Many thanks for the four Tonys and the kind words of the Gold Key pastiche issue of Radioactive Man! I especially appreciate your pointing out that the issue doesn't rely on "inside" humor. I try to do that with the Radioactive Man issues I write; a kid can read it as a goofy super-hero story while codgers like us recognize the style in which it's done. Did Bill Morrison tell you he painted the cover? He's a very talented guy.

Also, Dan DeCarlo didn't have anything to do with the issue. I did the layouts and Mike DeCarlo penciled it.

Finally, I could kick myself for overlooking the "Radioactive Man Pin-Up" tag on the back cover!

I knew something was missing!

In your review of THWIP! #84 [CBG #1538], you took "issue with a portion of the mini-bio which credits Jack Kirby with the plot for the first Spider-Man." I agree entirely that Kirby had nothing to do with Spidey as we know him, so, as the person who wrote that article (originally for a Wal-Mart promotion), I wondered how I could possibly have given the impression it was otherwise. Here's the paragraph in question:

"On a roll, Lee & Kirby followed up with the Hulk. And Thor. And Spider-Man. Unfortunately, Kirby's plot involving a young boy who magically transformed into Spider-Man wasn't quite what Lee had been thinking of. Collaborating with artist Steve Ditko, Stan came up with a story more in line with he'd envisioned and it appeared in AMAZING FANTASY #15 (published circa May, 1962). Teenager Peter Parker was a loner, mocked and bullied by his classmates when he was away from the security of his loving Aunt May and Uncle Ben. A bite from a radioactive spider at a science expo sent Peter's life into hyper-drive and he used his newfound powers and natural scientific prowess to become an entertainer called Spider-Man. Caught up in his celebrity status, Peter set himself up for a fall, learning in a particularly terrible way that, 'With great power there must also come--great responsibility.'"

Yes, the opening states Lee and Kirby followed up Fantastic Four with the Hulk, Thor and Spider-Man. But, taken in context, it also says that Stan rejected Kirby's idea, a recycled version of the unused Silver Spider project from the mid-1950s, and that Lee and Ditko delivered the real goods. The Silver Spider detail has been a relatively recent revelation, but it's been a matter of record for decades that Jack came up with a pre-Ditko Spider-Man, one Stan rejected as too fantastic and god-like.

I hope that clarifies things. I'm sorry if I somehow conveyed something otherwise.

On the boycott of American and French items:

I wasn't defending either side. I made it very clear that I felt BOTH extremes were wrong. For that reason, I don't buy a "one- side-is-more-wrong-than-the-other" argument.

McDonald's has just as much right to operate its business as Joe's French Bistro does. It is not "more wrong" to boycott a small business than it is to boycott a large company.

From what I could see, Germany, Russia and especially France seemed to oppose the war effort because they had multi-billion- dollar economic ties with Saddam Hussein, not because they had moral reservations about a war with him. If you look at the years and years of passed U.N. resolutions, all three countries supposedly condemned Saddam's regime. However, it is also apparent to me that behind closed doors, things were business as usual between these three governments and the Bad Boy of Baghdad. So when push came to shove about actually doing something about Saddam's defiance, the trio suddenly started doing whatever they could to keep the situation status quo. I don't know about you, but I don't sell out my principles when someone throws money in my face--hence my displeasure with the leaders of these countries.

Heck, I don't mind at all if someone disagrees with me, and I certainly don't want to deny them the right to disagree. But as Mark Twain said in the opening quote to your column, "Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let man label you as they may."

But keep in mind that this quote is just as applicable for you and I as it is for folks you disagree with, like...now don't pop an artery...George W. Bush.