The League of Superheroes: Opening Day

It's Opening Day for The League of Superheroes, so we're having a kind of cast party. Any comments?
Rod Davies/Titan: The cover makes me look short and fat.
Allen Peters/Tachyon: Yeah. In real life, his temper's short and his head's fat. Otherwise he's tall and skinny.
Rod: And Allen looks taller than the rest of us. I think he hacked the cover graphic.
Allen: And I still forgot to give you your donkey head. I'll correct that for the next printing.
Steve: I'd like to introduce you, but I've more or less done that elsewhere.
Rod: You introduced the series there, too. So why are we here? It's not like you got pizza or something.
Steve: I thought we could discuss larger issues, such as the earlier versions of the League in stories I wrote in the eighth and twelfth grades--
Rod: The old "Charlie was first" bit?
Charlie Taylor/Micromegas: That was a Charlie. I don't think we were the same. He wasn't noticeably Christian--
Rod: He wasn't noticeably smarter than a pet rock.
Steve: He was honest, hardworking, and not terribly bright--unlike his friends, who used equipment their engineer dads had lying around to build something like a Titan suit.
Charlie: Which I--or he--got to test-drive.
Tom Reilly/Darklight: Charlie does take point in The League of Superheroes, though: He's the one sent in to look over our new headquarters. In the later stories, that's my job. In fact, it's my job late in the first book, too.
Steve: And the second League-style story had a wannabe linguist helping his friends develop an AI breakthrough.
Rod: Your point?
Steve: There's just a developmental history, that's all.
Rod: Yeah, right. Put it in a book and get it published.
Steve: There are literary dependencies, too.
Rod: And if you get Tom's dad in here, the two of you can talk about all that while we save the world or something. Mr. Reilly has a degree in that sort of thing.
Steve: Or we could discuss what I'm sure will be everyone's favorite story arc: "Rod Loses His Voice."
Allen: I'd buy that. You could even call it "The Conehead of Silence." I probably become convinced I've entered a state of grace.
Rod: How about a state of pain instead?
Allen: Just remember, I'm the only one who's ever given you a wedgie.
Rod: Because you cheated and sped up time.
Allen: Great idea! There: I can't keep him from talking, but at least now it'll take him all day to say anything. Tom, mark me down as saving the world again.
Tom: We haven't heard from Clarice, Genie, or even Uncle so far.
Genie: Your solution is impractical, Allen. You can only slow Rod down when you're right next to him.
Allen: I'll just do it while we're talking, and I'll speed myself up when it's time to leave.
Steve: Which won't be long now. Any comments relevant to the book?
Clarice/Goodcheer: I'd like to know why Tom isn't credited as the writer. He is telling the story.
Genie: And the writing style is his, not Mr. Rice's. I've analyzed their written corpora, and while there are similarities, there are also definite differences.
Steve: I'm his editor. Trust me, he needs one. Besides, the Troika and a certain other party insisted on this arrangement.
Tom: "A certain other party"? We don't even meet the guy until LoS 5, Genie Reborn. He can't go throwing his weight around this far in advance.
Steve: He's been throwing his weight around all along; you just didn't notice. But this looks like a good time to take a break and check on Darklight's invisible fan mail.

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