Jeez, Frank, I take you to ballgames on weekends, buy you ice cream, let you watch scary movies…yet all I hear about is how great Shag is!

1) Sex, religion and politics. They’re meant to stay out of polite conversation, and as a medium at the foremost concerned with commerce and audience, comic books have always tended to oblige (aside from sometimes literally preaching to the choir.) Personally though, I adore when comics incorporate one or all, especially when they can approach multiple philosophies respectfully. One of the best crossover comics ever was a two-parter between Daredevil and the Punisher which showed the same story from vastly different perspectives. It takes courage and intelligence to do it right, and it is extremely easy to screw up, but I applaud the effort (even when it results in something like DC Decisions.)

2) I was going to chime in about Firestorm not having been canceled so much as ended, but Shag got it in his own self, as he usually does. I’m used to being the knowledgeable person who lays down the facts in comic book disputes, but my intentions are consistently thwarted by Shag’s impressively broad knowledge. We’ve clearly read too many of the same books/comics/magazines. I’m also fool enough to occasionally want to jump in when Rob or Shag misspeaks on the other guy’s character. You guys have expertise that so dwarfs my own awareness that I should have sense enough by now to realize clarifications are forthcoming. As a listener, I need to take such matters on faith, because the truth comes out every dang time.

3) I know you guys do interviews, so for my own education, how many of these creator surnames have you gotten from the horse’s mouth? For instance, I know it’s Ethan Van SKY-VER, because I got a commission from him in person and my friend asked him point blank. I’ve said Dih-Mah-TEESE and WINE for years regarding J.M. and Len, but I know Rob’s interviewed at least DeMatteis, and I’d like to correct my pronunciations if someone knows best.

4) I’ve been an Aquaman fan to varying degrees for most of my life, but I’ve already confessed to reading Firestorm Fan more for Shag than either Ronnie or Jason. His enthusiasm is infectious, even though I don’t truthfully fully understand the appeal of the Nuclear Man. I find myself quite intrigued to hear Shag expand on his great affection for Martin Stein, as that is the component of the matrix I have had the least exposure to, and my most likely inroad into “getting” the character.

5) I think we all love J.M. DeMatteis, and he’s written favored characters for each of us. It’s a shame he wrote Dr. Fate instead of Firestorm, as I might have had a better appreciation otherwise.

6) Partially crazy sells me short, and it’s both your faults, anyway. As many subjects as I would like to cover, I always swore I wouldn’t imitate “The Rob Kelly Family of Blogs.” Then Shag got me into blog crossovers, and I mocked up the supposedly temporary Atom blog to allow Damien Maffei’s participation in spirit (with his consent,) and once that was done I had to finally do that Wonder Woman blog. I needed DC Bloodlines to insure I had a catch-all to keep them from growing any further out of control. Curse the both of you.

7) I got a big laugh out of the polygamy line.