This is an archive of all the installments of Foggy Ruins of Time, where we give you the cultural context behind certain comic book characters/behaviors. You know, the sort of then-topical references that have faded into the "foggy ruins of time." To wit, twenty years from now, a college senior watching episodes of Seinfeld will likely miss a lot of the then-topical pop culture humor (like the very specific references in "The Understudy" to the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal). Click on any of the links below to see the given installment...
1. Where Did Etta Candy’s “Woo Woo” Come From?
2. Which Brady Bunch Actress Was Pepper Potts Based On?
3. What the Heck is a Venus Butterfly?
5. The Defenders and the Refuseniks
7. Who is This Frank Merriwell Guy Spider-Man's Talking About?
8. We Have As Much of a Chance as Spielberg Has of Winning an Oscar?
9. The Secret Cigarette Origins of the Penguin!
10. The Long, Tangled History of Grant Morrison's Mister Nobody
11. The George R.R. Martin X-Men Reference No One Ever Gets
13. John Byrne's Inspiration for Wolverine
15. That Time Iron Man Saved The Day With His Armor's...Slide Rule?!?
16. Which Silver Age Marvel Villain Was Named After a Dirty Limerick?