The Dissector

The Nitpicker #41.

DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

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

"That is, without a doubt, the nastiest tasting stuff I ever put in my mouth." Wonder Girl II, Countdown #32.

"The British Museum. Last bastion of a lost empire. This is where we drew the line and said "fuck YOU, we're not given it ALL back."" John Constantine, Hellblazer #236.

So, when I say I'll catch up, I really mean it. Here I am with the column about comics published on 9/26, which is where those quotes above come from. I had to have two quotes of the week this time around, because I love John Constantine's cynism, and I love out of context quotes as well! Take that Wonder Girl! Not much to say this time around, except to dive straight into the Nitpicker's Picks of the Week.

Best book of the week goes to Tales Of The Sinestro Corps: Parallax. While Ron Marz's story is not really much a plot mover, it does provide some insight into what happens to a person when he's possessed by Parallax, and it gets us closer to the (already known) outcome of Kyle freeing himself of the dreadful fear parasite. Ron Marz, as Kyle's creator, understands the character perfectly, and writes him accordingly. But what really made this book my favorite this particular week is Adriana Melo's art... she's just fantastic.

I must say I don't care much for Jason Wright's colors, except for the close-up of the painting; where he (along with Melo and inker Marlo Alquiza, I guess) replicates the texture of canvas and the nuances of a painting's colors. Still, colors and inks are very good throughout the rest of the issue. However, where Melo really shines is on the pencil portraits done by Kyle, which are more realistic, and makes you wish she had drawn the entire book like this. I mean, just look at them:


Beautiful, aren't they? Do the portraits alone make this my favorite issue this week? No, of course that's not enough, but Melo's art, and particularly the portraits, manage to convey Kyle's emotion along with Marz's dialogues. Worst book of the week? Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious #2. It's boring, and the plot really makes no sense, with Sam Kieth dragging what could have been told in one issue through this second one. Not the worst comic I've ever read, but certainly bad.

Now, I was worried you wouldn't have enough time to Spot the Nit, but Miss Kitty Fantastico guessed it without a problem, and of course earns himself a new HSNC badge. It was indeed Cheetah's lack of spots, which repeats itself in next column's Wonder Woman Annual, and other past books. On with this column's meat and taters, shall we?
<-------------------------------->
"RETRO SPOTTING!"

TITLE: Avengers Classic.

ISSUE: 04.

CULPRIT: Uncredited original colorist.

NIT-TO-PICK: Straight away, look at this panel below, and spot the nit:

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"PIED ALIEN."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 32.

CULPRIT: Al Barrionuevo (penciller) and Tom Chu (colors).

NIT-TO-PICK: Instead of his sunglasses, Piper has glowing Roswell eyes.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"SAY NO TO TEENAGE DRINKING."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 32.

CULPRIT: Tony Bedard (writer) and Paul Dini (head writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: So, at Black Canary's bachelorette party... Supergirl and Wonder Girl are not old enough to drink, even if they are old enough to fight super villains and arrest them? Reminds of me Doogie Howser: "Kid doctor can't buy beer, can prescribe drugs." Furthermore, Supergirl is technically older than Superman!

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, I know it's done because DC can't have superheroes condoning minors drinking, but...
<-------------------------------->
"THE PARTY WAS SO HOT AND SWEATY WE HAD TO CHANGE OUTFITS."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 32.

CULPRIT: Al Barrionuevo (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: At Black Canary's bachelorette party, Big Barda, Lois Lane and Zatanna are not wearing the same outfits they wore when we see the party in Green-Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special. I read Countdown first, but I guess we could call this a Countdown error, since the whole wedding thing is actually Winick's and Conner's show.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"YEAH, RIGHT OLLIE... THE HOT NINJA CHICK FORCED YOU..."

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: The book begins with the umpteenth recap in a month of the title characters' stormy relationship, but implies that Ollie betrayed Dinah with Shado, when Shado raped him.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"KNOCKING BOOTS."

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special / Black Canary Wedding Planner.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Amanda Conner (penciller/inker) / Stephane Roux (cover artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page six, Black Canary's boots are drawn incorrectly, they're missing the yellow stripe on the foot itself. This error also happened in the cover to Black Canary Wedding Planner, by Stephane Roux, so let's count it as two errors.

NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, twice.
<-------------------------------->
"JUST IMAGINE..."

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer) & Amanda Conner (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: The set-up for Ollie's (cancelled) bachelor party with stripper doesn't match what was seen in the previous special.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"BART WHO? I'M JUST A STRIPPER WITH MY SKIN PAINTED ORANGE."

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer) and/or Amanda Conner (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: Sorry, but Starfire shouldn't be here, she wasn't at Bart Allen's funeral or wake, she wouldn't be here having fun. In fact, the whole heroes’ community seems to have forgotten about Bart too soon...

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, since she's not seen using her powers.
<-------------------------------->
"EVERYONE DOES NOT MEAN EVERYONE."

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer) and/or Amanda Conner (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: So, according to Black Canary "everyone's here" for the wedding? Well, I many could be off-panel, but we're missing half of the Teen Titans (like Robin) and JSA (like Stargirl or Hourman & Liberty Belle); plus people like Red Tornado's wife and daughter or Wally West's wife and kids (I mean, come on, freaking Firehawk is there).

NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"THAT'S NOT GREEN ARROW!"

TITLE: Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer) and/or Amanda Conner (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: At the wedding scene, Ollie's beard is different than his usual style; even different from what he had on the first pages of the book.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars. Yes, he could have trimmed it differently, but I just can't believe he'd do it... particularly getting rid of (or at least hide) his magnificent handlebar 'tashe... hmmm... maybe that's how we know this wasn't actually Ollie?
<-------------------------------->
"LOS HEROES."

TITLE: Heroes.

ISSUE: 51.

CULPRIT: Ryan Odagawa (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: So, the second season just started, and I'm enjoying it... although not as much as the first one. Granted, that season started a bit slow... Now, if you didn't know it, you can read weekly short stories in NBC.com; which complement the show, and they've even ran while the show was on break.

This particular installment gave us our first glimpse of Maya and Alejandro; and the trail of dead bodies they're leaving behind them. The last page shows us a street of a Guatemalan town, with shops, and some signs are a bit off. "Ropas de Torres" is not particularly correct name for a clothes shop, translating as "Torres' Clothes", but it's not entirely wrong either... but "carneceria" was intended to be "carnicería", which means "butchery"

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, this doesn't get lower, you know how it pisses me off.
<-------------------------------->
"HE'S JUST LIKE A CAR..."

TITLE: JLA-Hitman.

ISSUE: 01 of 02.

CULPRIT: Garth Ennis (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Why is Flash (who, as Wally West, is a mechanic) performing bloodworks and the like on Hitman, instead of, say, Batman? This is not Barry!!!

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"ACRONYMS, ANYONE?"

TITLE: Marvel Comics Presents V2.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Rich Kowloski (writer) and/or Dave Sharpe (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: It's U.S.Agent, not USAgent.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, I know it's minor, but it keeps being done.
<-------------------------------->
"WINAMPCAT."

TITLE: New X-Men V2.

ISSUE: 42.

CULPRIT: Scottie Young (penciller/inker).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 24, Kitty Pryde phases through a wall, with a visual effect that looks like a Winamp visualization plug-in... an effect she's never, ever displayed when phasing.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"CONTACTS ARE IN GREAT DEMAND OVER AT XAVIER'S."

TITLE: New X-Men V2.

ISSUE: 42.

CULPRIT: Skottie Young & Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colorists).

NIT-TO-PICK: Same page, Kitty's eyes are green, when they should be brown.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, repeat offense.
<-------------------------------->
"DARK REFLECTION."

TITLE: New X-Men V2.

ISSUE: 42.

CULPRIT: Mike Perkins (penciller for Endangered Species backup story).

NIT-TO-PICK: Beast's feet look wrong, and he looks too small when compared to Dark Beast (he should be taller and larger since his secondary mutation).

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"IS THAT QUESTION?"

TITLE: Tales Of The Sinestro Corps: Parallax.

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Ron Marz (writer) and/or Jared K. Fletcher (letterer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Like I said, a great issue. On page seven, last panel, Parallax says "Though didn't you get into trouble for drawing on the walls when you were... six."; I think that should end in a question mark.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"TINA MCWHO?"

TITLE: The Flash V2.

ISSUE: 232.

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page five, Linda Park-West is described as "a former med student who is, by default, the world's leading authority on velocibiology"... first of all, wasn't she a TV reporter? She did study medicine for a while, but that is not her defining skill set. And a year of studying her children makes her the leading authority on inherited speed powers, above Jerry and Tina McGee who studied Wally west, or Valerie Perez, who along with Tina studied Bart Allen, not to mention unnamed others who might have lots more experience on the topic?

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"PUNY HULK!"

TITLE: World War Hulk: Gamma Corps.

ISSUE: 03 of 04.

CULPRIT: Carlos Ferreira (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Mess looks taller and not a lot smaller in body mass than the Hulk, who's been shown to be huge lately. I mean, Hulk looks about the size he had in the 60s.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
This week we had fewer nits, but a healthier (or unhealthier) Bazzar average of 6.1, product of the middle ground I'm taking in regards to rating. Undoubtedly the DAYAMN! moment of the week has to be the ending to the Green Arrow-Black Canary Wedding Special; with Ollie (if that's indeed him) trying to kill his new bride, and Dinah having to stab him through the neck with an arrow in self defense... I did not see this one coming!

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

THE NITPICKER!