Atop the Fourth Wall

As an avid fan of comic books and superheroes; any show that reviews them is an instant favorite of mine. atop the fourth wall is easily my favorite comic book reviewing show. it is funny, insightful, and action packed. lewis lovhaug is a true genius and I hope he continues into the future. if you read this review lewis; good job dude.

Atop the Fourth Wall is a comic book review/comedy series and despite some enjoyable episodes, it's quite a flawed one. The main problem lies in the fact that, although the show is essentially a Rifftrax of a comic book, Mr. Lovhaug himself isn't a comedian, or particularly skilled at writing jokes. He is a comic book fan, and if the show were in a more straight forward reviewing style (as opposed to the MST3K/Nostalgia Critic format) it would work really well. When Linkara (the character portrayed by Lewis Lovhaug in the series) gives insight into the comic book of the week and its themes, flaws, artwork, and other aspects, it's quite interesting. However, mostly we're stuck with a very hit or miss sarcastic commentary which rips apart the comic book on a shallow, unfair level, with embarrassingly easy-to-make and unfunny jokes. Also there are his abysmal "story-lines", which are very stupid and pointless (not to mention taken far too seriously by Mr. Lovhaug and some of his viewers), and sometimes will overshadow videos for weeks on end. That said, there are quite a few entertaining episodes. For instance, certain comic books that feature on the show are so bad (entertainingly so) that the review practically writes itself and the end result is quite funny (example: Brain Drain; I don't want to spoil it; just watch for yourself). Other fun episodes include his crossovers with Spoony (The Ultimate Warrior reviews) and The Cinema Snob (Bimbos BC and Manimal), the episodes featuring Harvey Finevoice, and some interesting top 10s. Overall, I'd say check out the series for its better episodes, but be wary of the terrible jokes and inane plots that are worked into it at times.

I remember when Lewis had started doing his comic book reviews. There was actual care put into the reviews because there were actual reviews. he would talk about the comic book. He'd talk about the artist or the panels. He'd actually comment on what was going on and give a genuine review. But as time went on, and his fan base started growing the reviews started getting less insightful and more insufferable. Instead of talking about the comments he'd just make a snide comment about a panel or do a bit of a riff on it.

And then came the skits. They started small but eventually grew into arcs that lasted an entire season. It started be less about the comic books and more about Lewis' Mary Sue insert called Linkara. Such a cool guy. He's not only got a magic gun, morpher, Star Trek weapons but robots and a bloody spaceship. Yes you heard me right, he's got a spaceship. This is because he's supposed to be the hero of this reality. He's fought evil space warlords, missing numbers, pyramid head and other nonsensical beings.

I honestly gave up on this show a long time ago.

I find the character Linkara to me extremely entertaining, and very funny. He is one of the most talented reviewers I've seen. He hooked me, someone who reads one or two comics per year, into a show all about comics that suck. His reviews tend to be more analytic than comedy. The show laughs at the bad qualities of the comics, while Linkara also talks about why this comic doesn't work for him. He gets worked up about the particularly bad ones, but to me that's part of the comedy, seeing a guy get angry over a stupid comic. But, part of the anger is real. He really enjoys comics, so, understandably, it annoys him when bad comics are made.

The story lines of the show itself are rather awesome. Lewis has to spend a lot of time thinking thinking them up. They always are a nice addition to a review, such as my favorite storyline (which extended from "Kamandi At Earth" to "Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu"). The story had a Halloween-mystery theme to it that I enjoyed. The AT4W plots are not necessary to enjoy the individual reviews, but they are an interesting and fun extra.

All in all, it's a great show. Of course there's a few episodes that I don't like, but I enjoy an overwhelming majority of the episodes. Personally, I find the episodes reviewing PSA comics the best. If you're interested, I recommend the month of May 2012 reviews, since he devoted it completely to PSA comics.

I have never heard of a critic who reviewed comic books before. I am so glad this guy was out here to prove me wrong. The thing is, Linkara is a lot more of a people pleaser than the Nostalgia Critic. There's tons of stuff he won't review, but with Linkara, just give him money on Patreon and he'll review it! Now, he isn't as funny as the Nostalgia Critic, but is still tons of fun. I guess it's because I just personally associate with him more. He's into stuff like anime and "Pokémon" while the Critic isn't. Come to think of it, I don't think there's a single franchise that Lewis Lovhaug is a part of, Doug Walker is a part of. Dang, these guys complete each other.

He's my second favorite person on the site. I would be lying if I didn't say that his nicer attitude didn't remind me more of myself. The Critic uses R-rated language a lot and he doesn't. What's also great is that Linkara videos have continuity, which is what was even pointed out in the Critic's review of "After Earth". I'm not going to mention the Critic anymore. My favorite review of his is and always will be his review of "One More Day". I think the Critic made more jokes about "The Phantom Menace" and "My Little Pony" then he did of this comic. Thank you so much for giving us this wonderfully pleasing episode. I would even go so far as to say that was the best episode of anything I saw in my life. His complaints are quite realistic.

There's also a lot of other characters that Lewis plays. These are really all distinct characters that contribute to the story in their own ways. It's great to see who the next arc villain will be. I have never seen any review show that had as much of an ongoing story as this. It's just great to have all these colorful characters appear. He points stuff out, as most people would. I became a fan of comic books before watching him.

I mean, it's a form of media that you don't have to pay for! Just go to a bookstore and read them! For all the strange opinions he may have on his favorite stuff, he's definitely worth looking into, if only because comic book reviews are pretty rare on the Internet. Perfect ****.