Monday, March 17, 2014

Kamandi at Earth's End #5

 photo KAEE-5-Thumbnail_zpsda65b78a.jpg

Random Geometry and Physiology at Earth's End.

Previous Reviews:
Superman at Earth's End
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4





50 comments:

LucasChad said...

Don't worry Linkara, there's only one issue left of this mess. At least we'll finally get the connection between this and Superman At Earth's End that's crystal clear!

I'm once again distracted by the back cover showing the poster for Demolition Man. Its sci-fi story is infinitely better-written than this comic. Plus, Stallone and Snipes has every reason to carry guns besides being badasses!

Also enjoyed the fun adventures of Lewis the Pokemon trainer during the ad breaks!

Lizard-man said...

So your Pikachu is a Bulbasaur then? That's cool, I wouldn't mind having that cute little guy following me around.

Also you may be thinking of Frankenberry, just a guess.

I imagine adding the extra stuff to the costume was their own failed attempt at being creative. They're already bankrupt on that front so they did what Homer Simpson did when he redesigned the power plant for that contest. They put racing stripes on him to make him go faster.

Anonymous said...

Normally, I'd want to punch Kamandi, but I get the feeling I'd just break my hand on that steroid-pumped block of meat he calls a face.

Torbjörn Andersson said...

Legs on the cover? They look more like some kind of tank treads to me!

M. L. Martin said...

The review was good, and while Superman looked horrid, he at least felt a little like Superman.

But the ad breaks were GLORIOUS.

Anonymous said...

I'll give them one thing - it makes sense for them to have given Bearded Idiot the main character slot for the sequel.

If nothing else, he's less of an idiot than Kamandi.

Although Kamandi has changed. At the start, he was so obsessed with Carol that he didn't even pay attention when MM used her to explain his mission. Now he's gotten over his fantasy girl.

Anonymous said...

Nice Review. Been waiting for this!

To be quite fair, Sleeper Zahm WAS the best of the three characters. True, he had that ridiculous hoop earring and very little character, but it was at least amusing to see how over-the-top he could be:
-A bike with twenty headlights -Randomly-shaped guns that he pulls from nowhere
-An "As long as we've got guns, we're ok!" attitude
-His apartment complete with turrets, a "Stay Out!" sign, and Champagne and Caviar. (Looks more like a children's playset than an actual home)
-His poor knowledge of dinosaurs (On par with Bearded Idiot's knowledge of Hitler)

Farewell, Sleeper Zahm. May you sleep in peace as the only amusing thing about this series

Daemian Lucifer said...

So,bearded idiot,or man of steel?Which one is a worse superman?

On the one hand,man of still isnt a gun crazy maniac,but on the other hand,bearded idiot didnt slaughter a bunch of civilians without batting an eyelash.

rick007 said...

A city in the sky? I don't know whether anyone else has mentioned it but that sounds like Columbia from Bioshock Infinite.

Anonymous said...

The Long Awaited Return of Bearded Idiot in all his glory!
JEBUS! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS LEG!? Artists do realise what a Body is actually capable of, right? They did a mirror, didn’t they!?

The way people add pointless altering on the costume reminds me of when you’re young and you draw something and then thinks it can look better and you draw more on top of it, then you realise that the addition ruined what was a perfectly good picture.
There’s a difference from Looking Good and Overly Complicated or Messy, isn’t there?

Aw, Should have been like; “Stronger than you, Boy! BECAUSE I AM A MAN!”

Outside of ‘Everyone Else Was Doing It’, how else does Pouches on Superman’s Belt make no sense?

If that thing watching them is suppose to be a robot, who decided; “Let’s make it look like our robots have muscles!”?

Sleeper doesn’t really seem bothered that his legs just got blown from him. I expect a type of; “OH MOSES! MY LEGS! THE PAIN! AH, CRUD!”
Although, for all we know, his legs just imploded considering the unhealthy sized muscles in them.

The Sky Deck? LOOK OVER THERE! Sonic & Tails are trying to reach Robotnik!

Will you burn Kamandi like you did the Beard Idiot Story?

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

J said...

A Machine Mother with a perchant for mutagens and devastating the earth, who appears as a face on a screen and is in complete control of a facility?

Are you afraid? What is it you fear? The end of your trivial existence? When the history of my glory is written, you will only be a footnote to my magnificence.

Anonymous said...

he looks like Robotman from Doom Patrol to me.

Anonymous said...

The mouth thing looks live a Zom monster that serve the alien Badoon in the Marvel Universe. However, given your lack of knowledge of Marvel comics, I doubt you ever heard of such an obscure thing, so its probably not it.

Lizard-Man said...

Only because he has real boobs now

Fluid Man said...

It just hit me:

"Kamandi at Earth's End" is what "Tank Girl" would be if the writersof "Tank Girl" made the mistake of taking it seriously.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque said...

Oh dear lord, there are SIX issues of this? There's ANOTHER issue of this????

AmuroNT1 said...

All I know about Superman and pouches is, apparently there's a pocket inside his cape where he keeps his Clark Kent clothes. I thought that sounded silly, but then I'm not a comic writer.

Regarding Dan-T, to me he kind of looks like the original Iron Man suit but with the proportions of Ben Grimm.

Also, a power computer that gained sentience, immediately turned evil and killed everyone off? Holy crap, Machine Mother Machine is GLaDOS.

Honestly, the way Kamandi started going on, I'm a little surprised you didn't break out the Superboy-Prime voice for him.

Unknown said...

If this comic didn't take it seriously, I would probable enjoy it better. Maybe a bit like tank girl. That and maybe if Kamandi wasn't so damn dumb. I also enjoyed the commercial break segment.
AM from I have no mouth and I must scream makes a better evil computer than Mother. Couldn't they redesign Superman to fit better with the information given about him. Also, when they mentioned a City in the sky. I imagined something like the anime movie Castle in the sky except all batman beyond

Anonymous said...

Funnily enough, nukes DO come in a beam form, theoretically.

There are ways to directionalize a nuclear blast into a directed energy weapon of a sort, and there are also ways to pump that energy into a short-lived laser blast with all the strength of all that nuclear energy behind it.

Thing is, those two kinds of weapons only work in space, so...

N. said...

Trigger warning: ablism

This book strikes me as being deeply problematic. Sleeper's loss of legs representing the end of the character is hurtful and ignorant and props up the ablest hegemony. On top of this, the book is clearly in favor of the destruction of other ways of life, with its focus on cybernetics and physical enhancement. Sleeper should be proud to be a person-without-legs and the other characters should respect this decision.

Additionally, thank you, Lewis, for your biting comments made at the criminal Obama administration. While I am pleased by its decision to relinquish the internet, it is not turning this over wholly to private enterprise, which will no doubt lead to strife for years as illicit government tries to desperately parasite off healthy commerce.

shikome kido mi said...

I actually like the weird purple shrimp-robot headed things. They're about the only interesting original design I've seen in the entire series. They look almost like they'd fit right in an old Kirby comic alongside someone like Arnim Zola. It is too bad they didn't get explained, though.

"If she was peaceful it would be perfectly alright to call a computer your mother" Well, yes. As long as it's sentient and raised you, that makes it your adopted mother. It's the evil manipulative bit rather than the computer bit that's the problem.

Michael Brian Cohen said...

So there's a SECOND Apocalypse. So glad we bounced back after the end of the world.

FugueforFrog said...

I never thought I'd see the day....Superman in a random Liefeldian belt. That alone made the review. Now all he needs is a completely ludicrously sized gun and...never mind.

yeah, more Kamandi at Earth's End and it just gets more ridiculous. They finally explain stuff but it doesn't matter anymore, while Mother Machine is evil...what else is new there. Sleeper's dead but not going to miss him.

Oh and another Pokemon eyecatch; cool.

Scott Tibbs said...

The "Thanks Obama" line was awesome.

I found a bigger scan of the cover and sent it so some friends who also read comics with the line "And this is a perfect example of the mess that was the 1990's..."

You're also right about the pouches. One of my favorite moments in the first trade paperback of the Astonishing X-Men series was a panel mocking the 90's costumes, with a hallucinating Cyclops imagining he was wearing a crop-top with 1000 pouches and a tutu.

Anonymous said...

Oh, so the sentient computer was evil the entire time and Superman actually wasn't the one who doomed the world? What a twist!Seriously, was that even supposed to be a plot twist? Because I don't see where any writer could have thought that no one would have seen that coming.

And really, Kamandi's rationale for bringing Saphira into his home is that he can't have kids with the simulated girlfriend? Really? Shouldn't that be a secondary concern for giving someone shelter in a post-apocalyptic world? Would he have let Sleeper sit out there and rot, since he couldn't have kids with him either? Plus, what if Saphira isn't interested in having kids, or if she doesn't even want to sleep with him? (Did they even make romantic advances on each other before this? I honestly forget.) And why does he even care about having kids all of a sudden?

Khaaaaan said...

Hey linkara,I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your review, and am curious as to how you feel about the whole new 52 superman and wonder woman romance, which has seemed to become a point of contention amongst the fandom.

Also, thanks for sticking up for the man of steel movie, I acknowledge that it isn't perfect, but I really loved watching it in theaters.

Peace, :)

Unknown said...

I know this whole thing is really stupid but you do get he is wearing Bruce's belt right?

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Also, thanks for sticking up for the man of steel movie, I acknowledge that it isn't perfect, but I really loved watching it in theaters."

Ehhh, don't get too complimentary. I absolutely hated the movie. XD I put the joke in to show there ARE two sides to it and I do understand the other side.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"I know this whole thing is really stupid but you do get he is wearing Bruce's belt right?"

I must have missed that, since I don't see that said anywhere in the book. Also: still doesn't help that he wasn't wearing it in the previous issue.

Unknown said...

Well it is very obviously batman's utility belt, also sorry the protection on your page made it make me think I handn't posted when in fact I had

Lewis Lovhaug said...

"Well it is very obviously batman's utility belt, also sorry the protection on your page made it make me think I handn't posted when in fact I had"

S'okay.

Well, again... EVERYBODY wore pouches and belts like that in the 90s, so how am I supposed to get that? ^^;

AmazedSatsuma said...

I don't even understand the plot. Did Mother Machine raise Kamandi in order to kill superman because she saw the bearded idiot a threat?

You would think she would just let sleeping dog lie since hundred+ years has past since the 2nd apocalypse happen and their was no signs of him

DMaster said...

Something I've been wondering, Mr. Lovhaug: once we're done with this horrible Kamandi Elseworlds, will we ever look at the original Kamandi? One of my favorite moments of your show was your rant at the end of the Battle for Bludhaven review about how everything somehow ties back to Kamandi, and...well, I've wondered how THAT is the bedrock under all these horrible things happening in DC. What's the appeal, how's it embedded in every creator's subconscious, why it's a priority, etc.

Heck, given Countdown was retooled (given the touch-and-go style of creation with zero editing, I wouldn't be surprised) into a Kamandi prequel, if it led somehow, however indirectly into Flashpoint, then the whole of the New 52 and all of its ills can be linked back to it as well.

Just something I've thought about.

Unknown said...

Hahaha Pokemon Trainer Lewis was great.

& Yes they didn't give a Rat's ass about this book or series.

Anonymous said...

Why is Machine Mother doing all this? The only way her motives make sense is if she's really Brainiac.

Silver Age Boy said...

And to tie in with the theme of Linkara doing something tangentially related to something, in the adventures o superman digital comic this week also had Kamandi and superman in it.
It also had superman trying to save a lost 1930s rocket that's trapped in the 5th dimension soo I'll leave it to you to decide which was better.

Doresh said...

Geometry fetish as a thing of the 90s? Doesn't EVERY costume in the New 52 feature unnecessary lines everywhere? Some fans even made photoshops to show how much better everyone would look with a cleaner, line-free costume.

Then again, the New 52 is said to be a 90s revival of sorts, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

And that purple thing is almost made of pure 90s (almost because it is lacking in pouches and spikes). It kinda reminds me of Vorlon armor or those Mondoshawans from the Fifth element. Quite interesting, just the color palette is a bit insane.

Unknown said...

I am loving the ad break segments with Trainer Lewis and his Pokemon.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Bearded Idiot seemed to play the same role that Ray Palmer played in Countdown... he was hyped up as being something important to the story but was quickly pushed aside later. What was the point in hunting him down, again?

In regards to the AT4W canon:

Things seem pretty quiet at the apartment... since we know that Harvey's okay, did he mention to anyone that one of the Cybermats basically thundershocked him?

Thunderstudent said...

Why am I getting the feeling Mother Machine was built by Appature Science?

Shanethefilmmaker said...

I get a bizarre vibe that Kamandi and Mother Machine are a warped 90s version of Norman and Norma Bates.....oh great now I got a mental picture of Kamandi in a dress trying to stab his friends.

Anonymous said...

I see you have new commercial bumpers.
Care to make some with Fat Grandma?

Rowan Lefey said...

@ 0:00 – So I’m stating it now what follows are my predictions for the plot of AT4W. The Entity isn’t dead. Linkara will not notice it until it is far too late (Since apparently he didn’t learn his lesson from Holokara and stuff.) Vice allowed The Entity to infiltrate undetected and it is using fear tactics to slowly work its way into our beloved show. 90’s kid has been meanwhile studying about the Entity for fear that Linkara may be wrong. 90’s kid will be the one to defeat the entity this time around.
That all being said can we get a “meanwhile back at the ranch” for your other regular characters? Harvey, boffo, ninja style dancer, Jeris, snowflame, bear, pollo, and nimue?

@ 02:48 – lol MC superman

@ 03:17 – But this version of Supes doesn’t seem to have a cape of any kind so the suit is kinda off balance colors wise without it. What they should have done was given him a cape full of bullet holes and burn marks since we are in a post apocalyptic setting here. Not only would it be BAMF but it would be slightly reminiscent of Trigun, which was fantastic and a great read.

@ 03:35 – I wonder if I would have gotten that refrence If I hadn’t literally just watched The Wild.

@ 04:08 – What good is a random pouch for superman? Seeing as this is a post apocalyptic setting my first guess would be trinkets and creature comforts he has found in his journey. I mean do you honestly expect Supes to carry a backpack? Skintight, auto molding spandex costumes don’t really leave a whole lot of room for such things otherwise. Does he still even have a fortress of solitude?

@ 04:31 – They’re not excuses, Lewis. They’re logic. In the post apocalypse chances are Clark Kent will NOT be wearing civilian clothes as much as he does in our modern times. And remember Supes was friends with Bruce Wayne; Bruce Wayne who has effing belt/hip/secret compartments for EVERYTHING. If Clark Kent wants to have Belt pouches post apocalypse who are you to tell him no?

@ 12:14 – I’m glad you went there otherwise it was gonna be me.

@ 13:43 – Why are u so pissed off lately Linkara? It’s not like you don’t have tons of things to be thankful for: like a fan base, a creative mind, lots of terrible comic to humorously review…. Humility, I see it is still your weakness.

@ 15:21 - “There’s a sudden blast that”…. Kills them all in a horrible fire? Well it’s a start.

@ 15:40 – the missed opportunities for yo-mamma jokes here is like a grey-back gorilla yawning.

@ 16:05 – That was pretty gruesome. Supes could theoretically save him with laser vision from his eyes to cauterize the wounds but it is unlikely cuz Sleeper is actually apparently working for evil. Please tell me that this end with Kamandi’s death and the girl getting picked up by Supes as genetic fodder for the new human race?

Unknown said...

I thought thism ight be good for your missed opportunities list.

When they are restrained I thought you might have referenced this joke from

Mystery Science Theatre 3000:The Movie

This Island Earth
"You know our chair technology is light years ahead of yours

Ming said...

I'm going to call it right now. The girl gets killed by Mother Machine in a senseless manner. Enraged, Kamandi joins forces with the Bearded Idiot to destroy the machine who raised him.

Just one more issue left before the crappy finale that would lead to Superman at Earth's End.

Also, enjoying Pokemon Trainer X-kara breaks.

Mario Di Giacomo said...

Crunch from MIGHTY ORBOTS?

TimeTravelerJessica said...

BULBASAUR! (I am way more excited by this than rest of the review, because while your reviewing skills are great this comic does indeed suck and not in a terribly interesting way.) Your trainer outfit was a really good cosplay and oh my gosh I want that bulbasaur. Do they have other Pokémon too because I may get to-scale Charmander since I can't afford an actual pet right now lol.

Wow this comic is so ... nineties. Like I think this and your Youngblood reviews pretty much capture "what was wrong with comics in the nineties" perfectly. They prove the point you can have a lot of sci-fi elements that should be intriguing and violence going on and still be boring as all get out ... a point unfortunately also proven by Man of Steel. (Speaking of, the gag with the argument over MOS was funny but would have been more accurate if both sides had been more belligerent. It's become one of those movies you just don't talk about in certain circles because fans and haters alike lose their minds ... some fandoms need a huge dose of MST3K mantra lol.)

The Nostalgia Pony said...

"France is a planet now?"

..it is. Remember Salza from "Revenge of Cooler Abridged"? He comes from Space France, and so does that one Nova Girl.

Unknown said...

Please forgive the use of a tumblr meme but
'Pokeballs that rock 3 times then open are why I have trust issues.'

New pokemon X/Y trainer bumps are completely awesome.

And this one has been quoted around my house for a straight week.

I honestly forgot what the comic was about for a minute when writing this.

Emmanuel said...

16:50

Just like how they've made Johnny Storm what one would refer to as black because it was PC and following the ever changing and meaningless trends of the Zeitgeist. Lord knows creating new material with new non-white heroes or giving older material with non-white heroes requires hard work and creativity, but since it's Hollywood, they just had to morph and change something that people were already familiar with to fit the Zeitgeist rather than making something original or that already existed that would have fit the Zeitgeist perfectly.

And yet, despite the ever growing pressure to make PC products, a pressure so strong that even Mel Brooks said that trying to make his classic Blazing Saddles would be harder today than in the '70's, they still couldn't get someone non-white to play Katarra, Sokka, and the rest of the water tribe in Shamalan's Last Airbender. I still don't get how that works.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, how dare people point out the practical uses of design elements you don't like.