful indiscretion. But Harvey? Liz? I didn't see that coming.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is the angriest I've seen you since your One More Day rant.

I love how Lovecraft has become so ingrained in our pop culture now that people wanting to write horror think they can just slap a bunch of tentacles on a monster and think that it's automatically scarier. Lovecraftian horror is a lot more than squidfaced monsters, and I wish more writers and artists would realize that.

Anonymous said...

Well, that "groovy" line now is a new case of "Hilarious in Hindsight", isn't it?

Falcovsleon20 said...

See this is more the reason why I'm glad I'm not into Silent Hill or horror in general. (Though there are exceptions)

Loved that angry mumbling at the end there, Lewis. You sounded like Homer Simpson when you did that. That alone is enough to make me say this is better than last year's Silent Hill reviews.

Anonymous said...

Troy's story still comes off as the bast part of this series
And no, I still don't regret buying the Dying Inside TPB

The thing with the dog was at least an interesting idea, not the part with the monster talking, but the whole "pure soul" aspect that was partially hinted at in Silent Hill 2 with Laura

Anonymous said...

By the way, the electricity example you gave does not fall under the Schrödinger's Cat laws

The electricity company is watching the electricity's flow, and therefore the right conditions weren't met

Unknown said...

Oh goodness, why dear heaven why did you let this warping of the series happen? i guess it can only be understood in terms of a war crime. *observers moments silence for slain potential*

anyway, now to ramble on interesting sidenotes!
about the cat: it was an attempt to make quantum physics easyer to understand, but its kinda been warped by pop-culture, so a better example might be this: a particle has two possible states, and has no preference for either state. of course it can only exist in one state, so when it is observed it it occupies one state. now, if the particle has no determining factors other than your observation for its state, one could say that your Observation caused it to have that state.

there is more to it than that but i dont want to bore you. also, just for your interest, observation in the quantum sense doesnt mean by an intelligent mind nescsearaly, it could merely mean by the presence of local matter. as an example, when you have your lightbulb switched on but not in the same room it is in fact being observed: your electicity meter is recording it. but even if that wasnt the case, the atoms in the room would still be being subject to radiation from it, so they would be observers. sorry, i get carried away on my subject. im going now *sneaks off in shame*

Taelor Mcclurg said...

The Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment was proposed in 1935 by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger as part of an attempt to illustrate what he perceived to be a fundamental flaw in the interpretation of quantum physics exposed by his scientific rivals, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Schrodinger's argued that Bohr and Heisenberg's Copenhagen Interpretation implies that the cat is both alive and dead, and since this is absurd, we should reject their theories. Bohr responded that his theories imply no such thing, and that Schrodinger had fundamentally misunderstood them. At this point, the argument gets to technical for me to follow, but the general consensus amongst people versed in such matters seems to be that Bohr won.

Anonymous said...

@AnonOctober4,20104:37PM

With all it's flaws the Silent Hill movie is still one of the best videogame adaptations out there

Also my father who never played the games but is otherwise a huge horror-buff really loves the movie and says that all the complaining fans should get a life

Kavinsky said...

Other than the weird lighting problems that seem to be occuring consistantly throughtout the vid (starting at 5:21 and the worst being at 27:14 ) being probably caused by a curtain or lack therof it was a great review

Ed Boff said...

Man, that comic looks bad. Thing that got me was that the detective agency was called Chetwynd-Hayes after the horror writer; no, please we've already got one better writer's work's being unnecessarily tied to this thing (Lovecraft), don't bring in another!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Chetwynd-Hayes
Incidentally, surprised you didn't mention that this one, among it's many, many other crimes, steals it's title from Peter Jackson's best movie!

QuetzaDrake said...

Hah! Knightmare reference, awesome. Was a little disappointing that Treguard only popped up in one of Spoony's videos after the Knightmare review, so it's nice to see it's not forgotten.

Also, I don't really care, but what happened to Lauryn? They didn't really explain where the hell she went and why Lenore (HAHA I GET IT GOOD REFERENCE THERE, WRITER) took over the town.... but whatever, good riddance I guess?

Kevin "Jester" McGill said...

Dig the Plan 9 reference at the end of this weeks video. All around good stuff. Can't wait for next week.

Kevin "Jester" McGill said...

Love the Plan 9 reference in the credits. Great episode Lewis, can't wait for next week!

Alex said...

Well, that was strange and disturbing. The Shyamalan twist with the empty room is both sad and creepy.
Also the only thing I want to see survive this comic is the dog, because what we have here is a basic case of Supporting Protagonist (yay tvtropes). The dog is the true hero, and also the only one who isn't full of guilt and shame that Silent Hill can use.

rgrekejin said...

The really tragic thing is that Scott Ciencin is not a writer completely devoid of talent. He wrote Random House's young adult 'Godzilla' novels, which I enjoyed immensely as a child, and find still hold up reasonably well today (although they pale in comparison to Marc Cerasini's Godzilla novels).

mouse said...

god i am so sick of horror comics using this horrible "art" style. The art used in comics is sequential art. It has to be able to depict consecutive events clearly. A big splash of dirty watercolours and people-esk scribblings just doesn't do that but alas it seems a lot of horror comic creators try to use scribble art to replace the lack of atmosphere that should be generated by the other elements of storytelling.

p.s. the cat paradox is about the fact that the cat would be killed by a trap triggered by particles. Because particles behave diffidently when observed, the trap could not be triggered until someone observed said particles to trigger the trap.

VincentVendetta said...

You know there's a new Silent Hill comic coming soon written by the same guy who also made Sinner's Reward, called Past Life.

Oh, and you really made me interrested in the Silent Hill franchise now. Thanks a lot.

ckatmyla said...

Bear is actually a pretty popular name for big dogs around where I live, e though my neighbor's 'Bear' was so little I borrowed him to play Toto when I was Dorothy for Halloween one year.

But yeah, now to continue watching...

Anonymous said...

Pulse AND Silent Hill, and the only Phelous reference you made was at the very end?

Otherwise, great review, as usual.

While I'm commenting... if you would ever be interested in a cameo in my 100th review, let me know.

Viredae said...

First of all, That one short ending probably had more horror essence in it than all thirteen or so SH comics put together, a testament to how crappy it is (and to how good that ending was).

About Schroedinger's Cat, you can just read the wikipedia page for it, and if you want more meat to explain, check out the pages on Superposition and the double slit experiment, That particular topic is surprisingly simple once you understand it, not really as messy as most people would like to believe.

Unknown said...

Oh man. I actually read these comics. It doesn't get any better than this, folks. I think it really shows the "quality" of this comic in that you were far, far creepier in your "bear" and ending segment than any single part of this comic whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the Lovecraftian wanna-be imagery in this thing is appropriate. After all, just looking at it seems to have driven you to madness.

Julz said...

Why does Scott Ciencin keep writing Silent Hill comics?

Good question.

Why does Shane McCarthy keep writing Transformers comics? Why does Mike Costa keep writing Transformers and GIJoe?
Why do Doctor Who books keep being such dullfests?

Simply put, it's because IDW, the comics company that owns all those licenses, sucks. They do not know how to pick out good writers, their editors are complete hacks who rarely ever read scripts before sending them on to the artists or whoever else is necessary... they just sit around, read message board comments, suck up to the writers and generally do absolutely nothing.

Rage all you want about Ciencin, but ultimately it's IDW's editors (and EIC Chris Ryall)'s fault for just not giving enough of a rat's ass about the quality of what they put out.

Jaebird said...

I gave a standing ovation to the stinger at the end. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

Cannot wait for the next installments.

Fifthrate said...

You poor poor man. The things you subject yourself to to entertain us.

Jessica said...

nice one, especially the twist at the end, looking forward to parts two and three,

by the way I want my own personal hellsquid

and some beef jerky

sirkenz17 said...

Who was the artist for this? It kind of looks like he was trying to rip off Mike Mignola's art style.

Cody said...

I pretty much swear freely, and I think your reaction near the end is better BECAUSE it contains no swearing. This is my take on it: swearing is something people in a right state of mind do when they're frustrated. The fact that you cannot even form swear words shows how far into madness the comic has driven the Linkara persona.

Ian said...

So...Linkara losing insanity because of Lord Vyce and Mechakara, where they put Linkara into Silent Hill?

Random guess. XD

Ro9ge said...

The whole point of Shrodingers cat is to show how weird and silly quantum physics is anyway. XD

...despite the fact that it's apparently also true in some ways. Don't ask how, I don't know. I'm sure plenty others will be telling you, though.

Anyway, great review, can't wait to see the rest!

Celey said...

Groovy? GROOVY?! Gaaaaaaaaaah! No wonder ya got so upset! How dare they insult the mighty Bruce Campbell like that!!! *Has own little screaming and raving rant for a good few minutes*

Okay. I'm done. :)...

Man, this storyline you've got going on is creepy, Linkara... Maybe you should've worked on the Silent Hill comics. *lol* The creepiest parts were when child-like laughter started coming from Bear (It would've been worse if Bear had been a doll, instead of a teddy bear. Dolls give me the serious heebie jeebies) and then, the end to this review.

Man... *Shudders*

"You've been in here alone all day."

:|...

Core said...

Hmm, the trailer didn't disappoint and neither did this review. It looks like October is going to be yet another fun month.

I liked the lighting effects going on, wavering in the background like they are reflections on the surface of the water. It does look like the Silent Hill comics are causing you to have a bit of a mental break. Maybe a pure logical mind of a rocket powered robotic chicken will help to keep things grounded?

MalixDexide said...

Oh my gosh that comic's horrid, but I loved your twist ending for the episode!

Who the heck says "Groovy" in a horror comic based off of a video game?

At one point Christabella looks like some clown (At the 5:25 mark I believe) when she has that dream sequence, and clown theme music played in my head.

WPB said...

Some of the dialogue in this comic seems almost Warrior-esque, though there's not quite as much rambling on (from what you showed us, at least).

If it's any consolation, the twist at the end left me pleasantly surprised, and it makes the video warrant at least a second viewing.

Brian A. Henegar said...

Linkara, a phenomenal chapter as always.

Man these comics blow, But anyway, I can';t wait for the continuation. I love the whole Linkara is being driven mad storyline, so long as it doesn't detract from the actual reviewing, I'm all for it.

Brian~

SlugLady28 said...

Lovecraft. Ya... that makes sense... The whole time during last years review, i was getting Cthulhu vibes. I honestly don’t read much Lovecraft but i still saw a problem there.

I don’t get it. WHY does he keep bringing in Lovecraft? I know there are a few similarities, what with there being a cult, but Silent hill isn’t Lovecraft. It’s Silent hill. It has a mythoes of it own. And it has never needed so many strong references to Lovecraft works before (like the over use of tentacles). Just as they never needed symbols like 666. Silent hill does make the odd reference to other things sometimes, but not every two minutes like this comic.

BTW, great ending. Can’t wait for next week X3.

Jesse said...

Interesting review so far. Can't wait to see the rest. Much as I'd like to say that this will get better by the end, I know that it will not, and, in fact, will almost certainly get infinitely and unrecoverably worse by the end, otherwise it wouldn't be on the show.

As for your growing insanity over these things, who can blame you? It's to be expected, really, considering how awful AT4W comics in general are.

Anyway, happy October. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Silent Hill comic.

Nebosuke said...

To Umineko fans, how many people want to see a crossover of this comic and Umineko just to see ANY of the magic users (I'll even take Eva-Beatrice) or demons massacre the whole entire cast of this comic?

Anonymous said...

Never played the games, so not a fan. Never read the comics, your last review was enough to put me off the idea. I'll give this comic credit for being slightly easier to follow in the art department than Dying Inside was, though. But it's still not very good.

Your review was good as usual, don't worry I'll refrain from the Schrodinger thing mostly because it did amuse me. I did find the ending more than slightly unnerving, though that's not a bad thing.

I look forward to the next installment, which I'm sure will push you even further over the edge.

Unknown said...

i cant believe they stole groovy from evil dead 2 wtf! any awesome review

Furore said...

Oh, Linkara. It'll be okay, dude, you'll make it through.

Your reviews are SO damn fun, Mr Magic Gun, no rhyme intended. So fun... I can't even TELL you how fun. You're one of the TGWTG regulars I keep archive trawling when I run out of fresh content.

Seriously, if it was legal and not creepy at all, I'd marry both you and Iron Liz. Ew, creepy. Sorry!

Hanging out for SWRPG part 3, and of course every future HOPR!

lilmaibe said...

*rubs temples* I agree with everyone who wonders why some companies decide to pick the worst possible fanfiction writers for official stuff. Gods, even Uwe Boll is closer to the original storylines with his stuff *headdesks*

On a sidenote:
Answer me this, linkara. Why was the song my randomplaylist picked AFTER i finished this review this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-dlJekbXYo
of all songs I have on there?!

Azereaux said...

Ah, the ever so amusing and entertaining sense that someone is on the receiving end of an well-executed gas-lighting. Now this is how one sets the tone for a Halloween special.

Masterfully done, a stark contrast to the comic miniseries currently in review. *applauds*

Don't worry, when madness finally takes you, you'll still be in good company ;)

The House of C.R.P said...

I am honestly hoping that the entirity of this and Dying Inside was just either Troy or Ken in a session with Dr Kaufman, before finally, at the end, Kaufman throws his glass at the ground and goes on a ranting tirade about every single flaw in Troy's story.

Kaiosama TLJ said...

I knew there was Silent Hill comics before i saw your review of Dying Inside, but your reviews show me reasons to not read that thing. It's a blasphemy to the franchise, and i don't believe that Konami had the guts to license such thing, and also more horrible sequels that have nothing to do with anything at all.

But about the actual review...

The bit where Lauryn buys the book on eBay didn't bug me much. Why? Well, actually there is this kind of "supernatural crap" and other bizarre stuff for sale on online auctions. Here's an example: http://cgi.ebay.com/MASTERING-WITCHCRAFT-OCCULT-BLACK-MAGIC-SATAN-/300474845584?pt=Antiquarian_Collectible&hash=item45f5b24990

And yeah i'm serious, i saw other odd examples like people selling dolls that are haunted on eBay, with tragic stories in their descriptions related to the product. Of course, i don't believe in this shit, but it shows that the internet is a really strange place. XD

(ando also don't save Dying Inside to suck)

About Cristabella's eye, it was not injuried even in Dying Inside issue #3 actually (as far i can remember), but even if that have an explanation it will not cover the plotholes of this garbage, or even the hole on Cristabella's chest.

And at 18:28, the dog is followin a crimson butterfly? Fatal Frame 2 was dragged to this junk too? OH MY GOD!!!

ckatmyla said...

I always love your little twist endings and storyplots, you come up with some cool stuff. :P

And don't worry about not swearing, that is one of your best qualities. It'd be too easy for you to just swear when you get angry in these videos, you're just classy that way.

So ready for the next one, this is gonna be an interesting month.

DerKork said...

So this might be what he spoke of. I thought he spoke of One More Day... But then, the effects are similiar to your mind, aren't they? ^_~

Anonymous said...

This is the first time I've actually felt like commenting. :)

Just so you know Linkara I haven't been having trouble skipping with your videos. I DID at one point when Bliptv did some changes to it's video player a while back, but it hasn't been doing that to me for some time now. You just need to wait for the video to load all the way.

And for the record your joke, while funny, is actually right. What people forget is that Schrodinger's cat was intended to show what's absurd about the conclusions that come from quantum theory by asking "when does it stop being both?". Schrodinger's cat caused quite a controversy for physicists at the time.

To deal with it Several interpretations of quantum theory evolved, and they all offer a way for the cat to be either alive or dead, but not both… well, unless they use more than one cat. But even then, what they say exists is sort of a sum of all possible cats.

Oh and I'm sort of waiting for more to happen before I comment on Linkara going insane. It just feels like it's too soon to say anything constructive. So don't feel about okay? :)

Unknown said...

My dog's name was Bear. He died of cancer.

Rushing_Beat said...

Yeah, the second you made the cat joke, I already knew that a bunch of people were going to hop in to explain it...over and over again. Good review, Linkara. I really liked the fact that you made your jokes without cursing up a storm (mostly because you demonstrated the maturity and expert comedic timing that got me interested in your show). Keep it up!

MailOrderClone said...

Dammit, now I really want to read Demon & Dog. Heck, I even think that a story where-in you play as a dog lost in Silent Hill looking for it's masters (and in which you befriend a demon by being an adorable doggy) would make for a fun game.

Damien said...

I suspect I could make the levels of hell inflicted on our poor protagonist even worse by mentioning that there is another comic, by the same people as I recall, in the works at the moment. You know, because they proved so well how they were worthy of the job. I have started to wonder if they aren't paying Konami for the right to use the Silent Hill name without any real interest in actually turning a profit. Just the joy of claiming they are putting out Silent Hill comics must be enough.

Adam Pearce said...

At the 15-Minute mark your woman's voice sounded like Gypsy from MST3K

Truce Weston said...

I haven't had any problems watching your stuff. Hope whatever issues you got with that are resolved quickly for everyone who is experiencing these difficulties

awesome and funny video, with a nice twist ending! fistbump!

so until someone makes a good silent hill comic that has to do with the games, MAKE MINE LINKARA!

The Wookie Has No Pants said...

demon and dog with beef jerky!

win!!

Claire said...

Nice ladyvoice, mister feminist!

Vervian Root said...

Great review! I have never seen the movies or played the games, but even I know more about Silent hill than this guy.

Rainbow in your stomach: a Skittles commercial in the making.

Ken seems to be adjusting to being in Silent Hill too well.

Carry said...

Hrmm. That was not Silent Hill even in the most remote sense. ><

In fact, this reminds me a bit of the Spider-Man manga published in the 70s. It was good enough, but it had only the most basic resemblance to the original. The mangaka simply decided to toss the original stories out the window and write his own about a boy who'd been bitten by a radioactive spider.

Why do I get the feeling that the not-so-good Mr. Cienca did the exact same thing?

Unknown said...

So how was it possible for the SH comics to have so little to do with the SH games?

Anonymous said...

schrodingers cat is an explamantion of quantem theory. basicly, quantem theory says untill you look, light, for example, is both a partical and a wave. and when you look, it picks one. not befor

so schrdinger tryed to point out this is kinda stupid with his cat. put the cat in a box. set it up so the cat will die at a time thats random (an isotope has a certen chance of decaying, but it dosent mean it will). according to quantem theory, becous events are set up in such a way that you wont know if the cats alive or dead till you like, it is, untill you look, both alive and dead, like light is both a wave and a partical

its not a practical thing. its more like pointing out the illogicalness of quantem thoery.

Anonymous said...

Based on the comics and most recent games, I can only conclude that p. much everyone in power hates the Silent Hill franchise and its fans.

BTW, while screechy girl voice is kind of funny in short bursts, you should possibly drop it for longer speeches- it gets way grating and hard to understand. :/

shikome kido mi said...

That comic was horrible beyond belief. Besides the art work and the plot holes (who the heck is Lenora? Where did she come from? Why is she bothering with these people?), the dialogue is so bad that several times I literally had to stop and read the images to make sure you weren't joking. To my horror, you never were. That includes the Dog scene, Ike's speech, the future reel, and at least one other point that's been driven out of my head by successive waves of lame insanity.

I did, however, think of a motto for this series "Silent Hill Dead/Alive: Spitting in the face of Silent Hill, Lovecraft, and Evil Dead all at the same time!"

Essencewing said...

That narration at the beginning was awesome.

Seriously, you should have narrated for The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.

Anonymous said...

Schrödinger's cat- One of the things about quantum physics is that on the quantum level, it really can be both until observed.

Yea, that doesn't work on the classical level (which the cat thing is supposed to illustrate), but things really do work different on different scales.

Similarly, the idea of saying "there is something here at this spot, not moving," is something that can't be said of particles on the quantum level.

What works on one doesn't work on the other.

SynjoDeonecros said...

Yeesh, people are actually trying to argue over Schrodinger's Cat? Seriously, Linkara made a joke about something that was intended to be a joke but got taken seriously by the stupid masses. Can we just drop it? Besides, each time I see "Schrodinger's cat", I can't help but think of "Ravage 3 Bodies Evolution", and I do NOT want to be reminded of the mess they made of reversing his death at the end of Beast Wars season 2 *shudders at the thought of "Black Panther Man" and Kiss Players*.

Now that you've moved out of your parents' house, does that mean that there's going to be less cameos of them in your videos? It was actually kind of awesome that they were so supportive of your videos to do that.

James said...

Just wait Linkara, you will be dragged in by the evil of Silent Hill and be forced to endure...Case 39! AHHHH! Phelous will be waiting...

Anonymous said...

What the hell is with all the tentacles in these comics? The only time anything even vaguely similar was in the games was that bit in Silent Hill 3 with the hair dryer.

PockyMech said...

"Hello Doggie." Love that scene with Bear, Wiseau refference ftw!

Nice side story, I look forward to where its go'n out of all this confusion.

Alex Stritar said...

I wonder who'd win in a fight, Schrodinger's Cat or Dex-Star, the Rage Kitty?

Tzelael said...

Wonderful review, Linkara, and good Lord this thing is idiotic, even more so when you consider the incorporation of Lovecraftian imagery into this stupid-as-all-hell mess...

I can SORT of see how the writer thought he'd be able to incorporate Lovecraftian Horror into Silent Hill, but when you start thinking about both of them, they do NOT gel together. The only similarity I can fathom is the fact that it deals with entities that would callously step on human beings as soon as they would look at them, evil cults destroying the world and monstrous beings eroding at the character's sanity. The similarities end there, but I'll focus on the core difference between Silent Hill and Lovecraft (from what I know about them with the research I did): the Philosophy. Silent Hill is about being completely alone, and the horrors therein are VERY personal to the character in question, and, as you said, the town serves as a form of redemption or retribution to those who enter the town. Lovecraft on the other hand is about NOT being alone, but the things you share the universe with would kill massive amounts of people if only because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the universe itself was cold, distant and didn't care who you are or what you did. There's a LOT of thematic dissonance here and thus the two styles can't be integrated. Anyway, I've bored you enough with this, so I'll end with this:

You're awesome.

TimeTravelerJessica said...

In fairness, I have not trouble believing that at least one major news outlet would make a big deal about the paintings and show them repeatedly. I mean, NBC aired the manifesto of the Virginia Tech shooter the day after the massacre. That said ... this is a lot of trouble to net a few more people to the town.

Why only a few people?

Well, like you said, lots of people won't be watching the news and/or will change it when "that stupid actor that killed his girlfriend" is hogging the news again. (And trust me, it would be all over the news - they have terrible judgment in what's an important story.) But you obviously don't go crazy the first time you see the paintings, or else Ken would already be a murderer without them having to ... however it is they're trying to get him to be a murderer. So, basically, depending on how famous of an actor Ken is and how creepy his fans are, you have somewhere between a handful and a few dozen obsessed fans who look at pictures of the paintings over and over again or maybe even buy one, if they're able to do so, and actually spend enough time with them to be driven crazy and/or be sucked into the town. Being really, really generous, you might get a hundred people, but really, like I said, this is a lot of trouble for that.