Sliced Bread 2: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

The ironic thing is that Prowl was right. Greyghost's Pen-Pals Club isn't really about superheroes being able to help each other out, because superheroes don't scream for help that often. It's about getting a source of cheap labor to help Greyghost out with fighting crime his way. I've got a bet on with Cruickshank that I'm going to be getting less than two calls a month from all those pens I handed out on the weekend, but I think I'm going to be making a few of 'em.

The pens are a pretty nice piece of engineering. It has two buttons--'call' and 'answer'. That's all it needs because it's set to dial my number only. And it won't even do that unless you take the clasp and bend it back the wrong way. Best of all, they don't look expensive or interesting. Just plain metal.

In other news. I just picked up a DVD box set this morning. Crush Camel: The Complete First and Second Seasons! I loved Crush Camel when I was about nine. Best cartoon ever. What would we do without DVDs? As soon as I can rig up a TV in here, I'm going to embark on a marathon, and Empire City's criminal element can wait their turn.

"Let me ask you something," I said to Greyghost.

"What?"

"What's with super-powered women and cats?"

"What do you mean?"

"Okay. Before there were superheroes, there were superhero comic books, right?"

He nodded, once.

"I talked to a guy in a comic shop. This is the list, just off the top of his head, of all the female comic book characters he could think of who have cat superpowers or cat names or cat something. Hellcat. Wildcat. Catwoman. Tigra. Pantha. Cheetah. Night Cat. Shadowcat, whose real name is Kitty Pryde, so that's three cat names for one person. Cheshire. Alley-Kat-Abra. Black Cat. Catseye. That's a lot."

"Mm."

"But that's just comic books. In the real world, we've got Margay, in the Professionals. We've got Puma Girl down in Texas, Lioness in Chicago, Tawni in Florida and Copy-Cat in San Fran. We had Manxcat. We've got Prowl. Even Cassie got turned into a cat once."

"What's your question?"

"My question is, why is that? If cat powers are so common, why don't as many men have them?"

He didn't say anything for a moment. "I had never noticed the tendency before. My answer is, I don't know why. Do you have any idea?"

"Well, I know why it happens in comic books. It's because the unnaturally large-breasted comic book women look damn slinky in leopard spots."

"Go on."

"I don't know where to go on to. You don't get superpowers based on how you look in the uniform. Do you?"

"It isn't likely."

"And it isn't like it's that the feline look is necessary. Manxcat's costume was pretty generic. Prowl just wears regular clothes, a black jean jacket and a mask. Margay's the only one who looks like she should be playing tambourine behind Josie. I don't get it."

"You sound like you did in Lortraiea."

"When I said the place wasn't real? Yeah. I guess so. Except we know this place is real. So what's with all the cat women?"

He just shook his head.