Monday, April 7, 2014

SCI-Spy #5

 photo SCI-Spy-5-Thumbnail_zpsdc335c52.jpg

Remember when SCI-Spy was about spy stuff? Yeah, I don't either.

Previous SCI-Spy Reviews:
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4



44 comments:

William Keating said...

So Sci-Spy is the name of the organization Starchild was a member of.

If they had called the series "An Agent of Sci-Spy" then it might have made a little more sense.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it sucks when a great idea gets wasted in a terrible story. Even worse is that this idea came five issues in, way too late to save this crap fest.

On the bright side, at least there's only one more issue to go before this stupid comic finally ends and we can start immediately forgetting about it.

LucasChad said...

Good episode though I wish some more James Bond references. Maybe for the final issue, you can mention that some of the worst Bond films like Moonraker and Die Another Day have much more entertainment value than the comic!

Ruesch said...

For some reason when I watched this morning, no ads played, or they would start but then stop immediately and continue with the show. Maybe it's just a glitch for now, but it might be something you'd want to look into.
Also, I love how "White-Black Grandma" made it onto the show, after only being introduced less then a week ago on the Nostalgia Critic's show.

Unknown said...

so you say that you show comics like Sci Spy to show us how not to right comics, but what about the comics that do get things right?
i really liked the Blue Beetle episode and your Titan's retrospective because it showed what you really liked and how to write good comics. Stuff like that was really cool to show us comics that we should be taking our time and money to.
i do like when you make fun of how stupid these people actually are for writing things like these. but i would think showing that are your favorite, New 52 comics and Marvel Now! things that you do like reading.

Felix Brunschede said...

It has benn a while since the last Patton cameo. :D

Unknown said...

Yea that was a clever thing to do with the current technology in that universe and give certain items and machines hammerspace abilities, but yes it shouldn't be wasted in a series like this one.

Yeah some of those sexual innuendos were either not clever, weren't needed it, and/or just creepy. Just no. I like to see a sexy woman who could whoop some ass in a story, but at least give her some sort of personality, purpose, or character arc & be consistent with it.

& yes I understand why you based your show around bad comics, because as someone who would like to create a good story I take notes from the good, the bad and observe the opinions of critics across the board.

Anonymous said...

Admittingly, The twist that Miles was just a Tardis Troop Transport was actually pretty good. Wonder if they used that during the Time War (and not just as a Prison for the Genesis Arc)?
Although, all those Agents that came out of her (Dang, that sounds wrong) all looked really Human to me. I thought Sci-Spy was suppose to be the only Human not to look like rejects from a 1930’s Cartoon?

Wait, that eye from the first issue is actually a Plot Point!?
Dang, it’s been so long, I forgot it even existed.

Although, who was that Old Man that you transformed into during the Ad Break?

Nice Review though, Linkara.
Looking forward to seeing more from you.

Andrew Bull said...

Sci-Spy's almost done, let's see if it goes off with a big bang!

Unknown said...

That was good and funny review. I do agree that S.C.I Spy is a huge mess of confusion, not knowing what you what kind of story that Doug Moench wanted to do, and just bad artwork. Doug Moench has had some good work such as his Master of Kung Fu series with Shang-Chi, Werewolf by Night, and creating Moon Knight and Deathlok. I am excited to see the craziness of how this series will end.

Diagoras87 said...

I have the video playing in a different web browser with no ad blocker installed, but for some reason the ads are not playing.

Unknown said...

Okay, Moench. I admit. The Trojan Nile thing WAS really, really clever. It's a shame we didn't see more interesting technology properly utilized in this comic series. Then it would have sucked a lot less. Such a waste of potential.

Allan Olley said...

Wow, how can this video be up on blip, and yet not appear on your channel (or series page or whatever the proper blip term is) yet (I usually look for new episodes directly on blip had to come to the blog to see the video). This is some strange voodoo.

Anyway, a fun review. I thought the army of one hiding in the tesseract was a bit of a pull directly from the hindquarters so an opening in Niles there would have been more appropriate (actually to make the idea serious Android Niles should probably have opened up in some way to transform into an appropriately sized portal rather than the slit in her chest), but I guess I can see what you mean about it being a cool idea.

I kind of miss your original James Bond parody opening (which I know you gave up after SCI spy 1 and even made fun of), I liked it.

Unknown said...

"If you're going to be a writer, don't be an idiot!"

I loved that line so much, that I had to say something. I would like to say that I am quite a fan of your show and your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future.

Anonymous said...

OK, so

1st only a true bad-ass can fight in high-heels

2nd YAY for Fat Grandma!

3rd Protective armor is for wusses! The only clothing a true warrior needs in pouches!
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140131021400/kill-la-kill/images/c/c7/Ep16-nudistuniform.jpg
http://randomc.net/image/Kill%20la%20Kill/Kill%20la%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
http://benigmatica.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/kill-la-kill-19-02.jpg?w=512&h=288
http://37.media.tumblr.com/53ed9ec88733e4ff2b31f0df79750dfc/tumblr_n1v1xotreb1shlg3vo1_r1_500.gif

DianaGohan said...

Okay I have to ask why is this episode not up on TGWTG or even your regular blip account? It just seems so weird since it's not like you had to delay it or anything because it's here but it wasn't annouced or anything even on your twitter like you usually do. Is there a reason for that?

Otherwise usual good Sci-Spy mocking. Fortunately there's only one more comic to go of this and hope it does actually at least have an ending... or at least the mocking of the ending is as fun as Marville's was.

Unknown said...

Well, that was a cleaver surprise. However, If I had it my way than: Sci-Spy would be about Spy Missions in space with a plot line elements happening in the missions and post missions, but the missions itself would be more covert, undercover or killing other spies and I would have Sci-Spy either being a decoy protagonist or a more interesting James Bond ripoff and I'll have actual aliens. I also liked the commercial break gag used. Overall, this comic book series is rather meh imho

DMaster said...

It's not that I want more reviews of good stuff (though if there's something funny to be said in them, by all means), I just want more good things to be mentioned, especially when a good premise is presented in the material, but wasted.

Gabriel Godinho said...

Great review as always, but I've been missing your MST3K jokes, you could've made a reference to Danger Death Ray.

Scream of the Skull said...

Considering we already have Last Angry Geek making reviews of good comics, why does Linkara need to go out of his way to review stuff that is someone else's specialty?

It's the exact same point Blockbuster Buster made when he explained that he has no need to review video games when Angry video Game Nerd, Angry Joe and Spoony already do it much better than him.

Zombie-Man said...

I enjoy your videos and I try to not comment on them too often as to not start flame wars... But I really need to talk about your opinions about the artist.

Not gonna say much about the quality of the guys art, but it comes off as really ''trollish'' to dismiss his work as just ''awful'' and move on.

There is a lot to be said about comic book artists, some people are better at drawing more graunded stuff, others excell at horror comics, drawing human characters, drawing alien and monsters...

Basically is kind of shitty to sum up the work of a person with one negative word.

Maybe next time take a little longer to talk about the artwork and the artist, talk about their projects, for what they are known for, etc.


ShatteredSanity said...

Hey, Linkara? For some reason ads don't seem to be working in Chrome on your blog. If you have a chance, can you look into that? I'm going to watch these on TGWTG.com so you get the revenue!

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"There is a lot to be said about comic book artists, some people are better at drawing more graunded stuff, others excell at horror comics, drawing human characters, drawing alien and monsters...

Basically is kind of shitty to sum up the work of a person with one negative word.

Maybe next time take a little longer to talk about the artwork and the artist, talk about their projects, for what they are known for, etc."

I've talked about the artwork of SCI-Spy in previous reviews in detail. Human features are exaggerated for no good reason, facial expressions are rarely used beyond a blank stare, and proportions are often wrong in places or at least inconsistent.

FugueforFrog said...

Oh boy, more Sci-Spy. Lets hope the next time really is the last time.

The twist was weird but not sure I liked it or not. It is a neat concept but it just felt weird considering that it felt almost like a huge vulva was opening in the middle of her body or something. And somehow the funniest bit was knowing you were going to use the Patton clip.

Oh and fix your communicator considering what happened.

shikome kido mi said...

For some reason the ads didn't play in the middle of the episode. Just thought you might want to know. I'm not complaining but you probably want those for revenue.

Doresh said...

These "Subway Sandwich Thighs" confirm my theory that some artists focus so much on sex appeal (though I fail to see how freakish spines and legs that can collapse into a single, oval lump are considered "sexy") that they forget how anatomy works. Well, at least it gives a bloody amateur like me something to giggle about.

"We wait for cover of dark"? Dude, it's a spaceship. I think it's safe to assume it has infrared sensors, or at least tons of searchlights.
Heck, the aliens themselves might have infrared vision or perfect night vision for all we know.

The Trojan android is kinda awesome. One might question why they didn't use it earlier when they were under attack by an unknown number of aliens, but oh well, I'm not complaining :D

Anonymous said...

"Maybe for the final issue, you can mention that some of the worst Bond films like Moonraker and Die Another Day have much more entertainment value than the comic!"

HERESY!

Moonraker was awesome!

Anonymous said...

"Also, I love how 'White-Black Grandma' made it onto the show, after only being introduced less then a week ago on the Nostalgia Critic's show."

Actually, she made her debut a few months ago on the Cinema Snob (or was it Phaelous?)

Anonymous said...

@Rue Ryuzaki

"I like to see a sexy woman who could whoop some ass in a story, but at least give her some sort of personality, purpose, or character arc & be consistent with it."

Go watch Kill la Kill right now!

Or wait till the anime gets an English dub.

Anonymous said...

"Protective armor is for wusses! The only clothing a true warrior needs in pouches!"

Actually, the shoulder-pads is where it's truly at! XD

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131221200726/kill-la-kill/images/1/15/Body4.png
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140305032955/kill-la-kill/images/d/d2/Satsuki_Kiry%C5%ABin_body_%28Junketsu_active%29.png
http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140216040514/kill-la-kill/images/5/53/Junk.PNG

Anonymous said...

@Lewis Lovhaug

"Human features are exaggerated for no good reason, "

Why would you need a reason to exaggerate human features?

Not everyone has to draw photo-realistically like Alex Ross

Anonymous said...

Two things. One, unless I'm wrong (and I admit up front that's entirely possible.), a Tesseract isn't a pocket dimension, it's more, opens wormholes/teleporation. That said, your other issues with it, the whole not being big enough and the like, still stick.


Two: I don't have an add blocker on my computer, but I noticed when I watched the video it skipped the adds. I say this cause I want to make sure your aware of that, cause I'm weird and want you to be able to earn your money for things like rent and food and production of your assorted projects, and thus if there's an issue I want you to aware of it so you can start correcting it.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Actually, she made her debut a few months ago on the Cinema Snob (or was it Phaelous?)"

Phelous, then Cinema Snob, then Nostalgia Critic.

Brendan G said...

You wanted a sub at subway? I work at subway! I'm gonna consider that a shout out!

Rob S said...

Been busy with the cameos, eh?

Oddly enough, I didn't get an ad when I ran the episode last night, but it seems to be working normally for me now.

On a side note... it might be time to update the upcoming episodes list.

Elliott said...

Doug Moench's (pronounced "MONCH" btw)(in-continuity) Batman stories are excellent. The guy created Black Mask and wrote half of Knightfall.

On another topic, you're probably pretty pleased that Lobdell is off Teen Titans and the new book seems like it'll be... well, at least it's better than Lobdell, and BB is green again.

Arion said...

For some reason I never got to read this when it was originally released. Those covers look nice, though.

Anonymous said...

1st ALL HAIL FAT GRANDMA!

2nd
@Elliott
Actually, the Teen Titans title is getting cancelled
The other TT they announced by Animal Man's Lemire is an out-of-continuity graphic novel, rather than an ongoing

Rowan Lefey said...

@ 06:52 – maybe not buildings where you are, Linkara, but skyscrapers are typically built from titanium, steel, and glass.

@ 07:44 – Or like how superman cares about how Krypton was destroyed?

@ 13:29 – Ha!

@ 15:06 – Bwahahahahahahahaha! That was well timed, Linkara. Well timed.

@ 18:56 – That was a pretty cool twist.

Anonymous said...

Can you please do a review of one of the Animaniacs comics? And maybe do it as a crossover with Nostalgia Critic since he's a huge fan of Animaniacs, if you can or want to.

Unknown said...

@ Anonymous(whicheverone) said...
@Rue Ryuzaki

"I like to see a sexy woman who could whoop some ass in a story, but at least give her some sort of personality, purpose, or character arc & be consistent with it."

Go watch Kill la Kill right now!

Or wait till the anime gets an English dub."

Well its on the list with a bunch of others. So it shall be watched and my reaction will be known.

Felix Brunschede said...

@Anonymous
"Not everyone has to draw photo-realistically like Alex Ross",
however, in order to be able to stylize, an artist HAS TO study anatomy and realistic drawing via construction FIRST. It's a common tendency among beginning critics and artists to mistake misshaped bodies for stylization. This comic's artwork is horrendous. If it was a style thing we would have consistency.

For example, compare this to Batman TAS(last season), Superman TAS, One Piece or even the Power Puff Girls: The artists there clearly have a conception of consistent anatomy, if highly stylized.

Here it never really fits: legs, torsos, hands, heads and faces all change their shape from issue to issue, sometimes from page to page, even from panel to panel. On one cover "Shtarchild" clearly seems lean and athletic, but in a following issue he is jacked up like Hulk Hogan in his prime, without any passage of time given that would allow for such a change. And then he changes right back in this issue.

Yes, not everyone has to draw like Alex Ross(Most can't, frankly) however it is NEVER too much to ask for consistency, or at least for improvement with each passing issue, when talking about an amateur.

Ming said...

One more issue of this stupid comic.

Not even the suprisingly awesome idea of an entire army stashed inside a pocket dimension within a fembot can possibly hope to salvage this comic.

Good episode.

Unknown said...

A self destructive sense of nostalgia that fuels an illogical desire to return to a home planet that is now dangerous and unfit to support human life?

Did Starchild come from Tezuka's Phoenix?