The Nitpicker #26.

DISCLAIMER

[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]

So, here we are with the new and (hopefully) weekly Nitpicker! I know I promised that I'd post on Friday or Monday; but I write this thing on my free time at work, and since I didn't work on Friday, and Sunday was quite busy, it ended up being today, just in time for new comics! As I said last week, I'm going to start posting weekly, with fewer nits, to have a more active schedule.

Each week I'll have at least 10 nits, and if I can't find that many in that week's comics, I'll use my vast backlog reserve to get to that amount. This week, for example, we have more, just with this week's comics we got up to 17 nits (thanks to Superman/Batman and Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell that contributed with ten of them).

While not a nit, this is not totally off-topic, so I thought I'd mention it. Am I the only one who finds funny that MAD Magazine rewards readers whose letters are published in the magazine with a set of notebooks featuring "The Art Of Vintage Marvel"; when MAD is published by DC Comics? Whatever, let's get on with this week's nits!
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"IT'S AN ANCIENT WAKANDAN STORING METHOD."

TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.

ISSUE: 546.

CULPRIT: Paul Pelletier (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 14, panels 2 and 3... are we supposed to believe that the Black Panther, the king of Wakanda, one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth, stores a machine created by Dr. Doom to siphon the Power Cosmic off the Silver Surfer, in a wooden crate held together with screws, with the words "Plan G" painted on one side? Come on!!!


NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, this is preposterous.
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"WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE DAMN PLANET?"

TITLE: Star Wars: Legacy.

ISSUE: 12.

CULPRIT: John Ostrander (script), maybe also Jan Duursema (co-plotter), and/or Michael Heisler (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 4, they mention the planet Zonoma Sekot, when it's Zonama Sekot.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzar, it's a typo, but you should check your references.
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"DON'TFORGETTHESPACES"

TITLE: (Supergirl And The) Legion Of Superheroes V5.

ISSUE: 30.

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) and/or Jared K. Fletcher (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: First of all, you'd notice that I've changed the notation on this book. We all know that Supergirl is, eventually, going back to the 21st Century (actually, she's already there/then... time travel makes my head hurt!), so the "Supergirl And The" part of the book's name is going to be dropped at some point. As it is, the book is V1 of "Supergirl And...", but when it loses the "Supergirl...", it'll go back to being "Legion...", actually, V5 of the book. I have, erroneously, been referring to this book as V4, when it's actually V5... I was not counting a "Legion Of Superheroes" book that ran for four issues back 1973, reprinting Adventure Comic stories; I didn't know it had existed.

As for the actual nit here, on page 4, panel 3, Dream Boy says "You wereabout to ask."; obviously a space is missing there. Speaking of Dream Boy... boyohoboy, is that a sissy name or what? I guess it is, a sissy name, for a sissy powered guy, with a sissy perm... I guess that since Element Lad now wears a manly haircut, albeit with a soul patch, they needed somebody to be the George Perez-y 80s permed sissy).


For those of you who are now wanting to see the level of sissines that Dream Boy takes things to, behold (and compare to retro Element Lad)!


Oh, yeah, and see here new, manly, soulpatched V5 Element Lad:


Note: I don't have any kind of problem with gay people (which Element Lad was/is, sort of); I'm just making fun of their costumes and hair. Speaking of gays and comics, please check out Blockade Boy (by its namesake) and The Absorbascon (by Scipio), both ran by gay comic fans, an incidentally, very, very funny. Actually, come to think about it, since Blockade Boy is a character, I'm not sure if the actual blogger is gay.

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar, not a big thing at all.
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"SOME BUILDING WITH FOREIGN PEOPLE, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?"

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 49.

CULPRIT: Mike Marts (editor).

NIT-TO-PICK: Speaking of Countdown, we've seen that Jimmy Olsen has elastic powers, so he might not be the Jimmy of New Earth. Anyway, this nit is not really in the comic, but in Mike Mart's weekly Q&A at Newsarama, about this particular comic, so I'll stretch my modus operandi slightly.

In this issue, Mary Marvel visits Gotham, where she wanders (actually runs, while being chased by some lowlifes) into an abandoned building, which apparently used to house some sort of diplomatic mission from Kahndaq. It can't be the Embassy of Kahndaq, formerly of Themyscira, since that building is located in New York City, because nations can have many consulates in important cities of a particular country, but only one Embassy in that country, generally in the capital city.

Yet in the aforementioned Newsarama piece, Marts said "It’s the abandoned Kahndaq embassy. Abandoned and left vacant after the events of 52 and World War III." Well, this is almost as bad as having an Embassy for your country located in a city on your own country.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, it could be higher, but it wasn't actually in the book itself.
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"NIT-PICKING OR NITPICKING?"

TITLE: The Irredeemable Ant-Man.

ISSUE: 08.

CULPRIT: Aubrey Sitterson (editor, who, oddly, has no assistant editors); or whoever puts together the layout of the letters page.

NIT-TO-PICK: On the letters page, on the bottom, readers are encouraged to send letters to "The Irredeemable Antman (...)"; but the book's name is "The Irredeemable Ant-Man". I'll have to check if it's the same on the previous seven issues.

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar, sometimes I nitpick for the sake of Nitpicking.
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"DO OR DO NOT, TRYING IS DISHONORABLE!"

TITLE: Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell.

ISSUE: 02 of 04.

CULPRIT: Scott and David Tipton (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: This book is a good read, much better than the TNG one IDW is putting out at the moment (The Space Between, was it?); but it's got some conceptual errors.

First of all, on page 4, panels 3 and 4, it says, about Klingon culture, "For a warrior, no credit is given for mere effort. And one who tries valiantly and fails... is still no less a failure." Hmm... and here I thought I'd seen tons of episodes where Klingons claim that there is honor in dying in battle, even if you lose the battle, as long as you fought valiantly and honorably.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"SAY, WHY IS THE FLOOR OF THIS O.R. PAINTED RED?"

TITLE: Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell.

ISSUE: 02 of 04.

CULPRIT: Scott and David Tipton (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: And on with this book's misconceptions about Klingons; the scene showing the Klingon's operation to appear human on page 7; it is accepted that Klingons, due to their warrior culture, have underdeveloped medical science and technology (compared to the Federation); but this is way too much.

The Klingon "doctors" operate dressed in armor (with no gloves or surgical mask), in an obviously non-sterile environment (complete with bloodstains in the instrument cart), no anesthetics, and with surgical instruments that look like power tools. Yes, we know that they're tough motherfuckers; however, they're not stupid, and even if their medical science is not as advanced as the Federation's, they wouldn't operate under those conditions if they want their patient to survive.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, it's really stupid. The artist (David Messina) gets a pass because the description of the procedure comes from the script.
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"I'M A KLINGON DOCTOR, WHAT THE HELL DO I KNOW ABOUT KLINGON ANATOMY?"

TITLE: Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell.

ISSUE: 02 of 04.

CULPRIT: Scott and David Tipton (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 8, panel four, one of the doctor talks about how the now cosmetically human looking Klingon won't pass a medical scan, due to the vast difference between human and Klingon anatomy. He mentions a "more substantial rib cage, significantly larger heart, and three lungs."

Gee, of course humans don't have all that, but in Star Trek, they must also have, as the Klingons, two livers, an eight-chambered heart (which does not necessarily mean bigger), 23 ribs (more ribs, not just "more substantial ribs"), two stomachs and a double-lined neural pia mater (brain membrane).

Just for reference, the Klingon call their redundant organ systems brak'lul.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars; I'm not a Klingon expert, but when I read that, I knew that it didn't sound right.
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"WE DID THE FEET FIRST."

TITLE: Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell.

ISSUE: 02 of 04.

CULPRIT: Scott and David Tipton (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: Back to page 7, on the fifth panel (or the main one); the patient's feet look human, they don't have the characteristic ridges Klingon feet present (as seen in the The Next Generation's episode "Ethics" and Enterprise's "Broken Bow").

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"METAL MEN? OH, RIGHT, THOSE METAL MEN!"

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: What hell's going on here? Last issue, neither Batman nor Superman know who Will MaG... sorry, Magnus and his Metal Men are; but now, on page 3, they do? What gives? I tell you, this book keeps getting worse and worse.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. How is Verheiden capable of excellent Galactica episodes, and of this crap at the same time, is beyond me.
<-------------------------------->
"SWEATING ROBOTS?"

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 11, Superman tries to use his super senses to see if Metallo is lying; and says that Metallo's Kryptonite heart "doesn't jump" when he says a supposed lie, or that he's not perspiring or breathing abnormally.

Little problem there... Metallo doesn't have any organic parts other than his brain, and if he's got any kind of simulation of body functions, they're just that, simulations. And the Kryptonite heart wouldn't jump, because it's not really a heart, it's just a lump of radioactive rock that powers the robotic body Metallo's brain wears as a prosthetic.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, I'm handing 'em out as if they're candy, but they deserve it.
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"YEAH, I NEEDED HER BEFORE GOLD 'CAUSE SHE'S GOOD WITH BLOW.... ERR... ACCOUNTING!"

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 12. panel 3, Will Magnus explains that Gold is not finished yet because of the high price of his material. However, Platinum (or Platinia, as they call her now) is fully built, and platinum is more expensive than gold, usually twice the cost of gold.

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, a little research doesn't hurt.
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"I GOT A NEW DOG, IT'S A POMERANIAN."

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers) and/or Adam Schlagman (assistant editor) & Eddie Berganza (editor).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 17, Superman says that he doesn't meet with Batman in his fortress because Batman "hates the dog"; but Krypto has been missing for over a year, as revealed in Superman #662 (which also states that Superman hasn't had much time search for him; yet he jokes about him. Insensitive bastard.)

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"ME SUPERMAN. ME NEED ENGLISH TRANSLATION."

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 18, Batman says about Metallo "The cybernetic implants have an on-board CPU which has been compromised by malignant code."; and Superman asks "What's the English translation?"

Come on, do you really mean that Superman, who, as Clark Kent, is an award winning journalist, regardless of his super powers, and also, has some extent of super intelligence, or at least, quicker thought processes than regular people.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"OH, AND I SUPPOSE YOU BUILT BROTHER EYE FROM OLD NINTENDO CONSOLES?"

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 35.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden & Marc Guggenheim (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: And things keep getting better and better... if by "better" we understand "so ridiculous not even a Mort Weisinger edited Superman book would try to pull it off".

Still on page 18, Batman describes to Superman how Metallo's human brain communicates with his cybernetic body: a Bluetooth protocol. Of course, that's what I was missing from my cybernetic theories... the only thing you need to interface a human brain with a robotic body is an off the shelf wireless communication protocol!

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, please. Perhaps Batman is dumbing it down for his not too bright friend Superman, who needs an English translation?
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"DEJA VU WITH DIANA!"

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.

ISSUE: 09.

CULPRIT: Jodi Picoult (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: In this issue, Diana meets with her mother, Hippolyta, but hadn't she already done that, under completely different circumstances, as shown in Amazons Attack #1 and Wonder Woman V3 #8?

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"RESURRECTION IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE IN COMIC BOOKS!"

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.

ISSUE: 09.

CULPRIT: Jodi Picoult (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page five, panel 3, Superman says, about the possibility of Hippolyta being alive "(...) is impossible. I saw her die.".... Right Supes, because you, Hal Jordan, and Oliver Queen, just to mention a few, have never returned from death. Right, and since you haven't, it's obvious that it shouldn't be possible either for the queen of a magical island of almost immortal warriors to come back from among the dead?

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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There, we got a 6.3 Bazzars average, which is good, it's more than one point higher than last week. Again, thanks to Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell and Superman/Batman for making my job so easy. Next week... well, next week I'm sure we'll have some stuff to rant about.... for example, Star Trek: TNG: The Space Between is coming out, so I'm sure I'll be able to have some fun with that...

And ooh.... lookie here.... nothing to do with nits, or at least I haven't found any in that book, but the thing is, The Boys #7 is finally coming out, with the book having found a new home at Dynamite Entertainment. Good news there. Well, that's all for this week, until next, keep in mind that nothing escapes...

THE NITPICKER!

The Nitpicker #25.

DISCLAIMER

[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]

Well... I know, I usually start my posts with "well"; but... well, what am I gonna do? In this case, I was just considering the fact that I'm going to do something I said I wouldn't do anymore. What's that? Well, shorter posts. I like to have a big amount of nits in each column, but I've realized that the more time between posts, the less attention I get. Now, I know that I've gotten better, and that instead of posting every two months, I now post at least once a month, if not twice; but weekly is the way to go.

Not just for having a better frequency in posting, but because shorter posts make for easier reading, I guess. So what I'm gonna from now on (starting at the end of this week) is that each week, between Friday and Monday, I will post the nits I "harvested" from the books that came out on Wednesday. Not all of the books for that week, because some books I get later, but I'll do the best I can. Each posting will have at least 10 nits, and if that week I found less than ten nits, then I'll pad the column out with some of the older nits I have stashed away. Of course, some weeks, things can be so awful, that I find more than 10 nits; in that case, the column will have more nits.

Now, on with the nits for these past three weeks of May!
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"IT'S ALL SIMPLE AND PLANE."

TITLE: All-New Atom.

ISSUE: 11.

CULPRIT: Gail Simone (writer) and/or Pat Brosseau (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Am I missing something here? Has the word "plain" (clear or distinct; clearly and simply; undistinguished; without intricacies or difficulties; or an area of land not significantly higher than adjacent areas and with relatively minor differences in elevation, among other meanings) become synonymous with "plane" (as in a level of existence, or a dimension in comic book speak)?

Because this is the second time in only a few months that this very book uses the first word instead of the second one. The first time was in issue #7, referenced a few columns ago. This time, it's issue #11, page 14, last panel. And then again, on page 16, third panel.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, for a repeat offense.
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"PET PEEVE #2."

TITLE: Astonishing X-Men V2.

ISSUE: 21.

CULPRIT: John Cassaday (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: I'm not even going to bother to write this up. Beast. Page 6, panel two; more clearly in page 7, panel 2. See here for rant.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, only because the scale does not go higher.
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"PET PEEVE #1.5."

TITLE: Avengers: The Initiative.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Dan Slott (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 9, Von Blitzschlag says about MVP "(...) he vas Die Ubermensch." He's referring, of course, to Nietzsche's supermen, but of course, when the language's not English, we're bound to find a nit!

So.... combo nit! Actually, it's more of a two-in-one nit. First of all, it's Übermensch; second of all, that's plural, so it would be "Der Übermann", "Ein Übermann", or even "Das Übermann".

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, if you're writing an ex-Nazi who speaks in caricature half German, half English, get the German parts straight, please. And yes, I did check with native German speakers. Danke Arndt and Santiago!
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"YET AGAIN, PET PEEVE #2."

TITLE: Avengers: The Initiative.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Stefano Caselli (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 24. panel 2. Beast. 'Nuff said.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Okay, I'll say something else. This is a good book, so far.
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"I LEFT THE COLONIAL FLEET FOR STARFLEET... THEY'VE GOT COOLER OUTFITS!"

TITLE: Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero.

ISSUE: #0.

CULPRIT: Stephen Segovia (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: Small thing, and possibly not even a nit in the sense of a mistake; b ut definitely an error on the artists' part where artistic criteria is concerned. Let me say first, that this first issue is promising, this looks like it's going to be a good read, and I love to see this kind of prequel to one of my favorite TV shows.

However, when they show a picture of Admiral Dimarco (see below) on page 2, panel 4, he's wearing an insignia that looks nothing like the ones we've seen in the show. Granted, he could have a special Admiral's insignia only worn by Admirals of a higher rank than Adama; or a medal that none of the show's cast has not earned yet. But... did it have to look so much like a Starfleet insignia from Star Trek?!?!?! Bad, very bad choice.



NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
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"I STILL CAN'T SLEEP WITHOUT HER."

TITLE: Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero.

ISSUE: #0.

CULPRIT: Brandon Jerwa (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: This series is set about two years before the Cylon attack on the colonies (as seen in the miniseries that kick started the new version of BSG); yet on page 5, third panel, Commander William Adama mentions his wife Carolanne (aka Anne) as if they still were married; yet they divorced when Lee Adama (who in the show seems to be in his late 20s or early 30s) was eight.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, you should read up on the continuity of a series you're gonna write comics about.
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"THIS IS PLANETT EARTH!"

TITLE: Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero.

ISSUE: #0.

CULPRIT: Whoever writes copy for ads, probably somebody in the marketing department of Dynamite Entertainment.

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 7, there's an ad for the first volume of the hardcover collection of the comic simply entitled "Battlestar Galactica" (you know, the one where you can jump to the other side of the universe in ten seconds).

At the top of the page, you can read "Collecting the 1st arc of Greg (Planett Hulk) Pak (....). Simple as that.

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
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"N.I.T.P.I.C.K.I.N.G."

TITLE: Omega Flight.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Michael Avon Oeming (writer) and/or VC's Cory Petit (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Again (page 9, panel four; page 20, panel 2) , U.S.Agent's name is spelled USAgent; Marvel spells it with the periods, see here yet again.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, for repeat offense.
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"GOO-GOO-DA-DA!"

TITLE: Runaways V2.

ISSUE: 26.

CULPRIT: Joss Whedon (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Again, Whedon makes Molly (aka Bruiser) talk like she's 5; first she says "Freezy spell", and then "Probly". Then later on , she also behaves like she's 5, and uses the word b(in the loosest sense of the term "word") "Awesomed". Please Joss!!!

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, another repeat offense.
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"IT'S AN ANCIENT BAJORAN TRICK.""

TITLE: Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between.

ISSUE: 04.

CULPRIT: Casey Maloney (penciller). I erroneously referred to him as "Malone" in column #23.

NIT-TO-PICK: The art still sucks in this book, and the story is no better than a sub par TNG episode back from when it was on TV; I expected more from Tischman (granted, I only read Green Lantern: Evil's Might, and one of his Cable trades, but I liked that... and I never thought I'd like a Cable comic book). And let me say that "The Space Between" is a horrible name for a miniseries... they may have very well named it "The Stories That David Tischman Would Have Submitted As TNG Episodes Had He Been A Professional Writer Back Then"... and dammit, I just found out that Tischman wrote a comic book (Barnum!: In Secret Service To The USA) where Nikola Tesla is the villain.... YOU DON'T MESS WITH TESLA, YOU HEAR ME TISCHMAN?!?!?!?!

Deep breath.... ok... I'm ready to go on... In this nit, we will see the amazing magic trick performed by Ensign Ro Laren (later seen commanding Battlestar Pegasus) and her traditional Bajoran earring. Going into the issue, I couldn't remember which ear Bajorans traditionally wear the earring; but I couldn't help but notice that on the first page (where you can, on different panels, see both of Ro's ears perfectly), she's not wearing any earrings.

I said "well, she has had problems in the past with Riker over the earring's violation of Starfleet dress code, so she's probably not wearing it at all.". Incidentally, I find it highly unlikely that Starfleet wouldn't allow religious adornments (so as long as they don't interfere with your job, or offend others), particularly when Worf is allowed to wear his Klingon warrior's sash (or his Miss Qo'noS 2360 band, as I call it); which is not a religious item.

Anyhoo, back to the earring, I was surprised to see it pop up hanging from Ro's left ear on page 9, panels 2 and 3; and at that point, I seemed to remember that the traditional ear for it is the right one (however, I later checked Memory Alpha and Ro did wear it in the non-traditional ear). So far, so good. but on page 10, panel 3, the earring's gone from her left ear, only to return on page 12!

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars. This is not as funny as the incredible color-changing cape, but still...
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"WARPED FEATURES.""

TITLE: Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between.

ISSUE: 04.

CULPRIT: Casey Maloney (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Ok, I'm willing to cut an artist some slack, although it's obvious that Maloney has no interest whatsoever in drawing detailed, or even accurate faces on his characters, as you can see below:


For the love of god, I understand that in some cases, when dealing with actor likenesses, you don't want to have the comic versions look exactly like them... but this is ridiculous! These don't even look like people at all!!! Still, I suppose you could chalk that up to artistic licenses, or a "simple" artistic style. But there are some things that are just plain wrong... how does a character's head change shape between panels?


And also, come on, that's not Picard! That's Kryten, from Red Dwarf! See the resemblance:


NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, you can believe me when I say the art in this book sucks. It's odd, because looking at Maloney's other works, they look very detailed and correct, if in a style that's not particularly my cup of tea. He just doesn't seem to be putting his 100% into this book... and I asked him just that posting a comment on his blog.
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"DIDN'T I QUIT?""

TITLE: Superman V1.

ISSUE: 662.

CULPRIT: Kurt Busiek (writer) and/or Carlos Pacheco (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: I've ranted about this before, but here we go again. On page 9, Perry White is seen with a cigar in his hand... he quit smoking years ago, when he got cancer, and got cured of said cancer. I don't think there's been any storyline in which he started smoking again.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, I was going to give it more, but it is that Perry has started smoking again, and it is possible that under the new continuity after Infinite Crisis, he might have never had cancer and therefore, never quit smoking.
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"TALES AND PLANES!"

TITLE: The Phantom V7 (not including series of the character in other languages with names like Fantomen, or El Fantasma, or series with composite titles, like The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks; not even considering a series simply called "Phantom").

ISSUE: 16.

CULPRIT: Mike Bullock (writer) and/or Troy Peteri (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 5, panel 5, the character Theresa says "(....) the tiger with the spring-loaded tale (...); where it should obviously say tail.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
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"THEY'RE GONE? OH, YEAH, THESE ARE ZATANNA'S, SO THEY KNOW MAGIC TRICKS OF THEIR OWN!"

TITLE: Green Arrow V3.

ISSUE: 74.

CULPRIT: Scott McDaniel (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Another case of disappearing clothing/accesories; in this case, one beloved to all male comic fans: Black Canary's trademark fishnets! On page 2, Dinah jumps through a skylight with perpetual beau Green Arrow; and she's wearing her über-sex-ay fishnet stockings. Va-va-boom!

Then on page 3, second panel, she's not wearing them! Of course, they're back on page 5, or this wouldn't be such a wonderful nit. They stay put on her legs until page 9, but when we see her legs again, on page 11, they're gone again, remaining gone on page 12; but returning on page 20. They stay for the finale, luckily, and page 21 is the last time we get a glimpse of them. But wait! They're only there for the first panel; by the third one, they're gone once again!

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, come on McDaniel; what would you do if you had to draw Spider-Man's webs or the Fantastic Four with the Thing's rocky body?
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"I DYED IT FOR AN UNDERCOVER CASE."

TITLE: JLA: Classified.

ISSUE: 38.

CULPRIT: I.L.L. (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Pop quiz! What color is Batman's or Bruce Wayne's hair? If you answered black, you are correct, but you're also stating the obvious. Everybody knows his hair color. Everybody but I.L.L., who on pages 17 and 18 of this book colors it brown.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"I'M SO FAST, I'M COLOR SHIFTING!"

TITLE: JLA: Classified.

ISSUE: 38.

CULPRIT: I.L.L. (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: You know the Flash, right? I mean, not Jay Garrick, but the three who are related to each other, and who wore (more or less) identical costumes? Yellow boots, red suit, red mask and gloves? Well, I.L.L., at least on page 19, gave him yellow gloves (or at least on his left hand).

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I GET BONUS MINUTES IF I USE THIS ONE."

TITLE: Batman.

ISSUE: 655.

CULPRIT: Grant Morrison (writer) and/or Adam Kubert (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page six, a badly wounded Batman calls Alfred for help... using a cell phone. Are we really expected to believe that he doesn't have a built-in communicator with a rapid dial to the cave in his cowl?

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars. A cell phone?!
<-------------------------------->
"NO EOPLE EITHER."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 50 of 52 (reverse order).

CULPRIT: Paul Dini (head writer) and/or Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (writers), and or Pat Brosseau (letterer), and/or Jim Calafiore.

NIT-TO-PICK: Countdown has started off well; not with a bang, but building up well. I considered saving up this nits for an end of the series, like I did with 52. However, two things made me decide against that, the first being that this series doesn't quite have the relevance that 52 had, at least in my opinion. The second one is that, I really mostly saved my 52 nits (those that hadn't been featured in previous columns) for a special because I had a lot of them piled up from the time when I wasn't doing the column.

Something caught my attention, although this is not the nit that concerns us. On page 5, the caption boxes with Jimmy Olsen's inner monologue reveal that he knows that the Red Hood, Jason Todd was the second Robin, and that Nightwing, Dick Grayson, was the first one. WTF?! If he knows this, he certainly knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman, nobody could be that moronic, and Jimmy, while naive, is not an idiot. However, Mike Marts, editor of the series, said in Newsarama that Jimmy does not know Batman's secret ID. Huh?

The nit in question, however, is in the final scene, when Jimmy goes to Arkham to talk to the Joker (why would they allow reporters to talk to a patient in a mental asylum, that is beyond me). There is a very funny detail on page 19, third panel, where they're strip-searching Mr. Olsen; on the wall you can see a sign that says "No guns, coins, umbrellas (...) (play)ing cards (...) beyond this point"; but one of things, right after umbrellas (as far as I know, Penguin has never been an Arkham inmate, he just gets regular jail) is "lants".... I'm guessing that was supposed to be "plants", as per Poison Ivy, but you can clearly see (even if the sign is partially obscured by a speech balloon) that the "p" is missing.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, I hope they have a good explanation for this.
<-------------------------------->
"PET PEEVE #3."

TITLE: Action Comics.

ISSUE: 849.

CULPRIT: Allan Goldman (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Ma and Pa Kent, pages 12 and 13; they look too young. Not as young as previous appearances, though, so I'm gonna go softer here.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars is what I mean by softer, it's still a recurring offense.
<-------------------------------->
"WHAT'S YOUR RANK AGAIN?"

TITLE: The Mighty Avengers.

ISSUE: 03.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 9, panel one, Maria Hill, of SHIELD, is called Deputy Commander Hill, when she should be called Deputy Director (since Tony Stark is MIA); her Commander rank is not full, as far as I know. By the way, this book has gotten a bit better since the first issue.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"CAUGHT WITH YOUR PANTS DOWN!"

TITLE: The Mighty Avengers.

ISSUE: 03.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Apart from the comedy value, I really don't think that Henry Pym, one of the world's more experienced superheroes, would stand up, pants around his ankles (he was about to boink Tigra), hands behind his head, when SHIELD agents come busting through the door... if he reacts like that, I'm surprised the Super Adaptoid or Baron Zemo haven't killed him.

Oh, Tigra looks SEX-AY in this issue... thank you Frank Cho!!!

NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, Pym is, after all, nuts.
<-------------------------------->
"BLUE, GREEN, SAME THING."

TITLE: Uncanny X-Men.

ISSUE: 486.

CULPRIT: Frank D'Armata (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 23, panel five, Professor Xavier's eyes are colored green, when they're actually blue.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars... reference materials people, reference materials!
<-------------------------------->
"LOOKING BACK..."

TITLE: All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update 2007.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator), and/or one or more of various writers.

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 21, Captain America's profile, his Abilities/Accessories section is all written in present tense, as if he were still alive, in contrast with the bio on that page and the previous one, where every thing is written in past tense.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHO ELSE WORKED ON THIS BOOK?"

TITLE: Supergirl V5.

ISSUE: 17.

CULPRIT: Rob Leigh (letterer) and Adam Schlagman (assistant editor) & Eddie Berganza (editor).

NIT-TO-PICK: On the splash page on pages 3 and 4, where the credits are displayed, there is no colorist credited. It's fairly obvious that it's Rod Reis, since he's the book's regular colorist, and he's credited for the cover (although it doesn't say who did what in the cover; but given that Alé Garza is the penciller, Richard Friend must be the inker, since it's credited as Garza & Friend, with Reis); plus the colors in the issue looks his work. In fact, it is Rod Reis, he confirmed it in his Deviant Art site, after I asked him.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, I've would have given this a higher rating, but it's easy to deduce that it's Reis.
<-------------------------------->
"MY OTHER PAIR OF JEANS WAS IN THE LAUNDRY."

TITLE: Supergirl V5.

ISSUE: 17.

CULPRIT: Alé Garza (penciller) and (maybe) Rod Reis (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 10, first panel, Garza (and maybe Reis) took it upon themselves to redesign Wonder Girl's costume. Look below, on the left we see her by Tony Daniel (as in the guy who designed the costume and drew her every month up to recent issues), and on the right, we see her by Garzá and Reis:


Let's go over this, shall we? Actually, it's just two differences; 1) her costume pants (and by that I mean those jeans she picked up in a mall) have only one white star on each of her hips, while the redesigned version sports at least three white-with-a-red-border stars on each side of the pant legs; and 2) the original belt buckle is just a low-profile silver bling-thing; while the redesigned belt buckle seems to have been stolen from Prince's costume. And I mean "Purple Rain" Prince, not Diana Prince.

Now, since it's a pair of jeans, and not a real superhero costume, it's safe to assume that she has different models of it... but why hasn't she worn any but the regular, one-starred, low-key blinged one? Dunno, this just bugs me. Why did I credit Reis? Because the coloring of the stars and belt buckle might have been his sole idea, or he didn't check their color in Teen Titans.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, it's easily explainable, but it stuck out like a vegetarian in a Texas steakhouse.
<-------------------------------->
There we go... 5.2 Bazzars average this week. So-so.... That's it for now, in a few days (again Friday or Monday), we'll have the nits for this week's comics, with perhaps a couple of things from the past. Until then, go on your merry ways, but remember, nothing escapes....

THE NITPICKER!

The Nitpicker #24-END OF 52 SPECIAL.

DISCLAIMER

[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]

Well, here's the end of 52 special; only a week later after 52 #52 came out. You'll find nits that have already been featured in the column, back before it was in the form of this blog, but after a certain point, I decided to save all 52 nits for a special... this special! You can see how, up to week 34 (the first nits written up especially for this installment), I give less Bazzars than you'd expect me to... that only goes to show how I grow less and less intolerant month after month!

Enough chatter, on with the nits!
<-------------------------------->
"I'M FROM THE FUTURE! I KNOW EVERYTHING! SAY... WHO'S THAT GUY WITH THE GLASSES? HE KINDA LOOKS LIKE SUPERMAN!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 1 of 52.

CULPRIT: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid (writers, henceforth known as The Writing Team).

NIT-TO-PICK: Wonderful start for 52, I've been eagerly awaiting for this book to start, not only because it will tell you what happened during the past year in the DCU, but because one of the main stars is The Question, and he's one of my favorite characters.

But alas, there had to be a nit, even if I have to grasp at straws to find it. In page 21, when Booster Gold goes haywire, he punches somebody while he's struggling and Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) are trying to restrain him (BTW, I know Booster's armor is from the future, but really, can't J'onn and Hal restrain him?).

In the next panel we see that who he hit is Clark Kent, who is bleeding from his nose, meaning that the loss of powers he suffered during this year was already in effect this early into the year. When Booster punches him, Clark says from off-panel, that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are not coming; and in the following panel, Booster looks straight at him and asks him "How the hell do YOU know?"

I'd wager that Booster, after his time with the JLA, probably knew Supes' secret ID... even if he didn't, he has detailed historical records from the 25th Century, and he stresses that several times... even if they were wrong because of the Infinite Crisis, the little tidbit about Clark's ID should be there. But then again, he could be so out of his mind with the shock of his records being wrong that he doesn't recognize Clark.

NIT-O-METER: Can't give this more than a 2, since it's very easy to explain as I said above, with Booster is not thinking straight at the moment.
<-------------------------------->
DOPPERGANGLINESS IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 3 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team, but I think this particular scene is the handiwork of Geoff Johns.

NIT-TO-PICK: In page 16, when the scientists at Star Labs and John Henry Irons (aka Steel) find out that the Lex Luthor corpse they have is not "our" Lex, but Alexander Luthor, from Earth 3... Are you really telling me that the only way to find out when somebody is from an alternate reality than by his eye color? Something like the vibrational frequency of the body's matter?

I mean, I bet Alex Luthor could change his vibrational frequency... couldn't he change his eye color as well?

NIT-O-METER: Just a small nit, 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
IT'S IN HIS EYES, THAT'S WHERE IT IS!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 9 of 52.

CULPRIT: Shawn Moll (penciller), and/or David Baron (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 14, first panel, Adam Strange clearly has eyes, even if they're white, and none of the scarring around where his eyes used to be.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, big but not important, this nit was even admitted by Stephen Wacker (editor of 52 at the time) on Newsarama.
<-------------------------------->
"EYE SEE YOU!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 9 of 52.

CULPRIT: Shawn Moll (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Alright, this is one of my pet peeves... mostly because it's one of my favorite characters. On page 21, panel one, The Question's mask has eyes... IT DOES NOT HAVE EYES. THE WHOLE POINT OF THE MASK IS THAT HE LOOKS FACELESS!!!

NIT-O-METER: 9 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"OH, I'VE BEEN EXCERCISING, THANKS FOR NOTICING."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 11 of 52.

CULPRIT: Keith Giffen (breakdowns) and Joe Bennett (penciller for this particular subplot).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 11 (and on the rest of the book), Charlie (aka The Question) looks too big, too beefed up; he looks more like Batman or Superman. The body type is wrong, Question is fit; muscular, but not broad shouldered as they've drawn it here.

NIT-O-METER: Just 3 Bazzars, can't give it more.
<-------------------------------->
"IT JUST GREW BACK."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 11.

CULPRIT: Dan Jurgens (layouts) and/or Andy Lanning (finishes).

NIT-TO-PICK: In the History of the DCU section, namely in page 25 of the book, panel 5, we have a reproduction of a section of the scene from Infinite Crisis 7 where Wonder Girl mourns the death of Superboy... and we got ourselves a DOUBLE NIT!!!! I'm not going to bitch about the tears in the costumes or the poses not matching the original art (because they don't), but there's two things that do bother me. The first one, and the subject of this particular nit? Well, Superboy (Kon-El) lost his right hand in the battle against Superboy Prime, and in Infinite Crisis 7 you can clearly see it was cut-off at the wrist, even leaving what appears to be a "closed" stump... but in this recreation of that scene, even though the panel border cuts it off, you can see the beginning of his right hand, specifically his thumb joint.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHILE IT GREW BACK, I HAD TIME TO CHANGE CLOTHES."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 11 of 52.

CULPRIT: Jeromy Cox & Guy Major (colorists).

NIT-TO-PICK: Aaaaaaaaaaaaand the second part of this double nit is brought to us by two of our favorite colorists. Who can forget Jeromy Cox, who gave us such classics as "THE INCREDIBLE COLOR CHANGING CAPE" (I'm going to milk this one forever, am I not?) and "GREEN LANTERN GLOVES, THEY COME AND GO...". And nobody will fail to remember Guy Major... well, yes, I think he's only appeared here once, and for something minor.

So, what did they do? Simple, they colored Wonder Girls pants blue, instead of red... they might have been thinking of the jeans she wears OYL... tsk, tsk, tsk...

NIT-O-METER: Just 5 Bazzars, can't go higher with this one.
<-------------------------------->
"I JUST HAD TO SAY IT AGAIN."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 12 of 52.

CULPRIT: Travis Lanham (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 7, the last dialogue by Adrianna Tomaz (soon to be Isis) on panel 1 is repeated as her first dialogue in panel 2.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, it's a stupid error, but hardly major.
<-------------------------------->
"I SHUST DONT KNOW HOW, TO WRITE THIS SENTENCE."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 13 of 52.

CULPRIT: Nick J. Napolitano (letterer) and/or (but not very likely) The Writing Team.

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 9, panel 1, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) says to Ralph Dibny (aka Elongated Man) "You wanted friends here (...) you're afraid you've cofused desperation, for judgment." Wow, that's three nits in one sentence! First, and most obvious, the word is not "cofused", but "confused", second, between "you're afraid" and "you've cofused", there should be a comma, which, third, appears in "desperation, for judgment", where there should be none. The correct sentence would have been "(...) you're afraid, you've confused desperation for judgment."

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, even if it's big, it doesn't make the dialogue impossible to understand. Just because you're the letterer doesn't mean you get to screw up.
<-------------------------------->
"GOTHAM CITY, CITY STATE?"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 14 of 52.

CULPRIT: Travis Lanham (letterer) and/or The Writing Team, Greg Rucka being the writer most likely in charge of this scene.

NIT-TO-PICK: When Renee Montoya's passport is stamped in Khandaq (page 2, panel 8), it reads "U.S. Embassy, Gotham City, United States"... wtf? I thought Gotham went back to being part of the USA after the No Man's Land. Since when countries have embassies in their own cities?

NIT-O-METER: 9 Bazzars, big mistake, but not story-affecting.
<-------------------------------->
"ALL THESE INJUNS ARE THE SAME TO ME"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 22 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team.

NIT-TO-PICK: This is an old one, and one I found out thanks to 52 Pickup, a wonderful fellow blog that picks apart 52 on a, what less, weekly basis.

This issue has the appearance of the new "Super Chief", who gets his power from a "Manitou Stone. "Manitou" is a word used by the Algonquin speaking peoples of New England to mean 'spirit,' as in having spiritual power. Thing is, the legend of the first "Super Chief", states that he was "A great noble of the Iroquois nation". An Iroquois wouldn't have called on "manitou, the great spirit in things"; he'd have called it "orenda."

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, a little research, particularly on cultural issues such as this one, doesn't hurt.
<-------------------------------->
"THEY CHARGED BY THE CANDLE..."

(NOTE: This nit, and another one further down originally contained the word "Jew" in some instances, as I believed "Jew" and "Jewish" were the same when referring to a person. Apparently, it is, but some Jewish people take offense at the use of "Jew", due to its past use as part of racial slurs. I opted to change the wording as to not offend anybody.)

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52.

CULPRIT: Keith Giffen (breakdowns) and Joe Prado & Tom Derenick (pencillers).

NIT-O-METER: It's the end of Hanukkah, and on page 10, we can see that at Renee Montoya's apartment, the Jewish festivity has been celebrated by herself, Aristotle Rodor, Vic Sage, and Katy Kane (aka Batwoman, who's the only Jewish person of the bunch). There's a menorah, the seven-armed candelabrum used by the Jewish people; problem is, on Hanukkah, they light a Hanukkia, which has 9 arms. Oh, there it is again, on page 13.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, please research this kind of cultural/ethnic things.
<-------------------------------->
"I KEEP IN SHAPE!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52.

CULPRIT: Joe Prado & Tom Derenick (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On pages 10 and 11, Vic Sage (aka The Question) is shown with his face emaciated due to cancer, gaunt, as if he's lost a lot of weight; which one of the symptoms of lung cancer; yet his pecs are looking as muscular as ever. His open shirt shows his chest muscles, which look athletic as he was before the disease kicked in... and as far as I know, if you lost enough weight as to make your face look quasi-skeletal, you're gonna lose muscular mass.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I'M NOT REALLY HERE"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team, and/or Keith Giffen (breakdowns) and/or Joe Prado & Tom Derenick (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 14, several scenes of DC heroes celebrating Christmas can be seen, and one of them is Green Arrow, with what are most likely Black Canary, Arsenal and Speedy in the background. Wait, isn't Green Arrow, along with most of his "family", supposed to have spent the 52 year in a remote island, training?

Incidentally, on the same page, Guy Gardner is seen creating a Santa-with-reindeers-and-sled, and a menorah with his ring, he's excused from knowing which candelabrum is the correct one, since he's not Jewish, and apparently doesn't have any friends that are. I do, and that's why I know the difference.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, I guess they could have returned home for a few days to celebrate the holidays.
<-------------------------------->
"THE BATSIGNAL IS BROKEN, SO WE'RE USING SMOKE SIGNALS"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52.

CULPRIT: Keith Giffen (breakdowns) and/or Joe Prado & Tom Derenick (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 16, Jim Gordon is shown smoking a pipe. I thought he'd quit.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, he might have started again.
<-------------------------------->
"ESSENTIAL... A MATTER OF SEMANTICS"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) or Michael Siglain (editor).

NIT-TO-PICK: At the end of the Martian Manhunter's origin story, an essential storylines list is given. Among them are two stories where J'onn only has small appearances, almost cameos: Formerly Known as the Justice League (which in fact has been largely ignored by DC's editorial, as if where out of continuity) and Countdown to Infinite Crisis.

There's other problems with this essential storylines list, mainly continuity issues stemming from the reboot to Earth-1 after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the semi-reboot into New Earth after Infinite Crisis. A good analysis of these problems, and other issues with the Martian Manhunter's can be found on Everyday Is Like Wednesday, another damn fine comics blog.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHAT'S IN A NAME?"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 33 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) or Michael Siglain (editor).

NIT-TO-PICK: On the last page of the Martian Manhunter's origin story, specifically in the "Powers and Weapons" section, his name is misspelled as "Jonn", instead of "J'onn".

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, might be a typo, but it's still in something important like a name.
<-------------------------------->
"TIME IS BROKEN!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 34 of 52.

CULPRIT: And the first freshly-written nit of the bunch goes to.... The Writing Team and/or Travis Lanham (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: The opening fight scene, on the first page, opens with "Week 34, Day 1"; and two pages later, still the same scene, reads "Week 34, Day 3."

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, it confuses the hell out of you, since the chronology of this book is really important. I think Wacker admitted to this one as well.
<-------------------------------->
"DAMN HIPPIES! THEY'RE TOO LAZY TO USE TWO SEPARATE WORDS!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 34 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team and/or Travis Lanham (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 6, the famous environmental organization is referred to as "Green Peace"; when their name is only one word, "Greenpeace".

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, because a little research wouldn't hurt. Even my word processor's spell check knows it's one word.
<-------------------------------->
"MR. MIRACLE TAUGHT US THIS TRICK!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 36 of 52.

CULPRIT: Chris Batista or Jack Jadson (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On the first panel of page 5, you can see that Animal Man and Starfire are wearing some sort of restraints, shackles on their wrists, and some sort of thick metal collar. You can also see Buddy's on panel 3. But then, from panel 4 (when they're mobbed by the Lady Styx's goons) on, they're clearly not wearing any restraints, not on their neck, not on their wrist. In that same panel, number 4, Animal Man asks Lobo to release them, but you don't see Lobo doing that.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, I guess Lobo could have some sort of remote for the restraints, but it wouldn't have hurt showing how he activated it, or having Buddy ask him to release them one panel earlier.
<-------------------------------->
"I'M STILL KEEPING IN SHAPE."

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 36 of 52.

CULPRIT: Chris Batista or Jack Jadson (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: Back when talking about Week 33, I commented on how gaunt Vic Sage, aka Charlie, aka The Question looked due to his lung cancer (now extended to other parts of his body), or at least, how his face looked emaciated, but the rest of his body was as buff as a healthy man's. Well, three weeks later, and he's supposed to be even worse; yet on page 12 his face and what little we can see of his body look normal.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, it's getting worse, and not only Vic's health!
<-------------------------------->
"SORRY, I JSUT SLRUR WHEN I'M DRURRNK!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 37 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team (most likely Mark Waid or Geoff Johns) and/or Travis Lanham (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: What an issue! The Supernova reveal, he's Booster Gold, so Booster ain't dead! I loved this particular issue.... for that, and for learning that Animal Man had not really died. But there has to be some nits in this issue, right?

Well, on the first panel of page 18, Lobo says "partorl" instead of "patrol"; and I know he's talking in "tough guy speak", saying things like "figgered" or "stoopid" (a dialect made famous by Ben J. Grimm, aka The Thing, so much that I expected lobo to call Adam Strange "Stretcho"), but "partorl"?!?!??!

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
<-------------------------------->
"GET RID OF THE BODY!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 37 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team (Grant Morrison, most likely).

NIT-TO-PICK: Well, are we supposed to believe that Adam Strange and Starfire would leave Animal Man there for there? What makes them experts in his physiology, in his powers, that they are 100% sure that he's really dead? But that's not the point here... or actually... .yes, it is. Both Adam Strange and Starfire are smarter than that.

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING, YOU CRAZY BLIND MAN!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 37 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team and/or Travis Lanham (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 19, panel 2, Adam Strange speaks as if he's replying to something Starfire just said.... but Starfire is silent, there's no speech balloon there or on the previous panel!

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I'VE BEEN WORKING OUT TOO!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 41 of 52.

CULPRIT: Giuseppe Camuncoli (penciller), and maybe also Rodney Ramos (inker) and Alex Sinclair (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Apart from the fact that Aristotle "Tot" Rodor looks nothing like he used to (from frail old hippy to rugged Telly Savalas); why are his eyes lacking pupils on page 5, panel 5?

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WEAREATAPREMIUFORSPACE!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 46 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) and/or Phil Balsman (letter), or perhaps Michael Siglain (editor) and/or Harvey Richards & Jeanine Schaefer (associate editors).

NIT-TO-PICK: Not really sure who writes the text on the little profile at the end of these origin stories; but on Batman's, on page 23 of this issue, the "Essential Storylines" section lists as its last item "Batman: The GreatestStories Ever Told".

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
<-------------------------------->
"HELL, WHAT A FUN PLACE!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 41 of 52.

CULPRIT: The Writing Team (most likely Greg Rucka).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 4, Renee Montoya says "(...) a place where sins are indulged with abandon. (...) Hell." Uh.... isn't Hell where sins are, you know, punished?!?!?!?!

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I'M GOING FOR THE MARYLIN MONROE LOOK!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 49 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Alex Sinclair (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: I found these origin stories to be nicely done, but, for the most part, they didn't add anything to what we already know. It was hoped that they would give some insight as to how the DC Universe has changed after Infinite Crisis, but apart from the JLA's origin, not one story told us something new (perhaps there were other stories that did, but I can't remember them). We didn't even get a definitive (until the next retcon or reboot) Superman origin!!!

But in this case, on the second and last page of the JSA's origin (page 23 of the book), Power Girl's hair on the last panel is a very faint shade of platinum blond; almost white (you can only tell it's not actually white by comparing it at the white fabric of her costume). She's blonde, a regular blond shade that is usually the same as that of Alan Scott or Stargirl (and you can see that the two ladies share the same hair color, as they're depicted together in the first panel of the same page).

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars. Liberty Belle (Jesse Chambers) also has the same hair color than Power Girl, Stargirl, and Green Lantern; maybe even a little bit darker... she's shown here in a platinum blond color one shade darker than Power Girl's wrongly colored hair, but I will let this one slide as due to lighting.
<-------------------------------->
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 49 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) and/or Rob Leigh (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On the last panel of page 23, still on the JSA origin story, the current (as of that issue of 52, more or less) lineup of the team is show, and Stargirl is incorrectly billed with her previous codename, Star-Spangled Kid. And why the hell is Obsidian smiling? Creepy!

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHAT, ARE YOU TOLD FOR SUPERHERO NAMES?"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 49 of 52 (backup origin story).

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer) and/or Rob Leigh (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Same page and panel, if Starman (Thom Kallor), Hourman (Rick Tyler), Liberty Bell (Jesse Chambers), Mr. Terrific (Michael Holt). Dr. Midnite (Pieter Cross), and Sandman (Sanderson "Sandy" Hawkins), are all called by their codenames, even if they're not the first person to use that name (the whole JSA and the DC Universe in general is about legacy heroes); why then are Flash and Green Lantern billed as "Jay Garrick" and "Alan Scott".

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, if you don't know that there are several people called "Flash" and "Green Lantern", what are you doing reading 52? It's kind of insulting.
<-------------------------------->
"THIS HEADLINE IS A KLUE!""

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 52 of 52.

CULPRIT: Gee, good question. I really don't know who this could have been. It could have been The Writing Team, and/or any of the pencillers (although this particular poem definitely looks like Mike McKone's art), or it could have been Ken Lopez (letterer). I don't think it was Lopez, however, since it does look like part of the art. So I say it was The Writing Team and/or Mike McKone.

NIT-TO-PICK: So, 52 had to end with a nit, even if it's a very small one. On panel 3, where we're shown Earth-2, Huntress (in her very groovy 70s getup) holds up a newspaper, the Gotham Gazette, showing that Earth-2's Kryptonians (Kal-L and Kara Zor-L, otherwise known as Superman and Power Girl) are missing (we all know what happened to them, Kara is in Earth-1, or is that New Earth, and Kal is dead, courtesy of Superboy Prime).

However, the secondary headline says "LUTHOR CLAIMS INNOCENSE"... so, Earth-2 newspaper editors and journalists can't spell?

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
<-------------------------------->
"IS THE QUESTION STILL A DUDE?"

TITLE: 52.

ISSUE: Week 52 of 52.

CULPRIT: One of the pencillers, although I'm pretty sure it's not Mike McKone, Pat Olliffe or Darick Robertson, so it's Eddy Barrows, Chris Batista, or Justiniano.

NIT-TO-PICK: Speaking of 52's end, on that last page, is it me or does Montoya/Question (yay, Vic Sage is alive in Earth-4) look ... portly, to say the least? I know she's supposed to be the gruff cop type, and she is a lesbian... but she never struck me as butch... In fact, she actually looks like a man here. Look at Renee in the first weeks of 52:


And look at her on the last page of 52 #52:


I was going to let this slide as just an observation tucked away in the previous nit, but come on, not only does she look like a different person, she looks like a man! I know she's wearing baggy clothes, but her chest is flat, and she looks like she's doubled her body mass! If anything, after training with Richard, she should be leaner.

I am willing to over look the fact that, since she's wearing the mask, her trench coat should be blue, and her hair black, (since the chemicals used to affix the mask to her face react to the specially treated clothes and shampoo/lotion); but she might not be using her special shampoo, or wearing that particular trenchcoat.

I'm also going to be nice and overlook the mask having eyes, as they actually seem to an overly exaggerated depiction of the indentation the mask shows around the eyes. Look at the picture above were she's wearing the blue trenchcoat, that's how you draw The Question's mask if you don't want to show any facial features at all. If you do want to show at least the "topography" of the face underneath the mask, you do it this way:


See the difference?

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars. I know interpretations of a character can vary between artists (just look at the first three images of Montoya above, in the first one she's definitely more buxom on the first on from the left); but this is too much. Come on guys, look at the rest of the comic you're working on!!!
<-------------------------------->
Well, so that's that for 52... it was a hell of a ride; like a TV show, some episodes were better than others, and some were great, and some we didn't need. But overall, it was a great book, with well written plots, and a great artistic layout. The only thing that suffered was the art, since they had to use different artist almost every week just to keep up; but luckily, Keith Giffen's breakdown's kept the whole look and feel of the book artistically cohesive. Speaking of Giffen, having been along for the whole ride, why didn't he commit any more nits.

The Writing Team is responsible (totally or fully) for about 14 nits; while Keith is the culprit of only 4... and two of those are "maybes". Did he bribe me to stay off my radar, then tell me to blame me for a couple of things so nobody would get suspicious? Not exactlty... I wish he had, do you know how great a Blue & Gold or Legion original art would have looked in my place? What happened is that I could verify that many of the nits I credited him for at first were not his fault, but the fault of that issue's penciller or pencillers.

How did I do this? Well, 52thecomic.com is a great site that DC built as if it were the Daily Planet's webpage, and it's just great.... but I'm rambling... what's great about that site, is that under the SPECIALS section, you can see almost all (if not all) the breakdowns Giffen did for 52. And by looking at them, I was able to see whether a particular error had been made by Giffen, and then carried over by the penciller, or if Keith's layouts had it right, and then the penciller screwed up.

As for this special's average Bazzars, it's a measly 4.9; a lot lower than last week's 6.5, and the lowest since column 11's 4.7 Bazzars. I'm not surprised, because about half the nits in this special are from old columns, when I was softer. Every nit from before Week 34 would probably be a couple of points higher, and we'd obviously see a few more 10s around.

When should you expect my next column? Good question... I've got quite a few nits from the books already released in May; but I'd rather write them up and save them to have all May nits in one column at the start of June. If I get the time, I might to a Backlog column with the nits I have filed from February, and that will make us catch up with all of 2007 up to date. And don't, even for one tiny moment, think that that will deplete my mighty vault of nits. I have nits from almost every month of 2006, then a few from 2005, not to mention the whole lot of ancient stuff that I have saved up for a rainy day. And thank God that I let some stuff slip by; like typos in KODT and Sluggy Freelance, or some stuff that would only get me yelled at for considering them nits... or if not, I would have to write a 20+ nit column every day just to cope!

That's it for now, until next time, I'll be on the outlook for more nits, because (almost) nothing escapes...

THE NITPICKER!

The Nitpicker #23.

DISCLAIMER

[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]

Hey everybody, welcome to another installment of The Nitpicker's Blog! I have been stalling this column because I wanted it to have all the nits I found in the comics on my pull list for the month of April. However, some of my books for last week have not arrived yet (and some of them for March haven't either), so I decided to just post the damn thing, and then, when I eventually get those books, add the nits to the May column, if I find any.

On another topic, one thing that's not exactly a nit, but validates a nit from a previous column, is the fact that Patriot and Hawkeye, from the Young Avengers, are seen in the second issue of Fallen Son, as living with the New Avengers at Dr. Strange's house, and going out on patrol. So at least those two, and most likely the rest of the team (except for that traitorous skank, Stature), are still anti-Registration. And not working for the US government, as Civil War: Battle Damage Report told us. Shape up Marvel!!!! In fact, I am going to send this as a question for Joe Q. at Newsarama.

NOTE: I just saw the Fallen Son: "Captain America" preview on Newsarama, and Patriot and Hawkeye are shown fighting Tony Stark... the guys at Marvel.com's Universe section (see below) say that Patriot and Hawkeye are only Initiative recruits that just visit their old anti-Registration pals and don’t arrest them. And yes, if that's the case, they could be just fighting Iron Man in an outrage at who the new Cap turns out to be (it looks like a clone, or cyborg/clone like Clor, but that is probably just misdirection); but that doesn't explain why Luke Cage tries to stop them when they want to go out on patrol; as if he fears they could be arrested.

Speaking of Civil War: Battle Damage Report, some of my nits about that book got noticed (after I posted them, of course) by DragynWulf; one of the moderators of the Universe section at Marvel.com. Check it out here. DragynWulf doesn't agree with some of the nits I pointed out, but still, he's been kind enough to read over them and post the correction for the ones he agrees with.

I also would like to point out, based on some exchanges I've had with DragynWulf and Mike Fichera (see here and here), that while I hammer on creators and companies for the nits they make, I have nothing but the utmost respect for their work (except, of course, for Rob Liefield, and that guy I named the Bazzars scale after... see the brand-new disclaimer up there). The tone of this column is sarcastic, this is not Wizard magazine, and I will not only say nice things about the stuff I read. Hell, I don't even say a lot of nice things here, since this column is about mistakes. Plus, this is written semi-in character, and if that wasn’t clear enough, it’s now explained in the disclaimer.

However, when I think something's good, I say it, and even if I don't, I only report nits about books I like. Sometimes, yes, there's a nit from the first issue of a book I ever read, and then drop like a hot potato because I think it sucks; or the odd run in a monthly I collect that I won't drop for completism's sake. But 99.99% of the time, the books I report nits from are the books I like, because I'm not going to read stuff I don't like just to find mistakes.

And last, but not least, I know I have a lot of typos, but I never said I'm perfect, and I have, as older readers might remember, featured my own mistakes in the column. But, to my own defense, I don't get paid for doing this, and I do this alone, without the luxury of a team of editors and proofreaders to back me up. Sorry for the rant, don't let it overshadow my shout out to DragynWulf and Mike Fichera.

And as proof of my own fallibility, I offer an apology, since of my nits on column #21 has been proven wrong, as noticed by Spot, and then by the aforementioned Mike Fichera:

Spider-Man got some of his new powers during the Queen storyline, which happened before New Avengers. I still consider what is written in the Spider-Man profile in Civil War: Battle Damage Report somewhat nit-ey, since the phrasing makes it sound as if he got all of his new powers during that storyline, when he got new powers then, and then even more during The Other. So, while I am admitting my ignorance (after all, Spider-Man is not my area of expertise, I've only started picking up his books again a short time ago), I'm not withdrawing the nit, but downgrading it to a mere 4 Bazzars. That would make column #21's average Bazzars 6.6, just 0.2 less of what it was.

Now, on with the nits!
<-------------------------------->
“HYGEINE IS TEH AWESOME!”

TITLE: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Joss Whedon (writer) and/or Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Jimmy (letterers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 15, panel 4, Xander says "hygeine" instead of "hygiene".

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar, it's just a typo.
<-------------------------------->
“IS THE OLD ONE PISSED BECAUSE WE CONSTANTLY SPELL HIS NAME?”

TITLE: Fall Of Cthulhu.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Michael Alan Nelson (writer) and/or Ed Dukeshire (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Dark Gods, I don't remember reading a book as boring as this one since... well, I don't remember... I did complain in my last post about Civil War: Battle Damage Report, but that book was not boring, it was just dense.

This one's dense AND boring. But that's not the point; the point is that on page 11, the main character (I'm not gonna bother too look up his name) says "invisibile" instead of "invisible".

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar, another typo... damn, this month better start having better nits!
<-------------------------------->
“WHAT'S A PORTU GEESE?”

TITLE: Fall Of Cthulhu.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Michael Alan Nelson (writer) and/or Ed Dukeshire (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Now main-character's girlfriend, on page 12, panel 3, says "portugese", when it's "portuguese".

NIT-O-METER: I'm itching for something higher than a 1, I don't think this is just a typo; this is an American just writing something how he pronounces it so it's getting 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“SHH, WE DON’T TALK ABOUT THAT!”

TITLE: Midnighter.

ISSUE: 06.

CULPRIT: Garth Ennis (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: I'm profoundly disappointed with Garth Ennis; he is capable of much more. The first Midnighter arc was alright, but nothing compared to, say, Preacher. I haven't read much of his current Punisher run, or his recent Ghost Rider stuff, so I can only compare this to Preacher.

Now, for his sixth issue, he presents sort of an Elseworld tale of the Midnighter as a ronin samurai... and all throughout the story, there's an adverse reaction from all feudal Japanese people to the fact that he's gay. Has Garth Ennis read any book about samurai? Homosexuality was an accepted practice among them, as you can see in this site, this one as well, and this third one.

Yes, it is true that modern Japanese historians have chosen to overlook this part of their history, and hid it in shame. But I've only read one book about samurai, one written by a samurai himself (Hagakure: The Way Of The Samurai, by Tsunetomo Yamamoto); and learned it from there. It's a highly recommendable book; I urge you to read it if you have any interest in Samurai, and also watch the movie it inspired (Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, with a master actor like Forest Whitaker and a great director like Jim Jarmusch). it's one of the best movies I've ever seen.

I quote from one of those links: "(...) one of the fundamental aspects of samurai life was the emotional and sexual bond cultivated between an older warrior and a younger apprentice, a love for which the Japanese have many names, as many perhaps as the Eskimo have for snow."

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, Ennis would do well to remember that not all cultures/time periods are the same as the one he lives in.
<-------------------------------->
“T.H.E. N.I.T.P.I.C.K.E.R.”

TITLE: Omega Flight.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Michael Avon Oeming (writer); VC's Cory Petit (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 9, panel one, U.S.Agent's name is misspelled as USAgent (all in capitals, but that's just because comics fonts are entirely in caps. Marvel spells it with the periods, see?.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars; yes, I'm a Nitpicker... I know.
<-------------------------------->
“WHY THE HELL DO I SPEAK LIKE A TODDLER?”

TITLE: Runaways V2.

ISSUE: 25.

CULPRIT: Joss Whedon (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Whedon is a good writer, but his first issue of Runaways did not impress me. The story's not bad, but it's not up to what BKV had us used to. Also, Whedon doesn't seem to have a solid grasp of the characters, and it shows.

Molly "Princess Powerful/Bruiser" Hayes is around 12 years of age, yet Whedon makes her talk like she's 5. For example. on page 18, panel 5, she says "(...) why doesn't she just use Invincible Woman powers (...). Come on, "Invincible"??!?! Like I said, she's 12, not 5, and the Fantastic Four are world celebrities, everybody knows their names AND codenames.

Then on page 23, panel 1, she says "Why are there 'splosions?!?"... she doesn't speak like that, never did. Same page, panel 4, she says "I got woked up." Whedon, get it in your head... SHE IS NOT 5!!!!

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, please familiarize yourself with the character's you're writing.
<-------------------------------->
“SOONG ANDROIDS: NOW WITH BUILT-IN TELEPORTING CAPABILITIES!”

TITLE: Star Trek TNG: The Space Between.

ISSUE: 03 of 06.

CULPRIT: David Tischman (writer) and Casey Malone (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: The book is getting better, I grant you that. The art still sucks, but not as bad as the previous issues, and I'm even willing to overlook Data making faces that suggest he's feeling emotions we all know he's incapable of, since these tales happen before First Contact.

What I can't overlook, is the fact that on page 3, Data is sitting as his Ops console in the front part of the bridge; and then, on page 5, which does not happen more than a few moments later, he's standing behind the Tactical console, covering for Worf, instead of the two guys who were there on page 3. All of that, on top of the fact that I can't think a reason why Data would be manning the Tactical console...

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“THE AVENGERS? NO, DOESN’T RING A BELL!”

TITLE: The (Irredeemable) Mighty Ant-Man.

ISSUE: 10.

CULPRIT: Robert Kirkman (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 5, Ant-Man says that he hasn't even heard of Ms. Marvel; yet she's been an Avenger, and part of Iron Man's pro-Registration team during Civil War. She may be a B-lister in the real world, but in the 616 Marvel Universe, she's a very well-known hero. He does it again on page 9... I understand Ant-Man is supossed to be an idiot, but he didn't spend the past 10 years living under a rock, did he?

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“KRYPTONIAN LIKE THEIR IMPORT CARS.”

TITLE: Supergirl V5.

ISSUE: 16.

CULPRIT: Alé Garza (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 6 shows a scene from Supergirl's past, set on Argo... and there's a 20th/21st century Earth looking car?!???

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, nice sense of alien design Alé.
<-------------------------------->
“THE X-MEN? WHO?”

TITLE: New X-MenV2.

ISSUE: 37.

CULPRIT: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 14, panel 4, Santo "Rockslide" Vaccaro says "Who's "Colossus"?" Who, living at Xavier's, at the same time Colossus lives there (and having fought alongside with him, if memory serves me right) during the latest Apocalypse storyline), cannot know who Colossus is? More to the point, Santo worships the X-Men, and wants to be one, and who would he identify more with than the team's strongman?

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“I QUIERO READ THE NEWSPAPERRO!”

TITLE: Punisher War Journal V2.

ISSUE: 06.

CULPRIT: Ariel Olivetti (artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 22, the Punisher picks up a newspaper at diner, supossedly a Mexican newspaper... but the paper is actually show to be published in Buenos Aires (Argentina), which is, not coincidentally, where Olivetti lives.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars. Cheap Ariel, cheap.
<-------------------------------->
“TO ME, MY ARMOR!”

TITLE: She Hulk V2.

ISSUE: 17.

CULPRIT: Rick Burchett (penciller) and/or Dan Slott (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 12, after having sex with She-Hulk, Iron Man puts on his armor by having it fly towards him in pieces... uhm... as far as I know, Tony's armor, courtesy of the Extremis virus, now resides inside of him, and he can make it "pour" out of his body and form around it.

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.

ISSUE: 07.

CULPRIT: Jodi Picoult (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 9, Wonder Woman rescues Nemesis, who's been tortured by Circe (he's hanging from the ceiling by his arms and there's a pool of blood under him), and when he makes a lewd joke about her, she drops him to the floor (although not from very high).

Are we supposed to believe that Wonder Woman would drop a man who might have internal injuries to the floor?

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“I AM TOO AN AVENGERS FOUNDER, NYAH NYAH!”

TITLE: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II.

ISSUE: 08 of 08.

CULPRIT: Joe Casey (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 22, Captain America says about the Avengers roster "(...) this will be the first time there are no founders on the active roster." Uhm.... what? Cap, are you forgetting Avengers V1 issue #16. where the only members on the team were Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch (good choice there), Quicksilver, and yourself (and you're not a Avengers' founder, Cap!)?

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Unforgivable.
<-------------------------------->
“FASTER THAN A RAY OF LIGHT!”

TITLE: Battlestar Galactica.

ISSUE: 08.

CULPRIT: Greg Pak (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: This series sucks. Not only the art is horrible, but the plot is very, very, lame. On top of all that, on page 19 a ship filled with old Cylon Centurions and one number 8 jumps towards "the heart of the Cylon Empire", and arrives "Ten seconds later on the other side of the universe."

What?!?!? An FTL in the new BSG universe, not even a Cylon FTL, can't travel to the other side of the galaxy, let alone the OTHER SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE in ten seconds.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Come on!
<-------------------------------->
“THIS IS A RETCON OF A FLASHBACK FOR AN ELSEWORLDS IMAGINARY STORY.”

TITLE: Superman/Batman

ISSUE: 34.

CULPRIT: Mark Verheiden (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Speaking of Galactica, here's Mark Verheiden, one of the show's writers, who's penned cool episodes like Black Market and Collaborators. Yet, his Superman/Batman sucks monkey's ass.

In this case, he has the Metal Men and Will MaGnUs (whoops, I mean, Magnus) appear, and neither Superman nor Batman knows who they are, nor do the robots and their creator know the heroes. What is this? An alternate reality story? A retcon? An imaginary story? SAY WHAT IT IS!!!!!

NIT-O-METER: I'm going to be lenient, and believe that this is not a mistake, that they just forgot to put a caption that said "years ago" or something like that, and just give it 7 Bazzars. That's me being lenient.
<-------------------------------->
“BLACK ADAM SCARED MY COSTUME WHITE!”

TITLE: World War III.

ISSUE: Book Two: The Valiant.

CULPRIT: Hi-Fi (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On pages 15 and 16 (and there might be a third page, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt), where Dove's costume is entirely white, with no light blue markings. She hasn't changed her costume, because she appears elsewhere correctly colored.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“RUN! IT’S THE SENTINALS!”

TITLE: X-Men. V2.

ISSUE: 198.

CULPRIT: Mike Carey (writer) and/or VC's Cory Petit((lettering).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 14, panel 4, Mystique says "Sentinal", instead of "Sentinel".

NIT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar, just a typo.
<-------------------------------->
“IMPERFECT MIRROR IMAGE.”

TITLE: Nightwing Annual.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Joe Bennett (penciller), to a lesser extent Jason Wright (colorist), and maybe Mark Andreyko (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On the last pages of this book (specifically page 38), we see Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Tim Drake leaving on the journey depicted in some issues of 52. This same scene was shown in Infinite Crisis #07. Clark Kent and Diana "Prince" are there to see them off, in both depictions of the scene.

However, everybody but Bruce is wearing different clothes in the Nightwing Annual. In order of magnitude: Clark wears a blue tie in Infinite Crisis; and a black one in Nightwing. Diana is originally wearing a skirt that goes past her knees and boots that end only inches from the skirt's hem; while in the Nightwing Annual she wears a miniskirt and shoes.

Tim wears a dark blue, or maybe dark grey hoodie in Infinite Crisis; while in Nightwing he wears a regular grey hoodie. Then Dick, in Infinite crisis wears a shirt with letters on his chest (something like USC, I can't make out the last letter).

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, you could have least check the comic you're basing this scene on. Of course, this scene could have been shown in one of the Batbooks (Nightwing included), but still, it differs from Infinite Crisis, so I'm calling it a nit!
<-------------------------------->
“THE OLD TRICK OF THE FAKE ARMCAST!”

TITLE: Nightwing Annual.

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Joe Bennett (penciller) and maybe Mark Andreyko (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: And if what's above is not enough, the whole story of the Nightwing Annual has Dick recovering from his injuries suffered at the hands (or anti-energy blasts) of Alex Luthor, during the last battles of Infinite Crisis. Now, I don't remember this happening in Infinite Crisis or any of its minis or specials, but it might have happened in one of the crossovers with Dick's own book, or any of the Batbooks.

However, by the end of Infinite Crisis itself, Dick looks healthy, at least on the outside; he still might have some recovery to do. But on page 38 of his annual, his right arm is in a cast and sling, whereas it looks completely healthy in Infinite Crisis #07, even to the point that he's got his hand on his hip, on a very hero-ey position.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
“NINJAS, SMINJAS!”

TITLE: Exiles.

ISSUE: 93.

CULPRIT: Chris Claremont (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that Claremont is back on his feet. But he keeps on making stupid mistakes that could be avoided with a little research and attention to detail. In this issue, he confuses the word "ninja" (you know, those sneaky guys who kill people) with "gaijin" (a somewhat derogatory term Japanese use for foreigners).

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Chris, it's NINJAS, for God's sake!
<-------------------------------->
“MEET GENERAL RELTIH AND SERGEANT COOL.”

TITLE: Batman Confidential.

ISSUE: 05.

CULPRIT: Whilce Portacio (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: This comic is actually good, which is kind of surprising. I didn't expect much from it, as the first issue from its brother book, Superman Confidential, bored me to tears. In this case, the corporate (and later superhero/villain) face-off between Batman and Lex Luthor is very well written, so it was a surprise, as I said.

However, what would a book be without a nit, huh? It might have been present in the previous issue of the book, but I only noticed now, and I'm to lazy to go back and look. On page 4, and then in the rest of the book, there is a US Army Sergeant (we'll call him Sergeant Cool) who sports a goatee and mustache. The 'tash is not forbidden in the US Army, but beards are completely prohibited (unless under certain situations, that I don't think Sergeant Cool qualifies for). Also, not a nit, but the General who commands our friend Cool (we'll call him General Reltih) sports a Alfred Hitler style mustache which is probably not very recommended. Take a gander at Sergeant Cool:


As per US Army regulation 670-1, Section 1-8-a-2-(c): "Males will keep their face clean-shaven when in uniform or in civilian clothes on duty. Mustaches are permitted; if worn, males will keep mustaches neatly trimmed, tapered, and tidy. Mustaches will not present a chopped off or ushy appearance, and no portion of the mustache will cover the upper lip line or extend sideways beyond a vertical line drawn upward from the corners of the mouth (see figure 1–1). Handlebar mustaches, goatees, and beards are not authorized. If appropriate medical authority prescribes beard growth, the length required for medical treatment must be specified. For example, “The length of the beard will not exceed 1/4 inch” (see TB MED 287). Soldiers will keep the growth trimmed to the level specified by appropriate medical authority, but they are not authorized to shape the growth into goatees, or “Fu Manchu” or handlebar mustaches.

Another section says that Special Forces troops who serve in places like Iraq and Afghanistan sometimes get permission to grow beards, so as to better blend in with the locals (not as in undercover work, but as to seem more friendly); but I don't think our man Cool there is Special Forces nor is he in the Middle East (he looks more like a tech specialist of some sort, and he's stationed smack dab in the middle of the USA). So, even if the Sergeant Cool has a medical authorization to grow a beard, he wouldn't be able to shape it into a goatee. And although there is no explicit regulation on Hitler 'tashes, General Reltih would probably be reprimanded. Take a look at General Reltih (and I’m not very sure about the good General’s rank insignia either, but I won’t look it up):


You can read the whole (316 pages long!) regulation here. My favorite part, however, is this one: "While in uniform, personnel will not place their hands in their pockets, except momentarily to place or retrieve objects.

Whew... good thing it clarifies that they can place their hands in their pockets to retrieve or store stuff. Otherwise, I could see the following scene unfolding in a base somewhere:

OFFICER: Private Jones! Come here!

PRIVATE: Sir, yes Sir!

OFFICER: Lend me a buck!

PRIVATE: Sir, I can't, Sir!

PRIVATE: Sir, my wallet is in my pocket, Sir! I cannot break regulations, Sir!

OFFICER (groans, facepalms): Just this once Private, I'll allow you to break regulations.

PRIVATE: Sir, thank you, Sir! Here's your dollar, Sir!

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, even if you don't know US Army regulations (which I didn't), it's kind of a given....
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“MR. TERRIFIC CALLS IT THE CHAMELEON TOUPEÉ”

TITLE: JSA: Classified.

ISSUE: 25.

CULPRIT: Dennis Calero (artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: In the story, Alan Scott's hair color is portrayed inconsistently. His hair color is blonde, but in pages 2 and 3, his hair is gray, except for the last two panels of page 3, where it's brown. It remains brown until page 8, where it changes back to gray (although it's brown on panel 2), until page 10, where it changes back to blonde.

The end? Nope, on page 20, his hair goes back to being gray, although on those last two panels it seems to be just a little on the brown side. But that's just a prelude for his hair being blonde again on page 21, and... and luckily, it ends there...

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, I suppose you could attribute this to lighting, if you were very kind. I'm not. Good God Calero, stick to penciling in the future, and leave colors to people who can actually do them.
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“THE HYPNOTIC CASE OF THE SIZE-CHANGING FOREHEAD DISC-THINGY!”

TITLE: Supergirl And The Legion Of Superheroes.

ISSUE: 29.

CULPRIT: Kevin Sharpe (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 16, the narrating lower caste Dominator's forehead disc changes size from panel to panel. The border is several inches away from his eyes in one panel, then about half an inch the next one. Also, he says his "eclipsed by the grandeur" of the disc on the Emperor's head, and yet, his own (in some panels), does not seem that much smaller than the Emperor's.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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Well, this column had apologies, corrections, discussions, and all sort of things. But what matters here are the nits, right? And their average this week was 6.5 Bazzars, not too shabby if you ask me. Next week-ish, prepare for the end-of-52-special (52 was a blast throughout the whole year)... which makes me wonder when I'll write up the nits for the month of May... ah well, I'll manage, and if not, I'll just pull a Marvel and reschedule the releases...

See ya around, I'll catch you on my next column. Until then, I'll be on the outlook for more nits, because (almost) nothing escapes...

THE NITPICKER!