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^{Episode III}

Episode 3: Rad^© Keeps an ‘Ion’ the Cancer. This "punny" title was the first instance where Tim named an episode. He came up with the idea at the end of episode 2, and put it in a box that said, "Next week: Rad^© keeps an ‘ion’ the cancer."

This issue depicted the "victory" over the disease that resulted in Nana’s cancer being in remission. It is interesting to note that Tim didn’t depict the cancer as destroyed, but merely "arrested" and put into remission. That left an opening for more episodes, even though Tim intended this to be the last one.

By this time, Tim was "into" his comic creating. The line "let’s melt these mutants and go home" is kind of a comic book line combined with a line from the first Star Wars^© movie. (Han Solo^© declares to Luke Skywalker^© about the Death Star^©, "OK, kid, let’s blow this thing and go home!")

There were also family ties in the comic. Tim’s cousin, Jamie, had written a poem that included the line, "Let’s do lunch." Nana had commented to us that the poem had given her great joy and Tim wanted to pay homage to the remark and to Jamie.

The line about Charlie (Rad^©) checking the mail came from the fact that Nana (and Papa) had stayed with her twin and husband (Lorraine and Charlie) during her initial fight with the cancer. Charlie had complained (somewhat facetiously) that all the mail that came to his house was for someone else! Even the "junk" mail was addressed to "Rev. Resident." Hence, he wanted to "check the mail" to see what was there for him. This joke came into play in later episodes, too.

Star Wars, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and the Death Star are all copyrights and/or trademarks of LucasFilms, Inc.