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Some nine years later, Q-Tip fans will be happy to know that whatever artistic “issues” The Abstract Poet might have once harbored –pondering name changes, an urge to experiment with singing like Andre3000 and introducing the hip-hop world to the ‘vivrant’ adverb (his own personal take on getting’-jiggy-wit-it)–that thru some sort of cosmic fate Tip’s internal musing have finally given way to an album that hip-hoppers worldwide have been asking of him from the beginning.

Appropriately titled The Renaissance–Q-Tip’s musical vision becomes less experimental in trying to appease with multiple messages and clashing sounds and styles as his previous solo Amplified languished in. Instead, Q-Tip finds a universal resolve in the profoundness of his own voice, God-given talent, maturity and experiences.

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DISCLAIMER (angry creators, please read)

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

“Wait. I was slidin’ down a pole… into a cave.. I was wearin’ shorts an’ pixie boots– and this wasn’t a dirty movie…?” Alternate reality Dick Grayson, Trinity #25.

Happy New Year everybody!!! I intended to post this column before the year ended, but I couldn’t… so here it is, to welcome 2009… damn, already? Hope everyone had happy holidays; and the fat man in red was good to you. This is the column for comics published on the week of 11/19. Last column’s DT! was subtle, so I didn’t expect anyone to notice it… I numbered issue #191 of X-Men as #192 in a past column, then noticed it when I was writing about the actual #192 issue.
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Here is the third trailer that was posted today for the fifth installment of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series. And after the awesomeness that was the fourth OVA, I cannot wait to watch number five go check it out.

Shane Acker’s 9 is based on his Oscar nominated short movie of the of the same name. The story takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. Wow! I can’t remember the last time I was so completely blown away by just the trailer for an animated movie!. Don’t get me wrong, their was plenty of animated movies which have blown me away, but not so much their trailers. This is so bizarre to see after watching the short film a couple of months back, but I am definitely happy with the direction is full length feature has taken.

A group of acutely insightful and wise rag dolls, living a post-apocalyptic existence discover one of their own, 9 (Elijah Wood), who displays leadership qualities that may help them to survive.

Acker describes his CGI film as having a “stylized quality” that makes footage look like stop-motion animation. Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambatov (Nightwatch, Wanted) are producing the film, which will be directed by Shane Acker. Danny Elfman will also be composing music for the film, according to the official synopsis on the official website. The movie is scheduled for theatrical release on September 9th, 2009 (9-9-09, get it?). I am looking really forward to seeing this when it gets released next year, in the meantime go check out the trailer.

This is the first four minutes from the upcoming animated Street Fighter comic scheduled for release on the  third of February 2009. It will get a strait to DVD release from Eagle One Media,  based on the Capcom video game  franchise and bestselling comics and adapted as an animated comic video series, check it out.

Here are two new TV commercials that were aired on Japanese TV for the upcoming anime entitled “Rideback” the show premieres on the 11th of January 2009  and is slated for a 12 episode release.

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

“No more munchkins” Scarlet Witch Of The West, Avengers Fairy Tales #4.

No more munchkins… in my roleplaying games, thank you. Welcome to another issue of The Dissector; this time around with comics published on 11/12 (yes, yes, I’m still more than a month behind. Before we get on with the actual column; I’d like to say that last issue I made a mistake on how I wrote about Psylocke’s powers. Snakebyte brought it to my attention; and I did argue with him about the finer points of the issue; I conceded that it was a mistake on my part. However, I do not think it merits an entry in this column, nor a rating; like I do sometimes with other errors that I notice or are brought to my attention.

Snakebyte, unfortunately, decided that he could tell me how to write my column and that if I did not report this mistake of mine as a dissection, I was an hypocrite and accused me of having claimed that I was infallible. I politely told him that he had no right to tell me how to write my column, or to call me a hypocrite, and that I never claimed to be perfect, quite the contrary. This lead to him saying he wouldn’t read my column any longer… and that’s that. You can read the whole thing here.

Well, let’s get this party started… first come The Dissector’s Picks Of The Week. Best Book Of The Week was Terra #1… fun plot, nice cheesecake art (more on that in the Moments Of The Week). Worst Book Of The Week was Superman & Batman Vs. Vampires & Werewolves… God, even the name is lame…
[--------------------------------------------------]
“THE JOKRE.”

TITLE: Batman Confidential (DC).

ISSUE: 23.

CULPRIT: Andrew Kreisberg (writer) and/or Jared K. Fletcher (letterer).

DISSECTION: The Joker says “exremly”, instead of “extremely”.

DISSECT-O-METER: 3 Bazzars.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD!”

TITLE: Superman & Batman Vs. Vampires & Werewolves (DC).

ISSUE: 03 of 06.

CULPRIT: Kevin VanHook (writer).

DISSECTION: I don’t know what’s worse, referring to werewolves as undead, or saying “the undead commune with nature”.

DISSECT-O-METER: 10 Bazzars.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“OPERATION IRKI FREEDOM.”

TITLE: Blue Beetle V8 (DC).

ISSUE: 07.

CULPRIT: John Rogers (writer).

DISSECTION: I had to resort to my Vault again, with books from 2006. In this case, the country is called Qurac, not “Qrac”.

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars. Also, “por supuesto no” is not a correct Spanish sentence.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“SALAKCIOUS R. CRUMB.”

TITLE: Green Lantern Corps V2 (DC).

ISSUE: 30.

CULPRIT: Peter J. Tomasi (writer).

DISSECTION: Salakk.

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars. Also on issue 5, from my Vault, but by Dave Gibbons.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“STARING INTO YOUR EYES.”

TITLE: X-Men: Phoenix Warsong (Marvel).

ISSUE: 02 of 05.

CULPRIT: John Starr (colorist).

DISSECTION: More fun from the Vault. In this case, Ringo’s son gives Colossus brown eyes, when his eyes are blue.

DISSECT-O-METER: 6 Bazzars.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“NO CAREY, POR FAVOR!”

TITLE: X-Men V2 (Marvel).

ISSUE: 192.

CULPRIT: Mike Carey (writer)

DISSECTION: Two wrong uses of the Spanish language by Carey.

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars each.
[--------------------------------------------------]
“JOVENES MENTIROSOS.”

TITLE: Young Liars (DC/Vertigo)

ISSUE: 09.

CULPRIT: Jared K. Fletcher (letterer).

DISSECTION: And another one for Jared; this time, he uses an “Ñ” smaller than the rest of the letters in the sentence, to accomodate for the “accent mark” (which is not, it’s a different letter, not an accented “N”).

DISSECT-O-METER: 7 Bazzars.
[--------------------------------------------------]
That’s all the dissections for now; with an average of 6.9 in ten entries… oh, wait… where’s the Dissect This!? It’s hidden; it’s a mistake of my own; which you’ll only catch if you read this column and have read the previous ones… IE, it’s not a mistake I made this time, but one made before… which is exposed in this issue. While you ponder that, here are the Moments Of The Week; first up, turning yourself into candy in a post-apocalyptic abandoned mall?

Bad idea, Grunge. Then, Superman’s greatest superpower?

His spitcurl! And lastly, we men always enjoy cake:

Cheesecake, that is! Thank you, Amanda Conner. That’s it for now, until next time, I’ll be on the outlook for more dissections, because (almost) nothing escapes…

THE DISSECTOR!

Wolverine lives a mutant life, and seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program to track down Sabretooth. Yes girls and boys it is out! The official X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer is out and it is looking mighty fine I must say, and Liev Schreiber was the perfect man to cast as Victor Creed / Sabretooth. I am seriously looking forward to this movie after seeing this trailer. Best part of the trailer is between 2:10 and 2:18 check out  Victor Creed / Sabretooth little chuckle it gave me goosebumps.

“The camera has been watching. The countless acts of human folly and brutality on countless battlefields… The camera has been watching. The everyday activities of humanity. Their little joys, their secret and hopes. The camera has seen all this and recorded it. It has recorded these numerous fragments of time. And in each of these moments frozen in time we catch a glimpse of the unvarnished truth. As time marches on, it becomes the past. But those voices from the past… Those moments frozen in time… Those individual photographs have been known to change the course of history. They have also been known to determine the course of a single person’s life. And now, once again, a photograph that was taken here…is about the change the world”

Synopsis:

Saeko Shirasu is a 25-year-old war frontline photo-journalist who became a celebrity after taking a picture of civilians raising a makeshift UN flag in war-torn Uddiyana. The image then became an instant symbol for peace. However, just before the peace agreement is achieved, the flag was stolen by an armed extremist group in order to obstruct the truce. The UN peacekeepers decide to covertly send in a SDC (pronounced as Seedac—Special Development Command) unit to retrieve the flag. Because of her connection with the “Flag” photo, Saeko Shirasu is offered the job of following the SDC unit as front-line journalist. The SDC unit is equipped with an HAVWC (High Agility Versatile Weapon Carrier—pronounced “havok”) mecha armored vehicle.

Story: 9/10

The narrative and directing in Flag is told almost solely from the view of the local journalists and photographers and viewfinders of all kinds of video/photo recording equipment and news reports. This narrative/direction style is very reminiscent of “The Blair Witch” back in the early nineties, and more recently movies like “Cloverfield”. The viewer finds himself behind shaky photo/video cameras, webcams, and cameras on military vehicles, satellite visuals and of course computer generated imagery.

This allows for a hyper realistic feeling to Flag, remember the footage they released of the guided bombs and attacks at night during I Iraq war? Imagine that but with more detail and realism added, you feel totally immersed in the story and at times you totally forget that you are actually watching an anime. Having said that the story of Flag really hits home especially during the early and late 90`s when conflict was rife all over the world, the Gulf war and Bosnian civil war comes to mind.

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Episode 9 of Michiko to Hatchin is all about our little Hatchin who decided to leave behind Michiko after episode 8 and run away from her problems she was having. Hatchin heard about a virgin Maria statue that cries blood and if you make a wish there it will come true, so she spent her last money on some silly map that shows her how to get there. But in the end she was just ripped off loosing the last of her cash she could have used on food and other necessities. Guess that would not have happened if Michiko was still around to help her.

Seems she spent the night on a local park bench, but due to the mosquitoes and noise she did not get much sleep. And the little black girl poking her in the ear isn’t helping either as she wakes up with a fright. To find said girl smiling at her and then she notices what seems to be her now ex boyfriend hiding behind a tree not far from them. It looks like this girl wants to get rid of her ex boyfriend. So she tells him that Hatchin is her new boyfriend and that they are dating. After making their getaway from the ex boyfriend who chases them on the bike through the city they hide in a nearby ally way.

And this is where the girl discovers that Hatchin isn’t really a boy but actually a girl after a quick grope and a second look of course. Seems Hatchin had nothing to eat for a couple of days and it shows as her newly acquired friend Rita notices, and treats her to lunch a cool drink and a bit of sight seeing. Hatchin is a bit thrown off by this new friend is this her first friend she ever had? Or is it the fact that it’s the first kid her age she met that did not bully her?  Right across from the park bench that Hatchin sleeps on is a circus tent and the very same place that Rita works and lives in.

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So after being side tracked in the last episode Michiko and Hatchin heads to the city of Osso as rumors have it that Satoshi is in the city, the one person that Hatchin wants to meet. But it seems that Hatchin is unhappy with the way Michiko does things, and as always this leads to a fight and screaming match between the two of them. After booking in at a local hotel Michiko decides to leave Hatchin behind and go look for clues to find out the whereabouts of Satoshi, as she leaves she tells Hatchin not to go outside not like she will listen to Michiko anyway.

We cut to a bunch of loud mouth punks and their leader who seems to be Satoshi no less; they seem to be extorting money out of some poor fellow at a casino. Meanwhile Michiko is sitting at a local bar having a couple of drinks and asking the waiter if he might know the whereabouts of this Satoshi person. While having a drink she notices someone walk past the bar, she seems shocked and surprised at the same time when she first notices him. Is he somehow related to Michiko’s past?

Seems this person’s name is Shinsuke and he is on his way to a local club owner’s bar to conduct some business with him. It seems Pogo the club owner had his men parade around the city posing as Satoshi and that seems to have pisses off Shinsuke, who seems to be a real psychotic nut job. The real Satoshi is not to happy about what is going on so he sent Shinsuke to “represent” himself in this “meeting.” We cut back to Hatchin who is having a drink outside the local hotel when she notices the fake Satoshi intimidating one of the shop owners.

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It seems after episode six Michiko somehow managed to trash her vespa scooter and it will take 2 to 3 days to get it fixed, so Michiko and Hatchin decided to book themselves in at a local hotel. While booking them in Michiko meets a charismatic young man who offers her a light and cigarette, this throws off Michiko completely who seems totally infatuated by this young man. Seems Hatchin is a dirty girl because right before bedtime Michiko asks Hatchin when she last had a bath and she replies “5 days ago” and of course like always they start fighting over the issue.

The next day Michiko gives Hatchin some money to go buy some shampoo and soap so they can take a shower. But like always it seems trouble follows Hatchin around. While on her way to one of the shops to go buy shampoo and soap Hatchin gets attack by some local “street kids” who manages to steal her shoes, money and the rowing boat she was using to go the shops afterwards being thrown overboard into the river. While all this was happening to Hatchin, Michiko was looking for a beauty parlor, and coincidently she meets the strange young man at this beauty parlor.

At the beauty parlor Michiko meets Anastacia she is the owner of the beauty parlor and also a pretty good looking woman herself, after she got her hair cut by Anastacia the young man offers Michiko a ride back to her hotel room in his boat. Just as they arrive and she is about to leave he gives her a note telling to meet him at the hotel at 1, seems this guys is a player. This throws off Hatchin completely who is completely confused now, since she also found out that he is married to Anastacia.

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Sometimes, when firing a shotgun, some of the pellets miss the target.

These are two of those pellets.

Invincible 56 (Image; reviewed by Erich Reinstadler) Invincible 56 picks up where the last issue left off– With Mark and Eve in bed, post-coitus (that means they had sex). Mark, expert liar that he is, is able to deftly convince absolutely no-one that nothing had happened between him and Eve the night before. He is called away, mysteriously, before anything else can happen. Amer, his ex, had been assaulted by her current boyfriend. Meanwhile, as Mark is hunting down the boyfriend, Oliver decides that Kid Omni-Man needs to have a solo adventure. As he is (or isn’t, or might be) fighting some possibly insane armored guy, he doesn’t notice the orb following him. Other things happen, none with much importance outside of the current issue. This isn’t the strongest issue as of late, but it’s obvious that Kirkman is leading up to something big. When heroes like Invincible and Atom Eve fall in love, it’s safe to assume that something bad will happen to at least one of them.

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign 1 (Marvel; reviewed by Erich Reinstadler) Secret Invasion: Dark Reign is almost entirely exposition. This book is the filler issue between Secret Invasion and Dark Reign. It introduces the so-called “Dark Illuminati” of Norman Osborne, Emma Frost, Doctor Doom, Prince Namor, the new and improved Loki, and The Hood. The book starts and ends with Emma dreaming about Kitty Pryde, in what the cynic in me thinks will little more than a plot device. A couple other things happen, but the main story, such as it is, sets up how Norman gains the trust of the other 5 members; He promises them everything they want. Bendis uses many many pages, and countless words to convey that. More frustrating than BMB’s verbosity is the art of Alex Maleev. I have been critical of Marvel’s choices in artists as of late, but I think I’m actually justified this time. If I hadn’t been told who I was looking at, there would be characters I’d never recognize. Namor being the prime example. He looks, as I’ve heard it referred to, like Phil Collins. For some damn reason, Maleev chose to draw Namor as some random fat faced dude with a receeding hairline and pointy ears, coming off of a 3 day bender. Even if you’re a completest, I can’t recommend this book. Every last point covered in it will be rehashed countless times as Dark Reign runs it’s course.