3 Super-Heroes walk into a Malt Shoppe

With apologies to Frank Brunner but, I'll get to that later...

One of the many that got away was a storyline called "Love and War" by Jeph Loeb. Diana, Kal and Bruce, Year One. Kal, I knew. Bruce, I'd just met (turns out he's a 27 yr old Belgian rucksacker. Who knew?) Diana…? One of the results in trying to find her and the bond between the three was, "the Joke." I wanted Bruce snorting milkshake out the nose but, it just didn't work :(

But, wait! There's more…

Truth in Joke-itising: I stole the punchline from Frank. I had nothing to do with my being hired at Marvel (another story for another day) Every time I knocked on Marvel's door, Comics or Animation, I was rebuffed. The very first time, 1974, the lovely Irene Vartinov kindly came outside, gave me an "attaboy," and left me with a small stack of xeroxes. "Go 'way kid, ya bother us." Among them was a page by Frank with Dr Strange, battling the forces of Sisneg, calling out, "Turn to S…" uh… poo. Yeah that's what it said, "Turn to poo!"

But, wait! Don't touch that phone…

I almost lost a roommate over that one.

I'm talking with my roomie, 1977ish, we're both sitting at the top of the stairs. SkotSkot (so big we had to name him twice) is a comics fan so he knows all the characters involved and exactly what happens when Doc casts a spell. He hears the punchline and loses it. Balance shot from laughter he starts to tip over. Like an idiot, I grab him (like I could stop a guy 3 times my size) Fortunately, upside down, he grabs the railing and saves us both. Much laughter was had throughout the well of stairs.

But, wait! If you call in the next 15 minutes…

Just to make a Möbius strip from all of this,  SkotSkot ended up in Dr Strange #66 as "the Chosen One," Arnie Green.

Now, Arnie Green was… arrrgh, it never ends. Stop me before I anecdote again.

Happy (if somewhat dizzy) Trails,
Smitty