Question 627: Aren't bets just an absolute b*tch?

They really are dreadful things. REALLY.
Anyway, onto the question:

Smug much?

Poor chap didn't realise what he was getting into

Graph. Wheee.

Tell me who these two gentlemen are and put funda.

Question 626: Difference between genius and madness is success

The origins of __XY__ in the realm of comics is rather obscure, but its impact can't be ignored.


In the 1933 story The Thing on the Doorstep, Lovecraft described:


"The ancient, mouldering, and subtly fearsome town...witch-cursed, legend-haunted ___X___, whose huddled, sagging gambrel roofs and crumbling Georgian balustrades brood out over the centuries beside the darkly muttering Miskatonic."


___X___ is the home of Miskatonic University, which figures prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in both At the Mountains of Madness (1936) and The Shadow Out of Time (1936). Walter Gilman, of The Dreams in the Witch House (1933), attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in ___X___ are the ___X___ Historical Society and the ___X___ Sanitarium.


___X___'s main newspaper is the ___X___ Advertiser, which has a circulation that reaches as far as Dunwich. In the 1880s, its newspaper is called the ___X___ Gazette.



___X___’s most notable characteristics are its gambrel roofs and the dark legends that have surrounded the city for centuries. The disappearance of children (presumably murdered in ritual sacrifices) at May Eve and other bad doings are accepted as a part of life for the poorer citizens of the city.

The precise location of __X__ is unknown, although it is probably near both Innsmouth and Dunwich. However, it may be surmised from Lovecraft's stories that it is some distance to the north of Boston, probably in Essex County, Massachusetts.The real-life model for __X___ seems to be, in fact, Salem, its reputation for the occult making it appealing to one who dabbles in the weird tale.


__XY___ appears in the short story The Thing on the Doorstep and may have been inspired by the Danvers State ___Y___, aka Danvers State ____, located in Danvers, Massachusetts.

SO:

ID XY

Clue: