DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)
[[WARNING! THIS COLUMN MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!]]
"Look! Up in the sky! It's... Actually, I don't know who that is!" Anonymous bystander, who doesn't recognize Wonder Girl in her new costume.
No more Nitpicker!!! So, here we are, in the first ever issue of The Dissector, which, nevertheless, is #44. Why? Because I hate unnecessary re-launches and new #1. I like history to show, mileage to be noticed, age to be worn as a badge of distinction. I accepted New Mutants V2, and when I learned to love it, BAM, they rename and renumber it to New X-Men: Academy X, which then gets renamed to just New X-Men. Then we have New Avengers, Flash: The Fastest Man Alive (they made that right again). Batman & The Outsiders, New Excalibur (that fiasco is over too), and I can go on.
Why did I change the name and look of the column? Well, like I said, Phil Farrand and his Nitpicker's Guild had the name first, and I don't want to usurp that. The look doesn't change, but it's enhanced. I keep my English green dominated color scheme, and add that beautiful logo by my dear friend Nysie, which has hints of Victorian mad science, just the way I like it.
We're approaching our second anniversary, because I'm not denying this column's past as the Nitpicker, as well as column #50. The first column was published on November 12, 2005, and on that date this year, I'll have a special column with my favorite nits... err... dissections! That'll be column #48, then #49 will be the regular column for that week; and on the following week, we'll have the 50th column, which will be in addition to that week's column (#51), and will feature the first EVER Autopsy Awards! Yes, I just came up with that...
Here's the deal: from my archives, I'll find out who are the most featured creators in the past two years of column, and award a first place and runner up in each category (writer, artist, colorist, etc). I might give an award for the company with most errors, and the book with most errors. Then I'll select between three and five dissections in each category, and put them to vote between you, my faithful readers (said in my best Stan Lee voice). And, even though they're more recent features, I can also have a best quote and best WTF/DAYAMN moment. What do you all think?
That said, I'm going to start now with this week's column, alright? Last week's Spot The Nit was nailed by Miss Kitty Fantastico; the Riddler's hair should indeed be black, not light brown. So, here's a HDSC badge for ya MKF! From now on, STN will be... no, not STD, I won't go there. It'll be called "Dissect This!", and will have the exact same mechanics as STN. Who's up for some Dissector Picks Of The Week?
My pick for best book of the week is Runaways V2 #28; because I really feel Whedon is growing into this book. Despite some mischaracterization issues with Molly (which I've mentioned before, and mention again later in this column), he seems to get most of the Runaways, particularly Chase and Karolina, who I see as Faith and Willow analogues (yes, I know Nico is the witch here). Plus, even though he can't technically play with the Pride, he still manages to use the kids’ families to give them some problems.
I also enjoy how he portrays the way mutants (or other superhumans) would organize themselves in the early 1900s. What's not to love about heroes with names as Engine, Nightstick, Daystick, Black Maria and Adjudicator (even though they're blatant homages to modern day characters, mostly)? The Engine is my favorite, being a differential engine, punch card spewing, steam-powered robot. That scores high in my book, and you know it.
And the villains? If the presence of the Yorkes (Gert's parents, but from a point in the Runaways' past where they're all still little kids and the Pride is alive) wasn't enough (they now know their daughter buys it in the future, and they'll do everything in their time-traveling hands to stop it), we now have the Witchbreaker, who turns out to be a Minoru! And then there's the Yorkes flunkies, from the strong guy whose name I can't remember, to Morphine (a mad doctor/chemist),. Kid Twist (an Irish mobster looking pistolero), and my favorite, Forget-Me-Not, a temptress with the power to release pheromones (apparently) that drive men wild, and who seems to live in a permanent state of orgasm.
And the art? Well, it's not my cup of tea, but it's flawless. It's not Michael Ryan's fault that I don't like it that much, his pencils are excellent, perfectly suited to this book. It's Christina Strain's colors, which makes the book look to manga for my taste... and yes, this has always been the case with Runaways. that doesn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying the book, and being glad now that it seems that Whedon has finally "clicked" with it.
So what's the worse book of the week then? Simply put, Fantastic Four #550 is a most disappointing end to an otherwise irrelevant and unoriginal plot that seems stolen from a bad Star Trek episode. Dwayne McDuffie's script is bland, and Paul Pelletier's art, while correct, does nothing for me, coupled with the fact that Paul Mounts' colors are bland and too bright. Let's get started with this week's dissections (and the first to be called thus):
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""ACME BRAND."
TITLE: Batman Confidential.
ISSUE: 10.
CULPRIT: Michael Green (writer) and/or Denys Cowan (penciller).
DISSECTION: I'm still frothing about this Joker origin story, but never mind. Still, I kind of doubt that a former chemical plant that manufactured legal drugs will have a giant vat labeled "anti-psychotics".
DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"WHO NEEDS MAPS?""
TITLE: Black Adam: The Dark Age.
ISSUE: 03 of 06.
CULPRIT: Peter J. Tomasi (writer) and/or Nick J. Napolitano (letterer).
DISSECTION: On page 9, Talia Head is shown as being somewhere of the coast of "Gilbralter", which should be "Gibraltar".
DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
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"DYE IS POPULAR IN THE DC UNIVERSE."
TITLE: Black Adam: The Dark Age.
ISSUE: 03 of 06.
CULPRIT: Nathan Eyring (colorist).
DISSECTION: Hal Jordan's hair is colored black on page 20, as is Vixen's, instead of Brown.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, it could be odd lighting, so I'll just count it as one.
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"HE BUILT HIS EMPIRE, DOOR TO DOOR."
TITLE: Booster Gold V2.
ISSUE: 03.
CULPRIT: Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz (writers).
DISSECTION: Pages 6 and 7 state that Lionel Luthor (Lex's father) was a traveling salesman, when the current origin for Lex (Countdown #34, also available on DC's website) states that he was a "mogul". Now, I know this is an alternate reality, a possible timeline change that Rip is telling about, so that's why this gets a lower rating that it could.
DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"THE BRAVE AND THE BALD."
TITLE: Booster Gold V2.
ISSUE: 03.
CULPRIT: Dan Jurgens (layouts) and/or Norm Rapmund (finishes).
DISSECTION: Again, alternate reality and all that, but Lex is shown as completely bald from his teenage years, when his current origin shows that he lost his hair over the course of the years, still having hair into his adulthood.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"GOD, WHY?"
TITLE: Booster Gold V2.
ISSUE: 03.
CULPRIT: Dan Jurgens (layouts) and/or Norm Rapmund (finishes).
DISSECTION: Same spread, Lionel Luthor Jr.'s grave (that is, Superman in this alternate timeline) reads "LUTHER".
DISSECT-O-METER: 9 Bazzars, this is on par of web forum posters writing "Luther", "Emporer", "Klenons" and "Rouge". I just considered using this as a Dissect This!, but it was too easy.
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"IT'S MORE KUNG-FUEY THIS WAY."
TITLE: Countdown.
ISSUE: 29.
CULPRIT: Ian Churchill (cover penciller).
DISSECTION: Karate kid is, for some reason, barefoot on the cover, when he wears boots as part of his costume.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"ONE GIRL, MULTIPLE COSTUMES."
TITLE: Countdown.
ISSUE: 29.
CULPRIT: Ian Churchill (cover penciller).
DISSECTION: Again the cover, Una has a different cape clasp and belt that her costume has had before.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"BLUE, PURPLE, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?"
TITLE: Countdown.
ISSUE: 29.
CULPRIT: Thomas Chu (colorist).
DISSECTION: I still haven't opened the book, and there's more errors to be found. Una's costume is YET AGAIN colored blue instead of purple.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"GREEN, MUTABLE COLOR."
TITLE: Countdown.
ISSUE: 29.
CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller).
DISSECTION: Kyle Rayner's costume keeps shifting ever so slightly.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"SOME CLONES GROW FASTER THAN OTHERS."
TITLE: Countdown.
ISSUE: 29.
CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller).
DISSECTION: Jimmy Olsen runs into the Newsboy Legion, but the character heights are wrong. By this time, the Newsboys should be teenagers (at least physically), some of them maybe into their late twenties. However, the "younger" members (Scrapper and Gabby, if I'm not mistaken, and where's Flip, by the way?) look like midgets when compared to the "older" members (Big Words and Tommy, if I'm right).
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"HAIR ON!"
TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.
ISSUE: 550.
CULPRIT: Paul Pelletier (penciller).
DISSECTION: Johnny Storm's haircut is different than what it should be.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"BLACK OR BLUE?"
TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.
ISSUE: 550.
CULPRIT: Paul Mounts (colorist).
DISSECTION: I had discarded this one until the Guvnor Paul C also pointed it out, and I took a second look. On the first page of story, Ben and Johnny's costumes are blue, and afterwards, they're black, as they're supposed to be. I'm going to award the Guvnor a HDSC badge here.
DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, it just might be a question of lighting.
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"YEAH, I HAVE CONTIGENCY PLANS FOR GALACTUS, BUT AFTER HIM, MY COSMIC KNOWLEDGE IS ZERO."
TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.
ISSUE: 550.
CULPRIT: Dwayne McDuffie (writer).
DISSECTION: Black Panther doesn't know who Eternity is, which is kind of doubtful.
DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
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"YOU DO KNOW SHE'S NOT A REAL GODDESS, RIGHT?"
TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.
ISSUE: 550.
CULPRIT: Dwayne McDuffie (writer).
DISSECTION: In order to fix reality, Dr. Strange has to operate on Eternity, placing his essence in another being's essence as a method of life support. He says that only himself (Strange) and Storm have the strength of spirit to survive that. What? Where does this come from? I can see Strange being able to house Eternity’s essence at least for a little while, as cosmically trained as he is, but Storm? What? You don't think that maybe, uhm... the Silver Surfer (who's also there) could do it better than Storm? Please.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"DIPLOMATIC MATTERS."
TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.
ISSUE: 550.
CULPRIT: Dwayne McDuffie (writer).
DISSECTION: At the end of the book, Sue Richards mentions that the Wakandan embassy in Washington, D.C. is available for T'Challa and Storm to live in... but again, as we've mentioned before, you can't have two embassies in the same country. An embassy and many consulates in the country's most important cities, yes, but not more than one embassy in the same country.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, Sue could be mistaken, and it's a consulate.
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"KOLCHAK, IS THAT YOU?"
TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
ISSUE: 24.
CULPRIT: J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and/or Chris Eliopoulos (letterer, if he lettered the cover).
DISSECTION: Thanks to the Guvnor for pointing this one out (another badge for him); the creatures that "guard time" or something like that, are called "Nightstalkers" on the cover, but "Nightwalkers" inside the book.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"AUNT MAY IS BEYOND HOPE, WE GET IT."
TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
ISSUE: 24.
CULPRIT: J. Michael Straczynski (writer).
DISSECTION: Spider-Man searches for options to cure May, and one of the people he visits is the X-Men's Beast, to no avail. Again, are you telling me that Elixir can't heal may? He's restored Wolfsbane powers and brought a teammate back from death after his heart had been ripped out, by making him grow a new heart. And he can't heal Aunt May? Bullshit.
DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"YEAH, I BEEN TOOK CARED OF THAT BIZZATCH!"
TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
ISSUE: 24.
CULPRIT: Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Mike Fichera & Peter Sanderson (writers for the Mary Jane Profile).
DISSECTION: On MJ's profile, it says that she "took cared" of her cousin.
DISSECT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
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"WHO CARES HOW IT'S SPELLED?"
TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
ISSUE: 24.
CULPRIT: Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Mike Fichera & Peter Sanderson (writers for the Mary Jane Profile).
DISSECTION: The aforementioned cousin is called Kristie, then on the next line it's spelled Kristy. Yet another Guvnor spotted dissection, and yet another badge for the man.
DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, it's the next freaking line.
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"WARDROBE MALFUNCTION."
TITLE: Gene Simmons' Dominatrix.
ISSUE: 02.
CULPRIT: Flavio Hoffe and/or Impacto Studios (artists)
DISSECTION: This one was spotted by Miss Kitty Fantastico, and I quote him "In issue #1 Dominique's outfit took some damage during the opening stage of her fight with lingerie ninja girl - the mask is torn beneath her right eye, and both gloves are looking a bit the worse for wear. At the start of #2 the damage to her mask has moved (albeit to her forehead, which is where she got kicked in #1), and it and the tears on her gloves vanish by page 4. Granted she just acquired superpowers from some pills, but I don't think costume repair is meant to be one of them. I'd call it a 6 - it doesn't ruin the issue or anything, but it could have easily been avoided."
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"TIME AND TIME AGAIN."
TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary.
ISSUE: 01.
CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).
DISSECTION: In what seems to be a retelling of their first encounter, Green Arrow mentions that he's a big fan of Black Canary's mother, but in her mini, only a few months ago, he said he thought she was her mother.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"I'M WEARING MY SPARES."
TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary.
ISSUE: 01.
CULPRIT: Cliff Chiang (penciller).
DISSECTION: Black Canary's gloves and boots are not drawn correctly.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"I'M DRINKING TOO MUCH."
TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary.
ISSUE: 01.
CULPRIT: Trish Mulvihill (colorist).
DISSECTION: Speedy's eyes are blue, yet on page eleven they're mysteriously colored yellow.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"I LIKE THIS OUTFIT BETTER, SO I IMAGINED MYSELF IN IT."
TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary.
ISSUE: 01.
CULPRIT: Cliff Chiang (penciller).
DISSECTION: On page 13 Black Canary remembers her wedding night, but the lingerie Chiang drew doesn't mach what she wore on the Wedding Special.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"MULTIPLE FRONTS."
TITLE: Green Lantern V4.
ISSUE: 24.
CULPRIT: Geoff Johns (writer) and/or Ivan Reis (penciller).
DISSECTION: The Justice League is shown battling Manhunters while Sinestro and his lanterns, along with Tom Welling Prime (I saw this denomination for him somewhere and loved it) are arriving on Earth. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are there, but they weren't in the Cyborg Superman special from the previous week, in fact, Superman was fighting the Cyborg.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"I CAN'T FLY!!!"
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Justin Gray (writer).
DISSECTION: Get ready, for this book is one big dissection. Let's start by the fact that Flash asks for Martian Manhunter's help to go up a few feet in the air, when he's been shown to use his speed to create whirlwinds to carry him up and stuff like that.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"I KEEP CHANGING MY COSTUME DESIGN AT SUPERSPEED TO ANNOY PEOPLE."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: Flash (Wally West) is in this issue, and his lightning bolt keeps shifting, sometimes it's joined (pointing down to his crotch), sometimes it's not joined, at some points it loses the serrated edges. Look at this page below, Leonardi, can't you at least keep things consistent within the same page?
It keeps getting worse all through the issue.DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW YOU DON'T!"
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: God, look at the third panel from the above page, not only is Flash's belt missing, his glove lightnings are gone! Same on page 18!
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"DON'T LOOK AT ME!"
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller) and I.L.L. (colorist).
DISSECTION: Damn, his mask covers his entire face! And the same on page 18!
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"NOT FLASH."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: Whoa, his chest emblem is blank! And it's gone again on the next page! And on page 16! And on the statue on page 18! I'll quit it with the exclamation marks!
DISSECT-O-METER: 9 Bazzars.
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"I KNOW HE'S A SHAPESHIFTER, BUT..."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: I'm done with Wally, but look at that panel again, what the hell is up with J'onn's right shoulder?
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"YOU KNOW, DYES AND THE DCU."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: I.L.L. (colorist).
DISSECTION: Wally's hair is colored blond instead of red during the whole issue.
DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"MARTIAN MEMORY IS SCREWY LIKE THAT."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Justin Gray (writer) and/or Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: On page 12, J'onn's brother talks about Starro and the re-formation of the Justice League, and shows Superman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Orion fighting Starro. To my knowledge, and backed up by my research, Orion never faced Starro, but the Star Conqueror. Furthermore, Orion and Hal Jordan have never been members of the League at the same time.
DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"FIRST TIME! NOT REALLY...."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: See if you can Dissect This!
DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"NOT HAWKMAN!"
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: Same page, Hawkman's missing his chest emblem. Argh!
DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"WE ASKED HER TO WEAR THE FISHNETS THAT ONE TIME."
TITLE: JLA: Classified.
ISSUE: 44.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: Page sixteen shows Black Canary in the Bwa-Ha-Ha League when it's first formed, and she's wearing her classic costume, when she wore her "dance outfit" during that period.
DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Eleven dissections on a single book. Wow.
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"DA-DA-DA DE-DE-DE."
TITLE: Runaways V2.
ISSUE: 28.
CULPRIT: Joss Whedon (writer).
DISSECTION: *Sigh* I already ranted on this before, and on this same column: Joss Whedon is a good writer, and he's getting the hang of Runaways... except for Molly. Joss, she's supposed to be around 12, not five, she shouldn't be saying things as "extra-trestal". Although, with kids being how they are these days, I'll buy that she thinks that "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" is a song from around 1907.
DISSECT-O-METER: 9 Bazzars.
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"HALF A QUESTION MASK."
TITLE: Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: The Gorn.
ISSUE: One-shot.
CULPRIT: David Messina (artist).
DISSECTION: Are these Star Trek books going to be remembered as "Star Trek: Comic Books: Overuse Of: Colons: To The Infinite: Overdrive?" But I digress, this was a good first Alien Spotlight, even though there's not much to the gorn to spot a light on. They're just reptilian Klingons. The art is acceptable, if not to my liking, although it suffers from the same ailment that all IDW Star Trek comics are suffering: poorly detailed art. The worst case is this panel, and look at Chekov:
DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, dammit, where the hell are his eyes?
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"GEE, IF ONLY WE HAD A SPACE COP IN THE TEAM!"
TITLE: Superman.
ISSUE: 668.
CULPRIT: Kurt Busiek (writer).
DISSECTION: Superman captures some Dominators experimenting on humans, and then damages their ship, leaving them with enough power for-life support. He sets them adrift in space, saying that "the Justice League will contact the appropriate interstellar authorities". Or, you could just, you know, call a Green Lantern yourself, couldn't you Clark?
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"YOU SURE TRAIN THEM WELL, RIGHT BATMAN?"
TITLE: Superman.
ISSUE: 668.
CULPRIT: Kurt Busiek (writer).
DISSECTION: Superman and Chris Kent (God, I don't know if I like that name, or if I find it too cheesy) fly into the Batcave, and since the biometric sensors of the place don't have the youngest Kryptonian registered yet, the alarm goes off. Apart from the fact that I don't think Bats would set an alarm to go "BLANGBLANGBLANGBLANGBLANGBLANG", Robin goes "AAHH! THE PERIMETER ALARM!" This is Robin, Mr. Busiek, he wouldn't scream like an old lady, he'd be on his feet and ready to defend the cave against intruders.
DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"SUPERMAN AND HIS DOLL SON."
TITLE: Superman.
ISSUE: 668.
CULPRIT: Rick Leonardi (penciller).
DISSECTION: Look at this panel below. Rick, haven't we talked about details?
Superman has no nose, his eyes are dark pits, and Chris looks like a freaking blow-up doll!
DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"THIS IS A DISSECION."
TITLE: Superman.
ISSUE: 668.
CULPRIT: Kurt Busiek (writer) and/or Comicraft (letterer).
DISSECTION: On the final panel of page seventeen, Superman says "stating" instead of "starting".
DISSECT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
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"THEY'RE STREET CLOTHES, FOR ZEUS SAKE!"
TITLE: Wonder Girl.
ISSUE: 01 of 08.
CULPRIT: J. Torres (writer).
DISSECTION: Good book so far, I'm sure Miss Kitty Fantastico would like it. But the dissection her is that Cassie's outfit gets trashed, and she decides to wear the costume (battle armor) that Hercules gave her, as if she didn't go through a dozen costumes a month while battling evil, and doesn't any left. I don't buy it much. I do agree with Hercules that she needed a new costume that wasn't just jeans and a tank top.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"THE GODS STOLE HER FACE!"
TITLE: Wonder Girl.
ISSUE: 01 of 08.
CULPRIT: Sanford Greene (penciller).
DISSECTION: On page 18, Cassie is lacking a face in the first panel.
DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, people please DRAW FACES!
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"AND THIS IS A DISSECTOIN."
TITLE: Wonder Girl.
ISSUE: 01 of 08.
CULPRIT: J. Torres (writer) and/or Phil Balsman (letterer).
DISSECTION: Hercules says "sheild" instead of "shield" on page 19.
DISSECT-O-METER: 1 Bazzar.
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"SHE'S JUST A MERE MORTAL."
TITLE: Wonder Girl.
ISSUE: 01 of 08.
CULPRIT: J. Torres (writer).
DISSECTION: Cassandra says on page 20 "My family is the Teen Titans! My family are Diana and Donna!" Uhm... what about your mom, Cassie?
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"TWINDOW TWINDOW (NOT-SO) LITTLE STARS."
TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.
ISSUE: Annual 01.
CULPRIT: Terry Dodson (penciller) and Alex Sinclair (colorist).
DISSECTION: This one is a leftover from a few weeks ago. Ending spread of the main story, pages 24-25, Power Girl's costume is wrong, she has cleavage up from her neck, while her costume is closed on the top of her torso, with a twindow (you figure that one out) that allows you to see the, uhm... goods. After a lenghty discussion with Miss Kitty Fantastico (see here, I've agreed that it's also Sinclair's fault for not coloring it as he should.
DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"I'M JUST ANOTHER STRIPPER, THE REAL VIXEN IS BUSY."
TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.
ISSUE: 13.
CULPRIT: Julian Lopez (penciller).
DISSECTION: On page seventeen, Vixen's costume is wrong, she's not even wearing the Tantu Totem.
DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW, DYES ARE ALSO POPULAR IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE TOO."
TITLE: X-Men: Die By The Sword.
ISSUE: 01 of 05.
CULPRIT: Rob Ro (colorist).
DISSECTION: So, did we really need a separate mini for an Excalibur / Exiles crossover? We couldn't do it inside one of those books? Well, I guess Exiles is already busy with... whatever the hell Claremont is doing with the book, and New Excalibur just got cancelled. Plus, why do it in a low profile book like Excalibur and Exiles, which only have an "x" as the second letter in their titles (well, fifth in New Excalibur), when you can have a mini that has "X-Men" as part of the title? Who cares if only half of the characters are actually X-Men, and then many of them are from alternate Earths?
Anyway, as unfulfilling as this first issue was, Claremont didn't make any errors this time. However, even if Juan Santacruz manages to make Psylocke look Asian, Ro colors her hair black, not purple, as her hair usually is dyed.
DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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Wow, that was a long column, with 50 dissections, and a (un)healthy rating of 6.2 Bazzars. Seeing as to how this was a long column, I'll go straight to the DAYAMN! moment of the week. It comes from Green Lantern V4 #24, and while it was a good issue, it didn't make pick of the week for best book. However, it did get best moment of the week, in a sequence that made me very happy.
Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Guy Gardner free Kyle Rayner from Parallax, and the Guardians Sayd and Ganthet imprison the creature inside the earthmen's power batteries (Guy's has a Michigan State sticker!). Kyle takes back his ring, and they all recite their oath together... I was so moved, that I recited the oath out loud along with them. Take a look:
Damn cool indeed. That's it for now, until next week, I'll be on the outlook for more dissections, because (almost) nothing escapes...THE DISSECTOR!
36 comments:
I love spot the nit...uh, sorry...dissect of the week
- Hal didn't kill all the guardians
- The ears are enormous
- Where are gray spots in Jordan's hair?
- The left arm is green when it should be black.
Roy
costumegallerydc.blogspot.com
Dissect this: is it Hal's costume? I'm not a Green Lantern reader, but all the reference material I can find has the GL costume having black torso sides and arms, whereas that image has him all green from the waist up.
I'm not sure that the warship in Wonder Woman #13 is a nit. Even assuming the 'not reachable by mortal means' rule is still in force, the US must be able to work out roughly where Themyscira is, and a warship in the area - even if it can't watch the island itself - could provide early warning of anyone leaving its protected area. We never see the ship in the same panel as the island, so - given Diana's apparent speed of flight - it may be outside whatever area is considered 'unreachable'. (Assuming 'unreachable' for mortals doesn't work the same way it does for Diana, who got within sight of the island before being blocked - we don't know how the rules work since the island was raised in Amazons Attack.)
Blimey, 11 nits from one book!
Yeah Fantastic Four was just bizarre, it was like McDuffie just pulled out random bits of story and stuck them all together. It was probably my WTF!?!? moment after I had read it.
For Dissect This, looking at other pictures of GL, I would also say that his arm should be a different colour than his main body. Or the other thing I noticed was that the "O" in the middle of his symbol was very small compared to other pics of him. Just guesses as I'm not a DC reader.
Dragon Comics said "Hal didn't kill all the guardians"
Technically, he didn't, but still.
Dragon Comics said "The ears are enormous"
Bad art.
Dragon Comics said "Where are gray spots in Jordan's hair?"
They're there, not very visible, but they're there.
Dragon Comics said "The left arm is green when it should be black. "
That's right, I missed that, here's a badge for you.
Miss Kitty Fantastico said "Dissect this: is it Hal's costume? I'm not a Green Lantern reader, but all the reference material I can find has the GL costume having black torso sides and arms, whereas that image has him all green from the waist up."
Like I said, I hadn't spotted that one.
Miss Kitty Fantastico said "I'm not sure that the warship in Wonder Woman #13 is a nit."
Point taken.
The Guvnor Paul C said "Blimey, 11 nits from one book! "
Heh, "blimey". That's so stereotypical of you, as if I said "Madre de Dios!" :P
Miss Kitty Fantastico said "Yeah Fantastic Four was just bizarre, it was like McDuffie just pulled out random bits of story and stuck them all together. It was probably my WTF!?!? moment after I had read it."
Heh.
The Guvnor Paul C said "For Dissect This, looking at other pictures of GL, I would also say that his arm should be a different colour than his main body. "
Ditto above.
The Guvnor Paul C said "Or the other thing I noticed was that the "O" in the middle of his symbol was very small compared to other pics of him. Just "guesses as I'm not a DC reader.
Yeah, now that I look at it, that's right... but I'll just chalk that up as bad art.
Hey, anyone got an opinion on the Autopsy Awards?
MKF, I just looked at the Wonder Woman page again, and you're right. The ship is not seen in the same panel, WW flies very fast, and it's quite possible that the US government knows the general location of Paradise Island (not Themyscira, Themyscira is just the capital city) enough to patrol the surrounding waters.
I retract, that nit will be removed from the column, and the average reduced to 6.2
I think the Power Girl costume nit in the Wonder Woman Annual should be attributed to colourist Alex Sinclair, not Dodson. If you compare PG's costume in the spread where all the heroes arrive to help Diana, and in the final 'family photo' spread, they're drawn the same - same lines, seams, and level of physical detail - and it's just the colours making the difference. Look closely at PG's chest (the things we do in the name of nitpicking) in the final spread - you can see a line on her skin, on the top of her left breast pointing inwards, joining the 'shadow' line across the top of her breasts. I'm pretty sure Dodson intended that to be the top of her boob window - it's more or less identical to how he drew it earlier.
I haven't actually been reading Wonder Girl - I took a glance through the first issue, but the Cassie/Robin element (I've had it up to here with two-dimensional teenage angst stories), the appearance of Hercules who I can't stand, and the generally wannabe-cartoony art turned me off. If it turns out to be awesome I'll pick it up as a trade or something.
I reviewed it and I see the line you're talking about; but there's also lines on the sides of her cleavage in that last spread, lines the colorist shouldn't have drawn (they're not supposed to draw any lines), so I still think it was Dodson's fault.
As a long time reader of my column, you know well that drawing something correctly in the first place is no assurance that you'll draw it right for the whole issue.
And remember, it's dissecting nowadays, not nitpicking!
On another note, I've already started work on compiling the pre-nominees for the Autopsy Awards.
The Autopsy Awards sound really cool and should probably generate a few laughs. I think you should post a picture of you cutting up the worst book, much like a Medical Examiner would do.
I have a dissection for you in case you don't pick this book up. In this weeks Ult. FF #47, on the recap page, Pasqual Ferry and possibly Justin Ponsor are incorrectly credited with doing the art.
magnus said: "I reviewed it and I see the line you're talking about; but there's also lines on the sides of her cleavage in that last spread"
They're part of her costume, and present in the earlier splash too - she has three vertical seams running up her torso, one in the centre (broken by the window, but continuing above it), one on either side, running over the centres of her breasts and going over her shoulder inside of the seam joining the torso to the sleeve. Look at the earlier splash (and PG in Wonder Woman #4), all the lines are the same - and in the final splash, you can see the vertical line going up the centre of her neck, which is meant to be the centre seam. Various artists draw the seams differently - Eaglesham omits them entirely, Conner ends the side seams at the window, Pasarin does the full three, as does Jesus Saiz, Bennett just does the centre seam - but trust me, I know PG's outfit well, and I can't see a single pencil/ink line wrong in the Annual. Sinclair just erroneously took the side seams to be the edge of the costume.
The Guvnor Paul C said: "The Autopsy Awards sound really cool and should probably generate a few laughs. I think you should post a picture of you cuting up the worst book, much like a Medical Examiner would do."
Ack, I couldn't bear to damage even the worst comic ever... but Photoshop might help there.
The Guvnor Paul C said: "I have a dissection for you in case you don't pick this book up. In this weeks Ult. FF #47, on the recap page, Pasqual Ferry and possibly Justin Ponsor are incorrectly credited with doing the art."
Yeah, thanks, somebody else pointed it out.
Miss Kitty Fantastico said: "but trust me, I know PG's outfit well"
You do seem to spend an awful lot of time starting at her chest. However, look at this picture.
You say "she has three vertical seams running up her torso, one in the centre (broken by the window, but continuing above it), one on either side, running over the centres of her breasts and going over her shoulder inside of the seam joining the torso to the sleeve."
You can see the lateral vertical seam on her right torso and shoulder, but not the central seam that should continue up from the twindow to the neckline. Dodson drew the costume wrong in this page. And I didn't mean the seams on her costume, I meant actual lines pencilled and inked in that delimit a different cleavage than how the twindow should be, apartfrom the seams.
By the way, I'd never noticed what you say that Eaglesham doesn't even bother with the seams... should I start considering that a nit? And I know why Power Girl needs all those extra seams: they're reinforcements, or else one her supergigantic kryptonian-strong bazongas would rip through the fabric. The seams are sewn with magical Amazonian thread, or even Kara's own hair.
(posted by MaGnUs as an "Anonymous" erroneously did it on the comments for column #31)
In the FF #550 you are right, she is not a goddess. But like Dr. Strange, she has an affinity for magic. She comes from a long line of magic users in Kenya, that is why she has the white hair and blue eyes (although in the past it was believed she had those features because she was a mutant). She just has not turned to that part of her heritage yet, although an alternate reality Ororo did in the Magick Limited Series - took place in the 80's.
I know all that about Storm, but it still doesn't mean that she has more willpower than Sue Storm, Black Panther or, I repeat for the nth time.... THE SILVER SURFER!!!!!
Okay, let's haul out the overhead projector and compare diagrams :)
Firstly, I think it needs to be taken into account that 'closed-chest PG' is the second most prominent figure on her double-page splash, while 'open-chest PG' is nowhere near as prominent in her splash, being just one of a number of background figures. Open-chest PG therefore has a lot more detail - this is important to the right sleeve seam here:
Exhibit A
Those are all lines laid down by Dodson - I've coloured the ones I see as costume seams orange, and those I see as physical contours blue. You'll see on open-chest PG that the line you marked as 'lateral seam' is (I believe) partly the right sleeve seam, and partly the contour of the shoulder muscle - both lines have equivalents on closed-chest PG in almost exactly the same place, and both are less complete on open-chest PG, which I put down to her being background, not foreground.
The problem with that is that the lower of the two lines seems to curl upwards just a touch at its left side, as if it and the line going over her shoulder are joined. But they're not one line - there is a gap, and I believe what we're seeing there is just a product of Dodson sketching quickly - and in light of other evidence, far, far too minor to be considered a nit.
Notice how the line going over her shoulder (your lateral seam) is in exactly the same place as the sleeve seam on closed-chest PG; also, the line inwards of that is in exactly the same place as the right-side chest seam on closed-chest PG. There's also a vertical line on her neck which I believe is the centre seam - it's not present below her neck, but again, I think that's just a lower level of detail drawn on her due to being a background figure. The same line is only half-drawn on the closed-chest PG, too, so we can see Dodson's style isn't to meticulously draw every detail to its full extent. (Her nose is a good example - there's no vertical line defining it in the open-chest PG as there is on open-chest PG, but obviously Dodson didn't forget the bridge of her nose existed on that page.)
Now, Exhibit B
This (allowing for my attempt to match Sinclair's colouring) is what I think Dodson was drawing. I've redrawn the lines over her chest so the new colour didn't obscure them, but I only drew a line where one already existed on the page. Note how the 'twindow' (I'm not sure that flows off the tongue, but I can't think of a more convenient name for it right now) is the same size and position in both images, and how the anomalous line on her left breast in the printed version is in exactly the right place to be the edge of the twindow.
Also, look at the line defining the tops of her breasts - it's rather pronounced, to my eyes, even accounting for the push-up effect of having her arms crossed over her chest. And look at how there's a solid black shadow point in her cleavage - there's no reason for that to be there if her chest is open, but it corresponds exactly to the shadow cast by the top edge of the twindow, as it lifts slightly off her skin over the cleavage.
There's also, if you look closely, another line that - per Sinclair's colouring - is oddly on bare skin, just visible beneath the inner edge of the cloak, on her left shoulder. Even if Dodson had drawn the costume open at the chest, that should be the edge of the costume, so I think it adds to the evidence that Sinclair wasn't colouring quite what Dodson intended.
All in all, I'm 100% behind Dodson on this one. He didn't draw in every single line, but that's common practice for background figures - I'm quite sure he drew PG's costume right, and as I see it, the lines on the page support that entirely.
(Sorry about the picture quality - I don't have a scanner, so I'm just doing the best I can with a digital camera.)
I do take something of a protective interest in PG's chest - her boobs get so many jokes made about them that I feel sorry for the poor things, and make a point to stand up in their defence as a result :) She's not that big, anyway - larger than the 'standard superheroine' (though not by much, all considered), but certainly not out of the realms of possibility. I know women as well-endowed as her.
I wouldn't call Eaglesham's rendition of the costume a nit - personally I prefer the seams, and a more standard-sized twindow (not Conner-large, as that wouldn't fit Eaglesham's more realistic style, but having it as small as Eaglesham has it actually draws attention to it), but I think it's reasonable to allow a degree of freedom for artists to interpret costumes and characters, otherwise we just get stagnation. Besides, it's not unreasonable to assume PG's got more than one costume, and that may account for the different designs.
Speaking of Eaglesham, I just noticed a nit that I can't recall if you spotted, or I mentioned at the time. It's in JSA#9 - the one with Cyclone's costume colours all over the place - on page 16 (not counting the cover), upper right panel, Power Girl's neckline is missing. Jeromy Cox - as he's done now and then on JSA, when Eaglesham's gotten vague on details - has coloured the neck of the costume correctly regardless. I'd call it a 5 Bazzar on the Dissect-o-meter: sure it's easy to overlook (I did), but that's largely due to Cox's correction, and PG is a foreground figure so Eaglesham shouldn't be forgetting lines like that.
Great, now I'm finding nits in my nitpicking (it's a generic term predator Phil Farrand's guides - which I've got on my shelf from way back when they were first published - so it's still appropriate for use in the Dissector): I meant to say closed-chest PG has more detail drawn on her, in the first main paragraph of my previous post.
I knew calling them open-chest PG and closed-chest PG was going to get me muddled up while I was writing it - I should have just made up entirely different names for them, just for clarity...
I follow what you say, but I still think that if Dodson (less details and all) drew the center seam up to the twindow, and the lateral seam up to the shoulder; he should still have drawn the center seam from the upper edge of the twindow up to the neckline.
We'll have to agree to disagree on this matter. And yes, I know that "nitpicking" is a generic term predating Phil's books, but I think you'll agree the change of name of the column is justified, and with that comes a change in terminology we use around here.
I'll check out that other error you say later. And your own error in the PG terminology comes from starting at her chest so long. Yes, it's true her bossom is only as large as artists prefer to draw it, but it's commonplace that her breasts are larger, or at least more prominent (thanks to the twindow, welcome to the twindow side, it rolls off the tongue like "tweed") than those of other heroines in the DCU.
Yeah the centre seam is missing for a centimetre, but... everything else is spot on. There's a seam on her neck, there's a costume edge over the top of her cleavage, with a shadow, all the other seams and edges line up... if he did mean to draw her costume with an open neck, he drew a whole bunch of lines out of place, instead of just the one you're pointing to as evidence that he got it wrong. At the very least, Sinclair should get equal share of the Bazzars - the lines could go either way, and he coloured them against what he'd done earlier. Cox on JSA has shown several times that a colourist can minimise the impact of pencilling errors; Sinclair didn't just not do that, he did the reverse, making the error - if it was an error - worse.
What is a 'Bazzar' anyway, how'd you come up with that?
Drat, we're out of diagrams... Shrug, I guess unless one of us knows Dodson's email address, we'll just have to let it lie.
I'm not denying PG's a big girl, it's just that the way people talk about her ('ginormous' and so on), you'd think she's drawn like Raven Hex or something. As a fan of the character it irks me a bit, that's all.
Anyway, got another one for you, from a while back - I did a quick search of the blog, but couldn't find a reference to it. I picked up World War III issue #4 today, just to fill in my Bulleteer collection (just IC #7 and Birds of Prey #100 to go, both of which I'll be getting trades of sooner or later), and seeing as she was the reason I bought it, I noticed the nits rather quickly, on pages 2 and 7 (the entirety of Alix's appearance in the issue, in fact): she's flying, which she can't do. 52 #50 also has her in the air, but I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt - she's in a more leaping kind of pose, and given her powers, it's quite possible she could get up the momentum to take quite a leap. But WW3 has her in what I'd consider very 'I'm flying!' poses, so - assuming Ostrander didn't specify she be in the air (which seems unlikely), Jack Jadson should get, say, 6 Bazzars for that - she's just one of the background players, but whether or not she can fly is a pretty basic fact that an artist doing a group shot should check.
Miss Kitty Fantastico "At the very least, Sinclair should get equal share of the Bazzars - the lines could go either way, and he coloured them against what he'd done earlier. Cox on JSA has shown several times that a colourist can minimise the impact of pencilling errors; Sinclair didn't just not do that, he did the reverse, making the error - if it was an error - worse."
You're right, even if Dodson did do it wrong, Sinclair was also wrong. So Sinclair will also be credited for that nit.
Miss Kitty Fantastico "What is a 'Bazzar' anyway, how'd you come up with that?"
It's named after a writer whose work I despise. Try to guess...
Miss Kitty Fantastico "Shrug, I guess unless one of us knows Dodson's email address, we'll just have to let it lie."
Anyone around here does?
Miss Kitty Fantastico "I'm not denying PG's a big girl, it's just that the way people talk about her ('ginormous' and so on), you'd think she's drawn like Raven Hex or something. As a fan of the character it irks me a bit, that's all."
I know what you mean, but most artist draw her with very large breasts; even larger than other female characters most of the time. Coupled with her twindow, they are much more prominent than say, a Jim Balent Catwoman's. But do a Google image search for "Power Girl", and 99% of the post-1995 images for her have her with breasts larger than her head.
Miss Kitty Fantastico "Anyway, got another one for you, from a while back - I did a quick search of the blog, but couldn't find a reference to it. (...)"
I would have made the same mistake, I assumed Bulleteer, with her name and the way she looks, could fly.
magnus: "I would have made the same mistake, I assumed Bulleteer, with her name and the way she looks, could fly."
It's easy to see how the mistake was made (Infinite Crisis #7 does it too, apparently) - aside from the name and the look, the original Bulletman and Bulletgirl could fly, thanks to their helmets, which were silver and pointy like Alix's; her wikipedia entry even says that IC#7 'suggests' she's acquired one of the original helmets.
But it doesn't add up when you think about it - her costume was made for her by her late husband, including the helmet, and he died trying to get superpowers, so it doesn't make sense that he'd already have a flying helmet. Plus there's numerous instances in Seven Soldiers where flight would have come in real handy for Alix, yet she either runs, or drives. And her helmet design hasn't changed at all since 7S, and though it's similar to the old Bulletman/girl design, it's not identical, and the original Bulletgirl told her to go screw herself when they met, so it doesn't seem likely she'd hand over a helmet. Besides, it just doesn't make sense that DC would change the powers of a character just so she can be flying in the background of a crowd shot where it doesn't make a bit of difference.
Of course, now that it's happened a couple of times, she's probably going to be shown flying any time an artist needs a bunch of random heroes for a background group. Still, like 'USAgent', that doesn't mean it's right - it just means they're getting it wrong a lot of times in a row.
What the hell is she good for, then?
In terms of powers, she's got the basic strength/durability package - against any opponent or obstacle not similarly superpowered, she's unstoppable and invulnerable. Not the flashiest power set, but it gets the job done reasonably well. She saved the world, after all.
Plus her Seven Soldiers mini was the best deconstruction of the superhero genre I've ever read. I think she's got the potential to be DC's She-Hulk, as Slott wrote it, a comic about comics that does meta-commentary on the bizarre conventions that every other comic book takes for granted - but it'd need a really, really good writer to do properly.
Miss Kitty Fantastico said "She saved the world, after all."
Uhm.... everyone and their grandma can say that in the DC or Marvel universes :P
Still, I wouldn't call myself "Bulleteer" if I couldn't fly.
Miss Kitty Fantastico said "I think she's got the potential to be DC's She-Hulk, as Slott wrote it"
She-Hulk style? Well, not my kind of comic, really. The difference is that She-Hulk had some previous B-list profile, while the Bulleteer is lucky if she's a Q-lister.
Bulleteer isn't a 'Q-lister', she's just new... She did premiere in her own miniseries, and it is rare nowdays for a new character to start off in their own book, so I'd say that gets her up to C-list at least... if she spends a few more years doing nothing but cameos in crowd scenes, then you'll have a point...
She had her own miniseries just because it was part of a larger storyline, 7 Soldiers.
But how many people (both IC and OOC) know her name and powers? She's a Q-lister, even if she's new.
Hi Magnus..
Just wnated to say that i like the new appearence your colum has.
I like the new picture.. :)
I am not sure if someone did found the error on the "Dissect this" section.. Maybe i missed on this big amount of comments that you have today :)
And i have one dissect for you..
I belive Miss Kitty Fantastico is a she.. not a he.. so on the "Wardrobe Malfunction" nit, it should say I quote HER instead of HIM..
See you arround bye.
magnus: " I wouldn't call myself "Bulleteer" if I couldn't fly."
Really? It never occurred to me - I don't make the association between bullets and flight. The whole 'faster than a speeding bullet' line says 'running' to me, not flying (after all, Supes couldn't fly when they first came up with that one). I mean, a bullet can't make itself fly, like a rocket or something - it's fired, and it's got whatever momentum it's got. Likewise Bulleteer can't just pull momentum out of thin air.
Besides, conceptually I like that Bulleteer can't fly. She's a very grounded character, I don't think flight would suit her. There's plenty of examples of realistic characters who can fly, I don't deny that, but the power itself has always seemed rather fantastic to me. Strength and speed you can relate to, they're just ramped-up versions of abilities everyone has naturally, but flight isn't a 'human experience'.
magnus: "The difference is that She-Hulk had some previous B-list profile, while the Bulleteer is lucky if she's a Q-lister."
I meant in terms of the place she holds in the fictional world, and what her story would address. Almost all comics, especially those set in a shared universe, take their conventions for granted, but those conventions are really pretty eccentric when you look at them in the cold light of day. That's something Slott did a lot of with She-Hulk, in a humourous fashion; Morrison did the same, in a more grounded way, more slightly caustic observational humour than outright 'comedy', with the Bulleteer mini. Even though (through no desire of her own) she's got superpowers, and has decided that since she's stuck with them she might as well use them, she's still very much a regular person, and when she looks around herself as the superhero world - as much as she wants (partly from lack of other options) to find a place in it - there's always a part of her thinking "You guys are all freaks."
Which, let's be honest, they are - 99% of superheroes, if they were in the real world, would need counselling.
I recommend all of Seven Soldiers, but Bulleteer and Zatanna's miniseries are particularly good.
jordan: "I belive Miss Kitty Fantastico is a she"
Thanks, but no, Magnus has got it right :)
MKF: Yeah, I know what yo umean about bullets, but it's just the image of them speeding through the air that makes me think of flying, or perhaps human cannoballs!
About the comparison between her and She-Hulk, I commented on her Q-lister status when thinking about the success the book would have, and therefore, its chances of longevity. And yeah, most heroes would need counseling, and most actually seek it out from the same place regular people do: friends and family.
Jordan: thanks for the compliments on the new look, nobody has found the exact error in the DT! And I've mentioned before that MKF is a dude. Or a bloke, as he would put it. He does have a very crossdressing nickname, though.
I don't mean counselling for whatever issue the writer's given them this arc; I mean counselling for being a superhero. Morrison wasn't far off the mark in Seven Soldiers #0 when he asked what the difference is between a superhero and a "crazy fetish person with a death wish" - like most action/adventure genres, superhero comics politely ignore the fact that their heroes should, by all rights, be the kind of person you'd never, ever want to be in the same room with. Frank Herbert was spot-on with Dune - a superhero, in reality, would be the worst thing that could ever happen to a society, for just about every conceivable reason.
Of course, it's fun to buy into the pleasant fiction that Superman and his brood are a good idea - but as She-Hulk often did, I find it healthy as a reader to see the genre get its nose tweaked now and then. Otherwise you lose objectivity, and end up as the comic book equivalent of those sad geeks who spend hours arguing whether a Star Destroyer could beat the Enterprise in a fight.
I have no doubt a Bulleteer book would struggle with low sales. Then again, I vaguely recall Supergirl was selling somewhere in the 40-50 thousand range during Joe Kelly's run, which lends a lot of credibility to the argument that sales and quality have nothing whatsoever to do with each other.
Had a thought about why the healer kid in New X-Men couldn't heal Aunt May... is it possible that Elixir can only heal other Mutants?
MKF: Gotcha, good points, also about Dune... something similar was done with Watchmen, Rising Stars, Authority and comics like it. And I never said sales were equal with quality, god forbid.
And doh, of course a Star Destroyer would kick the Enterprise's ass... (and no, I'm not a bigger SW fan than a ST, I love both of the equally, but Star Wars ships are munchkinly more powerful than ST ships).
Delvin: Somebody already pointed that out in a forum, but no, one of the first times (if not the first) Elixir used his power was on a Reaver, which was, by all accounts, a normal human.
I'm firmly in the Enterprise camp. Both sides (especially Star Wars, which is only barely 'science' fiction) take immense liberties with hard physics, which makes relying on any of their given stats questionable at best. I think common sense suggests that neither side can exceed light speed with their basic engines. The Enterprise therefore owns the 'high ground' of FTL combat - it can sense, manoeuvre, and attack at FTL velocity, and no matter how fast the Star Destroyer is under hyperdrive, it has to drop to sublight speed to fight, where it's a sitting duck.
(I never said arguing it was sad - only taking it seriously and thinking it matters.)
Yah, you're kind of right. We were discussing this last night with some friends, and the point is, attacking from warp makes a Star Trek ship vritually invincible, plus the fact that SW shields are probably not prepared to block transporters (since they don't exist in SW), and the ST ships could transport torpedoes inside of SW vessels or stations.
On the other hand, if a SW ship goes into hyperdrive, it's untouchable, because it's a parallel dimension where ST ships cannot go. Oh, and SW is not AT ALL science fiction, it's just space opera (and I love it that way).
I think SW qualifies as sci-fi lite - just because it's space opera doesn't mean it can't be sci-fi as well. We're talking about real Star Wars here of course, not the prequels. As much as the original trilogy never let science stand in the way of having fun, they did go to some lengths to create a setting that, on the surface, was more or less plausible and consistent. I think the existence of droids, and the way they're presented and handled in the OT, puts Star Wars firmly in the sci-fi realm.
Hyperdrive, in Trek terms, would seem to be basically a wormhole drive - common sense analysis of the movies suggests it's a lot faster than warp, and presumably - at least at the outset - undetectable to Starfleet. The Empire could no doubt score a few 'victories' early on, with surprise terror attacks on undefended civilian targets, but they still have no way of inflicting crippling damage on the Starfleet war machine. Shipyards and production centres are going to be patrolled 24/7, so there's no way for the Empire to stop Starfleet making more ships, or of destroying the ones they have. And once they realise what the Empire's doing, Starfleet could defend their population centres pretty well just by stationing a single ship in every system - with the tactical warp advantage, a single Akira class could take out a fleet of Star Destroyers.
Of course, once you get both sides acquiring each other's technology and handing it to their R&D teams, the Empire is dead - SW technology is utterly stagnant compared to ST. I'd lay good odds that Starfleet would have hyperdrive detection systems, and the equivalent of Interdictors, up and running before the Empire's even figured out how to build a warp coil.
I found another Dissection, by the way, in case you're not getting the book and hadn't seen it:
Title: She-Hulk vol. 2
Issue: 22
Culprit: Avalon's Rob Ro (colourist)
Dissection: On page 18, Absorbing Man catches She-Hulk's fist in his left hand, but in the middle panel of the page her hand is coloured in flesh-tone rather than green - the colourist evidently assumed what he was colouring was Creel's palm, not Shulkie's fist.
Of course, you're the Dissect-o-meter operator, but I'd suggest a 3 - it's a momentary lapse, not a lack of research or anything.
Also, I'm not sure who to credit this to - or if there's some kind of explanation - but in Velocity: Pilot Season, in both the inside front cover and inside back cover ads for the Pilot Season contest, Velocity doesn't have her lightning bolt tattoo on her face. Not a dissection as such, as who knows what they'll do if she gets an ongoing title (there's a lightning bolt symbol on her shoulder she doesn't have in the comic too, so perhaps it's a new look they'll bring in), but it's something to keep an eye on. Good issue, BTW, far better than the Cyblade one - I could easily see myself picking it up every month.
"SW technology is utterly stagnant compared to ST."
And that's one of the reasons why it's more fantasy than scifi. The technology is basically the same in the OT than in Tales of The Jedi (4000 years prior or so), except for cosmetic differences.
I didn't notice the Velocity error (passable book), nor the Shulkie one, but I'll check them out.
True, but in judging Star Wars, I tend to look at the movies first, and everything else a distant second, if at all. The movies - even including the prequels - don't present anything in terms of technological stagnation that's not unreasonable, given the rise of the Empire, with its attendant problems of scale, corruption, and general bureaucratic ineptness. It's only when you bring in the novels and so on, and have the same technology existing unchanged for thousands of years, that you get a setting that doesn't really make scientific sense. Which, along with its tendency to focus on Jedi (who I find truly tedious), is why I've never felt it worth reading Star Wars novels or comics.
I agree with you that Jedi are boring (when they're not kicking the crap ouf each other or the Sith), but you make a mistake in saying that the books and novels only focus on them.
The comics Rebellion and its predecessor, Empire, not to mention the Marvel series, and a lot of other comics, focus on common rebels or imperials, bounty hunters, spies, etc... And the X-Wing series of novels and comics is about pilots, with little or no Jedi presence, and they're the best that the EU has to offer, along with Timothy Zahn's stuff.
Holy crap, 35 comments... where are all my readers now?
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