This is the second in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) explaining the context behind, using reader danjack's term, "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book writer comments on/references the work of another comic book in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message."

Today we look at some commentary on DC Comics by then Marvel writer, and now DC writer, J. Michael Straczynski...

In Amazing Spider-Man #516, Peter Parker (Spider-Man, donchaknow) and his wife, Mary Jane, are getting ready in the morning when, in the background on the news...

This is a subtle shot at DC Comics, who was part of the publishing division of Time Warner.

Amusingly enough, as you know by now, Straczynski would start working for DC Comics a few years after this issue came out, presumably to correct their lack of "inventiveness."

Thanks to Sean Whitmore for helping me remember which issue this appeared in (I remembered it as being early in JMS' run, but Sean knew that it was later on).