Comics are awesome.

[Gomess]

was Linkara even jumping the Byrne Bashing Bandwagon?

No idea. I don't understand his MO at all, to be honest, and I'm not gonna go back and check. I assume you know the comic where Big Barda is forced to do a porno, so his review shouldn't be too hard to track down for yourself. Chances are he does accuse him of sexism though, as he's always willing to polish his increasingly dull "I'm a feminist" badge.

piss up a rope? Well, uh, I guess that sounds bad.

Guess it's a British thing? =]

I get it!

Of course YOU do, you're practically a Brit. =p

[Dominic]

The feminist angle is great marketing, both for him and the hobby as a whole though. I do not blame Frank Miller for playing to the over-grown man-child mysiogynist demographic. But, in the long run, that stereotype only hurts the industry, regardless of whether or not you think it is justified.

Linkara is probably one of the more high-profile fans, and he actively undermines the stereotype of comic readers being sexists.


Dom
-has to agree about the kayfabe story though.

[Shockwave]

piss up a rope? Well, uh, I guess that sounds bad.

Guess it's a British thing? =]

I get it!

Of course YOU do, you're practically a Brit. =p

Indeed, but I'm sure it's nice to know that at least SOMEBODY around here gets your referrences

[138 Scourge]

I dunno if "Piss up a rope" is entirely a British thing. I know of at least one pretty good country song that uses that phrase as a title and as the chorus.

I'm torn on Linkara. On the one hand, I like the idea of a series of comic video reviews. On the other, I really find Linkara himself incredibly annoying.

What's your problem with cock, Dom?

Kids need to learn about cock.

So wait, you say this, and then you criticize Michael Jackson? Kidding, of course.

On the subject of bands you wouldn't think would be advertised in an Archie book: I distinctly remember being a little kid and seeing Sex Pistols merch being advertised in an Archie book of the time. Of course, the Pistols lyrics aren't as sexually charged as GaGa's, but if you're a kid curious about the group, likely the first song you'll find starts out with Johnny Rotten informing you that he is, in fact, the Antichrist. For a company that licensed it's characters for a Christian comics line, that's kind of funny.

[Onslaught Six]

Dude, it doesn't even bare that much analysis. He does that voice for every goddamn woman. Including Big Barda while she's being forced to do porno in a story that's clearly meant (meant; failed) to be a serious indictment of misogyny. Sure, he's not what most people would call "actively" sexist, but I don't believe in a sliding scale. Don't claim to be a feminist every other week and then go around giving strong female characters offensive voices just because you don't like the comic they're in.

I think you are overreacting. If I were doing one of these review shows, I'd use the same set dumb voices for most of the characters as well--because a lot of us have a few go-to voices when we're making fun of people.

You're not seriously suggesting Linkara develop a unique voice for one-off lines of dialogue for his dumb comic reviews, right?

On the subject of bands you wouldn't think would be advertised in an Archie book: I distinctly remember being a little kid and seeing Sex Pistols merch being advertised in an Archie book of the time.

They're called the Sex Pistols for Chrissake!

[Gomess]

You're not seriously suggesting Linkara develop a unique voice for one-off lines of dialogue for his dumb comic reviews, right?

If I can give every single character in Harry bloody Potter a unique voice, then I'm pretty sure Linkara can do the same for shitty comics. But the Barda thing is a special case, because as "a feminist" I expected him to treat the situation the writers had put that character in with a little more sympathy. He didn't, 'cos he goes for cheap laughs.

MST3K CLIP

ULTIMATE WARRIOR REFERENCE

END

[Dominic]

What do you mean, "sympathy"?

Clearly, Linkara thinks that Byrne did a bad job of writing the comic in question. Are you saying that he should hold back from mocking said comic out of sympathy for a character in that comic?

Even if he is presenting (hur hur hur) himself as a feminist, why would he be obligated to show sympathy for a a character? If a character is being written badly, (which is presumably what Linkara would argue in this case, making fun of the writing (by giving the character a silly or stereotypical voice) would be more than fair.

I agree that he often goes for cheap laughs, and that his cheap laugh grabs come at the cost of him ignoring author intent or even what is actually in the comics. But, making fun of a bad comic or said comic's writers should not take a back seat to "sympathy" for a given character.

To put it another way, I do not resent Bob Harras' Marvel for doing mean things to Spiderman and most every other character in the 90s. I do, however, resent Harras' Marvel for publishing shitty comics. In the case of DC, the problem with "Identity Crisis" is not that it was mean to Elongated Man and his wife Sue. The problem is that it killed Sue off in a way that retroactively made the character a joke and undermined the work of previous (superior) writers.


Dom
-still wonders what was worse, Melter's work with Sue Dibny or JMS' work with Gwen Stacy.

[Shockwave]

Who's Linkara?

[Dominic]

A guy who reviews comics on-line.

Here is the episode link that started our current meta-commentary discussion. (We are not talking about comics. We are talking about the people who talk about comics!)

http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011 ... aga-1.html


Dom
-well, at least that BA in English is being used for something.

[Gomess]

Are you saying that he should hold back from mocking said comic out of sympathy for a character in that comic?

Yep. Story =/= Character. Big Barda being put in a shitty situation isn't her fault, but giving her a stupid voice makes it seem as if it is. You and I just look at fiction in different ways.

Giving Big Barda a stupid voice is just a sophomoric way of making fun of a stupid situation, with no respect for anyone or anything involved. It's not even a vaguely intelligent critique of the writer's craft.

The killer is that he uses the voice even when he *likes* the situation. He gave 90s X-Men #1 an uncharacteristically glowing review, but STILL gave cold-hearted British assassin Psylocke a doofy American housewife voice. Because she's a female character in one of his reviews.

He's just a bit of a lazy douche.