Review of Revolution of the Mask
Okay, this requires a little bit of a setup. I’ve also never “reviewed” a comic book before, mostly because it seems silly to “review” a comic book. Now there are some comics which are definitely meant more for adults then kids, but considering how long most major series has been going on, you’d have to be a pretty big prick to nitpick comics. I was a fan for a bit as a kid, and as an adult I’ve enjoyed Evil Ernie, Chaos Comics and most stuff I’ve read by Frank Miller and Alan Moore.
Now on one of my “favorite” sites there’s a comic book reviewer by the name of Linkara with a show called Atop The Fourth Wall. His shtick gets tiring real fast, not just because he shoehorns a storyline and story-arcs into his reviews, but because he basically nitpicks the hell out of comics. He screams and yells and fakes anger about the stupidest shit possible. The comics he chooses are akin to getting angry about the DVD you bought from the dollar bin at Wal-Mart.
Thankfully though, Linkara released his own self published webcomic before he became internet famous. The comic was so ridiculously awful that there are no words for it. That’s if you ignore how bad the artwork is and just concentrate on the storyline. What comes across as a 15 year olds Mary Sue comic was actually written and put online while he was 18/19 and in college.
But now with his new-found internet fame, Linkara hired a real artist who proceeded to produce with him 2 issues of a 12 issue comic called the Revolution of the Mask. And that is what we are going to look into today. Unfortunately since I don’t feel like being sued, I can’t post the pages and then talk about them, but I wish I could. While it’s not as bad as Lightbringer (mostly because it appears someone edited down his long winded bs) it’s still pretty awful in its own right.
I’ve already mentioned that Linkara went to college. Well it’s pretty obvious he grew up with Minnesota Midwestern conservative values. But these were challenged in college, so his ideals now seem to be some weird mashup of conservatism and misunderstood lessons from college professors. To make things worse, Linkara became internet famous while in College being supported by his parents. Thus he has apparently never had to work a real job in the big bad world, a point that will become important later. Enough about him, on with the show!
Page 1
I should mention real quick that there is a pdf of the first 6 pages for free here. A point that will quickly jump out at you here is that Linkara appears to have little to no original thoughts. If I showed someone this first page they would probably mistake it for a comic adaptation of either “A Brave New World” or “1984″. Interestingly Orwell’s vision of 1984 was partly due to his time spent in Spain and being decried by the communists as a facist. Huxley’s Brave New World was a combination of a parody of the Utopian dreamers of the 19th century and living through the industrial revolution.
Here the protagonist, who is given a designation instead of a name, has to get up at 8 am, has 5 minutes of exercise, 10 minutes to bath and 5 minutes to shave. All of this appears to be mandated by the state from a megaphone in his apartment. During this time the megaphone also spouts out the following lines:
Deviation from routine will not be tolerated
Deviation breeds uniqueness
Uniqueness breeds hatred and jealousy
The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few
So remember- give yourself to the many in any way they need
It’s for the good of yourself, the good of your company and for the Good of the all
This is of course the conservative idea of what a Communist Regime taken to it’s extreme would look like. The idea of course is that people will have enough to be happy, and be able to give their extra into the collective. Giving into the collective helps rise everyone’s ship, and maybe one day when you need help they would be able to help you. In the end you can’t take your stuff with you anyway, and that’s all it is.
Page 2
This is just three frames of people going to work. Now the idea is to give you the feeling that all these people are forced to dress the same. The problem is that the comic is in black and white, so while everyone is wearing what might be the same outfit, maybe that guy over there has a neon green tie. It’s why I mentioned the fact that Linkara has never had a real job. He wouldn’t understand working somewhere that had a Dress Code isn’t limiting your freedoms.
We also learn that the protagonists name is Gamma-117. He also informs us that “This is the world” which is rather ironic, given that the panel is just Gamma’s head and shoulders with no background. That’s another thing I should mention, so far there has been very little of the world that wasn’t a prop. You would think saying “This is the world” would also involve drawing a little more in the background to show how repressive the regime is. Even a surveillance camera would be a nice touch. But since the protagonist isn’t interacting with it, no need for a background I guess.
Page 3
The People are Grown, Learn what they need to know and assigned their position
Another great quote atop this page. Here you could easily interchange our world with Revolution of the Mask’s “Evil World”. Also I should mention that while there are a few buildings in the first panel, they are once again only useful because they are props. There’s nothing about them that stands out or is stylized, and they are simply there to be billboards for more of the quasi “Big Brother is watching you” style quotes. Earlier I mentioned Linkara’s mishmash of values and you see it again here, as some of the big brother phrases include God, such as “God is the people, The People are God”. I’m not even a 100% sure what that could mean, or who is actually posting these messages everywhere.
In the 2nd frame Gamma is still on his way to work, which apparently takes him through a park. Now I wonder how repressive this regime is, as people appear to be having sex on a park bench, a gay couple appears to be rolling around in the grass. Now you might think that maybe this is the one free place in the area, much like a park in China which is infamous for it’s WiFi not having the Chinese block on it. But not here, because not only are there placards with the Big Brother quotes, but two different surveillance cameras!
Gamma then passes by a shady alley, where these two lines imply that a woman is going to be raped (I should mention implied rape is one of Linkara’s favorite plot elements) in said alley:
We All Belong To Everyone Else
There’s No I In Team, After All.
We All Belong To Everyone Else
We Do Not Say No To A Request
Let that sink in for a bit. It’s going to be a recurring theme, that they can not say no to a request. Here it is supposed to imply that the woman in the alley is about to be raped because she can not say no. I guess it’s supposed to also imply that the previous people having sex weren’t having it consensually. But why would the repressive regime allow people to just have sex whenever they want? And remember earlier it also said people were grown?
Page 4
Just in case you didn’t get the point, he knocks it home again here repeating that they don’t say No while the girl is taking off her shirt. But this following quote from Gamma makes me wonder though, he says
The all runs more efficiently because of it (never saying no). The needs of others are satisfied before our own.
But once again, why is this guy allowed to rape someone to satisfy his needs? If the needs of others are satisfied before their own, why does this guy get to satisfy his? He also mentions before “The All” things were terrible, that people were unique and they clashed because of it – over races and religions and other stupid, worthless trivialities. But if religion was a stupid worthless triviality, why does the regime remind people about God by using him in their messages? Wouldn’t it be better to just never mention God at all?
But suddenly the would be rapist gets knocked out by an 8 Ball, foreshadowing one of the heroes to appear later. But what really sticks out to me is that in the previous frames it was apparent that the rapist and woman were both close to a fence at what would be the end of the alley. But after the rapist gets knocked out he falls backwards into a large opening with no sign that the fence had even been there.
Page 5
Here Gamma finally gets to his job, and he works as a censor for the network information facility center. I’m surprised Linkara didn’t just name him Winston Smith. I should also mention this is the 2nd time in the comic we see someone with a tube hooked up to the back of their neck ala The Matrix. But there is no mention yet what this means or what this actually does.
It’s also apparent that Linkara has never watched a 6 o’clock news broadcast in his life. Winston, sorry I mean Gamma, proceeds to complain that news reporters upstairs have trouble stretching out what information the censors do let through into half hour segments without instilling panic into the people. Anyone that watches the news today knows that 90% of it is nothing but BS padding. At least in America. If you ever watched a network news broadcast for a half hour and compared it to a half hour of BBC News. News here is the biggest fluff, and if this is a future based on our earth, then it’s hard to imagine why it would be tough to fluff the news.
To be continued!
Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!
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AT4W, Atop the 4th wall, bad comic, Comic, Linkara, Louis Louvhag, Revolution of the Mask, spoony, TGWTG, That guy with the glasses
Okay, you have every right to dislike Linkara or Revolution of the Mask. You have every right to share your opinion. However, it seems to me as though you really don’t understand the medium. It seems SILLY to ‘review’ a comic book? There are SOME comics that are definitely meant more for adults than kids? You’d have to be a pretty big prick to NITPICK comics? Firstly, comics are an art form! Just like any other art form, they will be criticized, thoroughly examined, and “nitpicked.” Secondly, comics have been very dark and very grim for many years. Comic books meant for adults have become more the rule than the exception. Did you not know that they depict people being savagely beaten, or mangle corpses, or handle mature issues like rape, violence, etc.? Comic books can be just as philosophical, intelligent, and mature as any novel or film. Lastly, since you seem so ignorant about the subject you are speaking of, I would humbly recommend as a comic book reader, that you do some research, pay attention to the state of comic books today if you’re going to attempt to review them, and get your head out of your ass! Good day.