Hard, Moist, Throbbing Reality

Pop quiz, hotshots! Do you know what caused Iron Man to rally his strength just now?

1. He popped a nitro pill (washed down with a little Jim Beam).
2. Reserve batteries (two Energizer D-Cells) kicked in.
3. The vague proximity of Marianne has energized the notorious horndog like a can of spinach does for Popeye. And that familiar steam whistle "TOOT! TOOT!" noise is issuing from Tony's wang.
4. Skrull powers, activate! Yup, that (alleged) subplot's been brewing ever since "Tales of Suspense."
5. It's the fifth panel from the end and Young Gerry Conway realized he'd written himself into a corner, so screw it.

The correct answer is number five. Duh. And sadly, this still puts Young Gerry Conway ahead of Young Geoff Johns (circa "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.") and Middle-Aged Peter David (circa his later issues of "Young Justice"), both of whom would just let the remaining five pages or so of one story spill over into the following issue before herky-jerkily shifting into a completely different plot. Man, what I wouldn't give to be a comic book editor in your era. All you had to do was sit on your ass drinking coffee and scarfing down donuts, and occasionally make a cryptic announcement to "Newsarama" or order some hack to redraw a character's rack/junk a tad smaller. And you know me: I wouldn't even bother with that last part. In fact, my demands would be quite the reverse. *sighs wistfully*