Panel 1: That curved hotel building is very likely based—albeit loosely—on the Marriott Marquis Marina in San Diego, a familiar sight from my decades attending the San Diego Comic-Con. However, as later dialogue will make clear, this story is actually taking place in a city not on the West Coast, so this isn’t really supposed to be the Marriott adjoining the SDCC’s convention center.

Panel 2: Alas, had to look up the name of this particular weapon, as I’d forgotten it sometime during the last decade. That is, apparently, the kyoketsu-shoge, a rather obscure but undeniably distinctive Japanese weapon.

Panel 3: Why, I believe that’s my old HP laptop in use by Mysterious Jumpsuit Guy! Gotta say, I kinda miss using a PC-based laptop, sometimes, as I’ve occasionally been frustrated by the Macbook Air experience that followed that old HP. Oh, well.

-Adam Warren