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My Top Favorite 15 Favorite Episodes of "AT4W"

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Released
January 1st, 2018
Running time
35:17
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Tagline
Linkara looks back at 2017 and counts down his 15 favorite episodes of his own show!
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Linkara: Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. It's a new year! A very important year. But first, let's take a moment and think about the year that just came and went... AND HOW MUCH IT STILL SUCKED!

(A montage of covers of comics that Linkara looked at over the past year is shown, starting with the "Nightmare on Elm Street" comics)

Linkara (v/o): Oh, don't get me wrong: 2017, in my opinion, was not as bad as 2016, but only because all of our collective dread, worry and melancholy was focused into pure righteous anger! Beloved celebrities and pop culture figure deaths still happened, but it didn't feel like it was nearly as frequent. It felt often at times like for every victory we achieved, we had no time to celebrate because there was always something else waiting to punch us!

Linkara: And that's when it comes to things happening in the world at large. It's been a ride for this humble little show about some asshole reviewing comic books.

(A clip of the opening title for Thunderbirds Are Go is shown)

Linkara (v/o): While I know some fans feel like the Patreon-sponsored reviews overwhelmingly make me review non-comic-book items, I should remind people that indeed, there were only six of those last year.

(Cut to the title for The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest)

Linkara (v/o): And hey, most of those non-comics were still related to subjects we're familiar with, like getting to look at World's Finest from the DC Animated Universe...

(Cut to the title for The Spectacular Spider-Man)

Linkara (v/o): ...an episode of the fan favorite Spectacular Spider-Man series...

(Cut to the title for the Iron Man animated series)

Linkara (v/o): ...or even the mostly forgotten Iron Man animated series.

(Cut to the title for Kamen Rider Fourze)

Linkara (v/o): I even got to finally cover a Kamen Rider, wherein I looked the first four episodes of Kamen Rider Fourze.

Linkara: And hopefully, this time I've got it right, because how dare I not pronounce the made-up word for a language I don't speak exactly right, even though some were saying it was the correct way! Just wait, someone's gonna Patron Kamen Rider Black, and it's gonna turn out it's pronounced "Blake"!

(More shots of comics Linkara looked at in the past year are shown)

Linkara (v/o): But hey, stuff like that's not anything to really get me that stressed out... as opposed to massive projects for the show that I did this year, including a retrospective for the series "Exiles", both episodes of which got two videos because of how much material there was to cover. But also, I did the first Event Comics month, wherein I looked at some of the most classic, popular, far-reaching, and well-loved crossover event comics from Marvel and DC. (beat) And also "Flashpoint". I even managed to return to things I hadn't talked about in years, like when we had the Terminator two-fer, with both Superman and Robocop taking on the evil robots from the future. Going back to Patreon-sponsored reviews, we certainly weren't low on comics there, starting off the year with the conclusion on an indie book called "Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl" and the beginning of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We got ourselves a new recurring Batman gag, thanks to the New 52 series, "Batman: The Dark Knight".

Linkara: Let's see how quickly people get sick of me referencing One-Face as much as they have me referencing Batman's hatred of rock 'n' roll. Spoilers: I'm still gonna reference both.

Linkara (v/o): But those Patreon-sponsored comic reviews were certainly a wide variety of subjects. We got some "Ultimate Iron Man" and the slow, goofy decisions to how they decided to handle Tony Stark's origins. We had some early Image, with "Stormwatch #0"; some '80s John Hughes movies mixed with tiny horses in "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #11-12"; I finally covered something from "Asterix"; we got to see the mixed reactions people had to "The All-New Ghost Rider"; and of course, we got some manga, from the first chapter of "Delicious In Dungeon" to the first chapter of "Fist of the North Star".

Linkara: (looks up in thought, stroking chin) Oh, yeah, I remember my review of "Fist of the North Star". It was right around the time (becomes enraged) YouTube deleted my channel for a few days FOR NO REASON!!

(The YouTube logo is shown)

Linkara (v/o): And the best part about that is that, guess what, I'm all in for YouTube now because Vidme is closed!

Linkara: So, Reverb, Blip, Screenwave, JW Player, Vidme, all of them down the tube for hosting non-YouTube save content! I'm taking bets, everybody: what's the next platform to collapse? Vimeo? Dailymotion? At this point, I should just do my show in the nude and upload everything to Pornhub! At least they're probably gonna stick around!

(Other footage of Linkara's videos is shown now, focusing on the non-comic storylines that happened at the time)

Linkara (v/o): But hey, not all endings are bad. For instance, I was able to end a huge and terrible chapter of my life, thanks to the restoration of Comicron 1 by Lord Vyce... who I then sent into a pocket universe to die.

Linkara: Which makes (gestures toward himself with thumb) me sound like a real jackass until you remember that he was gonna destroy Earth. So... thanks, jerkface, for fixing my ship.

Linkara (v/o): Also, turns out a piece of The Entity had been inside me for a few years and was subtly influencing my actions because of its own existential fears about the absurdity of existence and pointlessness of its life made it want to delay the inevitable by playing intricate games of chess. So that happened, too. But hey, I've been invited to participate in a Contest of Champions. So that should be fun.

Linkara: And I think we should all remember the most important thing I did in 2017: crossover with the Nostalgia Critic! Like the... fifth or sixth one of those. But this time around, we reviewed the comic adaptation of Tim Burton's first Batman movie, and it was on my set instead of his! And hey, he was right, I did get a lot of ad revenue for that.

(More shots of comics that Linkara looked at in the past are shown, these ones of continuations of earlier series)

Linkara (v/o): Aside for the aforementioned revisits to Terminator crossovers, we also saw some returns to stuff like "Athena", "The A-Team", "Trouble", "Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters"...

(Cut to a shot of the box that Snowflame got trapped in. He pops out of the box and looks around)

Linkara (v/o): ...and most especially, "The New Teen Titans Anti-Drug Giveaway", which explained where the hell Snowflame has been the last few years.

Linkara: Spoilers: He never left. In fact, he still won't leave.

Snowflame: (calling out from offscreen) Snowflame likes you, ToddInTheShadows!

(More shots of comics Linkara reviewed are shown, these of newer comics he reviewed for the first time)

Linakra (v/o): And there were a few new things I covered that certainly we'll see a return in the future, like the wackiness of "Batman: Odyssey", the awesome canon comics of "Babylon 5", and the kinda-sorta political parody that is "Reagan's Raiders". Yeah, there were three issues of that.

(Cut to the title for JoJo's Bizarre Adventures)

Linkara (v/o): Also, my fans got to learn, thanks to the Patreon-sponsored review of some JoJo's Bizarre Adventures episodes, that I don't know the difference between rugby and football.

Linkara: You thought I was someone who knew absolutely anything about sports! (gestures toward himself with thumb) But it was me, Linkara!

Linkara (v/o): Notice how I only just now finished recapping most of the crap that's happened in the last 52 episodes? Oh, but that's for the show.

(Several moments from Linkara's past year beyond the show are shown now)

Linkara (v/o): I also got married during my first real vacation, a tree fell on my garage, someone who looks like me was in a disco movie, and I released a new DVD [Atop the Fourth Wall, Vol. 3: Character Reboot] and new t-shirts. Yeah, 2017 was a bit of a year. But enough of what's come before; let's talk 2018.

(Shots of comics Linkara looked at in the past are shown)

Linkara (v/o): This year will mark the tenth anniversary of Atop the Fourth Wall. Just think about that for a second. How many single shows can you think of that have lasted ten years? Not franchises that have somewhat disconnected seasons; I mean the same main character or characters lasting for a whole decade. Yeah, they certain exist out there, but they're not exactly common. And yet here I am still doing this after so long. And believe you me, this year, we're gonna have some fun. Every episode this year that is not a Patreon-sponsored episode will, in some way, will be a follow-up to an old episode. Maybe it's another issue of a comic we haven't covered in a while. Maybe it's another book in a franchise I love. Or hell, maybe a follow-up to a previous theme month we've had.

Linkara: And so, to start things off, it's time for our annual, self-indulgent, self-reflection clip show episode normally taking place before the new year, but that's what the schedule gave us, so here we are.

Linkara (v/o): And as such, it's time for the most self-indulgent of self-indulgence: we're gonna talk about my favorite episodes. Maybe it's because of one single joke. Maybe it's because I just felt really good afterwards. Or maybe some life-changing event happened in it because Internet reviewers are magnets for powerful, malevolent beings.

Linkara: In any event, today, it's gonna be a massive ego-stroking, and you have to sit there and watch! These are my top 15 favorite episodes of my own damn show!

(The AT4W title sequence plays. The title card has "My Favorite Things" performed by Julie Andrews (as heard in The Sound of Music) playing in the background. Cut back to the montage of comic covers)

Linkara (v/o): Just as a reminder, before this list starts up:, it's my favorites, not the fans' favorites or the most well-known, just the ones that I love the most. You won't actually see anything from the first couple years on this list. Like with many other content producers, I hate my early stuff. All I see when rewatching it are the mistakes: the timing on jokes, the editing not being as tight as it could be, not delivering the lines right away. Sure, I still think they're good scripts, and I certainly owe them a lot for my early success, but they're not any that I'm looking to rewatch any time soon. So, let's get started.

(All of the countdown images are of shots of the title cards of the past reviews)

#15[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 15: "Doctor Who Classic Comics #15".

(Shots of this comic are shown)

Linkara (v/o): Christmas just ended last week, and sometimes I love to revisit my favorite Christmas period of Atop the Fourth Wall, where I looked at a bunch of silly comics for the season, capping it off with an old Doctor Who Christmas comic. It's kind of appropriate for this year, given we just had Peter Capaldi's final episode as a Christmas special... which I guess is just the norm now; you'll never see the Doctor regenerate at Easter or anything. And that involved a team-up with the First Doctor. But of course, the true tragedy of that episode is that it did not contain cameos from his two young grandchildren, his magic box that can shrink things, or from Santa Claus, who lives on a different planet because airplanes kept buzzing his house or something. And of course, we didn't get to see the revenge of the Doctor's arch nemesis, THE DEMON MAGICIAN! Yeah, if you haven't seen my review and are a Doctor Who fan, old Doctor Who comics are wild.

(Cut to a clip of Dr. Linksano from the end of that episode)

Linkara (v/o): And hey, that episode even brought to life a foam walking lizard toy who is now a friend who saved my ass the following year. And if that's not enough to make you love an episode, what is?

Dr. Linksano: I am the granter of Christmas miracles! Science bless us, everyone! (cackles)

#14[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 14: "Comic Book Quickies #6".

(A shot of one of the comics featured in "Comic Book Quickies 3" is shown)

Linkara (v/o): This one was a tossup between "#6" and #3". "Number 3" because, well, it contains one of the most well-known bits that I rewatch again and again just for the sheer glee it brings me: "Soggies May Rule!"

Linkara: (yelling) THE HELL THEY WILL! (grabs Captain America's shield and a machine gun) THIS IS AMERICA! (fires machine gun wildly into the air)

(Cut to one of the comics in "#6")

Linkara (v/o): But "#6" from 2016 wins out because of one simple reason: comic book quickies are written with the idea that I can stop writing them whenever I want. They're easy to put together in a couple of days without any worry about the deadline because it's short and easy to put together.

Linkara: But then, while a certain ghoulish figure (gestures offscreen with his thumb) in the supply room was putting together his retrospective on Twilight Zone comics. There was a one-page ad comic that was so hilariously ridiculous that I needed to write out that bit months in advance, knowing full well it would be a while before it ever got filmed. That comic was of course "Spiromania"!

(Cut to a wrestler for SGW – Spiro Graph Wrestling)

Wrestler: Spiromania is runnin' wild!

(Cut back to the review of "Comic Book Quickies 6")

Linkara (v/o): The other stuff in that one is fine. It was nice to celebrate "Beast Wars"' anniversary and have Captain America team up with toothpaste. But "Spiromania" wins out just because I was so excited to talk about it. Hell, I hope I find more Spiromania ads in the future. But for now, this little bit in "Comic Book Quickies" is all we'll have.

Kids: (audio from review) We want to draw like you, Billy!

(Cut to a clip of the twins from The Shining)

Twins: Come play with us, Danny.

#13[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 13: "The Adventures of Jell-O Man and Wobbly #1".

Linkara: Food promotional comics... confuse me.

(A montage of food promotions in comics is shown)

Linkara (v/o): Mini-comics inside of other series, that I understand. The Hostess Fruit Pie comics make sense. Well, I mean, as an advertisement, they make sense. No one will ever understand why Fruit Pies to stop criminals from being evil. But full-on advertising for mascots? No one on Earth looked at the Kool-Aid Man and said, "You know what I need? Twenty-two pages of him fighting hideous abominations that make people thirsty." The only character I can think of who might be able to get away with it is Tony the Tiger, and even that didn't really work when I did have a comic featuring him.

(Cut back to the topic at hand: the comic of Jell-O Man and Wobbly)

Linkara (v/o): So you can imagine my bafflement when Jell-O Man got his own single issue of a comic. I didn't even know Jell-O man existed until this comic, and I suspect that it's the most enduring thing about the character. And comics so insane like this only come along once in a while, comics that make you question everything you know about logic, science, and reality itself. And sometimes, you just have a lot of fun creating an episode that highlights every bizarre, goofy, nonsensical thing about its premise and execution. And of course, it gave us this little gem...

Linkara: (video from review; losing his sanity) HOW DID YOU GET INTO SPACE?! HOW DID YOU GET INTO SPACE?!!! (runs up to the camera and shakes it around) HOW!!! DID YOU!!! GET INTO SPA-A-A-A-A-A–

(While shaking the camera, the screen suddenly gets cut off by static, then cutting to a "technical difficulties" cover, showing an insane Linkara in a straitjacket, while gentle music plays in the background)

#12[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 12: "Silent Hill: Paint It Black".

(Shots of "Paint It Black" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): All of the Silent Hill comics are bad. There's no denying it. But "Paint It Black" just got under my skin. In a series that has featured outright murderers, negligent or abusive parents, straight-up evil people, and an annoying black hole that follows you around and keeps you from admiring the dark atmosphere that a horror game should be beating you down with, no single thing in the franchise has pissed me off as much as Ike Isaacs and the survivalist cheerleaders. Ike is a lazy asshole who takes advantage of the people around him, and you can't even claim he's just "that into his art". He tries to leave Silent Hill when he learns his paintings are making him money so he can live the high life. And then there's a random group of cheerleaders led by some woman who happened to be the daughter of the leader of an extremist group that took over his space. These characters all suck, they don't belong in Silent Hill, and I hate them!

Linkara: And nothing brings me more pleasure than to rip something apart that I hate. (points to camera) You damn well better believe that I had fun mocking this trash.

Linkara (v/o): It was so bad that it was the rare occasion I pulled out two Dr. Cox clips in one video. Believe it or not, I try to keep those in reserve because there are only so many out there I can use, and I hate using them more than once. But yes, the "Silent Hill: Paint It Black" episode is a great review, demonstrating my utter rage at how bad those comics could get.

Linkara: And hey, at least there are no more Scott Ciencin Silent Hill comics to worry about. (suddenly, he hears the sound of a menacing wail) Ooh, ominous.

Linkara (v/o): Let's end this number on the list with one of the two Dr. Cox clips, one that perfectly encapsulated the problem with those Silent Hill comics.

(Cut to a clip of the Scrubs episode in question)

Dr. Cox: (audio from video) Too much talking, too much talking, too much talking, too much talking, too much talking, too much... talking.

#11[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 11: "Star Trek #2".

(Footage of Linkara and Iron Liz's encounters with Captain Linkara)

Linkara (v/o): So, due to some tomfoolery that occurred when I decided to transfer Nimue up to Comicron 1 for the first time during an ion storm...

Linkara: A totally rational decision that will never lead to any long-term consequences down the road, aside from that one time.

Linkara (v/o): ...Iron Liz got transported into a mirror universe, and unfortunately, so did the transmission of this episode. Files got corrupted, so no one's ever seen my actual review of it, just the mirror universe version. But still, it was a pretty good review, so I'm taking credit for it.

(A shot of the cover of the comic)

Linkara (v/o): The Gold Key Star Trek comics, particularly the first few, are infamous for taking a lot of liberties with Trek, and this one is no exception. It's a fun, funny review full of... Fluffernutter. Sorry, I lost the alliteration there. It's a good episode that's something a little different while still familiar.

Linkara: And (takes off glasses) speaking out of character for a second, it's an episode concept I came up with (holds up two fingers) two weeks in advance that I put together a plan and script for very quickly because I was so excited to work on it. Even lost two hours of work by accident when Premiere crashed. But I was so happy to do it, I just powered on through it over again.

(The alternate version of Dr. Linksano is shown battling Captain Linkara)

Linkara (v/o): So yeah, that was a weird incident that seemed to reflect the mirror universe episode of a certain science fiction show I'm fond of. But as a result, it's also one of my favorites.

Capt. Linkara: (audio from video) And so, you die, Liz, and we all move up in rank.

Iron Liz: I thought you were already the captain?

Capt. Linkara: (about to answer, but stops as he tries to figure out her argument, then becomes angry) SHUT UP!! PREPARE TO DIE!!

#10[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 10: "Captain Electron #1".

Linkara: Ah, good old-fashioned nightmare fuel!

(Shots of "Captain Electron #1" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): "Captain Electron" is an odd little book, ostensibly a promotional comic for the Brick Computer Science Institute.

Linkara: And what a successful scam that was! I mean, school. I mean, scam.

Linkara (v/o): But it was not the goofy title character of Captain Electron, with his eyes that went off in two different directions, that was so memorable about this episode, but a little demon whose biology... or mechanisms, as it were... shall forever confuse me: Mr. Computer! Behold this agent of evil, more frightening than anything from Silent Hill, more monstrous than anything "Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters"! Two hundred eighty-plus episodes later, and I'm still thinking about this abomination who wants to teach you computer history while no doubt getting turned on when you literally push his buttons. The only thing going for him is his dapper top hat, which at the time I was thinking I'd incorporate a top hat into a new reviewer outfit should I ever change it.

Linkara: (wearing a rather tall brown top hat) Eh, I don't think it works as well. Maybe if it was shorter and made of leather...

Linkara (v/o): Still, so many questions plague us about Mr. Computer that I asked at the time. How does he gain energy? Is he upgradeable? Could you play video games on him? Would you even want to? How does he sit down? Does he have a butt? Do we even want to know if he has a butt? But yeah, Mr. Computer's frightening existence will always make this episode special to me.

Holokara: (audio from video) There's a word I'm looking for to describe a being like Mr. Computer. (looks up in thought while stroking his chin) Now, what was it? (brightens up) Oh, right! (screams his head off at this sight)

#9[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 9: "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids: A Deadly Choice".

(Shots of this issue of "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids" is shown)

Linkara (v/o): Speaking of computers, that brings us to our favorite Children of the Damned. Ho, but how could I not make this choice – a deadly choice, if you may – which is probably one of the more original "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids" comics. I say "original" because it seems like they actually took the trouble to make original artwork for it instead of recycling elements and playing out the EXACT SAME PLOT in each issue. Oh, sure, a lot of it hinges on the bizarre timeline surrounding Shanna's summer vacation and, well, the repeated times the kids seem to go on vacation! But the point is that this comic in particular was fun to do because it actually gave me a lot to work with. Unfortunately, the increased amount of effort on their part showed the seams in the whole thing, resulting in me... breaking for the first time in a while.

(A snippet of the video is shown, showing Linkara's meltdown: hugging a teddy bear and sobbing, and then dumping a plastic bag of colored balls out over his head and then putting the bag over his head)

Linkara: I've moved to an entirely new location, (holds up two colored balls) and I'm still finding balls.

Linkara (v/o): Take your pick on the stupidest part of this comic: the elementary school student hotline for drug abuse; the multiple spelling and grammar errors in an educational PSA comic; the lack of Tandy product placement in a promotional comic that a well-organized drug-dealing operation would feel threatened by the aforementioned hotline. They're all dumb! And because it's so brainless and yet required at least a little bit of thought to make it different from the others, I just love revisiting this one.

Linkara: (audio from video; holding a Weedle doll instead of the comic, sounding absolutely hysterical) WHY AM I SUDDENLY HOLDING A WEEDLE INSTEAD OF THE COMIC?!?!?!? (screams)

#8[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 8: "Marville #4".

Linkara: Ho! What would a favorite episode list be without something that caused me so much pain? (laughs, then becomes confused) Wait...

(Shots of "Marville #4" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): Erm, yeah, "Marville" was a treat to write reviews for. It's so rare for me to find this kind of surreal pretension being published by the Big Two, and all over a petty bet involving sales numbers that Bill Jemas, the writer, lost. Then again, it's hard not to lose when the product you put out suggests that duckbilled dinosaurs could talk... and were Jewish, or that your main character didn't know that the dinosaurs went extinct, but they totally could have survived if they only had different spines! "Marville #4" wins out as a review for me because it's the first one where the insanity reaches full bloom. The first two issues are still just a parody, the third issue is nearly incomprehensible because of the bizarre formatting choice with all the text, but the fourth one is clear-as-glass understandable. Well, understandable in the sense that these are words formed into sentences. It's just those sentences don't make any sense. And yet, with all the bizarre stupidity present in "Marville", there was only one thing that was really confusing me...

Snorts: (audio from video) Duckbills have the most elaborate voice boxes in the history of the planet, what did you think we do, quack?

Linkara: (in video; glowering at camera) I only have one question: how does it know it's called a duckbill, if ducks don't exist yet?!

#7[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 7: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster.

Linkara: So, here's another episode from a parallel universe.

(Footage of the review is shown, with Lewis acting as the Cinema Snob)

Linkara (v/o): Well, no, I actually got to be the Cinema Snob for a change. And what a change it was: riffing on an old bad movie, getting to be pretentious, hanging out with 80s Dan, and receiving phone calls from dubbed Godfrey Ho ninja movies, all the fun stuff. Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a goofy b-movie about Martians who come to Earth to kidnap women to try to get new breeding stock. But a robot astronaut named Frank, who is horribly mutilated, is the only one who can stop them and SHUT UP, IT'S TOTALLY FRANKENSTEIN! IT COMPLETELY JUSTIFIES THE TITLE! This was long before Patreon-sponsored reviews were a thing, so it was just something really fun and different to do that happened to fall on April Fools Day.

(Cut to alternate forms of Linkara, which Linkara explains...)

Linkara (v/o): Come to think of it, April seems to be the time I always pick to experiment with new formats for the show. Weird, innit?

(Cut back to Lewis as the Snob)

Linkara (v/o): But yeah, it's always fun to revisit this one and (as CS) get to have a smooth, sexy voice and a drawn-on beard while talking about Frankenstein-sploitation.

(Cut to a clip of the movie)

Dr. Steele: A telephone. Telephone! (pretends to hold up a phone and makes dialing motions) Hello? Hello? A telephone! Telephone! ¡El telefono!

CS: (audio from video) "El telefono" is Spanish for "telephone".

#6[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 6: "Spider-Man: One More Day".

Linkara: Yeah, I think you guys all saw this one coming.

(Shots of "One More Day" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): Is anything else I can say about this that hasn't already been said? My 200th episode covered "Spider-Man: One More Day", the continued bane of my existence where Spider-Man makes a deal with the devil that erases his marriage because some comic writers are garbage who either can't write a married couple or think that their escapist fantasy is more important than logical story progression. I love this episode because it was finally my chance to just air out everything, really get into the nitty-gritty of everything terrible about the book. I once thought it was just fine, aside from the Mephisto deal, but screw that! The comic is awful and every issue of it is awful, just in different ways. And no, this many years later, it still has not been reversed in the main continuity. They brought back Ben Reilly before they fixed the marriage. Oh, sure, there's an alternate universe book where they're still married and have a daughter. They even had Deadpool mention the deal with Mephisto. But I still see no signs of the deal being reversed. And as such, we're still no closer to my promise of reading every Spider-Man comic since it happened to today.

Linkara: But hey, maybe they'll do it. If the Clone Saga and all of its terrible ideas and executions could get a sequel this many years later, why not Spidey getting his marriage back and telling that demon and his dumbass deal to (gestures behind him with thumb) to take a hike?

Linkara (v/o): "One More Day": we're still counting the days when it will finally get fixed.

(A clip of the video is shown)

Linkara: So, Lupa, if you're the girl with red hair, does that mean you're my future daughter?

Obscurus Lupa: ...I'm not talking to you anymore.

#5[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 5: "The Avengers #200".

(Shots of "Avengers #200" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): Ah, yes, the worst comic I've ever reviewed, aside from "Holy Terror". "Avengers #200" is a crappy anniversary issue, the dialogue is terrible, and, oh, yes, a man tries to force Ms. Marvel to give birth to him so he can exist in our dimension, and somehow she's supposed to be his romantic partner, even though the story itself admits she was mind-controlled and therefore raped! Yeah, that's how you beat out stuff like "Marville" or "Bimbos in Time" for sheer wretchedness! Combine tedium, stupidity, and trying to make that story romantic! "Avengers #200" was one of my most highly requested reviews, and personally, I think I knocked it out of the park. I don't do enough reviews like this, covering just a terrible issue or a run of issues from a book. I tend to focus on first issues and miniseries, but man, oh, man, this makes me want to find other pieces of crap to highlight how, in any long-running series, there's gonna be something dreadful. Let's not dwell on this one, you've got the idea.

(A snippet of the review plays)

Marcus: (to Ms. Marvel) Hello... Mother.

Linkara: (as Marcus) How do I look, Mother? (as Ms. Marvel) Young man, you march upstairs and you put a shirt on! We're gonna go get that hair cut! You look like a dirty hippie! (as Marcus) But MOOOOOOM!!

#4[]

Linkara (v/o): "Marvel Super Special #7: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Linkara: I like singing. Yeah, I know, you would never pick that up from anything I've appeared in.

(A montage of shots of "Marvel Super Special #7" is shown)

Linkara (v/o): I also like the Bee Gees – may I someday be as popular as them – so the idea of a movie featuring the Bee Gees singing Beatles songs is pretty appealing. Add on to that an interesting bit of comics history where a rock opera featuring the Bee Gees singing Beatles songs is adapted into a comic book, one that never saw release in America, and you've got the stuff of a great review, especially one that I got to do for my 400th episode. Oh, and it's also the source of that clip from the theme song that people keep asking about. This episode was just so much to write, from the goofy '70s weirdness to the adaptation of song lyrics into dialogue in the comic. It was just a blast.

(The attack Whatley is shown)

Linkara (v/o): I even got to see Whatley get shot again! And seeing Whatley get shot is always a plus. Now, if only the Content ID on the songs would disappear, I could actually earn some money on those videos that were expensive to produce, and I'd be able to tell everyone, "Now! Watch it now!" But no worries, I still love this episode. And hopefully, future hundredth episodes will be just as fun as this one was.

(A snippet of the video is shown)

Linkara: (singing to "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds") What the hell did I just review? What the hell did I just review?

#3[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 3: "Star Trek: The Next Generation #2".

(Cut to shots of this comic)

Linkara (v/o): This one's a bit of a polarizing one, but damn if I don't still love it. Christmas on the Enterprise-D is a weird enough concept as it is, but add in an alien race of Grinches... literally meant to be a species of Grinches... chasing after a spectral Santa Claus, and the stilted artwork and dialogue of the original "Next Generation" comic, and that would make this a memorable enough outing, but I decided to try something different and, in keeping with the Seussian spirit, I did the review entirely in rhyme.

(Cut to Linkara in his Starfleet uniform while standing next to his Christmas tree as he does the review)

Linkara (v/o): A less wise decision was to wear the season 1 and 2 uniform TNG during it, and oh, me, oh, my, the horror stories the actors would tell about that outfit were right: highly uncomfortable and not helped by the fact that I think my version of it is using the wrong material, so it's not like it at least stretches properly spandex.

Linkara: And like I said at the start of this list, that was my best string of Christmas episodes, with this one being a personal highlight of mine. It's not every day you can rhyme (makes "finger quotes") "response" with "nonchalance".

Linkara (v/o): It's really sad that I don't think there are any more Star Trek Christmas comics. I get why not, but issues like this that are so goofy and bizarre deserved to be shared with the world. Just oddities from a time when nobody knew any better or realized what a terrible, terrible thing it was. Or maybe they did know and just didn't care. Either way, maybe someday, we'll see the spirit return to the crew of the Enterprise, and along with it, the massive continuity errors because the writers probably only had a vague idea of what was going on in the show.

(A snippet of the audio from the review is shown)

Linkara (v/o): These clothes are as colorful as the fish known as platies. Can you tell that this comic was made in the '80s?

#2[]

Linkara (v/o): Number 2: "Holy Terror".

(Shots of the comic "Holy Terror" are shown)

Linkara (v/o): "Holy Terror" was a big project for me, to date the longest single review I've ever done and one of the most heartfelt. Regardless of what you may feel about Frank Miller's output, either older or newer, "Holy Terror" is not a work made from a good place. It is a work that embodies bigotry, hatred, distrust and fear. It's not interested in facts or reality. At best, it's questionable wish fulfillment. At worst, it's a far too common creed of ignorance. Its ideals are the opposite of everything I believe in, its heroes are no better than villains, and its actual villains caricatures and... whatever the hell the leader of Al-Qaeda is supposed to be here; some kind of bead-wearing elf? But yeah, that's the only redeemable part of it, that its fearmongering is so goofily executed, with terrorists wielding missile-armed jets alongside suicide bombers, and yet they build a nerve gas bomb upside-down because I'm not reading the directions the right way.

Linkara: (his glasses taken off) It's a review where I opened myself up a bit outside of my more exaggerated personality I put on screen. It's always my own opinions being put forth; it's just I do a better job of conveying myself because I'm reading from a script. And I'm much more shouty.

Linkara (v/o): Even if its message wasn't disgusting, "Holy Terror" itself is just not a book well put together, from its moronic layout meant to make it either displayed outwards or left on a coffee table...

Linkara: So people can see right away that your taste is bad!

Linkara (v/o): ...to its crappy narration and its nonsensical plot points. It understands Islam and terrorism as well as it does romance. Let's end this more serious point in the list with a completely missed opportunity of that review: Al-Qaeda's secret base is an ornate underground structure with lots of pink fluid moving around it.

Linkara: No wonder everyone's being so hateful in it! It's the mood slime from Ghostbusters 2!

Linkara (v/o): "Holy Terror". More like, "holy crap!"

(A snippet of the video plays)

Linkara (v/o): Fortunately, as I have demonstrated in this very review, I am armed with my own MST3K clips.

(Cut to a clip of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 gang watching a movie)

Crow: Well, it's hardly worth it, but BOO!

#1[]

Linkara (v/o): And my number-one favorite episode of Atop the Fourth Wall is... "JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative".

Linkara: What? "The Technis Imperative" is my favorite comic of all time. Of course it's also my favorite episode.

(A montage of shots of "The Technis Imperative" is shown)

Linkara (v/o): A chance to talk about said favorite comic and snark on it and share my love of the Titans with everybody. You better damn well believe I had fun doing that episode, and I love revisiting it. "The Technis Imperative" united every remaining member of the Teen Titans in one book and has all the makings of an event comic, but none of the downsides. It's all in a convenient three-issue miniseries, the practical and emotional states are huge, and everybody is in character and ready to kick ass to defend the planet or defend their friend. It's the comic that made me want to be a comics fan, made me want to learn more about the DC Universe and all the characters that inhabited it. It made me want to read about this magical time in history, all these different superheroes and powers. It's a book starring everybody, and you look at a character for the first time and go "Wow, who's that? Where can I learn more about them? Man, this looks cool!"

Linkara: I'm just so happy that I got a chance to share the story with you all. And if you (makes a walking motion with his fingers) follow the dominoes, it's thanks to that book that this show exists at all. That's it for the list! Next time, it's a Patreon-sponsored review of "The Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga". (holds up index finger) However, don't click off the video just yet.

(The web URL, http://www.patreon.com/at4w, is shown)

Linkara (v/o): In two weeks, we'll be having another Patreon viewers' choice episode, so head on over to Patreon.com/at4w and become a patron if you want to vote.

(Shots of potential candidates are shown...)

Linkara (v/o): The tenth anniversary celebration properly will start out with the choice between three comics following up on some of the goofier stuff I've reviewed over the years: "NFL SuperPro #2", where we'll once again look at the adventures of a guy fighting crime with expensive football gear; "Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos #3", where we can once again meet the stereotypical, kind of moronic cast of a short-lived cartoon about a guy not nearly as cool as Mr. T; and finally, "James Bond, Jr. #1"*. Yeah, we haven't revisited that comic since 2009, aside from a live show I haven't posted up yet. What shenanigans did James Bond's nephew get up to in his first outing? Well, vote for that one if you want to see.

  • NOTE: Ultimately, the final winner was "James Bond, Jr. #1".

Linkara: Coming this year to Atop the Fourth Wall: the 500th Episode; Event Comics Month II; more Miller Time; Star Trek-tember; all the remaining text reviews that need to be made into videos; and most importantly, the tenth anniversary itself this October. Let's have some fun.

(End credits roll)

Feel free to talk about your favorite episodes!

Oh, and 2017 is when I also started having a lot more trouble getting videos out on time. You may have noticed this one's late, too.

(Stinger: Linkara's complaint about all the non-YouTube video hosting sites are disappearing is shown again)

Linkara: At this point, I should just do my show in the nude and upload everything to Pornhub! At least they're probably gonna stay up! (grins suggestively)

(end)

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