Chapter Twenty-One
*I6: Back in TOS15, haven't you been paying attention?
*III1: This is the first time "Milo" demonstrates his true powers.
*VI1: It may have been by just a matter of months, but Joe's line here does precede Rob Schneider's repeated line in the Waterboy. While it would have existed on script before this chapter was written, we can safely assume that he had no prior knowledge of it.
*VI1: This is Chuck's first advancement in his powers since he learned how to expel Negative Zone energies in TOS12.
*IX15: Elyk is indeed a nice guy, but to recap - Elyk is really a human/Skrull spawn who was brainwashed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to think he was a Skrull to infiltrate, so subconsciously, he wouldn't kill any of the good guys.
*XI1: It's Chuck and Joe's job to humiliate and ridicule Kyle. Anyone else, human or not, have to answer to them.
*XIV9: The Phoenix Saga begins with Jean Grey returning from a mission in space and being exposed to radiation from a solar flare. This type of radiation is similar to that of a cosmic storm...as far as you know.
*XV4: The original transformation in the Phoenix came from her powers expanding to their fullest potential, becoming a being of pure thought and then reforming herself.
*XV5: So then later Kurt Busiek went back and said, "Wait, that wasn't really Jean Grey! She was at the bottom of the Jamaica Bay. We'll worry about what the Phoenix was later on."
*XV13: That great evil will come back to haunt the boys in TOS26 but will provide help in TNS36.
*XV14: Kyle's six Chapter absence is the longest any Supercool is not mentioned in The Story and ties Chuck's absence in The New Story.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8 - no credit for miscellaneous Skrulls
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 16 - see Chuck
Chapter Twenty-Two:
*I2: Saturnyne is part of the Dimensional Development Court and was charged with the safekeeping and maintenance of order and reality of the entire Omniverse. Like Access, that means making sure people stay in their correct reality/dimension/universe. However, she has frequently employed the Technet, a group of bounty hunters, who, themselves, are from a variety of other dimensional worlds.
*II1: A quick explanation of Joyboy's unusual powers: basically, he can telepathically scan people to determine what their greatest desire is and psionically make it come true but in a twisted, demented way like genies of fable tend to do. Thus, Joe's dream is twisted to where he's back at his home dimension's job without leaving the Marvel Universe.
*III1: Here's "The Rage" again; however, considering that he's up to about four bouts of omnipotence, lost his girlfriend while being kidnapped across the galaxy, and been shrunken to a foot tall - you can't really blame him for taking his aggression out on Yap.
*III4: This is the first occurrence of what would be later dubbed a Nega-Blast and becomes Mr. Negativity's trademark ranged attack. It's also noted that he uses this power for the first time against an infant. Admittedly, it's an alien baby with a grotesquely swollen belly and brain that floats around, but an infant, nonetheless.
*IV5: In the majority of cases, the effects of superhuman/technology effects cease once the origin point has been rendered unconscious/inert. However, those effects which affect changes down to a molecular level have a much greater time period for inversion. The Grey Gargoyle, for instance, can turn people to stone. Even if knocked out, though, it is an hour before the transformed person will return to normal. In cases of size-alteration, the time is exponentially proportional to the size difference. Unless an external factor returns Kyle to his normal size (don't worry - it will in TOS26), it will be a few months before he returns to normal height.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 11 (this Chapter - Bodybags, Ferro V, Joyboy)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 9 (this Chapter - Yap)
Villains defeated by Joe: 18 (this Chapter - China Doll, Gatecrasher)
Chapter Twenty-Three:
*I1: Government standard safety regulations do not recommend sitting in the front seat if one is only a foot tall.
*I3: The "common" method for generating one's porn star name is taking the middle name and adding the name of the street the person grew up on. Thus, Kyle would be Joseph Audubon.
*I7: In 1996, Tyco released the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll which is generally recognized as the start of the tradition of having one particular toy so in demand during the holiday season that people go ape-shit over it trying to get one. See also: Ferby, Pokemon, and any new video game system since 2005.
*II2: Chuck's apartment complex at this time would have been off of German Church Road between Washington Street and 10th Street on the East side of Indianapolis.
*II14: Ben and Carlos, along with Sarah (TOS19) and Dylan (TOS21) will all have their roles revealed way down the line in TOS46.
*II20: Joe is less irritated with Kyle than with himself for setting Kyle up as such.
*III3: It was mentioned earlier, but just to recap, Joe - yes, Joe - didn't remember Haywire's real name and created "Milo". Keep in mind, this was before Google and not a lot of people had the Internet, and those who did only had dial-up, so all the other stuff that Joe wrote about was stuff he knew.
*III8: Joe has no bias towards mentally tormenting friends - black, white, powered, no powers, gay, straight, or twelve-inches tall. He is an equal-opportunity mind-fucker.
*III14: Joseph
*III16: Austin
*III18: We would have accepted Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Jade, Abin Sur, and a host of others.
*IV2: It's a testament to Joe's shopping ability that he managed to leave Wal-Mart with only the one item he went in to get.
*V5: Naturally, Joe would wish to go with a music related pun for christening a spaceship, but it only makes sense if he still believes "Supercools" is a real lyric.
*V6: Actually, both Joe and Rina refer to it as the Supercoolmobile, but Chuck never does.
*V7: "The Jeffersons" (1975-1985) theme song was titled "Movin' On Up" and was ranked by IGN as the #14 top televesion theme song.
*V8: This device was created in the mind of Joe and should be noted at how precise the device actually is. The thin layer of Joe's hypnojacket was enough to keep the device from absorbing the energies from the Wonder-Glove, the hyper-gravity energies of Graviton, the psionic energies of Joyboy, and the kinetic energies of Spiral's explosion.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 11
Villains defeated by Kyle: 9
Villains defeated by Joe: 18
Chapter Twenty-Four:
*Title: Play off of the 1995 movie "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead"
*Important Information: Before Joe began writing The Story, Charles had been writing his own fanfiction which wasn't nearly as good as Joe's writing. The premise of Charles' writing (which was entitled "A Novel Idea") involved only himself getting transported to the Marvel Universe, hooking up with the X-Men and eventually setting out on his own to help find and assist new mutants. While he used his friends and family in his writing, fictional Charles was meeting all for the first time (with the exception of his brother who gained the mutant gene designated for the first born male since Charles didn't exist in Marvel reality). When Joe and Charles were writing simultaneously, they worked on a way to cross their stories over. This chapter is the result of having Charles' characters' minds swapped into Joe's characters' bodies (and vice-versa). Further information will be smattered throughout the rest of this chapter's annotations.
*I2: Eric would be Charles' real life brother who now is inhabiting Haywire's body.
*I4: Tony is Charles' fraternity brother who is now in Ben.
*I6: Amy was Charles' real life girlfriend at the time and occupies Rina.
*II4: In Charles' story, his power was to affect probability fields. Unlike Longshot or Domino who are just naturally lucky or the Scarlet Witch who uses magic, Charles' power worked on the subatomic level. The longer he focused, the greater a probability fluxuation he could cause. On his end, he was pushing his powers to their greatest for a now-forgotten cause. The result of his powers along with Joe's use of Doom's device caused the cross-dimensional switch.
*II7: Eric, while not necessarily vain, is well aware of his physical comeliness and charisma.
*II28: Charles had named his group Chaos Factor after his old MRPG team.
*II32: Kyle's powers in Charles' story were similar to the character he played in the MRPG - illusion creation along with force blasts.
*II33: Amy's alternate powers were the ability to manipulate friction.
*II36: In the other reality, Eric could take on the natural abilities of animals (flight, strength level, enhanced senses, underwater breathing, etc.)
*II37: Joe actually had powers in the other world - he could reverse naturally occurring effects (reverse gravity, have lights create darkness, etc.)
*II40: Tony's power was to nullify extraordinary powers in his vicinity. As opposed to Kyle, Tony's was involuntary and confined to a small radius around his body, but he could also focus to disable one person's powers at the expense of not being able to do anything else.
*II42: Eric alt-codename was Jester. It was argued with him in story that it had nothing to do with his powers, and he stated he didn't care and just liked the name.
*II43: Tony was Counter.
*II44: Chuck was Lucky.
*II47: Kyle was The Apparition.
*II48: Per Joe's request, Amy became Grace Slick.
*II49: And finally, Joe was Flux.
*III1: In the initial lineup that was worked out, Mr. Hyde was not among the villains. It started with Thumbellina, Ticktock, Unus the Untouchable, Vapor, and Vermin. Another villain whose name beginning with 'U' was sought after to have names beginning with T-T-U-U-V-V. Joe's suggestion for the villainous group was the Crazy 8's (since the number 8 on the phone has the letters T-U-V), and Chuck's idea was the Stuttering TUV's.
*XV8: This, obviously, never happened. You have to give it to Spiral for being able to pull a story out of her ass in no time flat.
*XV11: Unlike Loki and other Asgardians, Spiral really isn't held in check by promises. However, telling someone that it's impossible for you to break a promise really gives it a little more credence.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 12 (this Chapter - Mr. Hyde)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 10 (this Chapter - Blackout)
Villains defeated by Joe: 19 (this Chapter - Vapor)
Chapter Twenty-Five:
*I2: The Mojoverse is comprised of a race of fat, lazy beings who love to watch television. The proclaimed ruler, Mojo, who enthralls the race by kidnapping heroes and pitting them in gladiator-type brawls for amusement. Despite how awesome that might be, neither Mojo nor heroic gladiator-type battles appear in this chapter. For the latter, see Chapter Thirty-Seven. For the former, see TSQ22.
*I5: Kyle's technically right, here. An alternate reality or alternate universe is one where a different choice or occurrence leads to differing results and pathways. An alternate dimension stems from a completely different makeup of matter as resultant from the beginning of its existence. For ease of use, if one leaps into an unknown area and the beings are humanoid, then it's an alternate reality, otherwise it's an alternate dimension.
*I7: By the definition above, Haywire would be from an alternation universe. According to Marvel on-line, Haywire is from an alternate dimension. My definition stems from multi-dimensional mathematic theory, Marvel's definition stems from Marvel. However, since TOS is Marvel-based, you can decide which way the argument leans.
*II2: Both Charles and Joe are familiar with the workings of the American Sign Language alphabet .
*II7: If you think their abilities with charades is impressive, you should see the two of them playing Pictionary.
*IV1: How good is the Dazzler's singing? Amongst the regular array of fans, she's also enjoyed by the Juggernaut, the Hulk, and the Rhino.
*IV2: The miniature X-Men are the X-Babies, child clones created by Mojo. These clones either had kiddie names such as "Shadowkitty" and "Wolvie" or had "Lil" as a prefix. As the roster changed through the years, likewise the roster of the X-Babies changed. While it has never been noted one way or the other, it's feasible that Master Negativity and No Powers Kid might be there.
*IV7: This is a line from "Clue" in which Mrs. White explains why her illusionist husband never reappeared after disappearing.
*IV11: And here Joe is enacting Beavis' hyperactive alter-ego.
*V2: Considering his future half-self is killed by an alternate universe honorary Avenger, his decision here is a wise one.
*VI2: He'll have to in Chapter 34.
*VI6: The Siege Perilous was a collapsible extra-dimensional gateway which several X-Men used to escape death. However, passage through it drastically changed them in a variety of ways: Havok was rendered amnesic and ended up working in Genosha as a Magistrate, Rogue was stripped of Carol Danvers' personality as well as her powers (temporarily), and apparently Dazzler's feet grew.
*VII1: This is the only time the Scavenger is described head-to-toe (or toe-to-head) in TOS and has to date, only happened again in TNS1.
*VII10: It really depends on if you're counting transportation between dimensions as teleportation.
*VII11: Because if you do, Kyle is WAY ahead thanks to Access jaunting him about in TOS2.
*VII14: Mr. Price was Charles and Joe's shared driving instructor the summer before they officially met at the Academy. With a good amount of wit, Price would respond to "never mind" by noting that he never had to mind that person again. Likewise, he would often pass out.........the papers.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 12
Villains defeated by Kyle: 10
Villains defeated by Joe: 19
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Original Story 16-20: Annotized
Chapter Sixteen:
*Title - This is a play off the intro to Dragnet.
*I5: While Chuck's new trenchcoat doesn't last through the chapter, it's some consolation to know that he'll get a replacement in TNS8.
*I7: Devil Dice was a game in which a small creature walked and pushed six-sided dice around to mix and match like faces and was one of Joe's favorite and addictive video games to play when he first moved into his own apartment.
*I9: Besides the shying away from Rina, this is the first really good indicator that something is up with Kyle. However, Kyle's oddities know no bounds, so it may very well seem like Kyle just being Kyle.
*II4: This is another nod to Chuck's natural luck.
*III1: And this is another nod to Joe's poor targeting skills.
*IV4: She-Hulk's big news, though they won't find out from her personally, is that the judge in their hearing was fake.
*VII2: Harold "Haywire" Danforth is the other prisoner and is from the multiverse dimension known as Earth-712. Normal continuity in Marvel comics is Earth-616. This Story version is Earth-619. The Age of Apocalypse was Earth-295. The Days of Future Past storyline takes place in Earth-811. And Earth-1218 would be the multiverse dimension that we call the real world where everything like this only happens in comic books. Not that most of this is pertinent, but it helps fill some space.
*IX1: This scene and description is almost verbatim from the last few moments before the Age of Apocalypse took effect. In summary, a time traveler goes back into the past to kill Magneto before he becomes powerful and inadvertanly kills Professor X. While that happens in the past, the M'Kraan Crystal (the nexus of all realities) emits a crystaline wave which covers the entire universe freezing everything in place. With all of reality coming to an end, one of the last scenes shown is Rogue grabbing Gambit and kissing him - an act that previously had been avoided due to her powers.
*X1: This, again, is pretty much word for word the textual description of the aftermath of the M'Kraan Crystal wave before it shatters to reveal the new reality.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 14
Chapter Seventeen:
*Title: For a very brief time, the Marvel and DC Universe's characters were combined or "squooshed" together to form an amalgam universe with such characters as Dark Claw (Batman + Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman + Captain America), or teams such as the JLX (Justice League + X-Men).
*I3: This scene is reminescent of the Back to the Future scenes where Marty wakes up thinking his experience was a dream and bolting awake upon realizing something is terribly off.
*I6: Marty's mother in the past mistakes the Calvin Klein name on his underwear to be Marty's actual name.
*I19: Joe covers the bases here except for his difficulty in Mister Mxyzptlk, one of Superman's nefarious baddies who comes from the Fifth Dimension and yet never lets the sunshine in.
*II2: William Tockman - the Clock King is a full DC character. Green Peacemaker is a combination of Green Arrow and Peacemaker, both from the DC Universe. ArrowHead is a combination of Speedy (DC) and Warheads (Marvel).
*II4: Flaming Queen is the amalgamation of Firestorm (DC) and White Queen (Marvel)
*II5: Cherries Jubilee = Cherry Bomb + Jubilee.
*II8: High Wire is Haywire plus some random drug user from Chuck or Joe's brain.
*II11: Somewhere, lightyears away, Kyle is his normal self. However, his doppelganger is the one who finds himself combined with one of the worst Green Lanterns of all time.
*II16: Superman Revenge Squad + Anticools.
*III2: Quacksilver = Howard the Duck + Silver Scarab + Quicksilver; Scarlet Mitch = Scarlet Witch + Terrifying Mitch + Scarlet Skier
*III3: Hazard +the Whizzer (yes, he wore a yellow costume)
*III4: Two-Face + Mr. Negativity (Dismay)
*III5: Psychic "New-God" Powers + No Powers Boy; Asgard + Apokalips
*III6: Touch-N-Go + Mr. Hyde + Skinhead
*III8: Mac Gargan + Arnim Zola; Gwen Stacy + Lois Lane
*III9: Lois Lane clone + Mauler; the joke tie-in here is one of Joe and Chuck's classmate's from highschool was Lainey Mahler who was often the recipient of taunting that she was, in fact, not really herself but a clone.
*IV2: Despite the fact that they are currently in an amalgam world, the fact that the Negative Zone touches every dimension means that once he absorbs the indestructable dice into his hands, they will stay with Mr. Negativity from here on out.
*V3: Shocker + Magna Khan
*V5: White Wine = White Witch + Lorelei
*V11: Manslaughter + Ferro V + Roughhouse
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8 (this Chapter - Quacksilver, Scarlet Mitch, Slaughterhouse-Five)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 16 (this Chapter - Laney Mauler, White Wine)
Chapter Eighteen:
*I1: The device Joe picks up here will be revealed in TNS23 to be an energy storage/retransmission unit which now houses Access' energy wave.
*IV1: Indeed they shall. In fact, the entire story-arc from Chapters 40-49 revolve around Dr. Doom's plan.
*VI-XIII: This dream sequence and song is reminiscent of the Green Acres television theme and intro.
*XIV6: That's $600 for those wanting to do the Marvel-our universe conversion.
*XV10: No, his name is Harold Danforth, but at this point in writing, Joe didn't remember that Haywire actually had a name, so he made one up. Once he discovers the truth, he will rectify the problem in TOS23.
*XVI2: Haywire's heroic costume is green with a bunch of black squiggles on it. It also is partly designed to look the the famous Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo cartoons which comes into play in TOS20. The van will also appear years down the line in TNS58 in the possession of Ben "Electric Youth" Brixton.
*XVII2: The friends he broke off with were the Squadron Supreme - that dimension's version of the Avengers, but less ethical and more keen on running the world....but good guys.
*XVIII5: Deerfield was originally chosen as a stopping point, not only because it fell between New York and Indianapolis, but also because it was thought to be the original home of the X-Men's Shadowcat. However, Shadowcat was from Deerfield, Illinois - not Ohio.
*XVIII14: Due to the fact many heroes and villains have codenames that are also common in everyday talk, the line "Ooooooh, *insert codename* is a good/bad guy," also became a frequently used line from TOS.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
Chapter Nineteen:
*I2: This scene with Joe sending the emergency message is a take on Jean Grey's video message sent out about an inside traitor. This video message made it through to the future where its garbled and static result led to a mystery that lasted over five years - Who was the X-Traitor?
*I3: While the mystery was still in place, during a MRPG it was revealed that Kyle's character - the Apparation - was the X-Traitor. Kyle's response of not killing the damn dream is the same response his character gave to the revelation. For those who are wondering, it was revealed that Professor X in the guise of Onslaught was the true traitor.
*II4: You might think this is a reference to Futurama in which Bender is awoken after muttering "Kill all humans" to claim he was just having a wonderful dream. However, this chapter was written a good two years before that happened. Joe Faust - 1, Matt Groening - 0.
*III5: While Lila is an intergalactic rock star, she is originally from Earth and, more specifically, England. So it's not too inconceivable for her to be playing on her home planet. For her to play a small town in Ohio...well, we have to assume that there's a special reason she's there.
*III10: It continues to say a lot about Kyle's oddness that such a bizarre outburst only slightly confuses Joe.
*IV11: No worries here as the only action Chuck gets will be from an obscenely obese superheroine in TOS37. It's highly unpleasant.
*VIII4: The website kissthisguy.com covers a list of misheard lyrics submitted from over a thousand different songs - We Built This City, however, does not make the list. Perhaps it's only superheroes that don't catch the real line.
*X4: Guido Carosella aka Strong Guy begin his comic book career working as a bodyguard for Lila Cheney. He later joined up with the government run X-Factor until he suffered a massive heart-attack. During his healing process, he rejoined Lila for a period on tour.
*X6: Lila may be Rina's favorite singer, but Strong Guy is in Chuck's Top 5 favorite characters.
*X10: Franklin Hall gained powers over gravity after working on a scientific experiment involving teleportation.
*XI1: See. It also gave him the power to bend light so he can spy on women in the shower. Seriously, he did it to Tigra.
*XIII3: This is the third attribute of the Wonder Gloves (super strength and force blasts being the primary two). The fourth - the Typhoon Sphere - won't be shown until TOS24.
*XIII4: One of the first times the second line-up of X-Factor (which included Guido/Strong Guy) made their appearance, someone yelled out that same line. After a second bout of mistaken identity, Strong Guy noted that it would keep happening until they got their own line of action figures.
*XIV1: If all previous context hadn't given it away, here's the visual example that Kyle is no longer really Kyle.
*XV3: It's a sure sign that a codename is ridiculous when someone named Strong Guy mocks it.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (as it's not really Kyle, he doesn't get credit for Graviton)
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
Chapter Twenty:
*Title: A previous collaboration between Joe and Chuck around ideas for chapters of The Story led to a play off of Scooby-Doo.
*I2: Many of the times Graviton was defeated revolved around psychologically beating him as opposed to doing it in an all-out brawl.
*V1: For those stalker/fanatics, it's good to note that neither Joe nor his parents live at this address anymore; however, exterior photos may still be taken for those keen on having visual references.
*V3: Talula Baird was last seen way back in TOS1.
*V10: Despite the fact she was under a hypnotic effect at the time, Talula would have held onto those events in her subconscious. So while she may not recall everything that happened, she would have a vague since of trust around the trio.
*V12: At the time of writing, Joe was living downtown and to save money on laundry would drive down to his parents to have it done while visiting.
*VI2: Continuing with the Scooby-Doo theme, Milo is dressed similarly to Fred Jones, Kyle to Norville "Shaggy" Roberts, Rina as Daphne Blake, and Joe as Velma Dinkley. Yes, they all have last names. Tihs would leave Chuck in a plain brown jumpsuit to be closest to the full brown color of Scooby-Doo.
*VI4: Eric the Red first appeared as an agent for the Shi'ar empire. Both Cyclops and Magneto have also donned the guise of Erik the Red at different points as well.
*VII1: The most common "split-up" formation in the Scooby-Doo series is Fred & Daphne, Scooby & Shaggy, and Velma on her own.
*VII2: Beginning in 1972, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" became an hour length show called "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" and featured famous guest stars such as those mentioned here, the Three Stooges, and even Batman & Robin.
*VIII6: Another common aspect of the show was finding clues which led the Scooby gang to believe that harm had befallen another character.
*IX2: Yet another staple was the secret passage behind a bookshelf.
*IX3: Velma, who was also extremely near-sighted, frequently had her glasses fall off and would utter these lines.
*X2: Due to the fact that it was a children's show, nobody was ever physically attacked. The monster or bad guy would just wave his arms in the air and everyone would freak out and run away. Joe makes an excellent point here that it's pretty ridiculous.
*X5: "Jenkies" is Velma's catchphrase, often used when she discovers something of importance.
*X13: Believe it or not, there have been almost a dozen different Scooby-Doo theme songs. Lyrics to the New Scooby-Doo Show (which Joe claims is his favorite of all the lyrics) goes:
We got it all together for a brand-new show.
Scooby Doo is here and away we go.
While Scooby Doo is running from a spooky ghost
Shaggy is doing what he does the most.
Hey c'mon get get involved, until the mystery is solved.
Hang around for Scooby Doo
Awwwww, Heh Heh Heh!
That's my pal!
Scooby-Dooby-Doo!
*XI1-10: Not only in Scooby-Doo but in other comical farces, the use of a multi-entranced hallway chase scene becomes more convoluted with groups being split up, chasers becoming chasees, and the sudden emergence of comical transports. If you're wondering how it can happen, remember the secret passages...
*XI11: The villain is frequently planned to be taken down by a complex trap but inevitably slips, trips, or falls off of something simple to be captured.
*XI13: A good rule of thumb with the Scooby-Doo series is that the person to show up after the person in distress is the same as the person behind the mask.
*XI14: The unmasking is then followed by the explanation of how and why the person did it.
*XI15: Which is then followed by the villain uttering these famous lines.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (as it's not really Kyle, he doesn't get credit for Mr. Weasselly)
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
*Title - This is a play off the intro to Dragnet.
*I5: While Chuck's new trenchcoat doesn't last through the chapter, it's some consolation to know that he'll get a replacement in TNS8.
*I7: Devil Dice was a game in which a small creature walked and pushed six-sided dice around to mix and match like faces and was one of Joe's favorite and addictive video games to play when he first moved into his own apartment.
*I9: Besides the shying away from Rina, this is the first really good indicator that something is up with Kyle. However, Kyle's oddities know no bounds, so it may very well seem like Kyle just being Kyle.
*II4: This is another nod to Chuck's natural luck.
*III1: And this is another nod to Joe's poor targeting skills.
*IV4: She-Hulk's big news, though they won't find out from her personally, is that the judge in their hearing was fake.
*VII2: Harold "Haywire" Danforth is the other prisoner and is from the multiverse dimension known as Earth-712. Normal continuity in Marvel comics is Earth-616. This Story version is Earth-619. The Age of Apocalypse was Earth-295. The Days of Future Past storyline takes place in Earth-811. And Earth-1218 would be the multiverse dimension that we call the real world where everything like this only happens in comic books. Not that most of this is pertinent, but it helps fill some space.
*IX1: This scene and description is almost verbatim from the last few moments before the Age of Apocalypse took effect. In summary, a time traveler goes back into the past to kill Magneto before he becomes powerful and inadvertanly kills Professor X. While that happens in the past, the M'Kraan Crystal (the nexus of all realities) emits a crystaline wave which covers the entire universe freezing everything in place. With all of reality coming to an end, one of the last scenes shown is Rogue grabbing Gambit and kissing him - an act that previously had been avoided due to her powers.
*X1: This, again, is pretty much word for word the textual description of the aftermath of the M'Kraan Crystal wave before it shatters to reveal the new reality.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 14
Chapter Seventeen:
*Title: For a very brief time, the Marvel and DC Universe's characters were combined or "squooshed" together to form an amalgam universe with such characters as Dark Claw (Batman + Wolverine), Super Soldier (Superman + Captain America), or teams such as the JLX (Justice League + X-Men).
*I3: This scene is reminescent of the Back to the Future scenes where Marty wakes up thinking his experience was a dream and bolting awake upon realizing something is terribly off.
*I6: Marty's mother in the past mistakes the Calvin Klein name on his underwear to be Marty's actual name.
*I19: Joe covers the bases here except for his difficulty in Mister Mxyzptlk, one of Superman's nefarious baddies who comes from the Fifth Dimension and yet never lets the sunshine in.
*II2: William Tockman - the Clock King is a full DC character. Green Peacemaker is a combination of Green Arrow and Peacemaker, both from the DC Universe. ArrowHead is a combination of Speedy (DC) and Warheads (Marvel).
*II4: Flaming Queen is the amalgamation of Firestorm (DC) and White Queen (Marvel)
*II5: Cherries Jubilee = Cherry Bomb + Jubilee.
*II8: High Wire is Haywire plus some random drug user from Chuck or Joe's brain.
*II11: Somewhere, lightyears away, Kyle is his normal self. However, his doppelganger is the one who finds himself combined with one of the worst Green Lanterns of all time.
*II16: Superman Revenge Squad + Anticools.
*III2: Quacksilver = Howard the Duck + Silver Scarab + Quicksilver; Scarlet Mitch = Scarlet Witch + Terrifying Mitch + Scarlet Skier
*III3: Hazard +the Whizzer (yes, he wore a yellow costume)
*III4: Two-Face + Mr. Negativity (Dismay)
*III5: Psychic "New-God" Powers + No Powers Boy; Asgard + Apokalips
*III6: Touch-N-Go + Mr. Hyde + Skinhead
*III8: Mac Gargan + Arnim Zola; Gwen Stacy + Lois Lane
*III9: Lois Lane clone + Mauler; the joke tie-in here is one of Joe and Chuck's classmate's from highschool was Lainey Mahler who was often the recipient of taunting that she was, in fact, not really herself but a clone.
*IV2: Despite the fact that they are currently in an amalgam world, the fact that the Negative Zone touches every dimension means that once he absorbs the indestructable dice into his hands, they will stay with Mr. Negativity from here on out.
*V3: Shocker + Magna Khan
*V5: White Wine = White Witch + Lorelei
*V11: Manslaughter + Ferro V + Roughhouse
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8 (this Chapter - Quacksilver, Scarlet Mitch, Slaughterhouse-Five)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 16 (this Chapter - Laney Mauler, White Wine)
Chapter Eighteen:
*I1: The device Joe picks up here will be revealed in TNS23 to be an energy storage/retransmission unit which now houses Access' energy wave.
*IV1: Indeed they shall. In fact, the entire story-arc from Chapters 40-49 revolve around Dr. Doom's plan.
*VI-XIII: This dream sequence and song is reminiscent of the Green Acres television theme and intro.
*XIV6: That's $600 for those wanting to do the Marvel-our universe conversion.
*XV10: No, his name is Harold Danforth, but at this point in writing, Joe didn't remember that Haywire actually had a name, so he made one up. Once he discovers the truth, he will rectify the problem in TOS23.
*XVI2: Haywire's heroic costume is green with a bunch of black squiggles on it. It also is partly designed to look the the famous Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo cartoons which comes into play in TOS20. The van will also appear years down the line in TNS58 in the possession of Ben "Electric Youth" Brixton.
*XVII2: The friends he broke off with were the Squadron Supreme - that dimension's version of the Avengers, but less ethical and more keen on running the world....but good guys.
*XVIII5: Deerfield was originally chosen as a stopping point, not only because it fell between New York and Indianapolis, but also because it was thought to be the original home of the X-Men's Shadowcat. However, Shadowcat was from Deerfield, Illinois - not Ohio.
*XVIII14: Due to the fact many heroes and villains have codenames that are also common in everyday talk, the line "Ooooooh, *insert codename* is a good/bad guy," also became a frequently used line from TOS.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
Chapter Nineteen:
*I2: This scene with Joe sending the emergency message is a take on Jean Grey's video message sent out about an inside traitor. This video message made it through to the future where its garbled and static result led to a mystery that lasted over five years - Who was the X-Traitor?
*I3: While the mystery was still in place, during a MRPG it was revealed that Kyle's character - the Apparation - was the X-Traitor. Kyle's response of not killing the damn dream is the same response his character gave to the revelation. For those who are wondering, it was revealed that Professor X in the guise of Onslaught was the true traitor.
*II4: You might think this is a reference to Futurama in which Bender is awoken after muttering "Kill all humans" to claim he was just having a wonderful dream. However, this chapter was written a good two years before that happened. Joe Faust - 1, Matt Groening - 0.
*III5: While Lila is an intergalactic rock star, she is originally from Earth and, more specifically, England. So it's not too inconceivable for her to be playing on her home planet. For her to play a small town in Ohio...well, we have to assume that there's a special reason she's there.
*III10: It continues to say a lot about Kyle's oddness that such a bizarre outburst only slightly confuses Joe.
*IV11: No worries here as the only action Chuck gets will be from an obscenely obese superheroine in TOS37. It's highly unpleasant.
*VIII4: The website kissthisguy.com covers a list of misheard lyrics submitted from over a thousand different songs - We Built This City, however, does not make the list. Perhaps it's only superheroes that don't catch the real line.
*X4: Guido Carosella aka Strong Guy begin his comic book career working as a bodyguard for Lila Cheney. He later joined up with the government run X-Factor until he suffered a massive heart-attack. During his healing process, he rejoined Lila for a period on tour.
*X6: Lila may be Rina's favorite singer, but Strong Guy is in Chuck's Top 5 favorite characters.
*X10: Franklin Hall gained powers over gravity after working on a scientific experiment involving teleportation.
*XI1: See. It also gave him the power to bend light so he can spy on women in the shower. Seriously, he did it to Tigra.
*XIII3: This is the third attribute of the Wonder Gloves (super strength and force blasts being the primary two). The fourth - the Typhoon Sphere - won't be shown until TOS24.
*XIII4: One of the first times the second line-up of X-Factor (which included Guido/Strong Guy) made their appearance, someone yelled out that same line. After a second bout of mistaken identity, Strong Guy noted that it would keep happening until they got their own line of action figures.
*XIV1: If all previous context hadn't given it away, here's the visual example that Kyle is no longer really Kyle.
*XV3: It's a sure sign that a codename is ridiculous when someone named Strong Guy mocks it.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (as it's not really Kyle, he doesn't get credit for Graviton)
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
Chapter Twenty:
*Title: A previous collaboration between Joe and Chuck around ideas for chapters of The Story led to a play off of Scooby-Doo.
*I2: Many of the times Graviton was defeated revolved around psychologically beating him as opposed to doing it in an all-out brawl.
*V1: For those stalker/fanatics, it's good to note that neither Joe nor his parents live at this address anymore; however, exterior photos may still be taken for those keen on having visual references.
*V3: Talula Baird was last seen way back in TOS1.
*V10: Despite the fact she was under a hypnotic effect at the time, Talula would have held onto those events in her subconscious. So while she may not recall everything that happened, she would have a vague since of trust around the trio.
*V12: At the time of writing, Joe was living downtown and to save money on laundry would drive down to his parents to have it done while visiting.
*VI2: Continuing with the Scooby-Doo theme, Milo is dressed similarly to Fred Jones, Kyle to Norville "Shaggy" Roberts, Rina as Daphne Blake, and Joe as Velma Dinkley. Yes, they all have last names. Tihs would leave Chuck in a plain brown jumpsuit to be closest to the full brown color of Scooby-Doo.
*VI4: Eric the Red first appeared as an agent for the Shi'ar empire. Both Cyclops and Magneto have also donned the guise of Erik the Red at different points as well.
*VII1: The most common "split-up" formation in the Scooby-Doo series is Fred & Daphne, Scooby & Shaggy, and Velma on her own.
*VII2: Beginning in 1972, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" became an hour length show called "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" and featured famous guest stars such as those mentioned here, the Three Stooges, and even Batman & Robin.
*VIII6: Another common aspect of the show was finding clues which led the Scooby gang to believe that harm had befallen another character.
*IX2: Yet another staple was the secret passage behind a bookshelf.
*IX3: Velma, who was also extremely near-sighted, frequently had her glasses fall off and would utter these lines.
*X2: Due to the fact that it was a children's show, nobody was ever physically attacked. The monster or bad guy would just wave his arms in the air and everyone would freak out and run away. Joe makes an excellent point here that it's pretty ridiculous.
*X5: "Jenkies" is Velma's catchphrase, often used when she discovers something of importance.
*X13: Believe it or not, there have been almost a dozen different Scooby-Doo theme songs. Lyrics to the New Scooby-Doo Show (which Joe claims is his favorite of all the lyrics) goes:
We got it all together for a brand-new show.
Scooby Doo is here and away we go.
While Scooby Doo is running from a spooky ghost
Shaggy is doing what he does the most.
Hey c'mon get get involved, until the mystery is solved.
Hang around for Scooby Doo
Awwwww, Heh Heh Heh!
That's my pal!
Scooby-Dooby-Doo!
*XI1-10: Not only in Scooby-Doo but in other comical farces, the use of a multi-entranced hallway chase scene becomes more convoluted with groups being split up, chasers becoming chasees, and the sudden emergence of comical transports. If you're wondering how it can happen, remember the secret passages...
*XI11: The villain is frequently planned to be taken down by a complex trap but inevitably slips, trips, or falls off of something simple to be captured.
*XI13: A good rule of thumb with the Scooby-Doo series is that the person to show up after the person in distress is the same as the person behind the mask.
*XI14: The unmasking is then followed by the explanation of how and why the person did it.
*XI15: Which is then followed by the villain uttering these famous lines.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 8
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (as it's not really Kyle, he doesn't get credit for Mr. Weasselly)
Villains defeated by Joe: 16
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The Original Story 11-15: Annotized
Chapter Eleven:
*I2: That would be Mephisto in disguise.
*I14: See, Kyle isn't the one who is readily dismissed.
*II2: Chuck seldom acknowledges the accomplishments of his friends but with a combination of being saved and healed by pulling a fast one on the God of Lies is enough to earn Joe a small compliment.
*III6: This phrase originated in the 1600's as an abbreviated form of "God's blood" (as well as "Od's bones", "Od's wounds", and more). It'd be less dramatic if Loki had appeared and said "WTF, mate?"
*III12: The sixth ring of Hell is reserved for heretics who are trapped in flaming tombs and use the encroaching steam to make a mean cappuccino.
*IV1: SCIENCE TIME! Sound frequency is measured by the quantity of sound waves occurring over time. Higher frequency, such as Humbug's glove, emit waves tightly packed. By slowing time around her, Rina essentially decreases the frequency to her perception resulting in a much less annoying and disabling level.
*V1: The Uni-Power is an extra-dimensional force that possesses people (normal and super-powered) during a time of crisis and transforms them into Captain Universe. While exposed, they possess a myriad of powers which include superhuman strength, flight, Uni-Vision (microscopic vision,vision, and telescopic vision), telekinesis, enhanced senses, a psychic awareness of imminent danger, molecular rearrangement of organic and inorganic matter, transmutation of elements, the ability to fire bursts of energy and concussive force, and hypnosis.
*V1: While the guys *technically* count Kyle's open wish from Loki, his possession by the Uni-Power will be Kyle's first official point of omnipotence.
*VI3: It can never be reiterated enough that Joe doesn't particularly care for small children - especially those that beat the crap out of him.
*VII2: Chuck's use of Kyle's line is the first time it is used in a manner other than a cry of terror.
*VII3: Oldest trick in the book.
*VII4: "Ba-ha!" is actually the catchphrase of the IRL Kyle Reeser.
*VII7: First use of "Oh damn" by a villain. At this point, I think enough notes have been made around this phrase that you can take whatever notes about it you want in the future and leave me out of it.
*VIII1: While a good psychology paper could be written surrounding the idea of Joe having to pick out his own psychological flaws, it's worth noting that the final line stems from a point IRL where Joe and Chuck were watching Single White Female. At one point, Bridget Fonda's character comes home and checks her answering machine which notes "You have *no* new messages," at which point Chuck added "*No*one loves you." Also, watching Single White Female together does not make Joe and Chuck a couple.
*X2: This is just a fun image to picture (Galactus spraying juice out of his nose, not Kyle getting shot across several galaxies....although that's pretty fun too)
*X5: While this line is fairly insignificant by itself, TNS would inadvertently give Kyle a quirk about verbal redundancies.
*XI3: What Kyle is yet unaware of the fact that an infinitely minute trace of the omnipotence that is the Uni-Power will remain in his system.
*XI4: Women are often attracted to power, and as Kyle was, seconds before, arguably the most powerful man on the planet, you can't fault Rina for falling for him.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4 (this Chapter - Scavenger)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 6 (this Chapter - Galactus, Memphisto)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13 (this Chapter - No Powers Boy, Mr. Negativity)
Chapter Twelve:
*Title: Here, a duel reference to the training Joe and Chuck will do around his Negative Zone hands as well as Kyle's first ever attempts at a date.
*I4: 'All these things are true' used to be a favorite IRL response to several obvious statements.
*I11: It's a testament to Chuck's adaptation to the MU that he has more interest in shopping bags that the acquisition of a flying vehicle.
*I15: Kyle and his DC-fandom take the 'Batman' route of naming things.
*I18: The only ever times the vehicle is referenced again in TOS is in TOS15 and TOS18 where Rina and Joe respectively call it the Supercoolmobile.
*I20: As comic book code dictates, hot female heroes and villains have to be scantily clad. This outfit is even more revealing that her old Timeslip uniform.
*I21/22: 'Ungh' or 'Ugnh' in TOS depicts sexual arousal. Remember this for later, kids.
*I29: This jokes stems from a MRPG in which after inquiring about why Unstable Molecule Fabric had to be cut with a laser and being informed that it couldn't be cut by normal scissors, Charles Bailey made the excellent observation: "So, what, now we're invulnerable to scissors?"
*I34: And it's a good thing too, the extra outfits will come into use in TOS24.
*II5: Considering the trio got the Pogo Plane on the second day of being in the MU, that means Reed Richards never inquired about getting it back for the intermittent five days. Of course, between staving off threats and being bogged down in his scientific work, you can forgive him for not being concerned about the status of a million dollar piece of equipment he had handed off to three guys he'd known for less than a day who had no ties or obligations to anything in the world.
*III1: The Cosmic Cube is a man-made device which is capable of making any wish the wielder has come true. However, being man-made also makes it somewhat easy to destroy, as it has been on a number of occasions before being rebuilt again later.
*III1: At the time TOS was written, the Red Skull was destroyed in battle with Captain America, and his essence was trapped inside the remains of a Cosmic Cube, which R.S. (the only "real" mind in the place) subconsciously molded into a recreation of Nazi Germany.
*IV1: Located on the 65th floor within Rockefeller Center, the Rainbow Room is one of the most upscale places one can go to. Kyle and Rina's date probably took up a large chunk of what was leftover of the Fantasticash.
*V8: When launching an attack on a friend under the notion of training, it's a good idea to make sure they are somewhat aware of what is going on so they don't get hurt.
*V11: Dammit, what did we just say? However, this does put into perspective Joe's lack of aim - something which will be corrected in TOS37.
*VI3: Joe refers to Rina in TOS and TNS several times as a 'slut'. Kyle...well, despite all inferences, he's still a man.
*VII3: The end result of the Red Skull's creation would look very similar to a Rubik's Cube with the white face being replaced by black.
*IX5: With his eyes closed at the time, Chuck would not have realized that he actually extended the Negative Zone energies from his hands to surround the cables that ensnared him to destroy them.
*IX6: As of current writings (up to TNS63), Mr. Negativity has still yet to fully develop that ability, but his future self that shows up in TNS46 does.
*X3: While Joe is often able to use his unearthly Marvel knowledge to save the day, Kyle's incredible bizarreness gets him by in many a scenario.
*XI4: These mini-explosions are the precursors to larger pseudopods of energy that will later be dubbed Nega-Blasts, the signature attack of Mr. Negativity.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4
Villains defeated by Kyle: 7 (this Chapter - thugs)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Thirteen:
Title: Mathematically, anything multiplied by itself is squared. Multiplied a third time, it's cubed.
*I5: Captain America is generally seen as the most loved and respected hero. However, the guys, at best, treat him as well as a door-to-door salesman.
*I8: After the Fantastic Four and Avengers were thought destroyed by the villainous Onslaught, the Masters of Evil took on the guise of a new superheroic team - the Thunderbolts. The ultimate goal was to gain the trust of the public and government so they could gain access to Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. files which could then be sold to other villains.
*I9: While Reed Richards is accustomed to all kinds of extra-dimensional beings and occurrences, there is still no knowing what the results would be upon discovery that their identities did not exist.
*I19: It's a testament to Joe's ability to be a total dick that he can get that kind of reaction from Captain America. It's equivalent to having Santa Claus run up and kick you in the balls.
*II1: It's important to note that it's a German accent as the wording could be easily mistaken for Russian or Transylvanian.
*II2: It's still better than "Not in the face!" or "Leeeeerooooyyyyy Jeeennnnnkinnnnsssss!"
*II6: The exclamation point really does the job in expressing the surprise at Kyle's accomplishment of catching an object.
*II6: Kyle is adept at solving Rubik's cubes. This skill earns him control over the Cosmic Cube and gives him his next bout of omnipotence.
*III2: The Avengers do, in fact, put the Supercools right in TOS37. Admittedly, it takes twenty-one of them to do it, and they didn't even cross the line.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (this Chapter - Red Skull)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Fourteen:
*Title: This is a reference to the dance/song in which the participant has to lean backward and go underneath a horizontal bar with the bar being lowered each round.
*I12: The Magenta Knight and Occam's Razor will both appear again in TOS30.
*II1: This should actually be Nuevo Sol, but in Joe's defense it's in the 2099 series, and very few people gave a shit about that line of books.
*II2: This is also Joe's normal tone.
*II2: Technically, Occam's Razor states that given multiple theories, the simplest one is the most preferred given all things taken into account.
*III1: The two fight in TOS30 shortly after Chuck first wears the NegaBands which greatly enhance his powers. Despite the fact that this occurs chronologically later for Chuck, time has no meaning in Limbo, so it's still all good.
*III5: Chuck's trajectory will take him past Kyle and his group in TNS50.
*IV1: Changing the wording in the bubbles of a particular comic book, Joe IRL replaced Psylocke's battle cry, using her psionic knife, in a scene to "Eat hot psionic death!" This led to a sequence of jokes that included the punchline of "Eat hot (insert noun/adjective) death!"
*V1: The gentleman thanking Chuck here IRL ended up being referred to as "The Man in Limbo" and would be the longest running mystery of TOS. The best anecdote relates to Joe, Chuck, and Kyle playing a game of Supercoolopoly. Both Chuck and Joe were making offers to get a particular property of Kyle's which culminated in Joe offering to reveal to Kyle who "The Man in Limbo" was which put Chuck into coniptions.
*V2: SPOILER! It will be revealed in TOS50 that the person Chuck meets is Mold aka Terraform - the character Chuck played in MRPG. As he's a creation of Chuck's mind, he would naturally be the only one able to recognize him.
*VI: While it seems redundant, this is the same scene as in TOS8 but from Rina's perspective.
*VIII2: The little red ball Kang has is a Chronal Equipment Storage Unit aka CESU which he uses to summon forth his arsenal of weapons from a pocket dimension. As Joe will note later, it's pretty sweet.
*IX1: This is the first of several timejumps back and each time Joe will have his arm broken in a different matter.
*IX3: Each jump also results in a different person or persons being killed.
*X1: Gamorra appears here from TOS8 as explained in the follow-up sentences.
*XI & XII: While this appears to come from nowhere, this is the after affect of XVI. Remember, it's Limbo so time doesn't matter much.
*XIII1: Rina can explain it away as much as she wants, but that doesn't help that this is overall a really confusing and fucked up chapter.
*XVI3: Chuck is the math guy. Joe is the English guy. They're both really nice guys but also enjoy being dicks to each other.
*XVI9: Keanu Reeve's character in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" gets out of tricky situations by giving himself mental reminders for the future to get things to help get them out of the situation, take them back in time, and set it up for himself in the past.
*XIX1: This is a reference to South Park's Kyle & Stan's lines of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!".
*XX1: Technically, the Guardians of Time (actually called the Timekeepers) only jump in to alter chronal events to ensure their own survival, but even the most tolerant and patient parent will eventually snap when their kids keeping fucking stuff up.
*XX1: The memory wipe will also eliminate Mr. Negativity's knowledge of who The Man in Limbo is. However, as Carl Jung would note, the unconscious will house that information deep within.
Chapter Fourteen (again): The movie Clue was filmed with three different endings for the theaters to show randomly. Upon release for purchase, all three endings were played back to back with the time being reset to a splitting off point for the varient possibilities.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5 (this Chapter - Occam's Razor)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Fifteen:
*I1: Two things Chuck's father knew about Joe IRL: 1) he's gay and 2) he loves Dr. Pepper.
*I6: Joe is insistent throughout TOS that the trio find jobs. The closest anyone gets, though, is a job offer from Emma Frost in TOS43.
*I7: Joe is an English major and an excellent writer; however, it will eventually become evident that he has trouble describing Timeslip's speed bursts beyond "lightning speed" in TOS.
*I17: From this point until Joe smashes his CESU in TNS5, it becomes the standard method from which Joe turns into The Scavenger. It definitely beats out changing in a telephone booth or dropping your pants at a luxurious restaurant.
*II3: For those who like to note that money can't buy happiness, it's at least shown here that money can lighten the mental burden of being trapped in another dimension.
*III3: As far as can be determined, Kyle Reeser IRL has never swooned. However, Kyle Reeser IRL has never had anyone as hot and scantily dressed as Rina Patel show romantic interest in him. But really, who has?
*IV3-5: There's a myriad of lines throughout TOS that were so enjoyable that they were frequently repeated IRL. However, the back and forth exchange was probably the most frequently used due to the common occurrence of noting that something was cool.
*V3: The alien shapeshifting Skrulls have secretly switched the normal judge and bailiffs here with members of their own race - let's see if anyone notices.
*VI3: This is the point where Joe acquires the Sunsword. For those of you keeping track at home, that makes 3 items he has scavenged from defeated foes and 3 items given/loaned to him by other heroes.
*VII1: During the short period that Chuck and Kyle are apart from each other, Kyle is replaced by a Skrull - Elyk, who will later be revealed as a human shapeshifter - Doppleganger, who will later be revealed (in TSQ) to actually be a human-Skrull hybrid who gets great gas mileage. The REAL Kyle, which will be explained further in TOS21 was taken for testing due to his repeated encounters with omnipotence.
*IX4: Being an alien (or a hybrid who has been brainwashed to think he's an alien), Elyk has no romantic interest in a human. Apparently, Skrulls aren't as open-minded in the romance department as Captain Kirk.
*XII4: Annotator's Note: I had never heard of that expression before, and in all honesty, have yet to hear it outside of The Story.
*XIII11: At this point, Rina's hugged Chuck, kissed Kyle, and gotten in bed with Joe....is there any wonder Joe calls her a slut?
*XIV2: For casting of the Supercools movie, Macauly Culkin was cast for the role of Dungeonmaster.
*XV5: No matter how much you dislike someone or hate their species, the idea of an unbridled spending spree can bring people together.
*XVI5: As far as can be told, the Dungeonmaster has yet to make any further appearances.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 14 (this Chapter - Dungeonmaster)
*I2: That would be Mephisto in disguise.
*I14: See, Kyle isn't the one who is readily dismissed.
*II2: Chuck seldom acknowledges the accomplishments of his friends but with a combination of being saved and healed by pulling a fast one on the God of Lies is enough to earn Joe a small compliment.
*III6: This phrase originated in the 1600's as an abbreviated form of "God's blood" (as well as "Od's bones", "Od's wounds", and more). It'd be less dramatic if Loki had appeared and said "WTF, mate?"
*III12: The sixth ring of Hell is reserved for heretics who are trapped in flaming tombs and use the encroaching steam to make a mean cappuccino.
*IV1: SCIENCE TIME! Sound frequency is measured by the quantity of sound waves occurring over time. Higher frequency, such as Humbug's glove, emit waves tightly packed. By slowing time around her, Rina essentially decreases the frequency to her perception resulting in a much less annoying and disabling level.
*V1: The Uni-Power is an extra-dimensional force that possesses people (normal and super-powered) during a time of crisis and transforms them into Captain Universe. While exposed, they possess a myriad of powers which include superhuman strength, flight, Uni-Vision (microscopic vision,vision, and telescopic vision), telekinesis, enhanced senses, a psychic awareness of imminent danger, molecular rearrangement of organic and inorganic matter, transmutation of elements, the ability to fire bursts of energy and concussive force, and hypnosis.
*V1: While the guys *technically* count Kyle's open wish from Loki, his possession by the Uni-Power will be Kyle's first official point of omnipotence.
*VI3: It can never be reiterated enough that Joe doesn't particularly care for small children - especially those that beat the crap out of him.
*VII2: Chuck's use of Kyle's line is the first time it is used in a manner other than a cry of terror.
*VII3: Oldest trick in the book.
*VII4: "Ba-ha!" is actually the catchphrase of the IRL Kyle Reeser.
*VII7: First use of "Oh damn" by a villain. At this point, I think enough notes have been made around this phrase that you can take whatever notes about it you want in the future and leave me out of it.
*VIII1: While a good psychology paper could be written surrounding the idea of Joe having to pick out his own psychological flaws, it's worth noting that the final line stems from a point IRL where Joe and Chuck were watching Single White Female. At one point, Bridget Fonda's character comes home and checks her answering machine which notes "You have *no* new messages," at which point Chuck added "*No*one loves you." Also, watching Single White Female together does not make Joe and Chuck a couple.
*X2: This is just a fun image to picture (Galactus spraying juice out of his nose, not Kyle getting shot across several galaxies....although that's pretty fun too)
*X5: While this line is fairly insignificant by itself, TNS would inadvertently give Kyle a quirk about verbal redundancies.
*XI3: What Kyle is yet unaware of the fact that an infinitely minute trace of the omnipotence that is the Uni-Power will remain in his system.
*XI4: Women are often attracted to power, and as Kyle was, seconds before, arguably the most powerful man on the planet, you can't fault Rina for falling for him.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4 (this Chapter - Scavenger)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 6 (this Chapter - Galactus, Memphisto)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13 (this Chapter - No Powers Boy, Mr. Negativity)
Chapter Twelve:
*Title: Here, a duel reference to the training Joe and Chuck will do around his Negative Zone hands as well as Kyle's first ever attempts at a date.
*I4: 'All these things are true' used to be a favorite IRL response to several obvious statements.
*I11: It's a testament to Chuck's adaptation to the MU that he has more interest in shopping bags that the acquisition of a flying vehicle.
*I15: Kyle and his DC-fandom take the 'Batman' route of naming things.
*I18: The only ever times the vehicle is referenced again in TOS is in TOS15 and TOS18 where Rina and Joe respectively call it the Supercoolmobile.
*I20: As comic book code dictates, hot female heroes and villains have to be scantily clad. This outfit is even more revealing that her old Timeslip uniform.
*I21/22: 'Ungh' or 'Ugnh' in TOS depicts sexual arousal. Remember this for later, kids.
*I29: This jokes stems from a MRPG in which after inquiring about why Unstable Molecule Fabric had to be cut with a laser and being informed that it couldn't be cut by normal scissors, Charles Bailey made the excellent observation: "So, what, now we're invulnerable to scissors?"
*I34: And it's a good thing too, the extra outfits will come into use in TOS24.
*II5: Considering the trio got the Pogo Plane on the second day of being in the MU, that means Reed Richards never inquired about getting it back for the intermittent five days. Of course, between staving off threats and being bogged down in his scientific work, you can forgive him for not being concerned about the status of a million dollar piece of equipment he had handed off to three guys he'd known for less than a day who had no ties or obligations to anything in the world.
*III1: The Cosmic Cube is a man-made device which is capable of making any wish the wielder has come true. However, being man-made also makes it somewhat easy to destroy, as it has been on a number of occasions before being rebuilt again later.
*III1: At the time TOS was written, the Red Skull was destroyed in battle with Captain America, and his essence was trapped inside the remains of a Cosmic Cube, which R.S. (the only "real" mind in the place) subconsciously molded into a recreation of Nazi Germany.
*IV1: Located on the 65th floor within Rockefeller Center, the Rainbow Room is one of the most upscale places one can go to. Kyle and Rina's date probably took up a large chunk of what was leftover of the Fantasticash.
*V8: When launching an attack on a friend under the notion of training, it's a good idea to make sure they are somewhat aware of what is going on so they don't get hurt.
*V11: Dammit, what did we just say? However, this does put into perspective Joe's lack of aim - something which will be corrected in TOS37.
*VI3: Joe refers to Rina in TOS and TNS several times as a 'slut'. Kyle...well, despite all inferences, he's still a man.
*VII3: The end result of the Red Skull's creation would look very similar to a Rubik's Cube with the white face being replaced by black.
*IX5: With his eyes closed at the time, Chuck would not have realized that he actually extended the Negative Zone energies from his hands to surround the cables that ensnared him to destroy them.
*IX6: As of current writings (up to TNS63), Mr. Negativity has still yet to fully develop that ability, but his future self that shows up in TNS46 does.
*X3: While Joe is often able to use his unearthly Marvel knowledge to save the day, Kyle's incredible bizarreness gets him by in many a scenario.
*XI4: These mini-explosions are the precursors to larger pseudopods of energy that will later be dubbed Nega-Blasts, the signature attack of Mr. Negativity.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4
Villains defeated by Kyle: 7 (this Chapter - thugs)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Thirteen:
Title: Mathematically, anything multiplied by itself is squared. Multiplied a third time, it's cubed.
*I5: Captain America is generally seen as the most loved and respected hero. However, the guys, at best, treat him as well as a door-to-door salesman.
*I8: After the Fantastic Four and Avengers were thought destroyed by the villainous Onslaught, the Masters of Evil took on the guise of a new superheroic team - the Thunderbolts. The ultimate goal was to gain the trust of the public and government so they could gain access to Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. files which could then be sold to other villains.
*I9: While Reed Richards is accustomed to all kinds of extra-dimensional beings and occurrences, there is still no knowing what the results would be upon discovery that their identities did not exist.
*I19: It's a testament to Joe's ability to be a total dick that he can get that kind of reaction from Captain America. It's equivalent to having Santa Claus run up and kick you in the balls.
*II1: It's important to note that it's a German accent as the wording could be easily mistaken for Russian or Transylvanian.
*II2: It's still better than "Not in the face!" or "Leeeeerooooyyyyy Jeeennnnnkinnnnsssss!"
*II6: The exclamation point really does the job in expressing the surprise at Kyle's accomplishment of catching an object.
*II6: Kyle is adept at solving Rubik's cubes. This skill earns him control over the Cosmic Cube and gives him his next bout of omnipotence.
*III2: The Avengers do, in fact, put the Supercools right in TOS37. Admittedly, it takes twenty-one of them to do it, and they didn't even cross the line.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 4
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8 (this Chapter - Red Skull)
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Fourteen:
*Title: This is a reference to the dance/song in which the participant has to lean backward and go underneath a horizontal bar with the bar being lowered each round.
*I12: The Magenta Knight and Occam's Razor will both appear again in TOS30.
*II1: This should actually be Nuevo Sol, but in Joe's defense it's in the 2099 series, and very few people gave a shit about that line of books.
*II2: This is also Joe's normal tone.
*II2: Technically, Occam's Razor states that given multiple theories, the simplest one is the most preferred given all things taken into account.
*III1: The two fight in TOS30 shortly after Chuck first wears the NegaBands which greatly enhance his powers. Despite the fact that this occurs chronologically later for Chuck, time has no meaning in Limbo, so it's still all good.
*III5: Chuck's trajectory will take him past Kyle and his group in TNS50.
*IV1: Changing the wording in the bubbles of a particular comic book, Joe IRL replaced Psylocke's battle cry, using her psionic knife, in a scene to "Eat hot psionic death!" This led to a sequence of jokes that included the punchline of "Eat hot (insert noun/adjective) death!"
*V1: The gentleman thanking Chuck here IRL ended up being referred to as "The Man in Limbo" and would be the longest running mystery of TOS. The best anecdote relates to Joe, Chuck, and Kyle playing a game of Supercoolopoly. Both Chuck and Joe were making offers to get a particular property of Kyle's which culminated in Joe offering to reveal to Kyle who "The Man in Limbo" was which put Chuck into coniptions.
*V2: SPOILER! It will be revealed in TOS50 that the person Chuck meets is Mold aka Terraform - the character Chuck played in MRPG. As he's a creation of Chuck's mind, he would naturally be the only one able to recognize him.
*VI: While it seems redundant, this is the same scene as in TOS8 but from Rina's perspective.
*VIII2: The little red ball Kang has is a Chronal Equipment Storage Unit aka CESU which he uses to summon forth his arsenal of weapons from a pocket dimension. As Joe will note later, it's pretty sweet.
*IX1: This is the first of several timejumps back and each time Joe will have his arm broken in a different matter.
*IX3: Each jump also results in a different person or persons being killed.
*X1: Gamorra appears here from TOS8 as explained in the follow-up sentences.
*XI & XII: While this appears to come from nowhere, this is the after affect of XVI. Remember, it's Limbo so time doesn't matter much.
*XIII1: Rina can explain it away as much as she wants, but that doesn't help that this is overall a really confusing and fucked up chapter.
*XVI3: Chuck is the math guy. Joe is the English guy. They're both really nice guys but also enjoy being dicks to each other.
*XVI9: Keanu Reeve's character in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" gets out of tricky situations by giving himself mental reminders for the future to get things to help get them out of the situation, take them back in time, and set it up for himself in the past.
*XIX1: This is a reference to South Park's Kyle & Stan's lines of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!".
*XX1: Technically, the Guardians of Time (actually called the Timekeepers) only jump in to alter chronal events to ensure their own survival, but even the most tolerant and patient parent will eventually snap when their kids keeping fucking stuff up.
*XX1: The memory wipe will also eliminate Mr. Negativity's knowledge of who The Man in Limbo is. However, as Carl Jung would note, the unconscious will house that information deep within.
Chapter Fourteen (again): The movie Clue was filmed with three different endings for the theaters to show randomly. Upon release for purchase, all three endings were played back to back with the time being reset to a splitting off point for the varient possibilities.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5 (this Chapter - Occam's Razor)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 13
Chapter Fifteen:
*I1: Two things Chuck's father knew about Joe IRL: 1) he's gay and 2) he loves Dr. Pepper.
*I6: Joe is insistent throughout TOS that the trio find jobs. The closest anyone gets, though, is a job offer from Emma Frost in TOS43.
*I7: Joe is an English major and an excellent writer; however, it will eventually become evident that he has trouble describing Timeslip's speed bursts beyond "lightning speed" in TOS.
*I17: From this point until Joe smashes his CESU in TNS5, it becomes the standard method from which Joe turns into The Scavenger. It definitely beats out changing in a telephone booth or dropping your pants at a luxurious restaurant.
*II3: For those who like to note that money can't buy happiness, it's at least shown here that money can lighten the mental burden of being trapped in another dimension.
*III3: As far as can be determined, Kyle Reeser IRL has never swooned. However, Kyle Reeser IRL has never had anyone as hot and scantily dressed as Rina Patel show romantic interest in him. But really, who has?
*IV3-5: There's a myriad of lines throughout TOS that were so enjoyable that they were frequently repeated IRL. However, the back and forth exchange was probably the most frequently used due to the common occurrence of noting that something was cool.
*V3: The alien shapeshifting Skrulls have secretly switched the normal judge and bailiffs here with members of their own race - let's see if anyone notices.
*VI3: This is the point where Joe acquires the Sunsword. For those of you keeping track at home, that makes 3 items he has scavenged from defeated foes and 3 items given/loaned to him by other heroes.
*VII1: During the short period that Chuck and Kyle are apart from each other, Kyle is replaced by a Skrull - Elyk, who will later be revealed as a human shapeshifter - Doppleganger, who will later be revealed (in TSQ) to actually be a human-Skrull hybrid who gets great gas mileage. The REAL Kyle, which will be explained further in TOS21 was taken for testing due to his repeated encounters with omnipotence.
*IX4: Being an alien (or a hybrid who has been brainwashed to think he's an alien), Elyk has no romantic interest in a human. Apparently, Skrulls aren't as open-minded in the romance department as Captain Kirk.
*XII4: Annotator's Note: I had never heard of that expression before, and in all honesty, have yet to hear it outside of The Story.
*XIII11: At this point, Rina's hugged Chuck, kissed Kyle, and gotten in bed with Joe....is there any wonder Joe calls her a slut?
*XIV2: For casting of the Supercools movie, Macauly Culkin was cast for the role of Dungeonmaster.
*XV5: No matter how much you dislike someone or hate their species, the idea of an unbridled spending spree can bring people together.
*XVI5: As far as can be told, the Dungeonmaster has yet to make any further appearances.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 5
Villains defeated by Kyle: 8
Villains defeated by Joe: 14 (this Chapter - Dungeonmaster)
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Original Story 6-10: Annotized
Chapter Six:
*I6: Obviously if Reed Richards were brought it then he could kill Charles's dream of becoming an X-Man by pointing out that he wasn't really a mutant.
*I11: You can't blame Shadowcat for stealing Storm's catchphrase - I mean, come on, for as long as she's been with the X-Men and her big standout point is that she's Jewish.
*II3: The Danger Room course that is set up is the same as the one Shadowcat went through in the 1989 cartoon Pryde of the X-Men.
*II8: Despite how it may read, the customary welcoming to the team is not celebrating by the passing of a towel.
*III2: Or $400 in our reality's money. And while Mr. Fanastic is, in fact, fairly wealthy, he still does not make the 2008 Forbes list of the top 15 wealthiest fictional characters - in fact, the only Marvel character to make the list is Tony Stark at $7.9 billion. If Joe is serious about his wealth in TNS1 and Forbes is accurate, it would make him the second richest character in the Marvel Universe.
*III3: Consider Joe was feeling down, needed picked off the ground, and was in a new town, the YMCA was a smart choice for places to go.
*IV10: Carlton "Hindsight Lad" LaFroyge figures out Speedball's secret identity not too long after he moved into the same building. Rina "Timeslip" Patel discovered that fact after her consciousness transfered into her future self that was already part of the New Warriors team. After returning to her body, she tracked him down and revealed her knowledge to his dismay.
*IV14: The New Warriors comic book ended after issues 75 which was fortunate as plans were in place to have Squirrel Girl join the team.
*IV15: Neither Nita nor Robbie need fret as they would be published again in 1999. And 2005. And 2007.
*IV24: Timeslip lost her powers in the last issue of the first run of New Warriors striving to save the world's superheroes from losing their powers.
*IV28: Back in the 80's, it was generally thought that a pierced left ear on a male signified they were a dominant homosexual while a pierced right ear meant they were a submissive homosexual. This later "evolved" into pierced left ear signifying straight and pierced right ear signifying gay. After society grew up a little more, a pierced ear on either side showed that one wore an earring.
*IV30: While it appears the joke is on the male members of the group around their obliviousness around their teammate's possible sexual orientation, it's also a sign of their maturity and friendship that the sort of thing doesn't cross their minds.
*V2: In the DC Universe, Paradise Island aka Themyscira is the home of Wonder Woman and the Amazons. In the Marvel Universe, Paradise Island is the home of a bunch of animal/human hybrids in the North Atlantic. In our reality, Paradise Island is located in the Bahamas near Nassau. Marvel so got the raw end of this deal.
*VI: Joe's consciousness has switched places with his future self in TOS14 due to use of the Time Gem he gets hold off then. This effect is exactly how Timeslip's powers work.
*VII4: These rantings would have been from Joe's future self.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 3
Villains defeated by Joe: 9
Chapter Seven:
*I1: Doug was killed on Paradise Island when he threw himself in front of an attack that was aimed at Rahne "Wolfsbane" Sinclair. This action was later noted by Joe IRL in a Top 10 Dumbest Things Done in the Marvel Universe at #1: "I'll take the bullet meant for my invulnerable teammate."
*I3: Marrow was one of the few survivors of the Mutant Massacre. Considering that a good handful of the X-Men were injured to the point where their powers didn't function properly - including Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat who are in the plane at that time, it's unfair to say that they didn't care.
*I4: Here, Marrow refers to Gambit who was hired by Mr. Sinister to lead the Marauders through the sewers and past their defenses. She remains unaware that she survived because Gambit, himself, rescued her from the slaughter.
*I8: This is Shadowcat's nickname for Nightcrawler.
*II4: This does give Joe a one-jacket advantage over the villain Shatterfist.
*II6: Night Thrasher’s name is Dwayne, not Roger.
*II7: Cecilia Reyes was an X-Man almost unwillingly for all of two issues or so.
*III1: People will often use the word ‘ever’ to try to point out the importance or uniqueness of the leading statement. However, as it has become overused, the guys IRL will often reiterate the word ‘ever’ after a short pause to give it even a more heightened sense of truth.
*III3: Despite being the second time Chuck has noted that he needed to change his codename, he would not take on a new nom-de-guerre until finding himself in a different dimension in TOS24 and again after having his powers stripped away and given a new costume in TNS14.
*IV4: A recurring theme throughout TOS and TNS is the tie-in of musical artists, song titles, or lyrics either with characters, lines delivered, or titles of chapters. "Paradise" topped the U.S. charts at #39 way back in 1977.
*V2: Fabian Cortez is a combination of Magneto's right hand man and that dick at work who tries to boss everyone around when the real boss calls off or is on vacation.
*V3: This is the most Kyle ever swears throughout the Story.
*VI1: Joe has speculated in the past IRL that each gay person has a certain number of "points" that are placed in a variety of categories. While Joe, himself, claims to have put a surplus into "gaydar", it would seem that Alex put quite a bit into "fashion awareness".
*VII1: This is part one of the two part act for the majority of all group battles within TOS, TNS, and comics, in general - sparring goes to one-on-one. Part two, especially with TOS and TNS, comes when one member of one of the sides sudden shifts their attack, calls out "Switch Partners", and everyone else immediately falls in line like dominoes with the new attacks being much more effective.
*VIII2: Ignoring Fabian Cortez, the other six Acolytes are all creations of Joe's. While many will have this as their only appearance, Dismay will play the most prominent role - not only continuing to harass the guys in TOS, he will carry over into TNS until his death in TNS59.
*IX1: This chapter is Badger's last appearance until his identity as the new Foot Soldier is revealed in TNS61.
*XII1: Spectrum will later become the new Rainbows in TNS59. His powers here appear to be undeveloped, but by the time TNS rolls around, he will learn to adjust his arms to match the color of various energy frequencies and project them.
*XIII2: This is a line from the 1980 movie Airplane in which Peter Graves' character asks a young boy homo-erotic questions such as that one as well as "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" and "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
*XIV3: This is a play off of one of the Incredible Hulk's notorious lines, along with "Hulk Smash!"
*XX3: This occurrence of Fabian Cortez using his powers to accelerate Marrow's bone growth completely out of control would be followed up several months later in the X-Men comic books by Fabian Corez using his powers to accelerate Marrow's bone growth completely out of control.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4 (this Chapter - Spectrum)
Villains defeated by Joe: 9
Chapter Eight:
*II1: The Infinity Gauntlet is an actual metallic glove that is embedded with the six Infinity Gem - each with the capability of giving total control over Time, Space, Mind, Power, Soul, and Reality. Together, they can provide omnipotence, so the Infinity Watch is a group, each taking one gem. One would think the intelligent thing to do would be to spread the gems across the Universe as opposed to giving them to a bunch of people who hang out together regularly, but oh well.
*II7: Rina takes the honor of being the first person outside of Kyle to utter his catchphrase.
*III7: The "fastball special" is a maneuver created by Colossus and Wolverine where someone with superhuman strength literally throws a comrade into battle.
*IV4: As it will turn out, Kyle is incapable of properly checking a pulse. We'll give him the benefit of a doubt as he just avoided being smashed with a large flying machine by a giant green guy.
*IV5: Her vanishing is really simply transporting herself to Limbo, as seen in TOS14.
*V: This is the point at which Joe from TOS6 finds himself while being interrupted from Timeslip from TOS14. While Timeslip's visions were a cut-and-paste panel of what she would see, this paragraph is a cut-and-paste of the previous paragraph.
*VI6: Considering Charles was taken down by the same person that took down Rogue, Storm is being a little harsh with the decision.
*Interlude Title: This is a play off of the 1963 movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World".
*Interlude2: While Colossus's intelligence rarely comes into play or measurement, it is a note that he grew up on a Russian farm. Whether Rend is biased against Russians or farmers is unclear.
*Interlude4: This is a reference to a Marvel RPG character created by Charles Bailey whose character's first four attributes were Poor, Poor, Poor, and Feeble. Despite having a codename Static, he was constantly referred to as Poor, Poor, Poor, Feeble Man.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 10 (this Chapter - Gamora)
Chapter Nine:
*II12: This will not be the last time Joe denotes the feebleness of the trio. In TNS19, he will cheerfully note that Chuck and Kyle are "total fuck-ups" minutes before he is stripped of all of his magical powers.
*III2: Heroes for Hire was started by Luke Cage under the theory that if one is being all superheroic and stuff, hey, you might as well take in a little cash on the side.
*IV20: Back before Reed Richards took his girlfriend's brother into space and before Marvel was "Marvel", the Human Torch was an android who took on the name Jim Hammond. Besides being able to burst into flames, manipulate fire, and fly, his synthetic blood also has restorative properties - not only healing ailments but also imbuing the recipient with powers.
*VI4: Besides She-Hulk, other characters who have shown signs of metafictional awareness are Deadpool, Loki, Louise Mason, Rick Jones, Wyatt Wingfoot, and Howard the Duck.
*VII10: Naturally, an android would be exempt for any hypnotic or mental effects.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 10
Chapter Ten:
*II1: The Rainbow Bridge (aka Bifrost Bridge) is the bridge that connect the land of Asgard to Earth and is how the gods can travel back and forth between realms.
*III4: It's hard to say if Joe's use of Thor's vernacular is a sign of respect or subtle mocking.
*IV1: Joe, in his wisdom, once more already elaborates on Asgardian/Human aging differences here.
*IV6: During a RPG of Champions IRL, Kyle had a character whose motif of attack was hurling dead puppies at his foes.
*IV7: The Asgardians tend to go by names that follow the theme of *Name* the *Descriptive Adjective*.
*VIII9: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, has a vast amount of properties which includes allowing the wielder to fly, project energy, dispel illusions, summon storms, destroy the undead, return automatically to the thrower, and more. It is also enchanted so that only those deemed 'worthy' can wield it.
*VIII12: As Rina hadn't been 'recruited' to the Supercools at the time, Joe's use of the line makes him the first Supercool outside of Kyle to speak it.
*IX2: Galactus swore not to harm Earth, mostly because Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four threatened to pop a cap in Galactus' immortal ass with the Ultimate Nullifier - pretty much the only thing in existance that could destroy him.
*IX4: Here, Galactus mimics Homer Simpson's enjoyment of the thought of particular food.
*IX6: Galactus must sustain his life energies by devouring the energies of planets that can host living entities. In other words, purple giant needs food badly.
*X2: Despite Loki's nigh-immortality and invulnerability, he hasn't been shown to have any kind of exceptional mental resilience, thus Joe's non-use of the Hypno-Jacket can probably be written off as a mixture of being in pain, impulse thoughts, and knowing that most egotistical gods take notice when interrupted by puny humans.
*X15: The X-Men met Loki for the first time during a two-part mini-series called, simply, "X-Men/Alpha Flight". In X-Men/Alpha Flight #2, Loki is bullied by "Those Who Sit Above in the Shadows" into releasing the X-Men (and Alpha Flight), and swearing never to harm them again. Later, in (Uncanny) X-Men Annual #9, Loki interprets that promise to mean that he will never harm those particular people again, and so he kidnaps Storm, as well as all of the New Mutants, since none of those individuals were present at the first fight. At the conclusion of *that* battle, Kitty Pryde convinces Loki to alter his promise to include past, present, and future X-Men, as well, or she's going to run and tell. [Thanks, Joe]
*XI3: Thor's Belt of Strength doubles his strength and endurance levels. While this wouldn't do a whole lot for a normal human (or Joe, for that matter), the fact that Joe's strength is also enhanced by the Wonder Glove (when he can wear it) doubles to an equivalent to where this could, in theory, allow him to lift or carry a ton or so. Unfortunately, it does almost nothing to enhance the damage one of his punches would inflict.
*XI7: It would have been hard to understand Kyle with a broken jaw anyway, but it's important to note that he still has a favor owed to him.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 11 (this Chapter - Loki)
*I6: Obviously if Reed Richards were brought it then he could kill Charles's dream of becoming an X-Man by pointing out that he wasn't really a mutant.
*I11: You can't blame Shadowcat for stealing Storm's catchphrase - I mean, come on, for as long as she's been with the X-Men and her big standout point is that she's Jewish.
*II3: The Danger Room course that is set up is the same as the one Shadowcat went through in the 1989 cartoon Pryde of the X-Men.
*II8: Despite how it may read, the customary welcoming to the team is not celebrating by the passing of a towel.
*III2: Or $400 in our reality's money. And while Mr. Fanastic is, in fact, fairly wealthy, he still does not make the 2008 Forbes list of the top 15 wealthiest fictional characters - in fact, the only Marvel character to make the list is Tony Stark at $7.9 billion. If Joe is serious about his wealth in TNS1 and Forbes is accurate, it would make him the second richest character in the Marvel Universe.
*III3: Consider Joe was feeling down, needed picked off the ground, and was in a new town, the YMCA was a smart choice for places to go.
*IV10: Carlton "Hindsight Lad" LaFroyge figures out Speedball's secret identity not too long after he moved into the same building. Rina "Timeslip" Patel discovered that fact after her consciousness transfered into her future self that was already part of the New Warriors team. After returning to her body, she tracked him down and revealed her knowledge to his dismay.
*IV14: The New Warriors comic book ended after issues 75 which was fortunate as plans were in place to have Squirrel Girl join the team.
*IV15: Neither Nita nor Robbie need fret as they would be published again in 1999. And 2005. And 2007.
*IV24: Timeslip lost her powers in the last issue of the first run of New Warriors striving to save the world's superheroes from losing their powers.
*IV28: Back in the 80's, it was generally thought that a pierced left ear on a male signified they were a dominant homosexual while a pierced right ear meant they were a submissive homosexual. This later "evolved" into pierced left ear signifying straight and pierced right ear signifying gay. After society grew up a little more, a pierced ear on either side showed that one wore an earring.
*IV30: While it appears the joke is on the male members of the group around their obliviousness around their teammate's possible sexual orientation, it's also a sign of their maturity and friendship that the sort of thing doesn't cross their minds.
*V2: In the DC Universe, Paradise Island aka Themyscira is the home of Wonder Woman and the Amazons. In the Marvel Universe, Paradise Island is the home of a bunch of animal/human hybrids in the North Atlantic. In our reality, Paradise Island is located in the Bahamas near Nassau. Marvel so got the raw end of this deal.
*VI: Joe's consciousness has switched places with his future self in TOS14 due to use of the Time Gem he gets hold off then. This effect is exactly how Timeslip's powers work.
*VII4: These rantings would have been from Joe's future self.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 3
Villains defeated by Joe: 9
Chapter Seven:
*I1: Doug was killed on Paradise Island when he threw himself in front of an attack that was aimed at Rahne "Wolfsbane" Sinclair. This action was later noted by Joe IRL in a Top 10 Dumbest Things Done in the Marvel Universe at #1: "I'll take the bullet meant for my invulnerable teammate."
*I3: Marrow was one of the few survivors of the Mutant Massacre. Considering that a good handful of the X-Men were injured to the point where their powers didn't function properly - including Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat who are in the plane at that time, it's unfair to say that they didn't care.
*I4: Here, Marrow refers to Gambit who was hired by Mr. Sinister to lead the Marauders through the sewers and past their defenses. She remains unaware that she survived because Gambit, himself, rescued her from the slaughter.
*I8: This is Shadowcat's nickname for Nightcrawler.
*II4: This does give Joe a one-jacket advantage over the villain Shatterfist.
*II6: Night Thrasher’s name is Dwayne, not Roger.
*II7: Cecilia Reyes was an X-Man almost unwillingly for all of two issues or so.
*III1: People will often use the word ‘ever’ to try to point out the importance or uniqueness of the leading statement. However, as it has become overused, the guys IRL will often reiterate the word ‘ever’ after a short pause to give it even a more heightened sense of truth.
*III3: Despite being the second time Chuck has noted that he needed to change his codename, he would not take on a new nom-de-guerre until finding himself in a different dimension in TOS24 and again after having his powers stripped away and given a new costume in TNS14.
*IV4: A recurring theme throughout TOS and TNS is the tie-in of musical artists, song titles, or lyrics either with characters, lines delivered, or titles of chapters. "Paradise" topped the U.S. charts at #39 way back in 1977.
*V2: Fabian Cortez is a combination of Magneto's right hand man and that dick at work who tries to boss everyone around when the real boss calls off or is on vacation.
*V3: This is the most Kyle ever swears throughout the Story.
*VI1: Joe has speculated in the past IRL that each gay person has a certain number of "points" that are placed in a variety of categories. While Joe, himself, claims to have put a surplus into "gaydar", it would seem that Alex put quite a bit into "fashion awareness".
*VII1: This is part one of the two part act for the majority of all group battles within TOS, TNS, and comics, in general - sparring goes to one-on-one. Part two, especially with TOS and TNS, comes when one member of one of the sides sudden shifts their attack, calls out "Switch Partners", and everyone else immediately falls in line like dominoes with the new attacks being much more effective.
*VIII2: Ignoring Fabian Cortez, the other six Acolytes are all creations of Joe's. While many will have this as their only appearance, Dismay will play the most prominent role - not only continuing to harass the guys in TOS, he will carry over into TNS until his death in TNS59.
*IX1: This chapter is Badger's last appearance until his identity as the new Foot Soldier is revealed in TNS61.
*XII1: Spectrum will later become the new Rainbows in TNS59. His powers here appear to be undeveloped, but by the time TNS rolls around, he will learn to adjust his arms to match the color of various energy frequencies and project them.
*XIII2: This is a line from the 1980 movie Airplane in which Peter Graves' character asks a young boy homo-erotic questions such as that one as well as "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" and "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
*XIV3: This is a play off of one of the Incredible Hulk's notorious lines, along with "Hulk Smash!"
*XX3: This occurrence of Fabian Cortez using his powers to accelerate Marrow's bone growth completely out of control would be followed up several months later in the X-Men comic books by Fabian Corez using his powers to accelerate Marrow's bone growth completely out of control.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4 (this Chapter - Spectrum)
Villains defeated by Joe: 9
Chapter Eight:
*II1: The Infinity Gauntlet is an actual metallic glove that is embedded with the six Infinity Gem - each with the capability of giving total control over Time, Space, Mind, Power, Soul, and Reality. Together, they can provide omnipotence, so the Infinity Watch is a group, each taking one gem. One would think the intelligent thing to do would be to spread the gems across the Universe as opposed to giving them to a bunch of people who hang out together regularly, but oh well.
*II7: Rina takes the honor of being the first person outside of Kyle to utter his catchphrase.
*III7: The "fastball special" is a maneuver created by Colossus and Wolverine where someone with superhuman strength literally throws a comrade into battle.
*IV4: As it will turn out, Kyle is incapable of properly checking a pulse. We'll give him the benefit of a doubt as he just avoided being smashed with a large flying machine by a giant green guy.
*IV5: Her vanishing is really simply transporting herself to Limbo, as seen in TOS14.
*V: This is the point at which Joe from TOS6 finds himself while being interrupted from Timeslip from TOS14. While Timeslip's visions were a cut-and-paste panel of what she would see, this paragraph is a cut-and-paste of the previous paragraph.
*VI6: Considering Charles was taken down by the same person that took down Rogue, Storm is being a little harsh with the decision.
*Interlude Title: This is a play off of the 1963 movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World".
*Interlude2: While Colossus's intelligence rarely comes into play or measurement, it is a note that he grew up on a Russian farm. Whether Rend is biased against Russians or farmers is unclear.
*Interlude4: This is a reference to a Marvel RPG character created by Charles Bailey whose character's first four attributes were Poor, Poor, Poor, and Feeble. Despite having a codename Static, he was constantly referred to as Poor, Poor, Poor, Feeble Man.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 10 (this Chapter - Gamora)
Chapter Nine:
*II12: This will not be the last time Joe denotes the feebleness of the trio. In TNS19, he will cheerfully note that Chuck and Kyle are "total fuck-ups" minutes before he is stripped of all of his magical powers.
*III2: Heroes for Hire was started by Luke Cage under the theory that if one is being all superheroic and stuff, hey, you might as well take in a little cash on the side.
*IV20: Back before Reed Richards took his girlfriend's brother into space and before Marvel was "Marvel", the Human Torch was an android who took on the name Jim Hammond. Besides being able to burst into flames, manipulate fire, and fly, his synthetic blood also has restorative properties - not only healing ailments but also imbuing the recipient with powers.
*VI4: Besides She-Hulk, other characters who have shown signs of metafictional awareness are Deadpool, Loki, Louise Mason, Rick Jones, Wyatt Wingfoot, and Howard the Duck.
*VII10: Naturally, an android would be exempt for any hypnotic or mental effects.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 10
Chapter Ten:
*II1: The Rainbow Bridge (aka Bifrost Bridge) is the bridge that connect the land of Asgard to Earth and is how the gods can travel back and forth between realms.
*III4: It's hard to say if Joe's use of Thor's vernacular is a sign of respect or subtle mocking.
*IV1: Joe, in his wisdom, once more already elaborates on Asgardian/Human aging differences here.
*IV6: During a RPG of Champions IRL, Kyle had a character whose motif of attack was hurling dead puppies at his foes.
*IV7: The Asgardians tend to go by names that follow the theme of *Name* the *Descriptive Adjective*.
*VIII9: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, has a vast amount of properties which includes allowing the wielder to fly, project energy, dispel illusions, summon storms, destroy the undead, return automatically to the thrower, and more. It is also enchanted so that only those deemed 'worthy' can wield it.
*VIII12: As Rina hadn't been 'recruited' to the Supercools at the time, Joe's use of the line makes him the first Supercool outside of Kyle to speak it.
*IX2: Galactus swore not to harm Earth, mostly because Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four threatened to pop a cap in Galactus' immortal ass with the Ultimate Nullifier - pretty much the only thing in existance that could destroy him.
*IX4: Here, Galactus mimics Homer Simpson's enjoyment of the thought of particular food.
*IX6: Galactus must sustain his life energies by devouring the energies of planets that can host living entities. In other words, purple giant needs food badly.
*X2: Despite Loki's nigh-immortality and invulnerability, he hasn't been shown to have any kind of exceptional mental resilience, thus Joe's non-use of the Hypno-Jacket can probably be written off as a mixture of being in pain, impulse thoughts, and knowing that most egotistical gods take notice when interrupted by puny humans.
*X15: The X-Men met Loki for the first time during a two-part mini-series called, simply, "X-Men/Alpha Flight". In X-Men/Alpha Flight #2, Loki is bullied by "Those Who Sit Above in the Shadows" into releasing the X-Men (and Alpha Flight), and swearing never to harm them again. Later, in (Uncanny) X-Men Annual #9, Loki interprets that promise to mean that he will never harm those particular people again, and so he kidnaps Storm, as well as all of the New Mutants, since none of those individuals were present at the first fight. At the conclusion of *that* battle, Kitty Pryde convinces Loki to alter his promise to include past, present, and future X-Men, as well, or she's going to run and tell. [Thanks, Joe]
*XI3: Thor's Belt of Strength doubles his strength and endurance levels. While this wouldn't do a whole lot for a normal human (or Joe, for that matter), the fact that Joe's strength is also enhanced by the Wonder Glove (when he can wear it) doubles to an equivalent to where this could, in theory, allow him to lift or carry a ton or so. Unfortunately, it does almost nothing to enhance the damage one of his punches would inflict.
*XI7: It would have been hard to understand Kyle with a broken jaw anyway, but it's important to note that he still has a favor owed to him.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3
Villains defeated by Kyle: 4
Villains defeated by Joe: 11 (this Chapter - Loki)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Original Story 1-5: Annotized
Introduction:
*I1: The Indiana State Fair usually takes place throughout the second and third weeks of August.
*I1: First appearance of Charles Hopkins II.
*I1: The T-shirt Chuck dons is a DC Flash T-shirt.
*I2: First appearance of Kyle Reeser.
*I2: Kyle would be wearing his trademark Superman shirt seen at other IRL events such as Halloween and Kyle's high school graduation.
*I3: First appearance of Joe Faust.
*I3: Despite his love of comics, Joe does not own a relative T-shirt to match the others and IRL has borrowed Kyle's Green Lantern shirt on the few occasions agreed upon to match.
*I4: First occurrence in a long line of Joe smoking a cigarette.
Chapter One:
*Title: The title is a preface of the famous saying which is concluded in TNS.
*I3: Joe has used numerous reasons for smoking, but this is both new and irrefutable.
*II2: Despite being the youngest of the three, Joe tends to be more apt in making decisions.
*II5: No, he couldn't.
*II9: The Circus of Crime originated in the 1930's in Austria and eventually came to America while working for the Nazis to murder high government officials. Apparently sixty years of practice have built up to robbing people in the Midwest.
*II9: Though it is not revealed until TOS50, the trio is not in the Marvel Universe (reality 616) as Joe suspects, but a reality later dubbed Marvel-619.
*IV1: Chuck is arguably the most agile of the three and confident enough in that fact to make the leap.
*V1: First occurrence of what will become Kyle's most recognizable catchphrase.
*VIII1: First appearance of Talula Baird.
*VIII2: The surprise stems from the fact that the purse has a brick in it as shown in TOS1X2.
*IX1: When the Ringmaster is not leading the Circus of Crime, The Clown is usually next in line for leadership.
*XI2: In the original typing of The Story, uses of the hypnosis effect were represented in boldface type. When transferred over, use of multi-color print was swapped out with green representing the most noticeable color of the Ringmaster's jacket..
*XII2: While inferred throughout The Story, it is important to note that Joe Faust has an intrinsic almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel Universe. This comes into play in a number of ways, but most importantly the knowledge of how most of the equipment and paraphernalia operates.
*XII2: Distinguished Competition = DC.
*XIII2: The Ringmaster's jacket, later dubbed the Hypno-Jacket, is the first article that Joe scavenges from another character.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1 (this Chapter - Ernesto)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1 (this Chapter - python)
Villains defeated by Joe: 4 (this Chapter - Ringmaster, Princess Python, Luigi, the Clown)
Chapter Two:
*Title: This is a play on both the guest star's name as well as reference to the first sign that the trio are unable to get home that easily.
*I4&5: This is the first occurrence of what will be an ongoing struggle throughout of Charles' interest in remaining in the Marvel Universe and Joe's desire to return home.
*I5: Joe is referring here to Northstar who, at the time, was the only openly homosexual superhero. Joe eventually meets up with Northstar in TNS48, but it doesn't work out as well as he'd hoped.
*I11: The fourth wall is the imaginary wall at the front of a stage in a theater and later adapted to refer to the boundary between the audience and the fiction. Breaking the fourth wall refers to the fictional characters acknowledge the audience as seen in such things as Malcolm in the Middle, Spaceballs, and numerous other pieces.
*I19: All three guys are easily capable of doing addition of numbers in their head. This really isn't that pertinent until TOS50.
*II1: Fortunately, Joe does a good enough job explaining the fabric of reality, so it doesn't need to be reiterated here.
*II1: Access was created during the Marvel vs. DC storyline as a conduit between the two comic universes.
*II2: The locales mentioned here would be revisited again in TOS30, TNS12, TSQ, TOS26, and a close enough approximation in TNS52.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 4
Chapter Three:
*I1: Technically, Joe was the only one who fought a supervillain - the Ringmaster with his hypnotic hat and jacket. While the Clown, Princess Python, and the Gambonno brothers are certainly villainous, they lack magical or superhuman powers or the intellect to draft complex schemes.
*I3: IRL Chuck picked up the nickname "Lucky" in college and has had knacks for randomly coming across useful things, escaping danger, and generally having things work out in his favor. It could be theorized that it's this natural tendency that let him survive the accident in TOS4.
*I9: In 2009, the cab fare in New York for six blocks plus tip is actually around $6. However, the economy in the Marvel Universe is greatly skewed. Of course, it could also be a New York cabbie hustling some out-of-towners.
*II2: During high-school, Joe and Chuck IRL got roped into playing Pictionary against a classmate and residential counselor. Despite an overwhelming lead, Joe continuously strove to throw the other team off by yelling out nonsensical answers which peaked at calling out "Nova Scotia" repeatedly at a drawing of circular scribbles. This carried on to the idea that one would demonstrate Nova Scotia by randomly twirling your pointer finger.
*III5: In the movie, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are two lovers who, through hypnosis, remember their past lives and the mystery surrounding their brutal deaths.
*III7: As far as can be determined, this phrase first appeared during the TV series "The A-Team" but grew into popularity in the early 90's with the animated series "Tiny Toons" and has appeared in a number of television episodes and movies since.
*III17: Part of the ongoing joke with Kyle in TOS is how easily he is dismissed by Joe and Chuck.
*IV3: At the end of the "Argument Clinic" skit in Monty Python's Flying Circus, Michael Palin enters a room with Terry Jones who is giving "Being Hit on the Head Lessons" and informs Palin that one does not holler "ow" but "waaah" while clutching the top of the head.
*IV7: After ingesting large amounts of sugar or caffeine, Beavis takes on the persona of Cornholio and frequently repeats monosyllabic sounds or words in an undetermined South American accent.
*V1: Besides being the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange actually holds a medical doctorate and held a five year residency at New York Hospital.
*V2: The choice of books in the library stems from the play off of Dr. Strange's name, the eponymous name of a magician, and one of Joe's favorite books.
*V2: The jewelry Joe slides onto his little finger will be revealed to be the Ring of Hoggoth's Unbending Will in just a few more paragraphs and becomes the second piece of equipment that he will wield.
*V4: Sarah Strange attended the same high school as our three heroes IRL.
*V9: For someone who has obtained the title "Sorcerer Supreme", Strange loses chunks of his powers on numerous occasions. My guess is this occurs after his return from the War of the Seven Spheres which happened just after he was at one of his weakest points.
*V17: Which is fortunate when Joe is physically stripped of all of his gear down the line in TOS34.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 4
Chapter Four:
*I1: While it never made it to print, it was intended to be shown in the spin-off "Colin: The Lost Supercool" that Bill Schofeld had previously been very successful in life and through a series of horrible events managed to lose everything within 24 hours of his appearance here.
*I2: The Frightful Four's original lineup consisted of the Wizard, Sandman, Paste-Pot Pete (later, and thankfully, renamed the Trapster), and Medusa. The linup has changed over twice that of the Fantastic Four with over 20 different villains taking spots, but with the Wizard always being one of them.
*I6: Despite the fact that the Trapster is one of the most laughable supervillains around, he does bring up excellent points - not only here, but in the future as well as seen in TNS
*I9: If the search engine "Google" is to be believed, this is the only occurrence of the phrase "Sinister Quadrilateral" throughout the entire internet.
*I11: Trapster and Titania's exchange came during the Acts of Vengeance when supervillains "switched partners" and fought heroes other than their normal targets. The two came into some dispute while taking on Spider-Man.
*I16: Trapster is correct. Alliteration is the use of repetitive consonant sounds at the beginning of words within close proximity to each other. Assonance is the same but with vowel sounds.
*I22: I think he should ask Namor, Luke Cage, Dr. Doom and Black Tom Cassidy about that.
*I25: The "Terrifying Mitch" joke without doubt ranks as one of the top five best creations. So much that it resurfaces in TOS47 and again in TNS54.
*II1: Actual fare plus tip would be about $11. The ratio similarities to that of TOS3I9 would thusly indicate that the Marvel Universe economy is skewed to be about two and a half times more expensive than our reality and gives us more assurance with the honesty of Marvel cab drivers.
*II2: It was actually the seventh incarnation of the Masters of Evil, led by the Crimson Cowl that took out the Fantastic Four's headquarters.
*III1: The Negative Zone is actually another universe composed of oppositely charged particles (positrons, antineutrinos, and antiprotons) and lies adjacent to all other universes. The portal that Joe mentions is actually a distortion area that covers matter to anti-matter and vice-versa while moving between the Marvel Universe and the Negative Zone.
*III2: "Build Me Up Buttercup" was a one-hit wonder for the Foundations, coming in at #21 on the Billboard charts in 1969. It becomes the unofficial theme song for the Supercools for no other reason than it being a fun, upbeat song.
*V1: The bulk of the Ringmaster's hypnotic ability lies within the hat. The coat is only strong enough to give unwilling people a suggestive nudge to do something that they might have decided to do anyway.
*V3: Had the Wizard put his genius level intellect to research as opposed to construction, he might have realized that the portal, itself, acts as a Anti-Matter/Matter Converter.
*VI1: During the first several chapters, Joe noted that he did not plan ahead and simply wrote whatever came out. However, he quickly realized that there was no feasible way for the trio to take down Hydroman and had to bring in a little help.
*VI2: In 1993, the musician Prince changed his name to a symbol, in theory, to shorten it. He then became known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince which is five times as long.
*VI4: One tenth of an ounce of antimatter would react with an equal amount of matter which would result in an explosion of upwards of 120 kilotons - ten times the strength of the atomic bombs dropped during World War II.
*VI4: The Wonder Glove becomes the third gadget Joe takes.
*VI6: It is later revealed in TOS50 that the Wizard's Wonder Gloves work in pairs and that while functioning independent from each other, it only has enough power stored to fire 100 blasts. Now's the time to start keeping track if your keen on that type of thing.
*VI6: Off-screen, after this chapter, Joe also takes the time to relieve the Trapster of his Paste Vest, making it the fourth object in Joe's ever-growing arsenal.
*VII5: It will be noted several times later, but this is a good time to lay down the fact that Chuck's hands are now twin portals that link to the Negative Zone, similar to the Fantastic Four's portal. If his hands were actual Negative Zone, they would immediately explode and take out a lot of the East Coast.
*VII9: This is not only a good note of the ridicule that Kyle frequently will take on, but it is more importantly the origin point of his future codename. The phrase stems from lame put downs given to others in high school that involved adding the word "boy" to the end of a descriptive name or phrase introduced in a preceded question. For instance, "Why are you walking down the hall, Walking-Down-the-Hall Boy?"
*VII10: This is another example of the narrator having self-awareness of The Story going on. At this point, there was no concept that it would extend as long as it did and become an actual literary piece and thus did not take things too seriously.
*VII15: The barrier that is Chuck's hands will always freely allow energy of any wavelengths to pass through it; however, it keeps solid matter from automatically passing through - which allows Chuck to pick things up still. However, that field can be relaxed enough at will so it may pass through. In the beginning, he does not have enough control to fully convert matter over, and it is thus destroyed.
*VIII4: In the 1995 movie Mallrats, Jason Lee plays Brodie Bruce who is a comic aficionado with an unusual interest in superhero sex organs. At one point, he poses the question to Stan Lee whether The Thing's dork is made out of orange rock like the rest of his body.
*VIII6: Unfortunately, for Joe, it will be a while. Fortunately, that mental picture saves their lives next chapter.
*IX8: While Joe and Chuck are both big fans of Marvel Comics (and Kyle a fan of DC), Joe's interest leans heavily toward the Avengers and Chuck toward the X-Men.
*IX10: As noted in TOS1, Joe is kind of a pushover, and despite being completely miserable, he still tries to help his friends.
*IX12: The Pogo Plane is a jet the size of a jet, which "hops" into orbit around the Earth, then comes back down someplace far away and is used to quickly cover vast distances. Taking a Pogo Plane from Pier Four to Central Park would be like hopping a train from the living room to the bathroom. The vehicle they actually take is the "flying bathtub," the Fantasticar.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 2 (this Chapter - The Wizard)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 6 (this Chapter - Trapster, Terrifying Mitch)
Chapter Five:
Title: This is a reference to Joe's traumatic viewing of Ben Grimm's penis last chapter.
*I2-5: While disputed heavily throughout IRL, here is strong evidence indicating that Joe is the leader of the group.
*I8: This phrase is said emphatically and strung together. It's hard to say where it originated but was frequently used IRL for humorous effect.
*II4: Fred J. Dukes' catchphrase is normally used to point out his mutant power which makes him a nearly immovable object. Naturally, Joe had to find a way to put a twist on it.
*II11: "Hit them while they're distracted" comes from an IRL Marvel RPG in which Charles Bailey, when confronted by the announcement, "Oh my god, they've killed Professor Xavier" quickly retorted, "Oh yeah, that's nothing. We killed TWO Professor Xavier's while you weren't looking." This line was enough to stun even the GM of the game into confusion at which point Bailey instructed everyone to attack with the above line.
*IV2-4: Again from Marvel RPG played IRL, Charles Bailey delivered those exact lines after the villainous Pyro had been knocked unconscious.
*V2: This is the first appearance of what ends up being called "The Rage" which is the point where Kyle's rational mind snaps, and he becomes physically violent despite little physical capability.
*VIII2: U Can't Touch This was MC Hammer's biggest hit and was ranked #16 on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.
*VIII9: The first several chapters were written in the summer of 1997. Had it been a mere year later, Joe's line here would have inevitably been swapped out for the simpler and more fun to say: "Yoink!" - a word created by Simpsons write George Meyer in a few previous episodes but heavily pushed in the 1997-1998 season and used in almost a fourth of the episodes that year.
*IX1: The original concept behind the team name stemmed from the Jefferson Starship song "We Built This City" which Joe IRL originally thought had the line "Don't tell us you need us, 'cause we're the Supercools". It would not be until a year or so later that the line would be found to be "cause we're the ship of fools".
*IX1: This is also the point where the codenames were created, and they've pretty much kept since. Although his points of Mr. Negativity's powers well come back to do some damage in TOS34.
*IX2-3: IRL, the guys came up with real life superpowers such as the ones listed here as well as things like "phasing through air", "gradually shapeshifting into an old man", and "being able to see into the present in the immediate vicinity".
*IX15: Kyle's right, but it won't be until TOS7. This also represents the first time the three guys aren't together for any decent length of time.
Interlude:
*I8: There are actually a number of people who all work as Scourge doing vigilante work of killing supervillains, such as Enforcer, Miracle Man, Hate-Monger, Megatek, Melter, Death Adder, Blue Streak, and numerous others.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3 (this Chapter - Pyro)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 3 (this Chapter - Phantasia, Blob)
Villains defeated by Joe: 9 (this Chapter - Mastermind, Toad, Blob)
*I1: The Indiana State Fair usually takes place throughout the second and third weeks of August.
*I1: First appearance of Charles Hopkins II.
*I1: The T-shirt Chuck dons is a DC Flash T-shirt.
*I2: First appearance of Kyle Reeser.
*I2: Kyle would be wearing his trademark Superman shirt seen at other IRL events such as Halloween and Kyle's high school graduation.
*I3: First appearance of Joe Faust.
*I3: Despite his love of comics, Joe does not own a relative T-shirt to match the others and IRL has borrowed Kyle's Green Lantern shirt on the few occasions agreed upon to match.
*I4: First occurrence in a long line of Joe smoking a cigarette.
Chapter One:
*Title: The title is a preface of the famous saying which is concluded in TNS.
*I3: Joe has used numerous reasons for smoking, but this is both new and irrefutable.
*II2: Despite being the youngest of the three, Joe tends to be more apt in making decisions.
*II5: No, he couldn't.
*II9: The Circus of Crime originated in the 1930's in Austria and eventually came to America while working for the Nazis to murder high government officials. Apparently sixty years of practice have built up to robbing people in the Midwest.
*II9: Though it is not revealed until TOS50, the trio is not in the Marvel Universe (reality 616) as Joe suspects, but a reality later dubbed Marvel-619.
*IV1: Chuck is arguably the most agile of the three and confident enough in that fact to make the leap.
*V1: First occurrence of what will become Kyle's most recognizable catchphrase.
*VIII1: First appearance of Talula Baird.
*VIII2: The surprise stems from the fact that the purse has a brick in it as shown in TOS1X2.
*IX1: When the Ringmaster is not leading the Circus of Crime, The Clown is usually next in line for leadership.
*XI2: In the original typing of The Story, uses of the hypnosis effect were represented in boldface type. When transferred over, use of multi-color print was swapped out with green representing the most noticeable color of the Ringmaster's jacket..
*XII2: While inferred throughout The Story, it is important to note that Joe Faust has an intrinsic almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel Universe. This comes into play in a number of ways, but most importantly the knowledge of how most of the equipment and paraphernalia operates.
*XII2: Distinguished Competition = DC.
*XIII2: The Ringmaster's jacket, later dubbed the Hypno-Jacket, is the first article that Joe scavenges from another character.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1 (this Chapter - Ernesto)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1 (this Chapter - python)
Villains defeated by Joe: 4 (this Chapter - Ringmaster, Princess Python, Luigi, the Clown)
Chapter Two:
*Title: This is a play on both the guest star's name as well as reference to the first sign that the trio are unable to get home that easily.
*I4&5: This is the first occurrence of what will be an ongoing struggle throughout of Charles' interest in remaining in the Marvel Universe and Joe's desire to return home.
*I5: Joe is referring here to Northstar who, at the time, was the only openly homosexual superhero. Joe eventually meets up with Northstar in TNS48, but it doesn't work out as well as he'd hoped.
*I11: The fourth wall is the imaginary wall at the front of a stage in a theater and later adapted to refer to the boundary between the audience and the fiction. Breaking the fourth wall refers to the fictional characters acknowledge the audience as seen in such things as Malcolm in the Middle, Spaceballs, and numerous other pieces.
*I19: All three guys are easily capable of doing addition of numbers in their head. This really isn't that pertinent until TOS50.
*II1: Fortunately, Joe does a good enough job explaining the fabric of reality, so it doesn't need to be reiterated here.
*II1: Access was created during the Marvel vs. DC storyline as a conduit between the two comic universes.
*II2: The locales mentioned here would be revisited again in TOS30, TNS12, TSQ, TOS26, and a close enough approximation in TNS52.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 4
Chapter Three:
*I1: Technically, Joe was the only one who fought a supervillain - the Ringmaster with his hypnotic hat and jacket. While the Clown, Princess Python, and the Gambonno brothers are certainly villainous, they lack magical or superhuman powers or the intellect to draft complex schemes.
*I3: IRL Chuck picked up the nickname "Lucky" in college and has had knacks for randomly coming across useful things, escaping danger, and generally having things work out in his favor. It could be theorized that it's this natural tendency that let him survive the accident in TOS4.
*I9: In 2009, the cab fare in New York for six blocks plus tip is actually around $6. However, the economy in the Marvel Universe is greatly skewed. Of course, it could also be a New York cabbie hustling some out-of-towners.
*II2: During high-school, Joe and Chuck IRL got roped into playing Pictionary against a classmate and residential counselor. Despite an overwhelming lead, Joe continuously strove to throw the other team off by yelling out nonsensical answers which peaked at calling out "Nova Scotia" repeatedly at a drawing of circular scribbles. This carried on to the idea that one would demonstrate Nova Scotia by randomly twirling your pointer finger.
*III5: In the movie, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are two lovers who, through hypnosis, remember their past lives and the mystery surrounding their brutal deaths.
*III7: As far as can be determined, this phrase first appeared during the TV series "The A-Team" but grew into popularity in the early 90's with the animated series "Tiny Toons" and has appeared in a number of television episodes and movies since.
*III17: Part of the ongoing joke with Kyle in TOS is how easily he is dismissed by Joe and Chuck.
*IV3: At the end of the "Argument Clinic" skit in Monty Python's Flying Circus, Michael Palin enters a room with Terry Jones who is giving "Being Hit on the Head Lessons" and informs Palin that one does not holler "ow" but "waaah" while clutching the top of the head.
*IV7: After ingesting large amounts of sugar or caffeine, Beavis takes on the persona of Cornholio and frequently repeats monosyllabic sounds or words in an undetermined South American accent.
*V1: Besides being the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange actually holds a medical doctorate and held a five year residency at New York Hospital.
*V2: The choice of books in the library stems from the play off of Dr. Strange's name, the eponymous name of a magician, and one of Joe's favorite books.
*V2: The jewelry Joe slides onto his little finger will be revealed to be the Ring of Hoggoth's Unbending Will in just a few more paragraphs and becomes the second piece of equipment that he will wield.
*V4: Sarah Strange attended the same high school as our three heroes IRL.
*V9: For someone who has obtained the title "Sorcerer Supreme", Strange loses chunks of his powers on numerous occasions. My guess is this occurs after his return from the War of the Seven Spheres which happened just after he was at one of his weakest points.
*V17: Which is fortunate when Joe is physically stripped of all of his gear down the line in TOS34.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 1
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 4
Chapter Four:
*I1: While it never made it to print, it was intended to be shown in the spin-off "Colin: The Lost Supercool" that Bill Schofeld had previously been very successful in life and through a series of horrible events managed to lose everything within 24 hours of his appearance here.
*I2: The Frightful Four's original lineup consisted of the Wizard, Sandman, Paste-Pot Pete (later, and thankfully, renamed the Trapster), and Medusa. The linup has changed over twice that of the Fantastic Four with over 20 different villains taking spots, but with the Wizard always being one of them.
*I6: Despite the fact that the Trapster is one of the most laughable supervillains around, he does bring up excellent points - not only here, but in the future as well as seen in TNS
*I9: If the search engine "Google" is to be believed, this is the only occurrence of the phrase "Sinister Quadrilateral" throughout the entire internet.
*I11: Trapster and Titania's exchange came during the Acts of Vengeance when supervillains "switched partners" and fought heroes other than their normal targets. The two came into some dispute while taking on Spider-Man.
*I16: Trapster is correct. Alliteration is the use of repetitive consonant sounds at the beginning of words within close proximity to each other. Assonance is the same but with vowel sounds.
*I22: I think he should ask Namor, Luke Cage, Dr. Doom and Black Tom Cassidy about that.
*I25: The "Terrifying Mitch" joke without doubt ranks as one of the top five best creations. So much that it resurfaces in TOS47 and again in TNS54.
*II1: Actual fare plus tip would be about $11. The ratio similarities to that of TOS3I9 would thusly indicate that the Marvel Universe economy is skewed to be about two and a half times more expensive than our reality and gives us more assurance with the honesty of Marvel cab drivers.
*II2: It was actually the seventh incarnation of the Masters of Evil, led by the Crimson Cowl that took out the Fantastic Four's headquarters.
*III1: The Negative Zone is actually another universe composed of oppositely charged particles (positrons, antineutrinos, and antiprotons) and lies adjacent to all other universes. The portal that Joe mentions is actually a distortion area that covers matter to anti-matter and vice-versa while moving between the Marvel Universe and the Negative Zone.
*III2: "Build Me Up Buttercup" was a one-hit wonder for the Foundations, coming in at #21 on the Billboard charts in 1969. It becomes the unofficial theme song for the Supercools for no other reason than it being a fun, upbeat song.
*V1: The bulk of the Ringmaster's hypnotic ability lies within the hat. The coat is only strong enough to give unwilling people a suggestive nudge to do something that they might have decided to do anyway.
*V3: Had the Wizard put his genius level intellect to research as opposed to construction, he might have realized that the portal, itself, acts as a Anti-Matter/Matter Converter.
*VI1: During the first several chapters, Joe noted that he did not plan ahead and simply wrote whatever came out. However, he quickly realized that there was no feasible way for the trio to take down Hydroman and had to bring in a little help.
*VI2: In 1993, the musician Prince changed his name to a symbol, in theory, to shorten it. He then became known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince which is five times as long.
*VI4: One tenth of an ounce of antimatter would react with an equal amount of matter which would result in an explosion of upwards of 120 kilotons - ten times the strength of the atomic bombs dropped during World War II.
*VI4: The Wonder Glove becomes the third gadget Joe takes.
*VI6: It is later revealed in TOS50 that the Wizard's Wonder Gloves work in pairs and that while functioning independent from each other, it only has enough power stored to fire 100 blasts. Now's the time to start keeping track if your keen on that type of thing.
*VI6: Off-screen, after this chapter, Joe also takes the time to relieve the Trapster of his Paste Vest, making it the fourth object in Joe's ever-growing arsenal.
*VII5: It will be noted several times later, but this is a good time to lay down the fact that Chuck's hands are now twin portals that link to the Negative Zone, similar to the Fantastic Four's portal. If his hands were actual Negative Zone, they would immediately explode and take out a lot of the East Coast.
*VII9: This is not only a good note of the ridicule that Kyle frequently will take on, but it is more importantly the origin point of his future codename. The phrase stems from lame put downs given to others in high school that involved adding the word "boy" to the end of a descriptive name or phrase introduced in a preceded question. For instance, "Why are you walking down the hall, Walking-Down-the-Hall Boy?"
*VII10: This is another example of the narrator having self-awareness of The Story going on. At this point, there was no concept that it would extend as long as it did and become an actual literary piece and thus did not take things too seriously.
*VII15: The barrier that is Chuck's hands will always freely allow energy of any wavelengths to pass through it; however, it keeps solid matter from automatically passing through - which allows Chuck to pick things up still. However, that field can be relaxed enough at will so it may pass through. In the beginning, he does not have enough control to fully convert matter over, and it is thus destroyed.
*VIII4: In the 1995 movie Mallrats, Jason Lee plays Brodie Bruce who is a comic aficionado with an unusual interest in superhero sex organs. At one point, he poses the question to Stan Lee whether The Thing's dork is made out of orange rock like the rest of his body.
*VIII6: Unfortunately, for Joe, it will be a while. Fortunately, that mental picture saves their lives next chapter.
*IX8: While Joe and Chuck are both big fans of Marvel Comics (and Kyle a fan of DC), Joe's interest leans heavily toward the Avengers and Chuck toward the X-Men.
*IX10: As noted in TOS1, Joe is kind of a pushover, and despite being completely miserable, he still tries to help his friends.
*IX12: The Pogo Plane is a jet the size of a jet, which "hops" into orbit around the Earth, then comes back down someplace far away and is used to quickly cover vast distances. Taking a Pogo Plane from Pier Four to Central Park would be like hopping a train from the living room to the bathroom. The vehicle they actually take is the "flying bathtub," the Fantasticar.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 2 (this Chapter - The Wizard)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 1
Villains defeated by Joe: 6 (this Chapter - Trapster, Terrifying Mitch)
Chapter Five:
Title: This is a reference to Joe's traumatic viewing of Ben Grimm's penis last chapter.
*I2-5: While disputed heavily throughout IRL, here is strong evidence indicating that Joe is the leader of the group.
*I8: This phrase is said emphatically and strung together. It's hard to say where it originated but was frequently used IRL for humorous effect.
*II4: Fred J. Dukes' catchphrase is normally used to point out his mutant power which makes him a nearly immovable object. Naturally, Joe had to find a way to put a twist on it.
*II11: "Hit them while they're distracted" comes from an IRL Marvel RPG in which Charles Bailey, when confronted by the announcement, "Oh my god, they've killed Professor Xavier" quickly retorted, "Oh yeah, that's nothing. We killed TWO Professor Xavier's while you weren't looking." This line was enough to stun even the GM of the game into confusion at which point Bailey instructed everyone to attack with the above line.
*IV2-4: Again from Marvel RPG played IRL, Charles Bailey delivered those exact lines after the villainous Pyro had been knocked unconscious.
*V2: This is the first appearance of what ends up being called "The Rage" which is the point where Kyle's rational mind snaps, and he becomes physically violent despite little physical capability.
*VIII2: U Can't Touch This was MC Hammer's biggest hit and was ranked #16 on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.
*VIII9: The first several chapters were written in the summer of 1997. Had it been a mere year later, Joe's line here would have inevitably been swapped out for the simpler and more fun to say: "Yoink!" - a word created by Simpsons write George Meyer in a few previous episodes but heavily pushed in the 1997-1998 season and used in almost a fourth of the episodes that year.
*IX1: The original concept behind the team name stemmed from the Jefferson Starship song "We Built This City" which Joe IRL originally thought had the line "Don't tell us you need us, 'cause we're the Supercools". It would not be until a year or so later that the line would be found to be "cause we're the ship of fools".
*IX1: This is also the point where the codenames were created, and they've pretty much kept since. Although his points of Mr. Negativity's powers well come back to do some damage in TOS34.
*IX2-3: IRL, the guys came up with real life superpowers such as the ones listed here as well as things like "phasing through air", "gradually shapeshifting into an old man", and "being able to see into the present in the immediate vicinity".
*IX15: Kyle's right, but it won't be until TOS7. This also represents the first time the three guys aren't together for any decent length of time.
Interlude:
*I8: There are actually a number of people who all work as Scourge doing vigilante work of killing supervillains, such as Enforcer, Miracle Man, Hate-Monger, Megatek, Melter, Death Adder, Blue Streak, and numerous others.
Villains defeated by Chuck: 3 (this Chapter - Pyro)
Villains defeated by Kyle: 3 (this Chapter - Phantasia, Blob)
Villains defeated by Joe: 9 (this Chapter - Mastermind, Toad, Blob)
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