I don't see how that comic is relevant to Manta, and it seems to be a bit of an unfair comparison. The Manta web site emphasizes the ability to use common and existing tools to work with the data. In addition to standard Unix pipes, they have bindings for pretty much every language I could think I want to use.

I.e. Manta seems to emphasize the ability to use existing tools in a distributed fashion, rather than forcing you to learn a new language with unfamiliar syntax.

Hacker News at its finest.

OMG A DATABSAE THINGIE! IMMA POST THE COMIC WHAT SAYS THE CURSE WORD!