The Dissector

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.
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"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?!
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"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.
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"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.
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"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.
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"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.
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"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!
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"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.
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"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.
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"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.
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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!