I have to say, were I Hal, I don't think my first reaction upon discovering that I had a small creature that looked like a leech with a star-shaped head crawling upon my body would be 'Aww, how cute!' Instead, I think I would scream like a little girl and flail around in space making 'get off get off get OFF!' motions. Still, on reflection, the little guy IS pretty cute. And really, this is one of the reasons I love old comics - it was an era when you COULD have a small, sluglike being for a pet that actually WAS a pet, and didn't turn into a scum-sucking being from heck. (OK, there's the whole metamorphosis thing, but a quick pile of calcium, and the problem was solved.) These days, when we're hip-deep in irony, I doubt such a relationship would be possible.