The Dome: Ground Zero - Atop the Fourth Wall

[@OmniGundam777]

Can we just appreciate how the aliens in the story where not actually hostile and tried to fix their mistake? I feel like that’s a rare and interesting take for this comic.

[@ShadowKnux372]

Not only that, even the religious fanatic in this story is tame compared to a lot of others. Rather well-meaning in his delusion overall.

[@christopherb501]

Take a look at Letter 44 sometime.

[@Avenger85438]

True, not many stories depict the Aliens simply go "My bad."

[@nathanplante4570]

@@Avenger85438 Or to quote Phelous, "OUR bad!"

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

I want to make some Dom jokes, but I fear they'll be lost in adaptation.

[@Rabbitlord108]

HA!

[@samclark379]

That was beautiful, watcher.

[@CasualKing21]

ALGORITHM ENGAGEMENT SQUAD.... ENGAGE!!!

[@ShinyGaara65]

17:41 "Katie drop a Beetlejuice here please and thank you!"

[@Shooter__Andy]

Honestly, this looks a LOT better than what I expected from 90s 3d art. I think it shows that even if the artist responsible for it wasn't a professional 3d artist, he still knew what nice comic panels _should_ look like, so he did a lot to make it work with his limited skill and tools available. But yeah, the dialogue is just horrendous.

[@Cdr2002]

While I’m here, might as well try some of that good ol’ fashioned cryptic poetry His heart is Steel, her soul is Rage, they’ve come together now and made quite a dangerous deal. She dreams of blood, he sees in red, cross them now and you might find yourself dead. Despite defeat and loss, they come to exact their cost, and burn any who stand in their way They will have their red day.

[@fusionspace175]

I kinda wish you were doing Time Breakers, I loved that series. It's only five or six issues long and quite interesting. Two teams of time travelers fight a war across time, one side to preserve existence by creating paradoxes (can't go into the physics here, but it's cool) and the other seeking to destroy existence, believing the material world to be a prison. The ending really makes it shine, I highly recommend checking it out as an example of the line.

[@tyrant-den884]

"-something *beyond* our knowledge. Or at least mine, as these are plants and I study rocks. Pokemon joke writes itself really."

[@jeffreybarrow9788]

If this was a movie, MST3K would be right there to riff it.

[@anna-elizabeth]

"Man, it's good that we had the Geologist along to explain about subatomic particles." It's Comic Book Science. Remember that *Hank* Pym was an entomologist that made breakthroughs in AI and *whatever* size/mass changing would *be* called.

[@davidspring4003]

To be fair, he developed Pym Particals to help with etymological research

[@basedeltazero714]

​@@davidspring4003 Entomological. Shrinking to help with etymological research would be even more bizarre. (The former is the study of insects, the latter the study of words. Yes it's confusing.)

[@davidspring4003]

@@basedeltazero714 I mean...you could probably shrink to get into ancient ruins to study ancient Sumerian for etymology

[@daelen.cclark]

Maybe that’s why his robots kept failing. It wasn’t what he got a degree in.

[@kaicreech7336]

They also had an imprint called "Tangent" that took the names of DC heroes and reinvented everything else about them.

[@noah_j_mc]

Good ol’ earth 9. I think it’s due for a comeback.

[@jackwells8107]

DC has had SO MANY imprints! Remember Piranha Press and Paradox Press?

[@jsa141]

Tangent was a brief event, not really an imprint if l recall correctly.

[@noah_j_mc]

Either way, still looks like a fun thing

[@mattwo7]

@@jsa141 Amalgam Comics was both, no reason Tangent couldn't be both.

[@johnkirby8939]

Bonus points for making it through the entire review without referencing Stephen King OR the Simpsons once. Kudos!

[@legomaniac213]

"What, you're saying we're trapped in here like rats?!!" "No, rats can't be trapped this easily. You're trapped more like carrots."

[@XanthinZarda]

Nor Thunderdome!

[@artistwithouttalent]

I'm more shocked that we didn't get, "Using multi-modal reflection sorting,"

[@andrewollmann304]

@@XanthinZardaUggggghhh….can’t we get Beyond Thunderdome (Linkara smirk).

[@electric926]

Surprise you missed this but the best part about the comic needing to justify every skill the woman has is that in the panel at 24:40 where it asks if she knows how to RUN and the GUY is the one who justifies his running skills.

[@darkron288]

As a 3d artist myself i do have to respect this on some level but man oh man has this not age well

[@mattwo7]

As a fan of ReBoot and Beast Wars and as someone who mostly uses existing 3D models to make art, I agree. Least this comic has the benefit of photoshopping over the rendered 3D, a lot of people do that even these days (i've seen fellow gmodders do it and people touch up their screenshots in video games when they're not using something like reshade or gshade) but I have no idea how to make it look good myself.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

I'm morbidly curious how long The Dome took to render back in freakin' *1998.* Like, a quarter century later, and this would still be a pretty dang decent home made web comic on the art level!

[@BobNinjaCat]

It wouldn't even be graded as "okay" by any person with standards nowadays. It's worse than early Reboot which in itself had models so stiff you wondered if they ever moved at all during scenes. CGI back in the 90's was by no means anywhere near where it is now, but the people working with it were able to do far better than this comic book managed. The backgrounds and terrains looked good, sure, but that was about it. Everything else falls incredibly short of the "fine" line.

[@thacobell4700]

@@BobNinjaCat I'm not seeing it. This book has the advantage of not needing to animate, but everything that isn't a person looks shockingly good for the time. Even a few of the real closeups are impressably detailed. In terms of design, Reboot doesn't have jack on this. But it also had to be animated, motion makes everything 100X more complicated. Comparing the visuals from static image to motion is very "apples to oranges".

[@calumbishop7082]

So DC has actually had a lot of imprints over the years, many of them obscure. Some like Vertigo, Wildstorm, Elseworlds and Milestone, are still beloved to this day. You get some interesting ones like Young Animal or Hanna-Barbara Beyond which are incredibly under rated. Others like Helix or Paradox Press, have at least one or two famous titles. And then you get the big bombs like DC Focus or Minx, which completely collapse within a year and produce nothing with long term lasting power. The sad thing is DC doesn't really have many new imprints anymore, or rather they're not really doing very much with the ones they do have. Which is a shame.

[@mttylerdurden9]

I think the last one they have is DC Black Label

[@Tiggeralt]

The YA graphic novels line has been doing well I hear.

[@breawycker]

Technically, Milestone was a separate company that DC had a partnership with and WildStorm was Jim Lee's Image Comics company that he sold to DC. There's also Wonder Comics by Brian Michael Bendis and DC Black Label that replaced Vertigo (and acts as like a mature line and for stories that don't fit in the main DCU) ^-^

[@Zolet_lionheart]

While the 3d art didn't age well it did give it a unique look to the book

[@CyberPhoenix001]

I was thinking the exact same thing as you during that climactic dialogue. The '50s sci-fi movie endings really punctuated it well. 😁

[@furioussherman7265]

17:42 Bit more editing on the joke than what Linkara usually does. Kudos.

[@opjm8664]

I do remember everyone being a smooth, totally naked big headed doll back in 1999. Made 4th grade real weird for me.

[@Elysium_the_Bard]

This comic reminds me...I just recently happened across the first episode of Beast Wars on youtube and ended up rewatching it. I found myself cringing at some of the animation (and dialogue), but I recognized that, for the time, that style of art wasn't bad for being 3D and that 3D art helped pave the way for higher quality 3D shows later on. I'd argue for a similar respect for this comic's art. It's definitely a unique idea to take a rough sketch of a comic panel, then modeling it out in 3D and then finishing said 3D panel by drawing in more details. It's actually quite clever, for the time, especially considering the limited amount of time he had to actually work with the 3D software.

[@EnerKaizer]

While yes, the animation of Beast wars hasn't aged gracefully, it stayed still really impressive for its time. Mainframe Entertainment knew what they were doing. They even got the job to do BW because they showed Hasbro a Transformation animation were they didn't switch out models between modes (which is still incredible even today)

[@Macrochenia]

I'd say than the CGI in Beast Wars at least aged more gracefully than the CGI in Babylon 5.

[@jaredohlstein7355]

Seems like writing a bunch of scripts for AT4W reviews was a good idea you had, since this is the second review this week

[@thomashollingshead015]

17:42 ok, I was not expecting that 😂

[@Cdr2002]

The comic has some Frank Miller-esque dialogue intonations.

[@Tareltonlives]

EPA! EPA!

[@Tareltonlives]

You know, with eco-terrorists being such a stock villain, is there any wonder why global warming's gotten so bad?

[@buchiklop110]

Just to note, modern comics can use CG effectively for backgrounds. The manga Negima, for example, uses CG models for the backgrounds and they are exceptionally detailed as a result.

[@calebmarmon1310]

At first the CGI animation didn’t look that bad; an aged innovation that now reads as retro artistic choice. Then the review continued and… yeah, I see what you mean.

[@Tomgaar]

10:16 I mean when you get down to it, subatomic particles are just smaller rocks

[@SpeedyEric1]

What? No use of the “What does God need with a starship?” clip from Star Trek V? *ZERO OUT OF TEN!*

[@AT4W]

...God damn it.

[@SpeedyEric1]

@@AT4W 🤣

[@WillHerrmann]

Even in the current year, 3D CGI comics are virtually unheard of (although 2D comics are almost all created with the aid of a computer). This was definitely an art style that never caught on.

[@LordInsane100]

Not quite. 3D CGI comic _books_ are virtually unheard of, but 3D CGI comics live an active and vibrant life on the internet, both free and sold.

[@Ice-Climber]

I'm strangely reminded of a UK newspaper strip called Striker. It started as a drawn series that changed to 3D models like this series.

[@RichardWatt]

I remember that - it was about a fictional footballer (US: soccer player) and printed in The Sun newspaper, wasn't it?

[@Ice-Climber]

@@RichardWatt Yep that's the one.

[@TheLetterJ0]

Wait, I want to hear more about the time travelers who try to create paradoxes and the Romeo and Juliet with a sentient asteroid.

[@chriscarlisle5676]

17:10 the message "I've been trying to reach you regarding your insurance."

[@kitestar]

17:43 the closest thing we’ll ever get to a Civvie crossover with linkara, enjoy this while it lasts commenters

[@OnDavidsBrain]

Also before anyone asks, yes there is a comic called Postal. No it has nothing to do with any of the Postal Dudes.

[@viraltang]

This reminds me of an episode of the 87 ninja turtles show. A family of aliens took a vacation on earth couple of millions of years ago and the kid left a toy behind. That if left alone will wipe out life on earth. It was a parody of old sci Fi stories like this. I dunno the twist at the end with the aliens not being hostile just reminded me of it. Fun little episode and a really funny review.

[@nanardeurlambda]

even the story structure of finding an alien thing and following a group who try to explain it with long expositions feel like an old-school SF novel.

[@LemurDreamer87]

For the stinger, we would also have accepted ""E's not the messiah, 'e's a very naughty boy!"

[@mattwo7]

7:16 Please, the shifting of the San Andreas is just another Tuesday for us Southern Californians. Looting and riots in the 90s? That was one of our four seasons at the time, along with aforementioned quakes, as well as fires and mudslides, those three are still part of our seasons too. These days droughts took the place of riots but there's been no shortage of protesting since the early 2010s, which the LAPD would like you to believe are riots, even Occupy LA was a riot to them.

[@Caernath]

I have no doubt that the hangglider Earthangels were inspired by that fearless Batman villain, the amazing Kite Man!

[@Rendo86]

The image of the preacher on a hang glider made me laugh for some reason.

[@genkaiba15]

5:12 I've been smooth and naked ever since... 😂

[@wanderingstorytellerj7758]

Kirk: "What does God needs with a Starship?"

[@EnsignRicky011]

“It’s like 1950’s sci-fi!” Not gonna lie, I love 50’s Sci-fi (aside from the sexism), so I really dig this.

[@markmyers6756]

24:07 your as much the chosen one as the mystic red ranger.

[@ladyaceina]

at 26:18 i think in this case its niether xplostion or implostion seeing as its undoing the explostion its a UNPLOSION

[@jeffersonhouse94]

15:40: "Who do you think is Berg's Khan?" That would be Jenette Kahn.

[@Avenger85438]

That episode of Community that introduces Keith David's character Elroy, had tons of jokes about 90's vr. I feel clips from that would be very fitting for this comic.

[@lorddrayvon1426]

Technically speaking, the Quantum Bomb idea isn’t new. There was a thought experiment over using quantum waves to detonate nukes so they could strategically kill people without the chance of overshooting the target and causing collateral damage. It was conceived in 1993, five years before this comic’s release. Was never realised because of it being pure science bullshit but the idea definitely isn’t a new one. Side note, when subatomic particles are entangled, you can’t screw with them without causing a tremendous release of energy. On normal scales, this is almost nothing but given the horrendous force of that blast? Yeah, that “inherent energy” is what we call *radiation* so this guy’s talking out of his ass. At best, they just created a large criticality event and at worst, they just created Chernobyl at sea. And that bit about the Schrödinger Disentanglement? It refers to the Schrödinger Equation which is used to measure the waves in quantum mechanics. The fuck has that got to do with energy fields?

[@floriakson]

Honestly, with no prior knowledge of the comic, I must say it holds up much better than I expected watching the intro Sure it aged, *a lot*, and would have probably looked better just drawn or with a 2d/3d hybrid, but you can still tell it was assembled by an artist who, 3d or not, knew how to make a good picture, helped greatly by the photoshop treatement Obviously the parts that holds up the best is... what 3d is still used for nowadays in 2d animation/reference for illustrations : vehicles and architecture, so it's a fun experimentation with actual hints of what the medium is good for and what it struggles with

[@squeethemog213]

This reminds me of Pathways into Darkness with the aliens at the end trying to fix their mistake. 🤔

[@Rabbitlord108]

When I heard the title I thought of two things. First being The Simpsons Movie. And 2nd is a show I remember seeing ads for on CBS called Under the dome.

[@Mara999]

This reminds me of the movie adaptation comic of the first Toy Story, which was made with stills of the movie covered in speech bubbles and sound effects.

[@AntagonistChan]

Re: the cliches being tired even by then Tremors- almost a decade earlier- even had a running joke about the scientist character being frustrated that everyone EXPECTED her to know things outside her field of study!

[@mwc1707]

I remember adds for that comic from back then. I thought they were advertising a video game of some kind at the time. I had no idea it was a comic.

[@ivane5110]

Had no idea this was a DC line; and I wouldn't even had known I'd ever seen it if not for you happening to have that Multiverse cover. I got it doing one of my faioed attemots to reconnect with "modern" comics from a 50 cent box mistaken it for a parallel universes crossover with Elric. Such high hopes. On the upside its where I learned the name Burber.

[@CartoonTriper]

9:48 A shirt who said "I survived the Quantum bomb and only bring this lousy shirt"

[@ghosttheexplorer]

24:10 I live, I dye, I live again!

[@thanatos_razl]

The Moorcock comics were my first introduction to his Eternal Champion and universe

[@meapickle]

21:53 but what happens if the engines stop?

[@WolfJarl]

Some of the heads look like the talking heads from Fallout 1 and 2. Which were actually real-life clay models imposed over a green screen. Fun bit of trivia.

[@Blazemon13]

Love it when someone I watch makes a joke from someone else I watch. Like a mini-crossover.

[@Gaia_BentosZX5]

Starfire, his cat, whenever linkara does a skit: "What is hooman up to? He's weird, but gives me food."

[@mattwo7]

6:38 Wonder how many people even know what Windows CE (Compact Edition) was It has been dead since 2018 extended support is getting dropped this October (RIP). Microsoft is focusing on Windows IoT (Internet of Things) instead. Mega Man Battle Network was right.

[@isenokami7810]

I do find it funny how you specifically point out the emphasis on Frank Miller and this. I'm not even a comic guy-pretty much just into the MLP IDW line-and yet I see that all the time. Maybe Frank just makes the emphasized words EXTRA bold.

[@thenightgamer3000]

I honestly thought this was going into HP Lovecraft story style, but this story is pretty cool.

[@Starhound]

The Beetlejuice model cut in got me. Well played

[@DarkOverlord96]

Maybe it's because I am a 3D artist and was given a course in 3D animation, but I honestly find old CGI art and animation really fascinating, even more than "timeless hand-drawn art and animation." Like, sure, it's dated but I just admire how they had to work with what they had given the limiations in order to deliver something that looked as good as they could, it's not like they were deliberatedly making things look dated on purpose, and really it just goes to show how much the technology as improved since but you can still go back and see how it began and how it evolved and what was considered "cutting edge" at the time. It also helps that a lot of the time the dated look also adds to the charm and mood CG pieces tend to convey when looking at them and it really gives them an unique feel that you won't find anywhere else, not even in 2D art. I'd even say that, honestly, the CG in this comic doesn't look too bad, I do like how it's stylized and the compositions is overall reall well-made, and, again, some of its "dated" aspects do add to the overall tone of the story, I've always found CG art liks this in printed media to have a really "surreal" feel to them, it reminds me of when Masamune Shirow used a lot of CGI in Ghost in the Shell 2.

[@Link720.]

I really thought you would use that clip from Patton when Admiral Crous is using his binoculars.

[@AzureIV]

For a while there, I was worried we wouldn't have an early Stargate SG-1 reference about Samantha Carter.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

8:42 to quote rocked: don’t listen to kid rock

[@reifuTD]

I remember Archie Sonic did CGI covers and thinking how nice it would be to have a whole CGI comic using those models but that never came about.

[@prince_nocturne]

Missed opportunity to make a Space 1999 reference with that opening.

[@ОлегЕршов-м3с]

Judging by the fact it takes place in 1999, maybe it was meant to be an hommage to the classic sci-fi or even based on some novel of that are? Though it would probably be mentioned in the authors' column on the back cover that Linkara read...

[@TheGamersShade]

I'm actually really excited to see you review the rest of Action comics #1, I am wondering if your going to talk about Zatara's origins or save it for secret origins month. can't wait for next time.

[@MurderousEagle]

I thought at first this was Under the Dome, the bat-family book about The Question trying to get Twoface back on his meds while everything was going to hell

[@Alanisawesome]

Can't wait for Linkara to review "Iron Man: Crash," "Shatter," and/or "Batman: Digital Justice."

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

You mentioned Civvie11 in a video. Now you must review a slav-jank comic next.

[@Rendo86]

personally I am waiting for a scene from holy grail and hear "NO PYTHON" "Zap"

[@OnDavidsBrain]

Or at least save him from being haunted by ANCIENT EGYPT! Seriously Ramses will not, shut, up!

[@AdahnFlorence]

MAJOR GROM, MAJOR GROM

[@u83rj1]

Upon hearing the "Earth Angel" bit, I was half expecting you to make an "Earth Angel (Will you be Mine)" by the Penguins reference. Heck, it'd fit the 50's theme.

[@OnDavidsBrain]

CG comic artwork? Honestly I could see that working in the late 90's maybe if some publisher was doing a comic adaptation of Reboot or Beast Wars or something like that, properties that already used early CGI. But from what I've seen here the quality seems to be on par with MS Igloo or Final Fantasy 8. Also remember that Gordon Ramsey is Civvie's intellectual property.

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

29:42 perfect punchline. also, from where is the clip?

[@DanBrizuela]

Maybe it was meant to be set in the 50s, but was changed to the 90s at the last minute

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

Speaking of CGI comicbooks from the 90s, _Batman Digital Justice_ is sort of a cult classic in that subgenre

[@thetux459]

Well... rocks are made of subatomic particles... I'll see myself out.

[@jackwells8107]

First - thanks for reminding me of Helix. I need to go back and re-read Black Lamb now. I missed that in my recent Truman re-read. Second - I love Dave Gibbons art, but he's proof that, for every artist who also makes a great writer - like Jim Starlin, John Byrne, or Walt Simonson, you have several who aren't that great at it.

[@johnoneil9188]

With Berg looking like the main character from Limbo of the Lost I almost expect him to launch into a random musical number at the end of the story.

[@Goatcha_M]

Because Thermite is known for its explosive qualities and not for just burning really intensely.

[@andreworders7305]

5:19 why does it say advertisement?

[@crithon]

sigh, Oh I remember this era, I have fond memories of these comics that attempt at jumping onto new tech and not getting it right. Also the whole "written like it's 1950s." That's A LOT of Eruo comics, they look fancy with the art, but they are written with "relgion is evil" and "women are sex pots" and all in the name of pulp action.

[@seraphonica]

16:24 tragically, he was born without a neck.

[@johnsesia9050]

Kudos for stating that Helix existed in the late '90s, as their earliest publication was in September of 1996, the very first month thereof.

[@colossusofsol2643]

I wonder if there are any good examples of comics using 3D assets out there. Something to look up

[@ZillMob]

6:10 did the mst3k guys never sing earth angel? I feel like they did at some point. Seems up their alley

[@Valdagast]

"Steel isn't strong, boy, flesh is stronger!"

[@Magicghost23]

How do we get Beyond non Thunderdome

[@Cdr2002]

Lmao

[@AdahnFlorence]

Honestly as a fan of pre-rendered CGI I don't dislike the way this looks.

[@breawycker]

I'm with you on the bolding of dialogue thing. It really kinda defeats the purpose if it's so constant

[@monanarts3726]

This one left me baffled and speechless but somehow also unsurprised for 1998.

[@andreworders7305]

6:59 that’s actually quite pretty

[@PharaohDom]

Transmetro is possibly the greatest work to come pit of the Helix imprint.

[@Artista_Frustrado]

ironically the cgi was the least dated part of the comic, but yeah i can kinda see why this comic didn't catch on having the aliens be responsible is a neat element tho

[@Dynaman21]

This reminds me of that awful-looking War Machine comic that was also done in CGI, and looks like something early Reboot would laugh at. Can't say this is much better.