Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Dissector #49.

DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

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

"They're giant insects. Of course they have eye-beams." Tesladyne field operative, Atomic Robo #02.

What's going on? Why am I not getting more votes for the Autopsy Awards? This is outrageous! Get your lazy asses over to your e-mails and send those votes (see last column, the third Special for the nominees) to lordmagnusen at gmail.com! Still up to date, here's the column on last week's comics, but let me tell you first that NOBODY found the Dissect This! from last week! The problem was that Donna Troy's boots did not have heels people... I know it's not Mary Marvel, but still...

Before moving on to the picks, you'll see something new in the Dissections. Each book title now has the publisher's name next to it, in parenthesis. Why? Because I had to go over almost 50 columns to see which company had the most dissections; and even though the figures are accurate as to how they relate to each other, they're still only approximated... and I want to have an easier time counting them for next years Autopsy Awards. Same thing with the authors, I'm going to start counting their dissections after finishing each column, to save myself the trouble next time.

Time for The Dissector's Picks Of The Week! Best book of the week was, once again, Atomic Robo, this time with its second issue. Yes, it's still a Hellboy homage (I want to stop using the word "rip-off"", it's not nice), but it's definitely one of the better books out there. Brian Clevinger writes an interesting, if simple story, which not only has great, funny dialogue (see the Quote Of The Week up there, or the Moments Of The Week at the end of this column for an example), but also touching moments that show that in a very effective way make you care for Robo. The art by Scott Wegener is cartoony, but fittingly so, and beautifully rendered, and Ronda Pattison's colors are perfect for Wegener's art.

A good read for the whole family, I think I'm going to start reading this book to my three year old son. If you need more than my suggestion to pick up Atomic Robo, go check this preview of the second issue, along with a preview of this week's first issue of Red 5 Comics' new book, Midknight. Worst book of the week? The "thank God it's over" last part of JLA: Classified's "The Ghost Of Mars", with issue #46. A story that should have been done in two issues, at most, sub par art by the usually good Rick Leonardi (with Sean Philips), and even worse dialogue for something to feels like a bad rehash of the "Baron Harkonnen takes over Alya" plot from Dune. That said lets go with the dissections for this week... AND GO VOTE FOR THE AUTOPSY AWARDS!!!
<-------------------------------->
"TELL ME, WHAT'S WRONG?"

TITLE: Batman And The Outsiders V2 (DC).

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Chuck Dixon (writer).

DISSECTION: Well, a passable first issue for this (grrr) "new" book. Of course, the Dissector couldn't be quiet, and I found a couple of errors. One of them is in these two panels, tell me if you can find it. Clue, look at the culprit.

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WELL, I'M ACTUALLY FROM THE BRAZILLIAN RAIN FOREST."

TITLE: Batman And The Outsiders V2 (DC).

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Chuck Dixon (writer).

DISSECTION: On page ten Grace refers to herself as an "Amazonian", when the correct name for her race is "Amazon". Yes, she could be joking, but I don't think she'd make that mistake. She's a bruiser, sure, but she's not an idiot.

DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I JUST SNUCK IN WEARING ATOM SMASHER'S COSTUME, I'M JUST A STRIPPER."

TITLE: Black Adam: The Dark Age (DC).


ISSUE: 04 of 06.

CULPRIT: Nathan Eyring (colorist).

DISSECTION: Atom Smasher's eyes are colored black instead of blue, and his hair is colored as black instead of red.

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, and it counts as two separate nits.
<-------------------------------->
"MARY, HOW YOU'VE GROWN!"

TITLE: Countdown To Final Crisis (DC).

ISSUE: 24.

CULPRIT: Tom Derenick (penciller).

DISSECTION: Derenick is, without a doubt, one of the best pencillers working on Countdown. However, he still makes mistakes. Mary Marvel stands side by side with Darkseid, and he looks less than a head taller than her... when he's 8'9" and she's 5'6".

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars,
<-------------------------------->
"SNAP!"

TITLE: Countdown To Final Crisis (DC).

ISSUE: 24.

CULPRIT: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers) and/or Tom Derenick (penciller).

DISSECTION: TWP (Superman, ok) Prime kills Earth-15 J'onn J'onzz by snapping his neck, something that shouldn't be possible given that J'onn's a shapeshifter.

DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"APOKOLIPS IS LIKE HEEL!"

TITLE: Countdown To Final Crisis (DC).

ISSUE: 24.

CULPRIT: Tom Derenick (penciller).

DISSECTION: Mary Marvel's boots, on page 13, have regular heels instead of stiletto ones, and they're not lace-up boots, as they've been shown to be.

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, at least she has heels.
<-------------------------------->
"WE'RE GIVING YOU THE BOOT!"

TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary (DC).

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Cliff Chiang (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: On the cover, Black Canary's boots are wrong, as well as in the inner pages.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHO ARE WE?"

TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary (DC).

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).

DISSECTION: The narration boxes say that Oliver Queen is a captive of the Amazons, when these women are, ostensibly, Athena/Granny Goodness' fake Amazons.

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"OH, SO IT'S A NEW ONE...."

TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary (DC).

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).

DISSECTION: So, if this is Themyscira... why does "Athena" call it "New Themyscira" on page six. This even supports the facts that the ladies here are not the real Amazons. Yes, she could be referring to the fact that Themyscira was rebuilt, but that doesn't seem likely.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"COVER YOURSELF UP, CHILD. NEVERMIND THE FACT THAT WE ARE GOING TO AN ISLAND OF HALF-NAKED WARRIOR CHICKS..."

TITLE: Green Arrow / Black Canary (DC).

ISSUE: 02.

CULPRIT: Cliff Chiang (penciller/inker) and Trish Mulvihill (colorist).

DISSECTION: On the cover and inside the book, Speedy's arrow emblem on her chest is slightly smaller than it should be, and it's painted yellow as if it was fabric, when it's been show in the past to actually be open, as cleavage (great going there Ollie, letting the former prostituted minor, who's still a minor, mind you, go out like that).

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WHY YOU SO FORMAL, MAN?"

TITLE: House Of M: Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 01 of 05.

CULPRIT: Christos N. Gage (writer).

DISSECTION: Luke Cage's childhood friend calls him "Lucas" in the flashbacks, when that was Luke's last name (Carl Lucas). This seems unlikely.

DISSECT-O-METER: 2 Bazzzars.
<-------------------------------->
"WE'RE A LITTLE OVERCROWDED, YOU KNOW?"

TITLE: House Of M: Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 01 of 05.

CULPRIT: Christos N. Gage (writer).

DISSECTION: Why does somebody caught with drugs in New York get sent to a prison in Florida?

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"THIS IS GETTING O.L.D.!"

TITLE: Marvel Comics Presents V2 (Marvel).

ISSUE: 03.

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

DISSECTION: USAGent, yeah.

DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"CONTACTS, PROFESSOR X GAVE ME SOME OF HIS."

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36 and several issues before.

CULPRIT: Dave McCaig (colorist).

DISSECTION: The Guvnor alerted me to the fact that Wolvie's eyes are being colored brown in this book too. Of course, badge for the Guvnor. In fact, now that I look at my notes for issue 36 in particular, McCaig colored his eyes orange in one page, only to color then blue in the next one. Does he not even pay attention to what he's doing?!?!?

DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, Wolverine is one of the stars of this book (not to mention one of Marvel's top characters, appearing in half of the company's books any given week), and it's been done over and over again. Ooooh... I got it... this is not actually Wolverine... it's one of the many stand-ins he hires to be able to appear in all those comics!
<-------------------------------->
"MARVEL COMICS' NEW ADVERTISERS: CONTACT LENSES COMPANIES!"

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Dave McCaig (colorist).

DISSECTION: The Black Widow's eyes are colored green, when they should be blue.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars. MARVEL.COM/UNIVERSE, DAVE!!!!!!!!
<-------------------------------->
"I'M A NON NUDE."

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: Wolverine surprises Spider-Woman in the shower (hehehe), and of course, she's nekkid. She's still naked when the Black Widow (who by the way, wears white panties with a black bra) comes in to borrow deodorant, and seconds later, when Wolvie jumps out of the window, Spider-Woman is wearing panties.

DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars, she COULD have put them on while Wolvie jumped, but...
<-------------------------------->
"PACMAN-MAN!"

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: On the last page, Luke Cage and his Avengers bring backup to face The Hood and his gang, including the FF, the Mighty Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. capekillers and the X-Men. Angel is there, but he's wearing a costume with an emblem that looks like a hollow Pacman instead of like a halo.

DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"THE OTHER COSTUME WAS IN THE LAUNDRY."

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Dave McCaig (colorist)

DISSECTION: Angel's costume is colored red (almost burgundy), like the variation of the current (and old) blue one, that he used to wear years ago. This one even has yellow gloves and boots, like an iteration of that costume he wore while with the Champions.

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"HE KNOWS QUACK-FU!"

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer) or Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: So, backup, right? X-Men, Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Punisher, the other Avengers, Daredevil, even some gamma goodness with Doc Samson... but what the hell is Howard the Duck doing there?

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"TONY, REED, IS THAT ANOTHER OF YOUR CLONES?"

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer) or Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: The Silver Surfer is there too, when he's supposed to be in deep space.

DISSECT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"NIGHTHAWK? SERIOUSLY?"

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer) or Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: Nighthawk is part of the backup too, but he's gone back to being a villain with the Squadron Sinister.

DISSECT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, this guy has gone back and forth between hero and villain a couple of times.
<-------------------------------->
"SEEING VISIONS..."

TITLE: New Avengers (Marvel).

ISSUE: 36.

CULPRIT: Brian Michael Bendis (writer) or Leinil Yu (penciller/inker).

DISSECTION: The Vision is already there, which is odd, considering that the rest of the Young Avengers aren't.

DISSECT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"JLA'S BUYING SURPLUS TELEPORTING EQUIPMENT."

TITLE: Nightwing (DC).

ISSUE: 138.

CULPRIT: Fabian Nicieza (writer).

DISSECTION: Nightwing declines Batman's offer of his JLA teleporter code, only to show that he actually knows it, commenting that he "was saving that card for another time" or something to that effect. Well, it was pretty stupid of him to do that, instead of just letting Batman tell him the code, but that's not the problem here. Problem is, he teleports into Wayne Manor's yard, instead of directly into the cave, saying that he'd rather not risk teleporting into the Giant Penny (I just noticed that letterer Steve Wands doesn't use all caps for Nightwing's narration boxes... I like that).

Dick, you think the JLA teleporter wouldn't have some kind of guidance system to teleport in a fixed spot in the cave not occupied by a stupid trophy, or sensors that would allow it to find a clean spot for you to rematerialize? It is made of the best technology Earth, Krypton, Mars, Thanagar and God knows where else have to offer. The only point in Dick teleporting outside the house is to face Tiger Moth, Silken Spider and Dragonfly.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO DISSECT, DIVINE."

TITLE: The Nitpicker (Studio Robota).

ISSUE: 42.

CULPRIT: MaGnUs (writer).

DISSECTION: So, Matías N. spotted a ni... dissection to be made in one of the nominees for the Autopsy Awards. In a JLA nit among the Best Writing Dissection nominees, I wrote "intestinal flora, despite its name, it's made of plants, it's made of bacteria.", when I should have said "it's NOT made of plants".

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, you can still understand what I wanted to say, particularly from the context.
<-------------------------------->
"I DYED IT IN PRISON."

TITLE: Salvation Run (DC).

ISSUE: 01 of 07.

CULPRIT: John Kalisz (colorist).

DISSECTION: Mammoth's hair is colored a bright yellow, instead of the red, or at least reddish-blonde it should be. Fun little book, right from the cover I knew there was New Gods involvement.

DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"DESAAD, ARE YOU WEARING PLATFORMS?"

TITLE: Superman/Batman (DC).

ISSUE: 42.

CULPRIT: Dustin Nguyen (penciller).

DISSECTION: Darkseid is pictured as slightly taller than characters like Desaad or Superman, when, as said before, he's 8'9".

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"BIZARRO AM NOT HATING SUNLIGHT!"

TITLE: Titans East Special (DC).

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).

DISSECTION: Bizarro is weakened by a burst of sunlight from Starfire... uh... that only works on the Bizarros from Smallville and All Star Superman. Good book, though, and I like the fact that it paves the way for a book with a classic line-up. Although I already see problems with the cover for Titans #1; namely, Starfire's straight hair (yes, she could have done it on purpose), and Nightwing's gloves colored incorrectly... but we'll wait and see.

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"I'VE GOT A GOOD INTERDIMENSIONAL CALLING PLAN."

TITLE: Titans East Special (DC).

ISSUE: One-shot.

CULPRIT: Judd Winick (writer).

DISSECTION: How the hell does Cyborg contact Donna Troy? Isn't traveling through parallel universes supposed to be hard? I'd guess communicating through them would be difficult as well.

DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars. I predict a low average for this column.
<-------------------------------->
"THE TRACTOR BEAM PROBLEM."

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3 (DC).

ISSUE: 14.

CULPRIT: Gail Simone (writer) and Terry Dodson (penciller).

DISSECTION: So, Gail Simone is here, and her start in this book is... promising, though nothing to write home about. Too early to tell. My first problem is that one of four prisoners Hippolyta keeps on Paradise Island (who have apparently been there for centuries, or millennia) gives her a "gift" to mock her, a wooden crown that reads "OUR QUEEN"... in plain English.

DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars, perhaps there is a point to this.
<-------------------------------->
"AN ISLAND OF WARRIOR WOMEN, NO DEFENSES."

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3 (DC).

ISSUE: 14.

CULPRIT: Gail Simone (writer).

DISSECTION: Captain Nazi tells Wonder Woman (well, he just thinks it's Agent Diana Prince) that he and his new "Society" (a Nazi group, of course) wanted a country to remake, one that is "too foolish to have even the mildest of defenses"... so he sends his troops to conquer "Themyscira", which really, even after the scattering of all the Amazons, would probably have better defenses than most places in Earth, not to mention the impenetrable barrier Granny Goodness (posing as Athena) placed around it.

DISSECT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"THIS NAZI INVASION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE THULE SOCIETY."

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3 (DC).

ISSUE: 14.

CULPRIT: Gail Simone (writer).

DISSECTION: So, Wonder Woman, powered by the Olympian gods, can't breach Granny's barrier, but some two-bit Nazi stormtroopers can?

DISSECT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"YEAH... UH... THEY'RE TRAINING UNIFORMS... YES, THAT'S IT!"

TITLE: X-Factor V4 (Marvel).

ISSUE: 25.

CULPRIT: Scot Eaton (penciller).

DISSECTION: The New X-Men appear in this issue, wearing uniforms that are significantly different from the ones they got in the previous issue of their own book (ones that were kind of like classic New Mutant uniforms, in turn based in classic X-Men ones). Rockslide wears a shirt, X-23 (or is it Talon?) and Surge have cleavage, different emblems, etc... The cover and previews for New X-Men #44 show them wearing the uniforms with the old-school vibe, and while they could be wearing some kind of training uniforms, it's more than likely that Eaton had no reference (or was provided with no reference, to be exact) on how to dress them... still, the uniforms look nothing like the ones they wore before getting new ones.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
The average wasn't that low, it was 6.0 Bazzars... it's too high to be low, but to low to be high. Let's go with the Moments Of The Week, alright? First up we have Robin's hairy legs from the classic Teen Titans era... guess he either never wore pantyhose, like Burt Ward did, or he'd just forgotten to shave. EWWWWWW!!!!

Then, in what would obviously have qualified as a DAYAMN! moment a few weeks ago, over at Punisher (MAX), Barracuda shoots a baby in the head:

Speaking of the Punisher, I don't remember where, in what boards, I had a discussion about Punisher MAX and Punisher War Journal. I maintained that MAX was not part of the 616 Marvel Universe, that it was its own, non-superhero ridden continuity, and other people just argued that it was part of it, but it just chose to tell more realistic stories. Finally, I have proof for my claims. In Punisher (current volume) #52, same issue from where the above panel was taken, Punisher mentions that his family was killed thirty years ago, something that does not fit at all with the timeline of the regular Marvel Universe.

According to Quesada (I think it was him), about only 10 years have passed since Peter Parker became Spider-Man, and according to more sensible takes, it's probably been 15 years since the spider bite. Another thing with that book, is that it presents an interesting analysis of the Punisher's mindset: he didn't come back home from the war to his family; he was just on vacation in peacetime, and when his family was killed, he want back home: to war. Interesting point of view, this had never occurred to me, at least not consciously.

Now, personal vindication time is over, so let me show the last Moment Of The Week. In another example of the funny dialogue Atomic Robo has, but wouldn't fit in the quote of the week:

That's just masterful, that silent panel and the "That's super." line just cracks me up. Well then, it's over for now, remember to vote in the Autopsy Awards; I was thinking of giving you time till next Sunday, but if I see that there's not enough votes (and hint, there isn't yet), I'll extend the voting period a few days.

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

THE DISSECTOR!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

For Dissect This, I'm going to avoid trying to fathom the intricacies of synthetic elements, and just guess that it's the reference to a European Space 'Administration', instead of Agency. Sure, perhaps the DC world has slightly different agency titles, but it reads more like they just assumed that because NASA is an Administration, that's what everyone else is called too.

Did I mention earlier that Wolverine's eyes were brown in the Civil War tie-in issue of Wolverine I checked for that DT?

Wonder Woman #13 implied that it's Hippolyta's choice to keep Diana outside the barrier, rather than Athena, or Granny Goodness, or... oh who cares, after what DC's done to Wonder Woman, I think Gail Simone is well within her rights to do whatever she wants and tell the rest of them to get screwed.

I didn't think the crown (whatever language it should have been in) was offered in mockery though - it seemed sincere to me, that regardless of whatever Hippolyta did (allowed baby Diana to live?) that ticked off the prisoners and caused them to 'betray' her, they still love her and want her to be their queen, and for them all to be one tribe again.

DrJeff said...

Berkelium and Californium in quantity? Really? And for what? Berkelium is as useless as the university that shares the element's name origin and californium as a substance for a pocket nuke is as much an urban legend as Paris Hilton being a member of Mensa. Methinks the writer wanted to give a shout-out to the hippies in Berkeley, but in the mean time makes Batman look like an idiot for considering that these two elements are actually being used for sort of malfeasance.

Anonymous said...

There's been alot of guessing that the last page of New Avengers is a Dr Strange illusion. If thats the case, do you edit all the nits? I don't think that sort of thing has happened on this site before (specifically a bunch of errors are due to an intentional plot device).

MaGnUs said...

MKF: On the DT!, it indeed is about the elements. and for Wolvie's eyes, you usually have to check Marvel.com/Universe and not individual issues, which get things wrong.

I do agree to leave Gail Simone be for the moment, but still... and I did think the crown was given in mockery...

Dr.Jeff: So close, but so far... and Bats is exactly thinking that it's weird that they have those elements, he thinks it's weird they could be using them for nasty things.

Justin: I don't edit, but I do detract. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

For Dissect This, is it that the various webpages I have looked at describe Berkelium's appearance as "unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance". If that is the case then how would Batman or the baddies know exactly that they had the correct substance.

Wolverine's eyes are also being coloured brown in this week's Wolverine: Origins #19 and have been for the past few issues as well. The culprit is Avalon's Matt Milla if you don't have the book in front of you (don't blame you, it is complete rubbish save for the art).

Yeah I noticed Black Widow's green eyes as well when I looked over the issue again the other day. That was pretty strange, but I assume this and the Wolverine dissections will get retracted if they are Skrulls (personally I think they both are).

Scott! said...

Atomic Robo is so not a Hellboy . . .Aw crap, why do I even bother.

Fine, Mignola is slow as fuck to make one of the few comics I enjoy, so I'm doing my own version.

There.

Happy?

I said it. :D

Actually, hell yes my art is most heavily influenced by Mike Mignola. Or it was when I drew all this anyway. But Brian's stories and characters are really quite different. You just have to look past the crappy art.

Good grab on the "pyramid in Egypt" page. I drew that over a year ago and I still laugh every time I see that.

MaGnUs said...

Guvnor: Thanks for the votes and comments. But no, it's not what you say in the DT! because Batman's not even finding the Berkelium by sight, just by substance manifests or whatnot.... still, Batman might have ways to identify it, even if the websites us commoners access have such paltry descriptions.

Scott: Thank you, oh so very much for commenting, I hope you're not offended by the Hellboy comparison (come on, even you and Brian had to know it was inevitable), I tried to make most evident that I'm lobing Robo. And I can understand that Brian's stories have their own voice, but still, the Hellboy angle is evident to anyone who's read both... I meant it as a compliment. Do you still own the page for the "piramyd in Egypt" thing?

Scott! said...

No, we don't really mind the Hellboy stuff. Though Amazing Screw-On Head might be more accurate.

The only thing that bugs me is that most people don't realize that Hellboy is one giant homage to the old pre-superhero pulps. Which is what really inspires us. But if a review compared us to G8, Captain Future, or John Carter of Mars no one would have a clue what they were talking about. :P

Since most people I have met (or read) are comparing us to Hellboy in a positive way I take it as praise.

HB has redefined a genre so I guess its fitting that it is the yardstick by which we are measured.

And I *think* I still have that page. Drop me an email.

MaGnUs said...

I haven't read Screw-On Head, so I can't comment, but about pulps, you don't need to enlighten me there, I'm a Doc Savage and Shadow fan, not to mention Flash Gordon (not the same thing, I know).

But I compare Robo to Hellboy not only because of the same themes and sources but because both are 1) non-human creatures that most people treat as human, 2) head or important figures in an organization dedicated to supernatural response/research, and 3) lead characters who responde to the situations they face with humor (early Hellboy was funnier than current one, remember?)

Those are the reasons (apart from common roots) I can articulate right now (been up for too long, need bed). Bottom line, it's praise, and the yardstick as redefiner of the genre, as you said. Thanks for featuring my comment on Robo in the Red 5 site.

Scott! said...

All very valid points. Even if you are sleep-deprived. :D

MaGnUs said...

Thank you... I love the smell of validation in what passes for morning in my crazy work schedule (10.24 PM).