I knew what was going on there. It was proof, as my friends and I used to say, that Sue is the luckiest woman in the Marvel Universe. Heh, heh.

Of course, that's the kind of talk best left to fans, and doesn't need to be directly addressed on page.

••

And, in a nutshell, THAT'S what's gone wrong.

There used to be lots of joking back and forth in the offices about stuff that would NEVER actually show up in the comics. And, of course, fans would have their own versions of this. The "outside world" delighted in bringing up such topics, usually to make fun of the antiseptic environment found in most comics. (I recall a Canadian news magazine that did an article on Stan Lee when I was in my teens. At one point it stated that FANTASTIC FOUR posed the question "Can a man who can stretch his body into any shape find true happiness with a woman who is surrounded by an invisible force field?")

That we see such "jokes" and all the rest actually showing up IN the comics now is just further proof of something I have been saying for years, that comics should no longer be considered professional publications. They're just expensive fanzines.

The only character that springs to mind in Wonder Woman: Being raised on an island, solely occupied by females, the presence of males verboten.

It stands to reason that either (1) the amazons do without sex, (2) practice non-relational sex, (3) engage in sex with other amazons.

So prior to leaving the island, Diana was a virgin, had flicked the bean, or has bedded other amazons.

I'm aware that other alternatives exist, but those are the ones I'm sticking to.

Also, if comics are aimed at the middle-to-late-thirties fan boys, what better way to raise circulation than by introducing prominent LESBIANS!!!!!!!! Yeah, baby!!!!!

Seriously, we don't see the sex lives of the supposed straight characters, we're not going to see the sex lives of the gay characters either. Since we're not going to be seeing sex lives, which is probably the principal behavior that divides gay and straight, what's the point?

Since we never get the see the characters doing the nasty, only having coffee or cereal together, they might as well be as equipped as Ken and Barbie ... or Ken and Ken ... or Barbie and Barbie.

Or Ken and Barbie and Ken and Barbie and ...