Atop the Fourth Wall

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 ****.

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.

"Atop the Fourth Wall" was always a fairly gimmicky, but still unique, concept: the Nostalgia Critic, but with comic books. And like the Nostalgia Critic, AT4W experienced a slow, withering decline over the years as it's haphazardly tried and failed to keep up with the times.

Akin to most of the Channel Awesome Criticsphere shows, you can look back on an early AT4W video then look at a more recent one and not discern much meaningful change in the way the main content is presented. Lewis Lovhaug, in his fictitious persona Linkara, basically sits in his basement and commentates over scans of bad comic books, makes jokes and one-liners here and there in a gratingly nasal voice, before declaring his final opinion. Although, there is one thing you will definitely notice has changed for the worse...

Those obnoxious storylines! In another uncanny reflection of the Nostalgia Critic's fall from grace due to an overreliance on cutaway gags, AT4W has basically been ruined by Lovhaug's insistence that each video has to tie in to some ridiculous, nonsensical sci-fi storyline that usually has absolutely nothing to do with the comic review at hand. I find it funny how Linkara can have the gall to mock bad writing in his comic books, but is completely un-self-aware to the atrocious quality of his own little storylines.

Worse, Lewis always portrays the Linkara character as an awesome gun-toting Marty Stu who goes around defeating supervillains in a spaceship with a quirky cast of robot sidekicks and whatnot. You can really tell that Lewis regards these narrative segments as a big draw to his videos, but they're really not -- most people just skip to the actual review, because that's understandably what they'd rather be watching. They're just too embarrassing to sit through, and I'm sure Lewis will feel the same way in many years time (not that he learned from his attempts to write a superhero webcomic and Pokemon fanfiction). While I applaud his efforts to experiment, I think he should either try something else or just stick to the original thing.

What I will say in the show's favour is that there's at least a great variety of comics reviewed -- it's not just the standard Marvel/DC fare, and Lewis manages to get hold of some really obscure and interesting titles. Not only that, but AT4W is one of the only notable Criticsphere review (they're more like overviews, really) shows that showcases both good and bad media. A break from the whinging and nitpicking is refreshing. Some of Lewis's diary insights that accompany his videos in the descriptions are also quite fun to read through. So overall, AT4W isn't bad, as I'll still stick on a video when I feel in the mood, but the flaws are increasingly hard to ignore.

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.

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.