Notes on Smax #5

Paul Andinach

26 January 2010

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Page 2

Panel 1: As with every other issue, the title is a quote from the Syd Barrett song "Octopus".

The sword is still singing the same song as last issue, Abba's "Dancing Queen".

Page 3

Panel 5: "No way, epée" is a play on the expression "No way, José". "Épée" is the French word for "sword"; in modern English it usually refers specifically to a light sword used in one of the three styles of fencing. History does not record who José was.

Page 5

Panel 6: The singing sword has switched to a different Abba song, "Fernando".

Page 20

Panel 3: "Green card" is the informal name for the United States Permanent Resident Card (which isn't actually green any more, by the way). Foreigner-marries-American-citizen-to-gain-permanent-residence is a plot that's been done often enough to be recognisable in shorthand, perhaps most famously in the 1990 film 'Green Card'.

Page 22

Panel 1: That's the unfinished Death Star from 'Return of the Jedi' hovering over Jeff's head, with a TIE fighter from the same film flying near it.

Panel 2: Hathor was the mother goddess of the Ancient Egyptians, sometimes depicted in the shape of a cow.

Panel 3: The Ghost That Drives, his costume and his skull emblem are references to superhero The Phantom, who is called "The Ghost Who Walks".

Panel 4: "Slam Evil" was the advertising slogan of the 1996 film version of 'The Phantom'.