Funny story about this page.  Originally, that first panel has Alex telling the Hawks Network to “fuck themselves sideways.”  But I changed that, and removed the other F-bombs too.  Why?  Back in 2010 I had printed out a small run of black-and-white copies of the first issue, as explained in a previous commentary.  I took a copy to my local comic shop and gave it to the manager, who I’ve known since I was a little boy visiting the shop with my mum every Saturday.  He let me know that once the book was ready, he’d gladly stock it, and took the comic off to have a read, saying he’d let me know what he thought.  The next time I was at the shop, the manager said he’d read THE STANDARD #1, he’d enjoyed it… but he didn’t like the bad language.  He said it would limit the audience, and was shocked at seeing that little boy he’d known all grown up and cussing.  “What would your mum say about all those F-words, John!?”  I’ll admit it, he successfully guilted me into making me edit!

This page also features the first lines from Bill Finney.  More on him in the next commentary…