A month or so ago I did a tribute to Nostalgia Critic and AT4W. While
doing that I looked back at the previous stuff I had written, and I
realized it was time to update an older article. Back in 2012 I did a
sort list of my favorite episodes of AT4W. That was almost four years
ago, the list only had five episodes listed! Well there have been a few
episodes since then. So today I am revising and expanding my list in
honor of AT4W’s 400th episode at the end of the mont.
This was originally a top 5 which I expanded into 10, but had to make 15. Hey, it’s been 400 episodes! Give me a break
I tried to include at least one for every year, but last year just wasn’t that great. I blame that on the AT4W movie which I think occupied his time, and to much patreon stuff. I get why he does those but those reviews are so boring (I don’t care about video games and Japanese Power Rangers!) that I usually don’t even watch them. I just couldn’t pick one from last year that I thought was excellent. And yes I saw the AT4W movie maybe if/when I get the DVD I will write a full review of it.
For now, here are my fifteen favorite episodes of Atop the Fourth Wall…..
#15.Action Comics #592 (2010)
This is one here for a special reason, I read this comic when it was first published back in 1987. And since I knew it, it was the first episode I checked. I wasn’t very familiar with Linkara yet but the episode was really good. Why John Byrne wrote the thing I will never know. Superman doing porn. Not much else to say, it’s a simple review but it was the one that made me a fan.
#14.Spider-Man/Fantastic Four in Brain Drain! & Superman meets The Quick Bunny (2011)
I made this a tie because i couldn’t pick. Yeah another Superman comic. But this one is really special, I couldn’t leave this one off. Pretty bad when something makes The Kool Aid Man seem logical. One of my absolute favorite review. When the concept is as silly as this you know it’s going to be good, and it sure doesn’t disappoint. There are some good laughs in the episode but really all Linkara had to do was just read the issue and it would have still been funny. In fact I saw this comic at a comic bookstore after watching this, and memory of the review almost made me purchase it.Almost. Not much else to add, great review of a really stupid comic. As for “Brain Drain!”…This is just so awesome! This is a case where the comic was perfect review fodder. Sometimes the comic is dull or not THAT bad so it’s harder to tear into. This was just so easy, as it makes superheroes look like idiots in the name of making teachers look awesome. Office Max? Really???? Honestly all his PSA Hell segments are excellent. Captain America vs The Asthma Monster was a runner up for this slot, Superman:For the Animals was very good, etc etc.
#13.The Adventures of Jello-Man and Wobbly (2014)
It may not be fair to add this for one great joke, but man is it funny. It comes at the point when Jello-Man is suddenly in space. Linkara’s reaction is perfect and still makes me laugh. I wonder how many times her recorded that to get it just right. Actually the whole review is really good, sometimes you just know an idea is going to give good fodder for jokes just by looking at the cover. I mean, really?
12.Catwoman:Guardian of Gotham #1&2 (2012)
I wanted to have one Batman comic, there have been a ton of Batman issues. I ended up with two. This one is the one I picked because the comic is just so….awful. And it’s one of the few that was not a Frank Miller penned piece. I mean Elseworld’s stories give writers room to be creative but the choices they made here from the story to the characterizations to the artowrk…wtf?
#11.Dark Knight Strikes Again Part 3 (2010)
What, no Holy Terror? The controversial nature of that one was a bit of a buzz kill but it was a good episode. In fact the reason most of Frank Miller’s stuff is not here because I am not sure which one to pick. Almost all of his Miller Time from DK3 to ASBAR reviews were excellent. So why single out this one? Because it had the biggest laugh in it (for awhile anyway). That moment when Linkara finally breaks is always hilarious. I shared it before, and it always makes me laugh. I hated Frank Miller long before it was popular to.
#10.Superman at Earth’s End (2008)
I needed something old on here, this is the only one from the 2008-2009 era. Not because those episodes were bad they were just, old. And this is a really good episode even if it was only his 8th. As Linkara has himself noted, lots of his recurring material comes from here. By the way I almost made it a tie with Batman:Fortunate Son but while that episode is good it wasn’t great.
#9.Marville
Which one? All of them! There’s no way to choose, these are so….odd. The first two were parody comics and it seems pretty clear that the writer thought he was funnier than he really was. They were stupid, but it’s what the next issues brought that really makes one scratch their heads. What the hell? These episodes proved Linkara is smarter than I because I would have been totally lost reading that nonsense. These comics were simply baffling, and the fact that Marvel produced them makes me really confused.
#8.Avengers #200 (2014)
In a lot of way this may be a perfect review. The comic is just awful, I can’t believe that it was written. And it wasn’t like it was made by some no name company, this was Marvel! The creative team behind are even ashamed of it, and these were big names including George Perez. This was a 200th issue? Check out JLA #200 to see how that is done right. And what they do to Ms.Marvel in the book is just insulting. I’ll be honest, there are times when Linakra rips apart a comic that I don’t always get why it’s so bad. This one? I get it, man do I get. And that’s largely because Linkara did a nice job explaining what was wrong with it, hitting every point why it was so awful.
#7. Ewoks #9 (2010)
I noted in the original article that I felt weird talking about this one knowing that Linkara and Liz broke up. Since the reason I love it 100% because of their chemsitry. But it’s years later and they clearly get along as friend. Plus it’s still an enjoyable episode. So know that I have discussed things that are none of my business, let me tell you why I like this review.Linkara and Liz are adorable; they had such good chemistry and really played off each other. Liz especially is great in this (being much more comfortable than she had been in the previous one she did). The fight scene in the middle is one of my favorites, short and sweet. Liz was my favorite character on the show while she was on it, and shines in this review. It’s also one of my favorite title cards, which I rarely notice.
#6.Star Trek #2 (2011)
Speaking of Iron Liz, she was awesome here too. If you love Star Trek’s Mirror, Mirror as much as I do you’re going to love this homage. AT4W has done a ton of Star Trek comics, but I love this one because the nature of the homage keeps this episode apart from the others, in a good way. It feels different than the standard episode and it’s one of the few I like to watch from start to finish (I usually don’t watch the end credits or the tag). I swear I read one of these Gold Key comics as a kid, and the goofiness in the issue is just great. There have been plenty of other Star Trek episodes including reviews for all the movie adaptations, crossover’s with the X-Men, and the Elite Force comic that gave us Ensign Munroe. Let’s just say that if a I tried to make it a tie, they’d all be on here. I picked this one because of how unique it was.
By he way I am not a huge fan of the live shows, but the one he did for Star Trek:The Next Generation #1 was fantastic. I wish he had done that for a regular episode, but I’ll take what we got.
#5. The Tandy Computer Wiz Kids
Yeah, I am lumping several comics into one category. If didn’t this whole list would just be these. For the Tandy Wiz Kids there have been a few of these, so far, and I loved them all. These comics are just silly and lend themselves to great jokes. The fact that Superman and Wonder Woman are in them makes it even better. I have watched these lots. The best one’s were the first few, like the Fit for Win issue, the later one’s were Ok but not as good. I still want him to review the Supergirl issue.
#4.Titans Retrospective (2013)
This was awesome for so many reasons. The first part was great because Linkara was going through stories that I loved and grew up with, and that’s always cool. Then the Technis Imperative review was great because Linkara was excited and happy to review a comic for once! It was a nice change of pace. And yes, I bought the book (though I think I bought it before this episode, he had talked about it being his favorite comic before). And the final part was great because I had no clue about that run of the team, and it was cool to see what happened to these characters after I stopped reading. This was a great series of episodes, and the one’s that followed were good too. Ok the ROM retrospective was a little boring, but I loved The Blue Beetle one since Beetle was one of my favorite characters as a kid. Since there is nothing from this year listed, we’ll call the Blue Beetle retrospective an honorary #16 spot.
#3.JLA-Act of God (2010)
There are many times when something Linkara would review got him so upset he would be flat out enraged. Amazons Attack, Cry for Justice, Battle for Bludhaven, and his great review of Superman #701 as examples. This is my favorite.I had read Act of God before watching the review, I had downloaded it, but never really had an opinion. But Linkara did such a good job of analyzing and dissecting this thing that I realize how bad it really is. There are so many problems with the concept and delivery I could be here all day. This is one of his biggest rants and it’s just fantastic. It’s one of those times when you wonder why he puts himself through the task of having to read this stuff week after week.
#2. Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu (2011)
As you know Linkara has storylines running through his videos. When I first discovered him I had no idea about these and found them annoying. But the more I watched the more I appreciated all the work he put into them. It took some time but I got caught up and I was a loyal fan as the entity arc was picking up, and suddenly was drawn into it. Now I am too old to have grown with Pokemon and had no real knowledge of Missing Number. That makes how much I was engrossed by the story line even more amazing. This episode was the conclusion, and man can you see the work he put into this. The way Linkara defeats the entity with a kirk-style speech is brilliant, and having 90’s kid being the bad guy was a nice twist. The scene of an emotional Linkara changing for what he assumed was a losing battle is one of my favorite moments ever. And the way gets the idea but seeing the Spider-Man comic he had just reviewed….I could go on, but made my point. A very strong episode and the best part is that the review portion was really good to. His storylines since this one have been find but none of topped the clear high point that this one achieved.
#1.Spider-Man:One More Day (2012)
It was a hard choice between this or the last episode as my #1. But the truth is with that one it was the storyline that elevated it not so much the review. Here, the review is awesome. It was the 200th episode and I am glad to say that after all the hype the episode worked. I was pumped and surprised when I heard what the topic was going to be. He had mentioned One more Day once or twice, so I knew what the major problem was. But I had never actually read the story, no surprise since I am no Spider-Man fan, so it was a lot of fun to see the horrible story play out. And as an anniversary episode it was fantastic. The only thing better with Holy Terror was the live stream done before that, which yes i watched nearly all of by the way. The cameo’s were great, the review was great, the final song sequence was great…..even the final song played over the credits was amazing. “One More Day” from Les Miserables was the perfect cap to what was quite simply one of the best episode ever. This is the only episode I will not watch on YouTube because that had to removed, and it’s not the same without it!
So I also did a short list of episodes I did not like. You can see it here. I decided not to publish a whole new list because there hasn’t been much of a change. With one exception. The Zolastraya and the Bard #1 episode was just awful.
Thank you Linkara for making such a great little web series, and congratulations as you reach your 400th episode! What about you guys, did I forget your favorite? Comment and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment