Interview with Linkara

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(The deadline for Oberon's Garden Round 4 is December 20th, 11:59 PM. The matchup journal entry can be found here: ganondorfthethird.deviantart.c… Just wanted to keep a link up to that on the main page)

And now for something completely different...

I recently had an opportunity to interview Lewis Lovhaug, better known as Linkara, the comic book reviewer on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. His videos can be found here: thatguywiththeglasses.com/vide…. I asked him a few questions about his videos as well as some of his other projects.

Me: First of all, I would like to thank you for the interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you just briefly tell how you started doing comic book reviews and how you came to be on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses?
Lewis: I started doing text reviews in the same vein as the Agony Booth or Jabootu's movie reviews.  After the "Ask That Guy" contest, I had so much fun doing the video that I decided to make comic reviews in video form.  I submitted my stuff to That Guy with the Glasses, they liked it, and the rest is history.

Me: What is your process for doing a video? How long does it typically take to make one of your videos and what does that work entail?
Lewis: As I read the book I write out a script separating live action bits and voiceover bits.  After I film I collect panels and edit it all together into a video.  It can vary – theoretically I could make an entire video in 24 hours but I have to pace myself or I go nuts.

Me: How does it feel to work on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses? Judging by the number of crossovers you guys have done, it seems like you all get along very well…
Lewis: It's fantastic!  I love that I can share my love of comics to everyone and we all get along very well on the site.

Me: Now, you have reviewed many horrible comics. However, are there any terrible comics in particular that you really wanted to do a review for, but couldn't get around to it for whatever reason?
Lewis: Nope. If there's a comic I want to review, I put it on the schedule and I find a way to make it happen.

Me: You've spoken at length before about the specific qualities you look for in a bad comic, but what kind of specific qualities do you look for in a good comic? What are the best qualities of comics you actually enjoy reading? What are some of your favorite comics you are reading currently?
Lewis: It varies.  Fun superhero stuff is what I tend to appreciate more.

Me: You recently did a very funny review of Superman IV with the Nostalgia Critic. Do you have any plans in the future to review any more bad comic book movies? There are more than a few that probably deserve it (please do the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, please do the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie… )
Lewis: Maybe, but we'll have to wait and see.

Me: I believe you also stated some time ago that you were considering doing video game reviews as 90's kid. Are you still considering this? (Mostly I'm asking since I find 90's Kid hilarious since I've known at least 2 or 3 people in my life who basically are that character).
Lewis: I'm still considering it – it's a matter of time, figuring out the best format, and what sort of games he'd review.

Me: You've done just over 50 videos. What was the video you would say you most enjoyed doing and what would you say is the video that was the most difficult or frustrating for you to do?
Lewis: I really had fun with the New Guardians #2 review and the Silent Hill stuff.  As for most frustrating, probably the Superman 4 video because of all the technical problems we had.

Me: Is there one specific joke from your videos that you're particularly proud of writing? Basically do you have a favorite joke that you made in one of your videos?
Lewis: "Oh, boo hoo, we've all got problems."  I just love that joke for some reason.

Me: One interesting thing about your videos is that they sort of have a weird story arc to them, with characters like Mechakara and Spoony's Dr. Insano popping up with some degree of frequency. What made you decide to put this kind of storyline in your reviews? Was it a conscious decision or did it just sort of happen over time?
Lewis: A conscious decision, especially to emulate comic book story-arcs and whatnot.

Me: Going back to your taste in comics, are there any comics you really enjoy that you feel are very underrated that more people should take an interest in?
Lewis: Booster Gold, currently ongoing, and the weekly series that finished up a while back called Trinity.  Trinity is highly underrated.

Me: Now just the opposite. Are there any comics that you feel are very overrated and, if so, what specifically do you not like about them?
Lewis: The Boys.  Also Armylove – hate them both with the fire of a thousand suns.

Me: Now, although you're obviously most well known for your reviews as Linkara, you've done numerous other projects as well, so I'd like to ask a few questions about those. I understand that before you started writing comics and doing reviews, you wrote a series of self-published books called Angel Armor that you started writing as a teenager and continued to write as you got older. I haven't really seen a whole lot of other people ask a whole lot about it, so I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about them. What are the books about and how did you get the idea? Do you intend to keep creating more books in this series?
Lewis: I'm currently in the process of rewriting the first one.  Essentially it's a schoolboy in a Tolkien-esque fantasy land.  I don't talk about them as often because, well, looking back they're not very good.  I'm going to fix this, but for now I prefer to sweep it away like I did my fanfiction.

Me: You've also written a webcomic called Lightbringer about the world's first superhero. Tell us about that and how you came up with the idea. What made you decide to write a webcomic?
Lewis: Modern day comics, whenever they create a new universe with superheroes populating it, always seem to want to give it a full looooong history of superheroes, with their own golden and silver ages and blah, blah, blah.  I wanted to start from the ground up, get people interested in superheroes as they're first emerging in a modern world.  Kind of like Heroes but not so stupid and with costumes.

Me: You've also written an indie comic called Revolution of the Mask. What is this comic about and how did you come up with the idea? What made you decide to try to make this idea a semi-professional endeavor of making a comic?
Lewis: Revolution of the Mask is about a dystopian future that, at its core, is really just about superheroes and why they're awesome.  I based it on an underutilized plot thread from a B-movie called "City Limits," where purportedly a group of teenagers have a society built around comic books, but there isn't much evidence of that, so I wanted to write about that and better utilize it.

Me: Outside of comic books and graphic novel, do you have any favorite novels or stories?
Lewis: T.H. White's the Once and Future King is my favorite book.  Not many other hobbies outside of comics, I admit.  Just not into very much; I'm kind of boring that way.

Me: What do you do when you're not making videos? What other hobbies do you have outside of reading comics?
Lewis: Watching other people's videos, mostly.  XD  Or watching a show or something that has been recommended to me or the occasional video game.

Me: Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything you'd like to say to our readers?
Lewis: Anything else I'd like to say?  I will say Craft Porcelain, since that is a tag on something on my desk.

And there you have it. The name of the webcomic mentioned in the review is Lightbringer, which you can find here: lightbringer.comicgenesis.com/ Revolution of the Mask can be purchased and viewed on Brain Scan Studios website here: www.brainscancomics.com/comics… I hope you all enjoyed this interview. I might try to do some more in the future. So to all my readers, remember to live long and Craft Porcelain.
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DemonicOfAngels's avatar
But seriously, you are a good interviewer.