You'd think Bob would find Malibu Comics to be "Inferior Past" considering what did them in. For anyone unaware, in the 90s Marvel Comics bought them out.....just so they could have access to the machines they used to digitally color their comics and then proceeded to nuke the universe Malibu set up which will never get used again because they're waiting for the creators to die off so they don't have to pay royalties.
It's funny too since some of those titles, while derivative, would be right up current Marvel's alley like Prime and Mantra. Still locked up with everything else for the past few decades despite Marvel not really even referencing them. This is around the time Marvel first went bankrupt but yeah, Marvel bought a whole other company just for a handful of computers.
Also "humbling" is kind of the opposite of "I got off to obscure comic artists complimenting me" but what do I know?