It looks at first like ol' Hobbs is just messing with the boy.
"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."
-Jim Morrison
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great."
-Mark Twain
That reminds me, I ought to sell my old comics books; I have C&H, Bloom County, & 1 Doonesbury (<-- was actually in the forum spell-check!), complete w/ Uncle Duke Action figure.