Those moments when you realise something that almost everyone else knew all along.

For me, today it was Volstagg=Falstaff! Never ever occurred to me before., and I don't even know what it was that made me realise it today!

The Warriors Three, to my mind, were basically the Three Musketeers and Volstagg was Porthos. That's how I read them anyway.

I can see exactly what you mean, though - Volstagg's appearance and behaviour are clearly modelled on Falstaff's. I'd never thought of the direct correlation either so you weren't alone.

The thing of it is, when I first read Henry IV part one, when I was studying for my degree, the character seemed really familiar, and I was not then steeped in literary knowledge. Now I know why!

Ah, okay. I think Lee & Kirby both drew on a whole range of familiar fictional characters. I think a case could be made for the Falstaff interpretation and the Porthos one. If not for the fact that Porthos was based (loosely) on an actual person you could even say that Porthos was also based on Falstaff. They're the traditional 'eat, drink and be merry' type of character that's existed since the year dot I guess.

I remember the look of sorrow on the face of my High School English Literature teacher when she complimented me on my comprehension of Shakespearean prose...to which I replied that they all spoke like the Asgardian characters from Marvel comics, so it wasn't that hard to pick up on. She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and despair. Maybe she'd thought her teaching had somehow gotten through to me? I don't know. I knew I'd somehow said the wrong thing, though.

But it was the honest truth. I just thought "Oh, these characters all speak like Thor and his lot" and it didn't seem weird or difficult to me.

Lee and Kirby stole from everyone, including each other.

Ha yea verily thou speak'st sooth! How many nine year old know what 'omnipotent' means and can use it in a sentence!

Speaking of Kirby creations, the big one for me was the original Mr. Miracle. Boy, did I ever feel like an idiot when I realized his alter-ego's name was also a massive play on words. Because only then, can you truly be Scott Free...

I think I was too young when I first read the first issue of Charlton Comics' E-Man.
So I never really considered the name of his partner (Nova Kane). And then, my brain
conditioned not to notice the word play never noticed it for many, many years afterward.

Cartoons and comics were better at teaching the classics than most high school classes.

There was a song in the nineties called Ebenezer Goode. Until a few years ago, people singing ' E's are good, E's are good, he's Ebenezer Goode' did not connect with ecstasy at all with me
And the Beatles' "fish and finger pie" only struck home with me as an obscene reference many many years after the fact.

It took me a while to catch on to House Roy, which was a lot meaner and more specific name than Funky Flashman.

When I saw Miracleman #2 at a comic shop, I though it was a Mister Miracle reboot with a suit wearing evil stuntman, and Big Barda having a baby in an issue controversial for its graphic portrayal of childbirth. I’d read the Mister Miracle Special by Mark Evanier and Steve Rude and it seemed like the character was being taken in interesting directions.

Shakespeare wasn't a particular problem for me either in school, since I grew up reading from the Authorized translation of the Bible.

Volstagg is probably a mashup of both Falstaff and Porthos. Which helps to account for his size.

I think you're right about Volstagg being a combination of the two although 'mashup' is more appropriate as a description.

One of my last idiot eureka moments was when I'd discovered that I have been eating Chinese food wrong. The box unfolds into a plate.

Today I learned. In a similar vein, you're supposed to expand out those little paper ketchup cups into a wide mouth for dipping. But I didn't learn that today and most people probably already knew that too.