Notes to Top Ten #11

by Jess Nevins

Revised 29 October 2001

Updates in blue.

Page 1

Panel 1. The characters on the right are the workmen from issue #2, page 2, panel #3 (thanks to Ronald Byrd for identifying this issue). Moving from left to right, they are Marvel's Thing, DC's Doomsday (the villain who "killed" Superman some years back--thanks to Michael Norwitz and Expletive Deleted, among many others, for correcting my error here), Swamp Thing, and ?. The character on the far right is DC's OMAC, last seen in issue #3, Page 15, Panel 3.

Panel 2. The character on the right is the Shakespeare character, seen in several earlier issues, including #10.

Ronald Byrd notes that Captain Traynor's statement here, that he's only heard of Parallel Nine, is somewhat at odds with his statement in issue #1, page 3, panel 3, where he says he served on Parallel Nine alongside Robyn Slinger's father.

Panel 3. The character on the far left is Marvel's Firelord.  Terence Chua identifies the flying one as a miscolored Human Torch, from Marvel's Fantastic Four. Old Toby goes further and says that they are all former Heralds of Marvel's Galactus: Firelord, Nova, and Terrax the Tamer. Tynne Fanel identifies the woman as DC's Wonder Woman in her mod outfit. David Edward Martin thinks that the flying character is Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt, from DC, and that the character with the brain is a "Brain from Planet Arous." Ronald Byrd notes that the character with the brain was seen in issue #7. Nathan Alderman says that the character with the hammer is Kelley Jones' horror character, "The Hammer."

The "Turingville" Captain Traynor refers to is a reference to Alan Turing (1912-1954), an English mathematician who (among other things) described a hypothetical computer, called the "Turing Machine," which could, in principle, perform any calculation. In 1950 he proposed a test for determining if machines could really think. This test, the "Turing test," is now one of the basics of A.I. theory. For more information on him, go to the Alan Turing Home Page.

Note the books on the shelves: one is by "Engels and Marx," and so is probably the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friederich Engels. Partially obscured is a book with the words "NYPD Blue" on the cover; perhaps it's a novelisation of the tv series.

Panel 4. Astrocitizen identifies the three characters on the left as being from Dark Horse's "Comics' Greatest World:" Rebel from Golden City, Grace from Catalyst: Agents of Change, and Titan from Will to Power.

Panel 5. David Goldfarb identifies the character on the right as Monolith, Vortex, and Shapeshifter, from the comic Elementals. tphile adds, "That's also Morningstar and Fathom from the Elementals but colored wrong."

Page 2.

Panel 1. Joe Pi may be a reference to all the mecha (anime robots) heroes as well as, potentially, Mr. Atom, the atomic-powered robot opponent of Fawcett's Captain Marvel. Carl Fink adds that "Something I have to believe Moore did on purpose:  Murray Leinster published a story in 1946 called "A Logic Named Joe", in which what amounts to a PC becomes conscious and self-directed.  Joe Pi *has* to come from this story." Gene Ha says

He's the result of some online research and "Go Nagai: All His Works".

I had a childhood memory of what a Japanese robot looked like, and that's what I wanted Joe to look like.  But when I looked at "Shogun Warriors," I found the designs to be boring and uninspiring.

So there's a pretty good dose of the Great Mazinger Zapper, Ultraman, Shogun Warriors, general bits of historic Japanese helmet design, but also Spectreman!

If you were going to wear such an ugly suit and fight green apes in blonde wigs, you'd damn well better have a fine looking helmet.


Page 3.

Panel 2. This seems to be a source of some confusion, so I'll clear this up. The man smoking in the back, to the left of Shock-Headed Peter, is Bill Bailey, the Wolfspider.

Page 5.

Panel 2. Note that the letter on the podium, though lettered in faux-runes, is still legible as being made out to "Macksun, Top Ten, Neopolis."

Page 6.

Panel 2. That may be DC's Super Turtle flying by in the upper right. I don't recognize the two more visible characters here. Eric Reehl wonders if the flying character on the left is one of Marvel Comics' Knights of Wundagore. Todd Kogutt wonders if the second character is Marvel's Plant Man. zachd thinks that the flying character in the upper right is Captain Caveman.

Panel 3. I didn't recognize the flying kids, but Expletive Deleted, among others, did; they are Marvel's child heroes Power Pack. "Cassandra" is a reference to "Cassandra Chalice," a regular on DC's Message Boards; Gene Ha, in this issue, began using Easter Egg suggestions from regulars on the Top Ten message board and giving credit to them where possible.

"Plastic Stan" is a combination of DC's stretching trickster hero Plastic Man and of Stan Lee, one of Marvel's most important historical figures and someone who has presented an image of a huckster in recent years. In response to a question about why "Plastic Stan" would sell furniture, Gérard Morvan said, "Plastic Man's gimmick was that he would often shapeshift as a piece of furniture (while retaining his costume's colors and motives) in order to spy on crooks (while Elongated Man would simply put his ear down a chimney). "

Panel 5. Argh. I should have caught the identity of the urinating man, but didn't. Expletive Deleted, among others, did. He's Marvel's Golden Age hero, the Whizzer.

The figure in the middle is, judging from the uniform in the trashcan, Peter Parker, Marvel's Spider-Man. As numerous people pointed out, this is a classic shot; JDC identified the shot as John Romita Sr.'s cover to Amazing Spider-Man #50.

The graffiti on the wall, is, from top to bottom: "Fuck the Police," from (among other places) the NWA song of the same name; "Ultra the Multi-Skrull goes 4 ways," a reference to DC's Ultra the Multi-Alien and his four-way nature--the Ultra in question can be seen in issue #8, Page 21, Panel 2, for an idea of what he looks like--thanks to Gene Ha for solving this for me; "One Flesh," a reference to the Neopolitan anti-robot group (Shock-Headed Peter referred to them in an earlier issue); and "I...Venture Capital," which if a joke eludes me. Perhaps it's a reference to @venture? Arcanum interprets it this way: "Venture capitalists are viewed in certain contexts as 'johns', paying money to people who 'prostitute' their ideas and work. Also the fact that vc's are known for throwing money at a 'beautiful' idea." "Semicyon" wonders if "I...Venture Capital" is a reference to the old DC character "I, Vampire," along the lines that "venture capitalists may be seen in certain lights as blood sucking predators."

According to Wizard the body in front of the trash can is Marvel's Bucky.

Page 7.

Panel 2. The figures on the right of the panel are Perry, the psychotic killer android from Marvel's Elektra: Assassin miniseries (that's Chuck, the blue dwarf servant of The Beast, riding on Perry's shoulder) and DC's Robotman, in the body he wore during part of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol.

Written on the wall is the word "Tetsuo," likely a reference to the weird and wonderful film "Tetsuo," about a man slowly becoming metal. Astrocitizen wonders if it is a reference to the the manga (not anime, thanks to Chris for pointing this out) series Akira. David Goldfarb agrees, adding that the "Number 41" is Akira-relevant. (I haven't seen Akira, so I wouldn't know) (David said, in response to my comment, that

Regarding "Number 41" in the graffiti on page 7:  in Akira the main antagonist was named Tetsuo (and yes, the characters in his name mean "Iron man").  The plot involved a government project to induce psychic powers in people.  The project gave numbers to its subjects, and the number given Tetsuo was 41.


Panel 3. "Hey, Joe, where ya goin' with that battery up yer butt?" is a reference to "Hey Joe," a song most familiar to people via the Jimi Hendrix cover. The song has the lyric, "Hey Joe, where ya goin' with that gun in your hand." In response to a question about just how old the song is, Steven Rowe said,

"Hey Joe"  was written by Billy Roberts (as mentioned) who sold the song to Dino Valenti (later of Quicksilver Messenger Service), who later published the song under his pseudoymn Chester Powers. As far as I can tell, the first recorded version was by Love.  Then came the version by The Leaves. The next version was by the Byrds ((released on their album Fifth Deminsion)).  The Byrds performed it at Monterey Pop (where Hendrix is sure to have heard it, if he hadn't already).


Panel 4. Shock-Headed Peter may not know, but the readers will remember that Trent Edison Teller is the A.E. of Dr. Incredible, who we met in issue #1.

Panel 5. Visible on the wall are the words "Funky Flashman," a reference to the Jack Kirby/DC character Funky Flashman, a con artist and swipe at Stan Lee. The joke is that the words "Funky Flashman" are written in a funky style.

Kid Psychout suggests that Spambo is a Ferro-American equivalent to the terms "Oreo" or "Banana," which are both slurs hurled by black and Asians towards those who they identify as sell-outs or somehow not quite black or Asian enough. In this case, "spambo" would be "metal on the outside, meat on the inside." Christopher Shumway, among others, notes that "spambo" is also a play off of the racist slur "sambo."

Page 8.

Panel 2. Nicknack points out that the tv head is "Walter the Wobot! Fwiend of Dwedd!" from Judge Dredd. Terence Chua notes that "he appears to have lost his Elmer Fudd speech pattern. The words on his crotch read 'I'm Wheely Wong Try Me', where the original read 'I'm Walter Try Me.'"

Astrocitizen notes that the little girl holding the doll may be Ronald-Ann, from Burke Breathed's "Outland" comic strip.

Panel 4. Christopher Shumway says, "An interesting article I read at salon.com about robots in film mentioned that the term 'clicker' was used as an anti-robot slur in the 1962 film Creation of the Humanoids.

Panel 5. Gene Ha says that the chimp in question is neither Beppo nor Gleek but instead is "Wonder Chimp," from a recent comic strip.

Page 10.

Panel 1. Kid Psychout wonders if that's DC's Animal Man on the left.

Sunflower claims that the three men in space suits and guns, on the left of the panel, are the time-traveling invaders from the flashback segment of Alan Moore's Marvelman. Carl Fink points out that the lead character seems to be carrying a shopping list, with "sugar, coffee, <something unreadable>." Gene Ha followed up on that by saying, "`Women.' I should have given him a larger sheet of paper."

Flying overhead may be DC's Princess Projectra in her "Sensor Girl" guise.

BradW8 asks "isn't that Johnny Beyond and the girl from his 1963 adventure behind Peacock?"

The three characters walking up the steps to King Peacock's right are Wendy, Marvin, and and Wonder Dog, from the cartoon Superfriends. The man accosting them is Marvin as rendered by Alex Ross in Kingdom Come.

Zowie says that the figure with lightning bolt shirt may be comics creator Scott McCloud, wearing a Zot t-shirt. Johnny Wonder says that it reminds him of "a downscale version of the Sentry, Marvel's 'forgotten' hero."

Sitting on the steps is the evil bearded Cartman from a South Park episode; you can tell it's Cartman because he's eating Cheezy Poofs.

Astrocitizen speculates that "I believe the bronze statue we see is of 'Storybook' Smith from Alan's legendary Judgment Day miniseries for Extreme Studios/Maximum Press/Awesome Comics." Craig Calvin thinks it is Will Rogers.

That may be Starfire, from DC's Teen Titans, flying by in the upper right. tphile wonders if those are the DNAgents. Star Tsar thinks that the woman is Rainbow of the DNAgents.

Panel 2. Astrocitizen notes that "parked along the sidewalk is one of the Tattooine sand skimmers from Return of the Jedi, and to the right of it is Luke Skywalker's hotrod." Paul "Duggy" Duggan notes that the name of the sand skimmer is a "sand skiff," and the name of the hotrod is a "Landspeeder." Paul further notes that it's a Sorosub X-34 Landspeeder.

I didn't recognize the three men in line on the left, but I should have. The one on the far left is wearing a shirt with the word "Kimota!" on the front; this is a reference to Marvelman/Miracleman, the L. Miller character who turned from meek Mickey Moran to the Captain Marvel-analogue Marvelman by uttering the magic word "kimota." The shirt, and its design, showed up in the Alan Moore-revamped Marvelman series in the 1980s.  Gene Ha said, "The identical guys were given moustaches in coloring.  Shouldn't be there.  They're MM characters, as are the purple guys." The characters are the Andy Warhol clones from Miracleman, then. (Eric Simons identifies the story as "Notes from the Underground")  Several people, Philip Flores among them, see similarities between these characters and Archie Goodwin's caricatures of himself from the Epic Comics days.

I don't recognize the three people talking to the right of Peacock's head. Old Toby says, "I think the pink haired girl is Washuu from Tenchi Muyo, while the guy in the black and red is Tenchi from the same show (with a blue Ryo-ohki on his shoulder)." David Goldfarb says that the three men "look a bit like the scientists from Gundam Wing. Terence Chua wonders if they are from the on-line comic strip "Sluggy Freelance." Carl Fink followed that up by noting that "Sluggy Freelance" did a story in which one character was lost in an alternate world. Buck Thighmaster follows with

The three to the right of Peacock's head are (from left to right) Rif, Zoe and Torg from the popular online comic "Sluggy Freelance". In particular, these are the alternate universe versions of the characters from when Rif built a reality portal. It was one of the earliest and funniest story arcs. The alternate reality versions all speak Portugese. The blue creature on Torg's shoulder is Bun-Bun, Torg's ruthless pet rabbit in the comic. The purple lizard on Rif's arm is a stand-in for Kiki, his hyperactive pet ferret in the comic.

This is a total lock, no possibility for error. If you check out the site, you'll have to go back to the "Dimension of Pain" storyline, then go forward a couple weeks.

Astrocitizen pointed out to me a Sluggy Freelance web page talking about this came.

Zowie notes that the golden figure to the left of Mareka is the Golden Oldie from Marvel Team-Up #137, a "what if Aunt May became one of Galactus' heralds" story.

The characters with their back to us, on the right of the panel, are from Wildstorm's The Authority. They are analogues for Marvel's Iron Man, the Hulk, and Captain America, and in The Authority they made the mistake of tangling with the Authority. The taped X over the pants' bottom of the Captain American analogue is a reference to his final fate; he (apparently) raped Apollo, of the Authority, and in retaliation the Midnighter (Apollo's lover) shoved something large and metallic up the Captain America analogue's butt. Johnny Wonder points out that the Captain America analogue's name was the Commander and the name of the Iron Man analogue was Tank-Man.

I don't know who the three Wildstorm characters are arguing with. Jobriga suggests that

These appear to be color-altered versions of Power Princess and Hyperion from Mark Gruenwald's classic Squadron Supreme.  Power Princess had the same female symbol on her original uniform (her later uniform was just plain purple), and Hyperion had the same metallic belt.  I think there's also an "H" on the belt of the figure that "Captain America" is pointing at.
Panel 4. The statue has, on its top, the Gladiator, Marvel's Roman-themed villain.

Page 11.

Panel 1. The trio on the right are Fry, Leela, and Bender, from Futurama.

Panel 3. That's Meester Easter (seen in previous issues, including #1) flying overhead on the left.

That is not Popeye, as I originally thought, but what David Goldfarb identifies as Captain Strong, "a Popeye spoof from 1970s Superman comics." Next to Captain Strong is Nibbler, from Futurama; he is wearing a shirt that says "Slam," a reference to the DC Comics' Message Board poster who suggested Nibbler as an Easter Egg. Next to Nibbler is what Kid Psychout identifies as Zavam, a Captain Marvel analogue created in 1970s Superman comics. (Philip Cohen notes that his name is "Zha-vam.") I don't know who the two characters behind and to the right of Nibbler are. Gene Ha says "The ornate guy is stolen by me from the same source as a Supreme swipe. The suitcase guy is an amalgam from before there was an Amalgam comics." Buck Thighmaster wonders if the papal character is a take-off on Battle Pope.

Astrocitizen says, "I believe the first taxi is based upon the Silver Age Supermobile (Superman's spaceship), as you can see it has extended robotic hands in the space between Peacock's wife and daughter."

Flying overhead on the right of the panel is Mary Poppins, pushing a capsule that looks like the one that transported the baby Kal-L, later Superman, to Earth.

Zowie notes the Blue Falcon and Dynamutt from the Blue Falcon tv show.

Panel 4. The taxi driver may be DC's Space Cabbie.

Panel 5. On the left is Marvel's The Absorbing Man. In the middle of the panel may be Anakin Skywalker in his racer, from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. To his right, on the sidewalk in the background, are men from Marvel's AIM (Advanced Ideas Mechanics), only in Neopolis they are, as the sign behind them says, from "Agricultural" something something. Gene Ha says, of this, "Again, unreadable clue.  They're the Agricultural Implement Mechanics. They're working on a high tech pitch fork to take over the world."

On the far right of the panel are Leela, Fry, and Bender again.

The title of the Sidekix's new album is a reference to the exclamations of DC's Robin.

Page 12.

Panel 1. Sunflower identifies the characters on the far left as being the Silver Age Negative Man, from DC's Doom Patrol, and Dr. Griffin, the Invisible Man, here in his smoking jacket from Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Zowie thinks that Negative Man might be Rebis, from Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol (thanks to Michael Norwitz for correcting my mistake here). David Goldfarb thinks that the pair are Negative Man and Negative Woman, the latter also a member of the Doom Patrol.

To their immediate right is DC's Red Tornado (I). tphile and Philip Flores point out that the second character is Marvel's spoof character Forbush Man ("but his suit should be red not blue"). Gene Ha says the third "pothead" is someone--well, folks, who is it? I don't know. (According to Wizard the third pothead is "Captain Clark," from Mad Magazine.)

Star Tsar, among others, identifies the figure sitting at the round desk as being Raven, the empath/healer of DC's Teen Titans.

Astrocitizen identifies the characters in the middle of the panel as being "Tarzan, Zok from The Herculoids, and the biplane of Hanna-Barbara's Dread Baron." Gene Ha says the flying robot is an Easter Egg, although I don't know who it is. James A. Wolf wonders if it is Marvel's Annihilus.

The billboard is a reference to Soylent Green, the wonder food from the 1973 movie Soylent Green. Soylent Green was based on Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room! (1966), but the novel did not have "Soylent Green," which was actually made from people. (The novel and the movie are warnings against over-population) The billboard is also a tip of the hat to Top Ten message board Soylent Jerry, who suggested the conference of Doctors in this panel (see below).

The character in the foreground of the panel is the Doctor, from Wildstorm's Authority. Above and to the right are DC's Doctor Fate and Marvel's Doctor Strange (in David Goldfarb's words, "Eye of Agamotto on forehead (note chest symbol and distinctive gloves)"). This being a hospital, it's only fitting that we see comic book "doctors" here. David Goldfarb identifies the man on the right as Marvel's Doctor Doom, or "someone wearing Doctor Doom's mask and gauntlets." tphile wonders if Doom is "perhaps discussing reconstructive surgery for his face."

Panel 3. I don't recognize the characters behind and to the right of Smax.

Page 13.

Panel 3. Walking on the right of the panel are Doctor Who (Dave Joll points out that it's the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker), obese versions of Doctor Manhattan (from Alan Moore's Watchmen) and Dr.  Fu Manchu.

Panel 4. Per Gene Ha the large nurse should have red hair and is an Easter Egg. Andy Perry identifies her as the nurse/assassin from Marvel's Daredevil: Born Again.

Panel 6. Both the skeleton in the foreground and the skin in the background belong to the same character: Marvel's Wolverine.

Page 14.

Panel 1. I didn't recognize these characters, but Kid Psychout did:

On the left is a diety, possibly Hindu or Balinese. The next character is probably the Norse diety, Tyr, who lost his hand to the Fenris wolf. Next to him, going by the hand motif, is either the similarily one handed Dr. Strangelove, or Dr Terwilliger. The latter is from the Dr. Seuss written and designed movie, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.


Panel 3. Shirley Teller was (as noted in issue #1) a member of the Protectors, which is an analogue for Marvel's Fantastic Four. Just as the Protectors at one time had a robot servant Harvey, the Fantastic Four for a brief period had a robot servant Herbie. Ronald Byrd wonders if "Protector's Peak" is a nod to Mount Kirby in Kurt Busiek's Astro City, "where Astro City's own Fantastic Four analogue, the First Family, is based."

Page 15.

Panel 1. Buck Thighmaster wonders if the character in green is a version of the Nite-Owl, from Watchmen. He was earlier seen in issue #9, page 11, panel 6.

Panel 2. Kid Psychout notes that "In all four panels is visible a Sidekix poster that is, wonderfully, both a joke on the 'Bat-rope' scenes from the '60s TV show, and the Beatles 'Abbey Road' album cover."

Panel 3. David Edward Martin notes a pinup of Burnout from Gen 13. James A. Wolf says, "the poster above and to the left of Peregrine's head is reminiscent of controversial Calvin Klein ads some commentators stated were pedophilic in nature."

Panel 5. Astrocitizen notes that "this whole thing about Bluejay, the Kingfisher having more than one sidekick, is in reference to the whole Batman and Robin chronology."

Page 16.

Panel 2. Coming through the doors are the Green Hornet and Kato. On the right side of the panel is a character that Gene Ha says is a tv character and which Chris Roberson and Eric Reehl guess is the lead character from the Greatest American Hero series.

Page 18.

Panel 4. The figure in the photo, who isn't (contrary to what I originally thought--this per Gene Ha) the father of Robyn "Toybox" Slinger, is in an outfit similar to that of Quality's Blackhawks, a crack group of airmen.

Page 19.

Panel 2. "Chicken super" comes from "chicken," the street name for an underaged boy or girl; a "chickenhawk" is someone who sexually preys on boys and girls. Michael Norwitz adds, "As well as the 60's television cartoon character Superchicken."

Panel 5. Ronald Byrd says that "Atomaid and Pup are presumably parallels to Supergirl (cousin of Superman (re Atoman)) and Robin (sidekick to the Batman (re the Hound))."

Page 20.

Panel 1. I'm guessing that the crying ghost in front of the Ghostlawns sign is meant to be Casper, the Friendly Ghost. Sunflower notes that pursuing Casper are his "three rotten uncles." Ronald Byrd identifies them further as the Ghostly Trio, "Fatso, Fusso, and Lazo, or per the movie: Fatso, Stinky, and a name I don't recall."

David Goldfarb identifies the character on the left in white as Ghost, from Dark Horse's Ghost. I don't know who the other character is, but I think he's from Dark Horse as well. Carl Henderson wonders if it might be Marvel's Vision (I). Todd Kogutt wonders if it is DC's Wotan. Nathan Alderman says that he's "a lame-o ripoff of the Spectre from Archie's 1960s' Mighty Crusaders."

The character scratching his head, in the left foreground, is DC's Unknown Soldier.

The two characters emerging from the grave are Will Eisner's Spirit and Ebony. The Spirit was Denny Colt, a police officer who was mistakenly buried in Wildwood Cemetery, which he went on to use as his headquarters in his war on crime. Eboy is the Spirit's African-American valet and friend.

Riding the flaming unicycle is Marvel's Ghost Rider. His more usual form of transportation is a flaming motorcycle.

I don't know who the two characters to the right of the Ghost Rider are. Madman, possibly? Slam Bradley speculates that it's actually Giles and Buffy, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tim Serpas and Chris Roberson say that it's Sean Knight, from Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered. Doug thinks that it's Polychrome from the Nocturnals.

Floating in the air on the right is DC's ghostly Deadman.

zachd wonders if the obelisk seen here is a reference to Moore's From Hell.

Panel 2. A number of people pointed out that the statue on the left is of DC's Starman (I). Carl Henderson wonders if the statue is of DC's "Jor-El holding up a globe of Krypton."

I don't know (and neither does anyone else) who the smoking man in white is. Bill Denton wonders if it's Elijah Snow, from Planetary. David Alexander McDonald has it, I think:

the smoking man in white isn't Elijah Snow (who is never seen wearing a hat, at least in contemporary settings/)  It's Carl Kolchak, aka The Night-Stalker, reporter, as played in the TV movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, as well as the subsequent Kolchak, the Night Stalker TV series by Darren McGavin.  He usually wore a white suit and a whire fedora, and is just the man to be leaning up against a tomb, hat on, smoking a cigarette, resentingthe fact that his editor's sent him to cover some damn funeral to keep him out of the way.  The joke here being that Kolchak seems to have finaly been done in (he looks ghostly.)
If "DOW: Defensive Organic Weapon" is a reference to something, I don't know what it is. Mike Fogg and Philip Flores suggest that it's a reference to Alan Moore's character "T.A.O." from W.I.L.D.Cats.

The names on the gravestones on the right are of various Marvel characters, most of whom have died and come back at one time or another. Several people pointed out the similarity between this scene and the grave scene from the "Days of the Future Past" story in X-Men #141 & 142. A number of people pointed out that the "Hall" grave is probably a reference to DC's Hector Hall, formerly the Silver Scarab, then a ghost, and now Dr. Fate.

Panel 3. The preacher presiding over the funeral is Jesse Custer, from DC's Preacher.

Page 21.

Panel 1. "Mickey Millions" is a takeoff on Harvey's Richie Rich. I don't know who "Roy Radium" is a reference to; Kieran Cowan thinks it may be a reference to Tom Swift, while a number of other people think it's a reference to Richie's cousin Reggie. Stanley Lui plausibly wonders if Roy Radium is a reference "to the comic "It's Science! with Dr. Radium", which features not only Dr. Radium, but also his hapless assistance Roy."

Lara Croft is the heroine of the game (and soon to be movie) Tomb Raider.

Panel 3. That is Oscar Wilde standing next to a statue with his name on it, but if there's a joke involved I'm not getting it. Luckily for all of us, Robert Kennedy did: "Oscar Wilde is a stand-in for an old DC character, `The Gay Ghost.'" Several people wonder if "Oscar Wilde" is actually Luther Arkwright. G-Money 23 thinks the Wilde joke is that he's "standing next to the Well Endowed or Hanged Man." Jean Rogers points out that the statue is "the Epstein monument in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris."

Next to Wilde is the Hanged Man from Kurt Busiek's Astro City.

The two characters on the right are so-far unnamed workers in Top Ten, the woman last being seen in issue #10, page 10, panel 2.

Page 22.

Panel 4. Flying in the lower middle of the panel are the Powerpuff Girls.

Walking on the sidewalk in the far right is Sergio Aragones' and Mark Evanier's Groo the Wanderer. (And, John Dorrian points out, the Minstrel and his dog Rufferto)  The presence of the chalice on the nearest support is a tip of the hat by Gene Ha to Top Ten message board regular Cassandra Chalice, who suggested Groo as an Easter Egg.

The graffiti: The "Dubya," "Boy George," and "Commander in Thief" should leave no question as to who the residents of Neopolis, if not Gene Ha/Zander Cannon, think reallly won the 2000 U.S. election.

"Justice League of Akron" is a reference to the recent DC Justice League fifth week event, in which various Justice Leagues were created, all of which had "A" beginning their final words, so that the "Justice League of Atlantis," "Justice League of Aliens" and "Justice League of Amazons" were all formed. Why not the Justice League of Akron? Ohio needs defending, too.

"Garanimal Man" is a reference to the DC character Animal Man and to the comfortable children's wear Garanimals.

"Vikin Loves His Mother's Box" is a reference to Vykin, of DC's Forever People. The Mother Box is the sentient computer that the heroic members of the Fourth World have and which Vykin, of the Forever People, carries. (Thanks to Michael Norwitz for pointing out my typo)

CleV wonders if "Class of '63" is a reference to Moore's 1963 comics.

Page 23.

Panel 2. Ronald Byrd notes that "the chest emblem on the figure in the picture is the same as that of First American from Tomorrow Stories."

Panel 4. Per Gene Ha the rag doll underneath the table is an Easter Egg, but I don't know who it is. Justin and Astrocitizen, thank goodness, doe, and identify the rag doll as being Power Ring from the pre-Crisis Earth-5.

Thanks to: Alicia, of course; Astrocitizen & the folks at the DC boards; Nicknack; Kid Psychout; Sunflower; David Goldfarb; Terence Chua; Old Toby; Tynne Fanel; Expletive Deleted; Michael Norwitz; Richard Franklin; The Spider; Craig Calvin; Carl Fink; Gene Ha; Robert Kennedy; tphile; Tim Serpas; Gene Ha; JDC; Kid Psychout; Christopher Shumway; Steven Rowe; Chris Roberson; Mike Fogg; jobriga; Doug; Jason Azzopardi; David Edward Martin; Kieran Cowan; Richard Schwerdtfeger; Ronald Byrd; Phil Dixon; Philip Flores; Star Tsar; Mr. Eddy; Andrew McLean; Andy Perry; Carl Henderson; Eric Reehl; Phil Dixon; Todd Kogutt; Dave Joll; Eric Simons; Arcanum; Buck Thighmaster; Paul Duggan; G-Money 23; Bill Denton; "Johnny Wonder;" zachd; Gérard Morvan; Clev; "Semicyon;" Justin; Stanley Lui; David Alexander McDonald; James A. Wolf; Philip Cohen.

Notes to Issue #1
Notes to Issue #2
Notes to Issue #3
Notes to Issue #4
Notes to Issue #5
Notes to Issue #6
Notes to Issue #7
Notes to Issue #8
Notes to Issue #9
Notes to Issue #10
Notes to Issue #11
Notes to Issue #12
Notes to Deadfellas
Top Ten Who's Who

 

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