>(Interesting, that he
>often looks for comfort by looking back to the darkest time of his
>life, but there it is.)

It's not so much comfort as... I'm not sure, reinforcement, maybe. "Comfort" implies feeling better. At moments like that he reaches for memories of the Exile to remind himself that he's had worse and outlasted it. It doesn't make him feel better, but it stiffens his resolve.

As to the rest, it's a solid theory - the kind of retroactive explanation Marvel Comics used to give No-Prizes for back in the day. We'll just assume it should have appeared in a corner-of-panel narration box at some point but was omitted due to a printer's error. :)

--G.
and he's watching us all with the eyyyyyyyyye... of the tiger
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.