"Bridey Nelson" is an homage to former Superman writer/editor E. Nelson Bridwell. Lois also mentions another babysitter, Mrs. Schwartz, who is probably an homage to former Superman editor Julius Schwartz. Chris has posters in his room that include the covers of Justice Society of America #1 and Superman Returns: The Prequels, and he has a classic Batmobile alarm clock.
Paragon was created by Busiek and was introduced in Justice League of America (DC, 1960 series) #224 way back in March 1984. Alex Ross designed Paragon's new costume (per an interview with Kurt Busiek at the Comic Bloc website). "Special thanks to Fabian Nicieza, Helper Monkey of Krypton". Kurt later explained this credit (at the Comic Bloc website) this way: he rattled off a story to Fabian using him as a sounding board and editor-at-large. From this verbal plot, he typed up a "beat sheet" -- a page-by-page outline -- and that allowed Kurt to type up the actual plot faster.