Special Request: Apartment 3-G Six Differences

Over at the Comics Curmudgeon, commenter John C. Fremont has just posted:

"This is tough. I can’t tell the difference between Cody Stiles and Cousin Blaze. We need an expert for this. Someone reputed to be a 'gold-digger' with the sharp eye of a nanny who can spot the 5 or even 6 differences between the two. But where will we find such a person?"

Those who don't read the comic strip Apartment 3-G may be confused. This is Cody Stiles:


And this is LuAnn's cousin Blaze:

I can understand the confusion -- same wardrobe ... similar hair ... they even both have Western or cowboy-themed names (Buffalo Bill Cody, Blaze-ing Saddles). However, there are a few telltale ways to tell Cody and Blaze apart.

1) Location: Blaze is in New York. Cody is in South Dakota. More specifically, Cody is at the South Dakota airport, where he has been waiting for LuAnn ever since she left for New York City decades ago. He sleeps on the tarmac. Kindhearted airport workers occasionally bring him soup and sandwiches. Never fear: Laws of the Apartment 3-G universe forbid either Cody or Blaze from ever boarding an airplane again, to prevent Cody and Blaze from switching places to confuse readers, or, God forbid, appearing in the same panel.

2) Neckerchiefs: While Blaze knots his neckerchief at his Adam's apple, Cody has knotted his at the left side of his neck, an indicator of his sexual orientation. Everyone in South Dakota knows what it means when you knot your neckerchief on the left. Now, many 'Mudges have assumed that Blaze is gay, partly based on the fact that he wears a neckerchief at all and partly based on his name. He is not, but when he moved to New York, many New Yorkers made the same assumption. When asked about it, Blaze always got defensive, pointed to his neckerchief and said, "You see this? Does this answer your question?" He was always confused when gay men would reply, "I guess it does. Your place or mine?"
3) Jackets: Cody's is acid-washed denim. Blaze, having learned from all the New York fashionistas in the Apartment 3-G universe, appears to be wearing some kind of nasty poly blend.

4) Worst mistake of their respective lives: Blaze will always regret that he didn't see the signs and try to prevent what happened to Alan. Cody always regrets the day that he ate too many hard-boiled eggs and threw up in Mrs. Neville's laundry hamper, all over Jolene Neville's panties.

5) Decorating style: Cody's room is decorated with Frederic Remington knock-offs. Blaze, under the misguided belief that LuAnn and Alan are/were talented, has filled his flat with crappy pictures of wildflowers and gray buildings.

6) Exposure to diversity: Cody has never seen a black man. Blaze, having spent at least a year in A3G's New York (or maybe he's always been there -- I'm not a historian), has seen two!

Update 7/29/09 -- I feel rather naive that I didn't know about hanky code when I first wrote this, but it appears I wasn't too far off. Blaze's neckerchief might not have a special meaning, since the knot is centered, and thus could lead to some confusion, but since Cody knots on the right (his left, our right? Not sure, but I think that's how it would work), he is clearly a bottom.

P.S. -- I still can't believe that I didn't know hanky code was used to indicate orientation/preferred sex acts, and I made up something that was true.