Elections have a dirty secret: Counting lots of ballots with absolute precision is impossible. Those infamous hanging chads from a decade ago are just one of the many glitches that can—and do—arise. Several states require a super- careful hand count in select precincts to double-check close results, and they nearly always find miscounted ballots. A few such slipups don’t matter, but multiple mistakes will alter the election results. Most laws leave the determination of the recount threshold to the discretion of registrars.

Comics art master Jim Lee has yet to hit 50. But the recently promoted co-publisher of DC Comics is nevertheless the subject of the career retrospective hardcover Icons: The DC Comics and WildStorm Art of Jim Lee, due Tuesday from Titan Books.

Acclaimed artist Lee has spent two decades rendering superheroes like Batman, Superman and X-Men for both DC and Marvel Comics, where he landed his first job in 1989. But the visually impressive