"I know you guys don't like the DT comics much," he says. "And they're not... yeah, they're not the best thing I read. But come on--the only other female gunslinger? That's got to be important."

Tara rolls her eyes. "Come, on. She's Cort's niece, being trained in secret, and she's betrothed to Roland but took a vow to never marry. She's a flaming Mary Sue, Greg."

"...maybe a little," he says, helplessly. "But--I think there's valuable stuff in the Tower comics. That's why I still buy 'em every month. But the more of them he puts out, the more I feel like maybe Marvel just found themselves another cash cow to drive into the ground. And that's the Number One Fan talking."

"They must have very strange cows where you grew up, Greg." Tara's teasing him, but gently. "Dead rats. Straws. What else can I say?"