The Nitpicker #38.

DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

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

"Is here Dali Planit. Dilivrees in reer or punch in face." Sign outside the "Dayli" Planet on Bizarro World. Spelled with random mirrored letters, of course.

Welcome to our 38th issue, I'll try to keep this intro short. The quote of the week was about the only thing I liked about Action Comics 855. In fact, this issue has all the Silver Age staples that should have stayed there, and it's the Nitpicker's Pick for worst book of the week. Bizarro, as a failed clone of Superman was ok; but now we again have the square planet and the entire population of the planet, including Bizarro Jimmy and Bizarro Lois. The elements like a Marlon Brando looking bearded Jor-El, the sunstones in the fortress, and all that, which were palatable in limited doses in the previous storyline by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, plus other things like Bizarro World, all work together to create a tale which is too reminiscent of Silver Age silliness.

What's the pick for best book of the week, you say? Well, I didn't find much excitement in this week's books, but I'm going to have to say the Ex Machina Masquerade Special. The story is good, a little bit too soon for Halloween; but entertaining, and well told as Brian K. Vaughan has us used to. It's nice to see more of the back story on Mitchell Hundred, of his days after the accident that gave him his powers, but just before he started his superhero career. The art by John Paul Leon (pencils and inks) is good, some of the faces look a little different than what regular series artist Tony Harris does, but they look fine. The biggest problem i have with this book is that the colors (by JD Mettler) are a little bit too muted at times. Still, a good read.

Last week's STN was again spotted by Roy, and it was indeed the fact that Jericho did not wear a cape back when he first appeared. I think he's worn one at some point, but I don't really care... I mean, it's freaking Jericho. On with the nits, aight?
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"WOODY ALLEN KENT."

TITLE: Action Comics.

ISSUE: 855.

CULPRIT: Eric Powell (artist) and/or Geoff Johns & Richard Donner (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: Why does a ten year old Clark Kent (who looks more like Woody Allen that Clark Kent) wear glasses, if he has no secret identity to protect? I mean, look at him, it's a young Woody Allen!!!


NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"BOOOOOOM!"

TITLE: Amazons Attack.

ISSUE: 06 of 06.

CULPRIT: Will Pfeifer (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Oh, so the twist behind the Amazon attack was that Granny Goodness was masquerading as Athena? I can't claim credit for coming up with the theory, but I've been espousing that idea since somebody mentioned it in a Newsarama thread a month ago. Apart from that, are we really supposed to believe that "Athena" arrives via a very audible boom tube; and none of the heroes with super senses or high technology realized it was an Apokoliptian boom tube that brought the "Olympian" goddess to Earth?

Oh, and to all of you out there: it's A-po-ko-lips.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"IT'S JUST A RANDOM ISLAND, WHO'S GONNA NOTICE?"

TITLE: Batman Annual.

ISSUE: 26.

CULPRIT: David López (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Look at the image below. On the left, the fragment of Australian map shown on page 12 of this book, and on the right, a fragment of a real Australian map the comic supposedly portrays. Let's play spot the seven differences!!!


NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars. Please López, you could have at least looked at an Australian map.
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"IMMORTAL EYES."

TITLE: Batman Annual.

ISSUE: 26.

CULPRIT: Trish Mulvihill (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Now, this might be a side effect of the Lazarus Pit, but I've been unable to find any references. When shown as a young man, Ra's al Ghul has amber-colored eyes, but later in life, his eyes are green.

NIT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
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"COVER THIS UP."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: JG Jones (cover artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: This book is definitely getting better and better, finally shaping up. Manuel García's art, though free of blunders like the Question's condom mask, still falls short of other artists like Jesus Saiz. Better or not, this book is not devoid of nits yet; on the cover, Una's (ugh!) boots have holes on the sides, ala Duo Damsel's seventies costume, but that design element is not present on Una's costume in the comic. Plus, she's not wearing her gloves (but she might be wearing the bracelets). Not to mention the fact that she's got a completely different haircut, and freckles she's never had.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"IT'S BREAST TO LEAVE THIS AS IT IS."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: JG Jones (cover artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Also on the cover, Zatanna is wearing an open-breasted (and not just open) shirt, showing a lot of cleavage (never a bad thing), but she wears a regular tuxedo shirt (complete with bowtie) in the comic.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"DON'T FORGET YOUR JACKET."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page seven, Mary Marvel gets turned back into just plain Mary, and this time she's wearing her jacket, as opposed to the last time we saw her de-powered (last issue), when she wasn't.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"SUPERDICKERY!"

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Sean McKeever (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page nine, Superman says to Jimmy that he "kept insisting that you had special powers (...)" What do you mean Supes? You saw Jimmy grow to a giant size!

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars... there might be a point to this.
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"IT WAS TEMPORARY."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Red Arrow's tattoo is missing from his arm in the above mentioned page. Yet another HNS badge to Roy for spotting this.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"MONKEY BUSSINESS."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller) and/or Sean McKeever (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: When the flashbacks of Jimmy getting his ass kicked by the JLA are shown, Vixen is shown manifesting gorilla powers. The whole point of her in JLA was that she's not able to channel animals any longer, only metahumans. And yes, I know that gorillas are not monkeys, but apes. Oh, and look at how much better DC is doing at admitting these things over at Newsarama:

"NRAMA: With friends like those, though… On a side note - Vixen's loss of her animal powers was an important element in Brad Meltzer's JLA run that, to date, hasn't been reversed or "fixed," Yet in this issue, she's clearly possessing the power of a gorilla. What gives?

Mike Carlin: I’d say that Jimmy is a fairly easy guy ta knock down... And Vixen was just imagining what she would do if she needed more strength to knock him down.

NRAMA: …

MC: Is yer B.S.-O-Meter going off...?

NRAMA: Er, yeah.

MC: Okay, it was probably a screw up.

Sean McKeever: I would say that we're seeing how Jimmy imagined things went down based on what he's being told. That’s how you lie to the fans, Carlini! Er, I mean..."

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"THESE ARE BETTER, MORE LIKE THE ONES WORN IN FAME."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Manuel García (penciller) and/or Sean McKeever (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 16, Una is not wearing metal or similar material bracelets, she's now wearing obvious cloth bracelets.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"BLACK HAIR MAKES ME LOOK MORE BADASS."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Pete Pantazis (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Same page as above, Karate Kid's hair is colored black, when it's brown.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"THE COLOR OF... SOMETHING."

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 35 of 52.

CULPRIT: Scott Beatty (writer, The Origin Of Parallax backup story).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 22, green is referred to as the color of courage... when it's the color of willpower, according to current Green Lantern mythos.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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"WE USE IT TO SEND LETTERS."

TITLE: Countdown To Adventure.

ISSUE: 01 of 08.

CULPRIT: Adam Beechen (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 3, the Zeta Beam is referred to as a "communications beam", when it's, specifically, a teleportation beam.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"HE MATURES SLOWLY."

TITLE: Countdown To Adventure.

ISSUE: 01 of 08.

CULPRIT: Eddy Barrows (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: I know that some (if not all) of Animal Man's Vertigo adventures are probably considered a separate continuity now that he's returned to superheroics; but do we need to de-age his kids? Maxine was about 7 or 8 towards the last time we saw her, and Cliff was around 12. Now they look like 3 and 8 respectively. Cliff could be 10 at most, maybe a childish looking 12 (particularly going by the fact that he tries to take a picture of a semi-naked Starfire to show a friend), but by page 18, he looks as short as Maxine, and his face makes him look 5. Then by page 19, panel one, Cliff looks about 10 years old, and by panel 2, he looks 12 again...

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, because of the age discrepancies inside this book.
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"I DON'T WEAR THE COLLAR TURNED UP, I WEAR IT TURNED OUTSIDE IN."

TITLE: Countdown To Adventure.

ISSUE: 01 of 08.

CULPRIT: Eddy Barrows (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Just noticed this one while doing the one above; Cliff is wearing a collared shirt on page 18, but on page 19 he's wearing a regular t-shirt..

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"NAH, LEAVE THEM ALONE."

TITLE: Countdown To Adventure.

ISSUE: 01 of 08.

CULPRIT: Justin Gray (writer, Forerunner backup story).

NIT-TO-PICK: Forerunner's story, and the story of her race is told on this backup story, and the nine planets of Sol system gather an elite force to wipe them outs; nine of them survive, thinning the Forerunners from a thousand to a hundred. They are allowed to live, so they can submit to a peace accord. So, why didn't they send another force to wipe them out completely?

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"THEY'RE STILL IN THE LAUNDRY."

TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.

ISSUE: 549.

CULPRIT: Paul Pelletier (penciller) and Paul Mounts (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: The Thing and the Human Torch are still wearing the regular blue Fantastic Four uniforms, instead of the black ones they should be wearing, plus Johnny Storm's haircut and length is different than what it should be.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"IT'S A WEAPON TO REPEL OURSELVES."

TITLE: Fantastic Four V1.

ISSUE: 549.

CULPRIT: Dwayne McDuffie (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 28, they refer to the Oditopians using a weapon to repel... the Oditopians, when it should say the Contrasepsis.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"MAYBE SHE DID CHANGE THEM."

TITLE: Outsiders: Five Of A Kind.

ISSUE: 05 of 05.

CULPRIT: Jason Wright (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: The quality on this last issue dropped a bit, but it didn't sink as low as the first issue. Again, Grace's eyes are colored green. She usually wears violet contacts, but in Amazons Attack she had blue contacts, then green ones. I still consider this a nit, but I'm keeping it at only 5 Bazzars, since she might have had time to actually change them this time.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"SPINNING AROUND."

TITLE: Outsiders: Five Of A Kind.

ISSUE: 05 of 05.

CULPRIT: Marc Andreyko (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page nine, Diana changes into civilian clothes with the trademark spin... since when has she been able to do it in modern comics?

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, unless someone corrects me.
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"THAT TOO IS GONE."

TITLE: Outsiders: Five Of A Kind.

ISSUE: 05 of 05.

CULPRIT: Art Thibert (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Same page, Grace's tattoos are gone from her lower torso.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, she could have covered them with makeup.
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"GO AHEAD, TRY IT."

TITLE: The Mice Templar.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Possibly Judy Glass & Will Swyer (editorial assistance, no actual editor is credited).

NIT-TO-PICK: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!! Sorry... the nit is not in the comic, but in the history of the making of the book at the end of the story. Look at this image below, and tell me if you can Spot The Nit!


NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"LOVE GLOVE."

TITLE: Teen Titans V3.

ISSUE: 50.

CULPRIT: Rod Reis, Tom Smith & David Curiel (colorists) & Mike McKone (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page five, panel three, look at Robin's glove:


Why is it fingerless, and in the shape of a black plastic bag, when in the previous panel it was the appropriate green (this is his previous costume), with all fingers? Plus, not part of the nit, but that panel makes it look like Robin's talking when it's Wonder Girl's speech balloon. But never mind that.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"A MATTER OF SCALE."

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.

ISSUE: 12.

CULPRIT: Paco Díaz (artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: The Department of Metahuman Affairs agents are once again shown wearing the scales of justice as their emblem, when that's just Nemesis' emblem.

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
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"I DON'T WORK HERE."

TITLE: Wonder Woman V3.

ISSUE: 12.

CULPRIT: Paco Diaz (artist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Page 22, panel one, an agent in the background is missing the emblem from his uniform.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"I DECIDED TO GO BUSINESS CASSUAL."

TITLE: World War Hulk: X-Men.

ISSUE: 03 of 03 (and the previous issues too).

CULPRIT: Ed McGuinness (cover penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Besides being pointless, this could have been told in just one issue. Plus, it had the sappiest iteration of what I call the World War Hulk formula. What is the WWH formula? Easy: 1) Hulk threatens to smash, 2) character XYZ attempts to talk him down, 3) Hulk seems to listen, 4) Hulk either resists the attempts to talk him down, or was faking interest, 5) Hulk smashes XYZ and either captures or lets him/her go for some reason. In this case, Hulk beats the crap out of all X-teams assembled, and only lets them live after a sob story from Mercury. Yawn. Don't get me wrong, some of the crossovers and tie ins with WWH are fun (like Initiative), but most books are just being repetitive.

Oh, the nit.... yeah, sorry. On the cover, why the hell is Hulk wearing his usual purple-torn-pants-only "costume", instead of the gladiator getup he's sported so far? Fact, I just realized that he's not wearing his current costume on the covers to the other two issues, it wasn't that obvious because these were close-ups.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
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That's it for this week, as far as nits go. Before telling you the average, let's see what the WTF?/DAYAMN! moment of the week was. It's a WTF? moment, and it was from Countdown. As I said, Manuel García's art for this book didn't reach Question condom mask levels, but still... is this Amalgam Superman/Squirrel Girl?


Ew! The average for this week, now that you ask, is 7.3 Bazzars, the highest in some time, since issue #31's 8.1. Let's see what next week brings us. That's it for now, until next week, I'll be on the outlook for more nits, because (almost) nothing escapes...

THE NITPICKER!

The Nitpicker #36.

DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

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

"This is Gotham! You can't swing a dead sidekick here without hitting a super-villain!"

Before I get on with his column, I want to do something I should have done in last column, but since some days had already passed, it slipped my mind. I want to dedicate this week's columns to Mike Wieringo, who left in the prime of his life. He was a great artist, and I particularly enjoyed his Spider-Man and Flash. You'll be missed, Mike. More on Wieringo's passing here, and check out this moving tribute piece my friend Trasgo made for Wieringo, featuring Impulse and the Thing grieving for the artist.

Don't know how to pick up the mood from there, but let me just tell you that the quote of the week comes from Countdown #37, and it's spouted by the Trickster while he runs from Poison Ivy. A no-brainer, really, but still funny... the runner up was Rip Hunter's quote about Superboy's reality-punching. On a more positive note, if you're a regular reader you might already know this, but I still have to mention it. The lovely and talented Gail Simone posted some comments on last column, basically taking a rolled-up newspaper to my nose... I dodged, and nitpicked back at her, getting her to confess that, and I quote "I really like this site!" Wow... like I said in the comments, this is a real honor for me, because not only I really enjoy her books, but I look up to her and hope to one day break into the industry the way she did. For those of you who are not aware of it, Gail was noticed by an editor after writing a column for Comic Book Resources called You'll All Be Sorry for a couple of years (go read it, is very funny). She wrote it at first for no money at all, and then, for very little money, but what she accomplished was worth more than money.

She honed her writing skills, both from a stylistic aspect, and from a performance aspect. Not only did she get better at writing, but by setting herself a weekly deadline, she forced herself to write, write and write. It's the same as an athlete, who will polish his form at running by stretching, doing push-ups and so on, but who will only get faster and gain more endurance by... you guessed it, running, running, and running. Not only did she get better at writing, but she proved to editors that she was hard-working, and could keep a deadline. Gail, not only are you one of the best writers in the industry today, but you seem to be a very nice and generous person, and gracious when receiving critique. You are truly an inspiration, and I hope you keep coming back week after week to read my column. I promise not to pick on your books... no, not really. What I can do, is retract when proven wrong. You see, last issue I picked on Gail's latest Gen¹³ issue when I thought Freefall was referring to Daybreaker as Midnighter. Thing is, I had missed one or two issues of the book, and didn't know (or didn't remember, I might have actually read it, but I read so much I sometimes have a hard time remembering everything) that the actual Midnighter had talked to the team, in this incarnation. So that's one nit less for last column, which actually makes the average go up to 6.4 Bazzars. Wow, that's a real increase!

Brown nosing time is over, it's time to reveal last time's Spooooot The Niiiiiiit... and nobody got it, again. What's going on with you people? In this case, the problem was that Karate Kid and Una (ugh!) are confused by Oracle's use of the expression "web fu", understandable, since it's 21st Century slang. But then she explains "(...) I was trying to block his infiltration of my intranet files (...) he was attacking all these remote system with a very clever, albeit somewhat flawed carnivore virus -- -- that dumped illogical data into computer controlling airports, city power grids even NASA..." and they just stand there, completely lost. May I remind you Jimmy and Justin, that these people come from the 31st Century? Or at the very least, the 30th? That Starman, over in JSA, only a few months ago, solved an equation Mr. Terrific couldn't solve, by using knowledge acquired in elementary school? This, as shown before, gets you 8 Bazzars.

Before we go on with the nits, let's go over the Nitpicker's Picks Of The Week, shall we? Best book went, hands down, to Booster Gold, despite a couple of nits. Great art, and great script; Geoff Johns showing his love for the DCU; and Jeff Katz probably helping as well. From Booster being, well, Booster (in all the ways, the annoying, and the good ones), to setting up and interesting premise, not to forget Superman and Batman giving Booster the recognition he deserves. I mean, if Geo-Force can be in the league, Booster sure can... dammit, in my book, he’s' proven himself more than Black Lightning, Vixen Hawkgirl, and Red Arrow all put together. Most important, he shows that he can do what needs to be done, glory and fame be damned. That's a hero for you.

Worse book of the week is Superman/Batman. It barely had a nit, but it's so bland, so boring, and so uncompelling, that I really don't know why I keep reading this book... anyway, let's get on with the nits.
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"I CAN'T GO A DAY WITHOUT CHANGING MY EYE COLOR!"

TITLE: Amazons Attack.

ISSUE: 05 of 06.

CULPRIT: Brad Anderson (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: Yawn, wake me when it's over. Oh, next issue? Good! In this particular issue, on page five, Grace's eyes are colored green, when she usually wears violet-colored contacts. Yes, she could be wearing different contacts, but considering Anderson colored her eyes blue on issue 3, and it doesn't seem she would have time to go around switching lenses, I'm going to rate this higher than the 1 I gave it two issues ago.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"IF THE GLOVE FITS... THEN CHANGE IT!"

TITLE: Black Canary V3.

ISSUE: 06 of 06.

CULPRIT: Paulo Siqueira & Joe Prado (pencillers) and I.L.L. (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 10, Merlyn is now wearing gloves that correctly cover all his fingers but his thumb and pinky. This wouldn't be a nit, except for the fact that he was wearing different gloves last time, as you all know. Yes, this could be considered correcting a nit, but it still reeks of just plain not paying attention, particularly when considering the next nit.

NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars, you could look at last issue, could you?
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"AND CHANGE IT AGAIN!"

TITLE: Black Canary V3.

ISSUE: 06 of 06.

CULPRIT: Paulo Siqueira & Joe Prado (pencillers) and I.L.L. (colorist).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 13, Merlyn is back to wearing the gloves that cover his thumb, index and middle fingers. WTF?

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars, this is out of control...
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"THIS TIME AROUND YOU'LL GET IT!"

TITLE: Black Canary V3.

ISSUE: 06 of 06.

CULPRIT: Paulo Siqueira & Joe Prado (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: You know what? Black Canary gets to be featured in Spoooooooooooooooot The Niiiiiiiit once again! Since you all had a hard time with the last two, I am cutting you some slack this time. It's really, really easy; because it's a big one, and I'm not giving you a whole page, but three images from pages 20 and 21. Plus, you also know it's a pencilling nit, so... come on, it's really easy to spot.


NIT-O-METER: I was going to give this 10 Bazzars, but that'd be too much... it gets an 8, because it's blatant, but really, unimportant at the end.
<-------------------------------->
MAGIC FISHNETS!"

TITLE: Black Canary V3.

ISSUE: 06 of 06.

CULPRIT: Paulo Siqueira & Joe Prado (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On panel 2, Black Canary's fishnet's can't be seen. This time around, it's pretty minor, since she's seen from the distance and we can't even see her facial features.

NIT-O-METER: 2 Bazzars, but if pure laziness was nitpicked, it'd get a higher rating.
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"SAY WHAT?"

TITLE: Booster Gold V2.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: Well, you already know I liked this book, but as I said before, it doesn't mean there's no nits to be picked. On the first page after the cover (page 1 or 2, depends on how you're counting), Skeets tells Booster that "The Ace android of this era has yet to be upgraded to zero-point energy fuel cells. That means his optically accessible neural net is vulnerable." But Booster asks him to put it in "Twenty-first Century English"... I speak 21st Century English, and I understand what he said... Booster, same as with last week's Spot The Nit, is from the future, in this case, the 25th Century... so he should be more than able to understand what Skeets is saying.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars, he could be joking.
<-------------------------------->
"WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM?"

TITLE: Booster Gold V2.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Dan Jurgens (pencil layouts) and/or Norm Rapmund (finished pencils).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 8 (still counting after the cover), panel 2, Booster is holding something (apparently newspapers) under his arm, which he wasn't before.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"MANY YEARS AGO..."

TITLE: Booster Gold V2.

ISSUE: 01.

CULPRIT: Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz (writers).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 29, the shadowy figure that stole the Supernova costume approaches a young Katma Tui on her planet, Korugar. She looks 8-10 years old, 12 at the most, by Earth standards. The caption reads "8 years ago."; are we supposed to believe that the very much adult Katma Tui that trained and then married John Stewart (and oh yeah, died) was a kid 8 years ago? That she was, at most, in her late teens when she died, if we are to assume that was just two years ago that she died? I don't think so.

Yes, some people at Newsarama suggested that "time is broken", or that Korugarians mature faster than humans, but I don't take it.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, I'm willing to go softer because of what I said above.
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"IT'S OUT OF JUICE!"

TITLE: Brave And The Bold V3 (and not V2, like I've said in the past).

ISSUE: 06.

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 8, Hal Jordan says that his ring doesn't have enough reserve to go back to Earth from Rann... you do remember you can charge it, right Hal? Particularly when on page 13, and after being used for some stuff, your ring has enough power to fuel a Zeta-beam that brings Batman to the present.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars, it would have been better to say there was no time to charge it.
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"FOR AND OLD MAN, HE SURE PACKS A MEAN PUNCH..."

TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

ISSUE: 23

CULPRIT: Peter David (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Peter Parker allows himself to be beaten up by J. Jonah Jameson, who turns his face into a pulp. Please, this is Spider-Man, who even if he doesn't defend himself, still has a measure of invulnerability (a durability of 5, according to Marvel's own OHOTMU ratings, corresponding to "bulletproof"); while Jameson is a normal human, who's at least well into his sixties. Jameson is not rated on Marvel's website, but as a normal human, he shouldn't have more than a rating of 2 in strength, meaning "able to lift over own body weight, up to twice own body weight".

Spider-Man has taken blows from superhuman foes without getting hurt, or at least not as hurt as he's shown here. Come on, are we really supposed to believe that Jameson can really leave Peter looking like this?


NIT-O-METER: 8 Bazzars.
<-------------------------------->
"SO JONAH, HOW DID YOU REALLY HURT YOURSELF?"

TITLE: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

ISSUE: 23

CULPRIT: Todd Nauck (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: Jameson is hurt when a door hits him in the face, but he's got too black eyes, and absolutely no bruises in his nose or forehead. It's not consistent, in my opinion.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"HEEL OR FACE?"

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 37 of 52.

CULPRIT: David Lopez & Mike Norton (pencillers).

NIT-TO-PICK: Agh! Who injected botox on every woman's lips for this book? That aside, on page 5, panel 3, Mary Marvel's boot don't have heels as pronounced as they should be.

NIT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars, I'll keep it steady.
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"SDRAWKCAB SEOD TON NAEM SDRAWKCAB!"

TITLE: Countdown.

ISSUE: 37 of 52.

CULPRIT: Adam Beechen (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: On pages 5 Zattana's spell is written incorrectly, not only the words are backwards, but the sentence is. It says "Emoh su ekat.", when it should be "Ekat su emoh.". Her spell is correctly worded on page 7, though.

NIT-O-METER: 5 Bazzars.
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"ARRR! WHERE BE THE WENCHES?"

TITLE: Marvel Illustrated: Treasure Island.

ISSUE: 03 of 06.

CULPRIT: Roy Thomas (writer) or Mario Gully (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On a few pages, women can be seen as part of the crew... I don't remember women in the crew in the book, but I could be wrong.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"MY CHEEK IS DOWN HERE!"

TITLE: Marvel Illustrated: Treasure Island.

ISSUE: 03 of 06.

CULPRIT: Roy Thomas (writer) or Mario Gully (penciller).

NIT-TO-PICK: On page 17, Abraham Gray is said to get a "knife-cut on the side of the cheek"; but the art shows him bleeding from what appears to be a cut from his cheekbone to his forehead.

NIT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
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"WE CALL IT STEROIDS."

TITLE: Superman/Batman.

ISSUE: 39.

CULPRIT: Alan Burnett (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: Batman mentions, on page 12, that Jonathan "Scarecrow" Crane is "Lazy, really. Even his musculature is chemically enhanced."; which is not entirely correct. Jonathan Crane, as the Scarecrow, has no physical abilities, although he has transformed, in occasions, into the Scarebeast, a creature of superhuman strength and durability.

NIT-O-METER: 4 Bazzars.
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"THOSE OTHER TWO WHERE JUST POSERS!"

TITLE: The Flash V3.

ISSUE: 231.

CULPRIT: Mark Waid (writer).

NIT-TO-PICK: From the beginning of the story, the narration says stuff like "But miracles don't happen in Keystone. They haven't for over a year. Not since the city lost its angel.", and a reporter says "(...) what would appear to be the first super-heroes this city has seen since the disappearance of the Flash!"

Yes, Wally West disappeared over a year ago, during Infinite Crisis, but up until what can't be more than a month or two, Bart Allen was the Flash, and he was based in Keystone from the time he started operating to when he moved to Los Angeles. And Jay Garrick, who is also the Flash, and a super-hero on his own right, has been operating out of Keystone since, like, forever...

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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"KIDS SURE GROW FAST... BACKWARDS, AND CHANGE!"

TITLE: The Flash V3.

ISSUE: 231.

CULPRIT: Daniel Acuña (artist, correctly credited with a "ñ").

NIT-TO-PICK: I like the Tornado Twins, but they look nothing like they did when they appeared in Justice League of America:


(sorry for the horrible quality of the JLA pic) The ages are consistent, as Iris seems to be about two years older than Jai in both instances. However, in JLA they look like they're in their pre-teens to early and mid-teens (say 10-13 for Jai, and 12-16 for Iris); while in this book they look like they are 8-10 and 10-12 respectively. Jay now has black hair, when they were both red-haired; and in JLA, Iris was definitely a teenager, she even had a decidedly feminine figure (I know there seems to be a hint of breasts on the current picture, but it's not present in the rest of the book).

Yes, I know they aged at superspeed; they might have aged back and forward for all we know. Oh, and Jai could have dyed his hair... but still... One more thing, I don't see why Wally and Linda would be so eager to have their kids be superheroes. I understand that it's their family business (on dad's side, at least), and that they need training with their powers... I could even see him taking them along as sidekicks when they're (mentally and physically) about 15 or so, to help in disasters and such.

But I couldn't bring myself to take my kid along to battle supervillains or supernatural monsters. Well, I guess that kids with superpowers who know their dad is a hero will want to go out, and as a father, I'd rather have my kid come along with me instead of striking out on his own. I still wouldn't allow them to wear costumes that show their hair and most of their faces, though. "Hey, have you seen the brother and sister who just moved into the neighborhood? Yes, they boy's the Asian-looking kid and she's the redhead. Don't they look exactly like those superheroes we saw on TV?" Good going there, Wally.

NIT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
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That's it for this week, but not before I introduce you to a new feature. I regularly pick on the bad, lazy, or just plain wrong stuff I find on books; and I usually took the time to say if I liked a book or not. Then I came up with the Nitpicker's Pick of the Week to actually spotlight one good book, and one bad book each week. Still, not being a bad book, or great book, or having a tons of nits, does not mean that there won't be a page or moment that will make me go "WTF?!?!" or "DAYAMN!" So, starting this week, I give you the "WTF OR DAYMAN MOMENT OF THE WEEK!" This week, it's most definitely a WTF moment... allow me to introduce you to... THE VAGINA MEN FROM KEYSTONE CITY!!!


Ewwwwww... Flash and the Tornado Twins really need new foes, they can't battle escapees from Penthouse Comix every week from now on, can they? Before we go, let me just add that this week we had another regular 6.3 Bazzars average. That's it for now, until next week, I'll be on the outlook for more nits, because (almost) nothing escapes...

THE NITPICKER!