Trivia / The Amazing Spider-Man (1963)

• Reality Subtext: #416 includes a story where the Daily Bugle is facing financial problems and has to lay off many of its personnel. Meaning that established supporting characters such as Kate Cushing were Put on a Bus, with their fates in doubt. Peter Parker himself, who had only recently returned to New York City with the promise of a permanent staff position, was among those fired and faced an unstable future. The story reportedly served as a way for DeFalco to work "through his feelings" concerning the ongoing financial difficulties of Marvel Comics and a series of Marvel staff layoffs. Some were staffers whom DeFalco himself had hired for Marvel, and he felt partly responsible for the company letting them go like this. Per "The Life of Reilly": "In his Daily Bugle scenes, Tom D. worked in a lot of in-jokes and references to what was going on at Marvel, all of which probably went over the heads of people on the outside, but were glaring obvious to anyone who was working (or had been working) at the company."