Spaziergangswissenschaft: Kirby & Lee = Pynchon & DFW (or maybe at least Eggers)?

I'm sure this has been commented on, analyzed, deconstructed ad nauseum elsewhere, but is there a connection to the similarity between the penchant for comic writers to use footnotes & po-mo hip lit authors to do the same? If I had a scanner this would be the appropriate time for me to scan a representative page of DFW/IJ and of late-80's marvel comics (maybe, because I was reading it over the weekend, the W.C. Avengers?) and mark up the number of times they footnote, or refer to other works, or qualify, or are generally self-aware (and therefore self-undercutting) about the overwhelming amount of history and back-story that weighs on 1) writing a marvel comic in the 80's (in the mainstream marvel universe) and 2) a novel in the 90's. That is to say that when there is either a 400 year history of the novel or 400 issue history of the Avengers it's a lot to resolve, work with, deal with, that's either burdensome or empowering. It can lead to awkward po-mo crap (see Godland, Eggers) or greatness (see the Watchmen, some (not all) DFW). It became almost the Marvel style, as even comics not in Earth 616 (google it) like G. I. Joe (my childhood fave) were equally steeped and aware of their own history and backstory. Like over the first 100 issues of G. I. Joe there is more backstory to the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow/Cobra Commander/Zartan/(and later fucking Firefly) epic story than there is of actual story!! (though the high period of Billy & the Circus Bear & early Cobra Island stuff = not so weighed down and more actual fucking in-the-present storytelling. - though you could talk about, parse out a 'what's the diff twix backstory & story?')

It also is a huge burden on the reader. What!?! you haven't read Avengers #12 with WonderMan's origin story about how he was a rival of Tony Stark's Stark Enterprise's, then later died, had his consciousness put into the Vision, revived as a villain, w/ his bro the grim reaper, was brought of of his coma/death, became a movie star, etc. etc. etc. ? OR You haven't read Dickens & Proust & Pynchon & Melville & pulp novels & etc. etc. etc.?

and as an extra - a crazy DFW bibliography

*Spaziergangswissenschaft means something totally unassociated - just marvelling at German's ability to make cool words for niche concepts.