Next, Antoine and Steve shared a heartfelt talk
About the attraction of comic books.
"Let us not bundle DC and Marvel,
The former's characters were just awful."
"But their heroes have been most iconic:
"Superman, Batman--" "Simply ironic,
Loads of ability without the stress
Of a human identity crisis."
"In more recent years, DC got better
Showing angst in its costumed go-getters."
"Superman as a hero is risible:
Did they not know what means 'invincible'?
Hello! Superman can't be defeated:
Where's the plot when the drama's deleted?"

"Give them credit for inventing powers
Hitherto unknown in human hours,
The satisfaction of having a brand,
The thematic envy of mortal man,
Whose real life seems devoid of meaning,
A core to congeal the haze of seeming."
"You're right about that: what I wouldn't give
To have a fixed identity and live,
Plaqueman, Dustman, Stinkman, Squirrel-Man, even."
I'd settle for Tofu-Man," said Steven,
"So long as life had a sense of purpose
Distinctive from the typical bumpus,
It wouldn't matter if my super trait
Was always getting in five-minutes late."

"Do you remember how thrilled you were when
Television started airing Batman ,
The overwhelming pride and elation
Of a comic book before the nation,
Almost as if geeky kid-dom mattered,
The Bat-signal high o'er primetime splattered,
And not for one night a week, but double,
Airing the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel?
I half-way realized the show was camp,
Adam West's Sunday school tone without pants;
Self-mocking asides didn't dull one bit
The spark in my eight-year-old eyes it lit."
"The same for that other of which we're fond:
I remember my very first James Bond."

"From Russia With Love,  twenty years ago,
The theater marquee, I still see it glow.
Bond was this suavely unflappable dude,
Who quickly put female spies in the mood;
Besides an idiosyncratic gun,
He had an array of gadgets for fun,
And each made a for-the-plot appearance,
Plus one other when "Q" gave it clearance;
Forget the Cold War, for Bond we must root:
He's the only bloke who hits what he shoots,
A Houdini escaping deadly snares,
His captors leave instead of waiting there
To be certain he falls dead on his back.
Can you name who's singing the title track?"