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