Energy and Safety with the Justice League - Atop the Fourth Wall

Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. In this episode, Linkara looks at a PSA comic where the Justice League lectures us!
atopthefourthwall.com
Originally uploaded February 2nd, 2015.
ORIGINAL INFO: See all the thrills and excitement of people standing around lecturing you!
RUMINATIONS: This episode resulted in a bit of debate about Women in Refrigerators in the comments section. I maintain that it is still a thing, although it HAS decreased in recent years. It used to be A LOT worse, although the solution tends to be "just keep killing people regardless of gender," which IS one approach to equality, but it also feels like laziness in a different direction - that it's just really difficult to get characters motivated without murdering someone they love at all, as if people are only moved to action through horrible things happening to them.

[@moonraven6145]

"meanwhile" Scarecrow is gassing Gotham City, but goodjob Batman on telling those children not to touch electrical wiring.

[@plantainsame2049]

You should see what lex is doing supes

[@TheSkully343]

6:10 Out of everything I've ever seen for some reason Batman just standing around in a suburban neighbourhood telling children about the evils of powerlines and their connections to the evils of Rock and Roll just fills me with laughter.

[@buzzingsigndiner397]

+TheSkully343 It kind of reminds me of a joke Linkara made about Batman doing PSA ads for "Stranger danger" in his Batman: Noel review.

[@Sonichero151]

I always crack up when Linkara wearing the batman mask goes "I am the Night" and turns to the side heroically. I'm not alone in this right?

[@Tareltonlives]

His Batman impression is one of my favorite running gags

[@SgtKaneGunlock]

Batman being a crazy man child is always funny

[@qwertythorn756]

can we please have a comic where superman criticizes Lex for his robots poor energy efficiency which actually cause Lex to create better robots?

[@xzenitramx666]

Actuallt thats mainstream comucs not psa

[@JaelinBezel]

Stark already did that to Vanko in Iron Man 2.

[@moonraven6145]

"Our energy supply is not limitless".. coming from the person who is powered by a source of limitless energy..... erm.

[@jfdrac]

Ah but then DC made his power not so limitless and actually using it is draining the universe and hastening its end

[@averagegamecritic]

Planting is helpful, but trees need time to grow. So even if we planted tons of trees, they wouldn't immediately be useful. Plus, there is the issue of trees being cut down which lessens the filtration of carbon dioxide. Finally, there is the possibility that the trees being cut down gets rid of protection from landslides, tsunamis, avalanches, etc.

[@jfdrac]

I can give you landlsides and avalanches as they rely on gravity and debris....but what are trees going to do to protect you from a Tsunami?

[@MediaGhost_]

@@jfdrac Duh, they shoot the tsunami with their tree guns

[@RabblesTheBinx]

Deforestation is not a problem due to the logging industry, they plant plenty of trees and they rotate where they cut to give said trees time to grow (also worth noting that they don't just plant seeds, the trees they plant are already trees - small trees, but trees, nonetheless), it's agriculture that is the issue. We cut down _huge_ portions of natural forest for grazing and farming. And that land doesn't regrow new forest because we're using it. Also, trees account for a miniscule portion of the CO2 ->O2 cycle. It's mostly algae and other photosynthetic microorganisms. Up to 80% of the Earth's oxygen production and CO2 use comes from the ocean, with little-to-no input from plants, outside of those types of algae that are part of the plant kingdom.

[@averagegamecritic]

@@RabblesTheBinx Those too. The carbon filtration of small vs big. I didn’t think of those to be fair

[@CouncilofGeeks]

How did he not bring up the fact that the electrical workers we meet are named Bill & Ted?

[@AT4W]

Because I missed that.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Fair enough.

[@OnDavidsBrain]

Linkara-AtopTheFourthWall Bogus

[@lucyinchat]

Council of Geeks Found your comment.

[@caigemalinowski5247]

That is totally bodacious.

[@RichardWatt]

a) Pretty sure the JLA Watchtower would have sensors to detect people in a room and control the lights. b) A lot of energy saving bulbs (or CFLs) contain mercury.

[@shadowlinkbds]

You making jokes of batman hating rock and roll will never get old.

[@dnmstarsi]

+shadowlinkbds Nor will Linkara acting as Batman while wearing the cowl with the hat.

[@jakebryant3445]

Agree! XD

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Add the Christian Bale voice and the DEADLY BEE WEAPON.

[@shadowlinkbds]

angelowl89 BEES! MY GOD!

[@davincent98]

+shadowlinkbds I have that meme

[@KyleRayner12]

Hey, Batman has a long and proud history of lecturing random children about safety! Just ask those kids he helped in BTAS.

[@CynderSpirit]

Well I guess there are some nights where you just run across kids or people doing something stupid. Superman also did it in one of the episodes in Superman The Animated Series.

[@Bowiiihowdy]

The bad part about using the Justice league is green lanturns power battery could indefinitly power earth

[@thomaspalazzolo5902]

"This isn't paper, it's some kind of metal!" "No sir... that's paper."

[@bwminich]

While I don't know if they ever referenced the Jon/John Stewart thing, I do know that the head Daily Show writer until the host change, Elliot Kalen, is a huge comic book nerd. He comments on obscure comic book trivia all the time on the podcast the Flophouse, and wrote the Spider-Man and the X-Men comic that had the panel where Sauron tells Spider-Man "But I don't WANT to cure cancer! I want to turn people into dinosaurs!"

[@MiloTheMightyDude]

The Daily Denial-of-Cancer-Research-to-Turn-People-Into-Dinosaurs. Show.

[@JaelinBezel]

Mesagog?

[@keelanbarron928]

That...sounds like a really funny line.

[@johnalogue9832]

I think the fact rich people in comics are constantly giving to charities is offset by the various horrible things both heroes and villains would be doing to the environment regularly....

[@Ice-Climber]

Oddly this isn't weirdest thing the Justice League have done. There's that comic where they team up with Colonel Sanders to fight the Nega Colonel and save KFC.

[@Zxzero36]

That's almost as bad as the Marvel teachers comic.

[@meowistforlife]

Wait what?

[@Ice-Climber]

Yourpetcat meow Yep. There's a promotional comic for KFC where the Justice League team up with Colonel Sanders. Evil Colonel is from same universe as the Crime Syndicate, iirc.

[@gargoyles9999]

+Ice Climber but is he defeated through the power of Home Depot?

[@Ice-Climber]

gargoyles9999 I think Home Depot is better than the Fantastic Four going to Staples for stuff to fight Dr. Doom.

[@artistwithouttalent]

5:49 OF COURSE! The best way to save energy is with the use of Delicious Hostess Fruit Pies!

[@WinterSteele]

Did you ever find out if Jon Stewart has made a joke about having the same name as the Green Lantern character?

[@KevlarNinja]

Man, PSA's almost always have crummy artwork. Yeah, I know they aren't going to waste the time of a guy like Darywn Cooke or Jim Lee for something like that, but it's like doing a PSA comic is something they stick on the new guy who isn't that good that they don't want on something most people would actually see. Come to think about it, I WOULD pay good money for a PSA comic with Darywn Cooke art. Then again, I'd buy one of the issues of Youngblood that Linkara's reviewed if Cooke redid the artwork.

[@dxjvdjxnn]

I really do love Darwyn Cooke's art style

[@rikowolfin4984]

You say that but honestly this comic has better art work then a few published event comics I'v seen from DC. I think that PSA comics usually do have bland art work though, as in they all look sorta similar in style but don't have anything big to tell them apart from each other.

[@traxthetrashwizard]

6:44 oh my god! That kid has no face!!!

[@dannyfenlon2476]

Crimson Trax the power lines has increased his youngblood dieses

[@Werrf1]

Oracle was one of the characters that I found really fascinating, and got me interested in reading comics in the first place. Another was Mogo, the sentient planet who is also a Green Lantern. So I started reading comics in around, oh, 2011. I'm sure you can imagine how well that went.

[@JaelinBezel]

Dear Jon Stewart, If you aren't using your Power Ring anymore, can I have it? Also how did you become a white guy? Yours Truly, Cody Hines

[@svartfrasr9755]

Bat Kryptonite: Rock'N'Roll and Martha

[@jacobmendonca8571]

And Dead parents

[@meavor]

And of course, the Deadly BEE weapon.

[@jacobmendonca8571]

bees my god

[@MiloTheMightyDude]

WHY DID YOU METAL SCREAM THAT NAME!?

[@RabblesTheBinx]

And One-Face

[@transylvani600]

They're probably at the hall of justice as well as the watch Tower

[@XenithXenaku]

4:32 *Linkara:* You know what's _also_ a precious resource? _Proper grammar,_ and that comma splice is _endangering it._

[@BrianS1981]

Of course the other problem with the bit about the Justice League building losing power is that they'd surely have backup generators to protect against such an event.

[@dragonknight1560]

I love it that Linkara's best interpretations is his Batman and Superman's "Over there" logic. Those always my favorite parts.

[@dannybuckle3763]

I really wish that all the Post-New 52 stuff was firmly established as Pre-Killing Joke Batgirl adventures. It just feels sad that everything relating to Oracle, from her rivalry with the Calculator to her mentor/student relationship with Wendy/Proxy was so quickly swept under the rug by the New 52, and from what I've seen, Rebirth is unlikely to reverse that.

[@DigiRangerScott]

There should've been drugs in this comic. It directly ties to energy and safety

[@jfdrac]

Alex and Shana already took care of that

[@buzzingsigndiner397]

I wouldn't be happy with comics going back to newsprint. That stuff seems really absorbent for sweat and spills.

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

Why is Batman out in suburbia in the afternoon?

[@tinycrimester]

I can never guess whether he's gonna say PSA Hell or Secret Origins Month. :c

[@rikowolfin4984]

Welcome my friends, to Secret PSA Origin's Hell month!

[@burntcinnamon1735]

+Riko Wolfin now with miller time

[@kimifw58]

It would be interesting to see a comic that functions as both.

[@buddermantheamazing]

Not even by the title of the video...?

[@MyMagnificentOctopus]

3:30 What is really odd is that most of them AREN'T looking at Superman, they are staring at something behind the reader.

[@magnamon2099]

11:06, actually linkara there WAS a reason they un-paralyzed her in the new 52... so hunker down big guy cause it's TIME 4 BACKSTORY! in the intervening time between Cassidy cane leaving and Stephanie brown took over as batgirl Barbras' doctor informed her that there was a medical procedure that could restore here ability to walk. it was basically an early form of stem cell surgery which is basically taking stem cells from one person (usually from a donor) and applying them to the ailing part of the spine, in this case the spot the joker shot Barbara in and over time Barbara started to re-gain feeling in her legs and with numerous amounts of physical therapy she was able to walk again and thus it lead into the events of her New 52 series.

[@magnamon2099]

yeah... see here's the deal, a lot of the DC fans were campaigning for a new batgirl story AND a resolution to her paralysis and eventually DC caved in and got to work on it right away. making batgirl the ONLY exception to the whole " New 52= new beginnings for superheros" rule. mind you this is secondhand info... so i could be wrong.

[@jfdrac]

And lets be honest in a world where they reguarly use science to BRING PEOPLE BACK FROM THE DEAD.....its a bit silly they couldnt cure her

[@jamesadamsfl]

In addition to Oracle, here's another goof: Look closely at Flash at around 9:30 and you'll see he has BLONDE eyebrows, meaning this is Barry Allen. In the cartoon, Wally West was the Flash and Barry didn't exist (or rather, the character was a composite of Barry and Wally, but he had Wally's name and hair color). Combine that with Batman's costume (different than the wore he wore in the show) and I think the people who made this weren't familiar with the series beyond looking at a single poster.

[@drakkenmensch]

The kid is clearly standing ON TOP of a big red X, which cartoons have taught me is the sign that he's standing on ground zero for an imminent aerial bombardment, so.... BOMBS AWAY!

[@thegayghost872]

One Face is starting a rock n roll band!

[@Takao0815]

I would really celebrate it if superman would fly to lex and explain it e.g. how much ressousen of earth he wasted.

[@robbirk762]

ahh...PSA- Hell....a zone where only the Animaniacs could warn you against fire and natural disasters in a cartoon-like fashion...

[@kalebsantos72]

14:16 but superman the disaster is over there and over there needs to fend for itself

[@rorylumley4727]

Does Batman just wait for people to tell about safety or was he just on patrol and just saw the idiots and decided to tell the idiots what to do to not kill themselves

[@Zxzero36]

You know with the potential for energy to be created through the heroes. I'm surprised that almost every problem isn't solved by the heros.

[@Mauricekaip]

When I was in my high school geo class, we started talking about earthquakes and he told us not to touch power lines. Even he said the chances of someone touching it on purpose is stupidly high.

[@Vashnner]

Barely past the intro and I'm already laughing about the chicken dance!

[@callianr6980]

Question: Where's the Swamp Thing PSA? Isn't he like, the guardian of the environment or something?

[@Goatcha_M]

If they're in The WatchTower, how is a power company going to help?

[@FarelForever]

.... this was a thing? How did I forget this?!

[@jamesadamsfl]

Why does the Watchtower need to pay electric bills? Can't they just have Green Lantern charge up their batteries, considering he has (I believe) an infinite power source? This also makes GL's statement at the start that energy isn't limitless kind of odd. Not inaccurate, I just can't pay attention because I know the guy saying it is an exception to the rule.

[@EuclideanAl]

Oh wow, have we reached this episode already? Feels like I was enjoying it at release just yesterday...

[@metropod]

The review hasn’t even started yet and I’m embarrassed my electric bill paid for it...

[@CthulhuianBunny]

Why does Oracle have just a run-of-the-mill, stand-up, purchase at Best Buy for $1100, tower PC sitting on an office desk in her base of operations? Also, I love the title card for this episode!

[@fredjones2170]

@1:20 Wait, who's giving Aquaman "bunny ears"on that cover? Is that Plastic Man? Does that mean Plastic Man is now an official part of the DC Animated Universe?

[@jfdrac]

He actually was always....he was mentioned during the Booster Gold ep but was the only leaguer to never get shown on TV

[@RichardWatt]

Linkara, if you think you've got fewer things to complain about, just wait until you get to my age and become "Grumpy-old-kara" ;)

[@lynngreen7978]

Iconic? I find it ironic. The first ongoing Batgirl series starred Cassandra Cain. It is still the longest running - cancelled not due to low sales but editorial mandate. And the next ongoing, starring Stephanie Brown was also cancelled by editorial mandate - to wit, the New 52. Babs first *ongoing* series as Batgirl? September 2011. It could even be argued that more people know Barbara Pennyworth than Barbara Gordon. Which one was in a major motion picture?

[@spiderbatman97]

+Lynn Green To be fair, the sales of the Stephanie Brown series, were just decent and DC really wasn't in his best at the time. Also i think that the iconic part of Barbara, comes from the fact that she is the Batgirl than most non comic book readers know. I still prefer her as Oracle thought, and like the Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown era.

[@lynngreen7978]

spiderbatman97 I think you mean "Redhead Batgirl" not "Barbara Gordon". the average audience isn't going to know her actual name, just the image. Hence my claim that more people will actually know the Alicia Silverstone character from the worst Batman movie. Because people actually did watch it. Also in the minds of Warner Bros, Movie > TV > Books > Comics.

[@spiderbatman97]

***** Then maybe is just favoristism.

[@magnusprime962]

When it comes to Batgirl most general people remember Barbara Gordon because she was the one on the Adam West show. That’s quite a bit more memorable than Alicia Silverstone.

[@animatedawesome5550]

i don't know even my mom knows commissioner Gordon's daughter is batgirl.

[@Launchpad05]

I also wonder if Jon Stewart ever met Phil LaMarr, or interviewed him before.

[@caaltaes732]

Imagine this PSA comic but with the cast of Friends 😂

[@theponydalek7923]

But it still has all the justice league stuff in it

[@dakotadoyle7573]

In the same universe with the intergalactic Taxi Cab i wouldnt be surprised if the mail was that good

[@michaelawalton6579]

the loggers plant trees after they cut trees down. It's the farmers that burn the trees that are the hazard.

[@SapphireCrook]

Damn, the uploads finally caught up to where I started watching ATFW regularly... Now I actually have to do WORK to find unwatched episodes. :V

[@Goatcha_M]

Great episode.

[@joholloway8818]

ya know linkara, at this point a bit under a year and a half since I started watching your show the start of my work week has changed. now it's either Monday with new AT4W, or IT'S NOT MONDAY. there is no middle ground.

[@cassiedevereaux-smith3890]

Oracle was an official member of the JLA as of JLA vol. 1 #17, although not a public-facing one.

[@tuesdaynext7370]

That's not a comma splice; it's a compound sentence. There's a conjunction there and everything.

[@348joey]

Well I did a ctrl+f after showing all the comments and couldn't find any matches for "comma", so here's your correction: That's not a comma splice. Both parts of the sentence there can act as independent clauses, so you need to have a comma before the conjunction. "It's a precious resource," and "We have to think seriously about how we're going to protect it," are complete thoughts.

[@alexjewett7455]

8:45 how does a *satalite* have a land line

[@SudokuBro]

How come you didn't put the Captain Planet, Robot Chicken sketch clip in this one?

[@alexjewett7455]

Yes turning the dangerous spark from a light switch that are inside the wall and on a closed circuit can ignite gas

[@andreworders7305]

Only 6 pages? Can’t wait to see how you get 20 minutes out of that.

[@elieeee6]

a friend of mine once showed me this comic once he used to have it

[@Magitek1112]

Wow, I only just realized that the title card is a Birdemic reference. Huh.

[@gabejwj512]

4:33 - If I'm not mistaken, that's just an I,cI compound sentence. It's a precious resource (Can stand alone) , and (one of the 7 coordinating conjunctions) we have to think seriously about how we're going to use it (Can stand alone)

[@starwarsnerd100]

One the one hand, I can see how "Women in Refrigerators" is a problem, but on the other hand I feel like the writer shouldn't be afraid to make their characters suffer, regardless of gender. (There was a cracked article that accused Joss Whedon of being sexist because his female characters get tortured or go through serious shit, even though Joss is pretty equal opportunity about making you care for characters and then killing them off horribly. They even mentioned Firefly, when there's an epiosde where Mal and Wash, two MALE characters, are tortured.)

[@pisces2569]

The problem with "Woman in Refigerators" isn't making female characters suffer. The problem is they make them suffer just to motivate a male hero when anything else could have been used and (and this is the most important part) give no attention to the woman suffering (no character development, no exploration of trauma and the will to survive, ect.) and put all the focus on the male hero and how it affects him.

[@Andreu0rtin]

Pisces You can suffer because your love ones die, I think that it his (or her) point. It doesn't mater the gender in this case for the simple reason that is that your friend, boyfriend, mom, brother... someone you are attached to.

[@DetectorCliche]

0:22 Yeah I knew I was in trouble when I read the title.

[@KalleMichael]

1:40-1:43 lol the hand gesture.

[@WeirdWonderful]

Say I was wondering, ever heard of Junk Culture from McKeever ? It's a two part Vertigo miniseries from the 90's and is everything bad that you can imagine under those terms. Don't want to spoil it but I've read it two days ago and I felt very confused about why anyone even bothered to publish it.

[@FarNoGaming]

I legitimately like this comic.

[@filozof90]

I love that Birdemic reference

[@andreworders7305]

The New 52 Batgirl book is good? I’ll have to check it out.

[@Goatcha_M]

Sadly modern digital phones do require power. Sometimes the older tech is safer.

[@crazysmith5408]

I know you brought up the original Hush story in the Catwomen: Guardian of Gotham review (You didn't mention it by the name Hush, but since I don't read comic books I looked up the scene you were talking about). What are your thoughts on the original Hush story?

[@skyslasher2297]

11:37 wait are they implying that the killing joke happened in the DCAU I know that the occasion dark moment happened in these shows but I never thought I would go that far.

[@kimifw58]

When this comic was published, Batman Beyond had already established that Barbara Gordon never lost her ability to walk, so Oracle shouldn't exist here. However, there is a Batman Beyond comic where we learn that Barbara miscarrying Bruce's baby is what _really_ caused the Bat Family to break up. Unsurprisingly, that was published in the 2010s, and I don't think any of the show's writers were involved in it.

[@ArcturusMinsk]

3:37 you mean Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz? No, no one's commented on that.

[@plaid8567]

Wait, Green Lantern. GREEN lantern.

[@YourUncleBenis]

Wouldn't playing with downed power lines more likely lead to superpowers in the DCU?

[@YourUncleBenis]

Burn your tongue whilst eating a hot pocket? FIRE BREATH.

[@rikowolfin4984]

A guy got super powers from doing Cocaine, nothing is surprising any more when it comes to comic book origins.

[@TheSefirosu200x]

Can anyone tell me what the song is that plays over the ending credits?

[@MsTwinkle101]

is con Edison still around? I vaguely remember them showing up at our grammar school for safety and I can remember getting this comic as a gift what happened to it? Good question 😊

[@MsTwinkle101]

maybe not this comic, but one similar. Since internet wasn't in the early 80s 😜

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

9:45 LEARN OF ORACLE!

[@Tareltonlives]

Guardiana: still a better superhero than The Protector

[@jfdrac]

and NOT brutally killed off by a hack writer

[@masterbison8957]

now i know !

[@Fuzzy_Barbarian]

This comic being mostly based on the DCAU but the Flash in the interior art being Barry Allen (blue eyes, blonde hair) bugs the crap out of me :(

[@Macrochenia]

The real problem with PSA comics like this is that they push the narrative of how saving the environment is all about individual small steps. Those can help, sure, but the overwhelming majority of environmental damage and destruction of natural resources is... industrial use by large corporations. They like to put out these "YOU can save the environment" messages in part because it shifts focus away from their role in the issue.

[@andreworders7305]

What is internet bill pay? Don’t you need electricity to use the internet?

[@DustinOffAClassic]

Something DCU related that isn't good?? *Takes off hat and bows head in sadness*

[@kimifw58]

+DustinOffAClassic Big things make a lot of poop.

[@andreworders7305]

If people pay their bills online the electricity company makes more money I guess

[@MrAlmindore58]

Is it just me, or is the company named after conman Thomas Edison?

[@jfdrac]

its not just you as he founded the company Consolidated Edison made him rich

[@jennyholiday88]

JERRY OWENS

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

The post office used to be real good. Back then you could send a letter from Texas to Oa and back in a weeks time.

[@Aqua-Marine-UK_1991]

so if batgirl was paralyzed from the waist down can she still have kids?

[@alucardyoici]

+MLP Aqua-Marine UK yes

[@Aqua-Marine-UK_1991]

***** thanks. i wasnt sure because of the giving birth part

[@xzenitramx666]

Why power lines are in the air in usa? Thats stupid

[@henrybelman7424]

11:44 is that ted kord?

[@jfdrac]

Nope he is not slumming that much.....Ted was only chosen so that the other guy could be BILL...EXCELLENT

[@TheSkully343]

Also could somebody fill me in on the term "women in refrigerators"?

[@akhannar9368]

It is a term that refers to using a murder of a female loved one of a hero as a character development tool for said hero (with the woman being barely anything more than a murder victim, character-wise). The term was coined back when in comics, Major Force murdered the fiance of Kyle Rainer, and stuffed her body into Kyle's refrigirator.

[@TheSkully343]

***** So does this only apply if they've had little development or the set up was poorly established?

[@Aqua-Marine-UK_1991]

+TheSkully343 go watch his review on 'battle for bludhaven' and you will know

[@TheSkully343]

***** Thanks for the info.

[@eugenideddis]

+TheSkully343 Well it can apply to characters with backstory, but the story doesn't revolve around the person who was harmed, in fact they generally have little to no affect on the story more than "person who was hurt".