You know, if I hadn't read that he was basically meant to be Stan Lee, I probably wouldn't have caught it, but given that knowledge, the comparison is obvious. He's prone to flowery language, he's full of himself, he takes credit for others' work (in the above panel, the productivity he is speaking of consists of watching Mister Miracle perform stunts), he lives off the fortune of a relative (Stan was related to Marvel's publisher, Martin Goodman), and he's so phony, even his facial hair is fake. Damn, Kirby must have been pretty bitter at this point, so soon after he left Marvel. But even without the real-world subtext, Funky is a great character, and he fits right into Kirby's crazy world as a regular human unwittingly trying to join the Apokolips/New Genesis conflict and make a profit.
Bonus: Big Barda cheesecake!
One more issue to go in this volume. Then I'll have to spend the dough on the next one...
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