This month, Rand Bellavia takes a look at his growing longbox, and reflects on comics released in March in 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014! Rand Bellavia is back to share his fond memories of decades of comic collecting and reading in this month’s Random Access Memory.

April 1979

Avengers 185

After some months in the wilderness following the Korvac Saga, the Avengers returns to legendary status. And the fact that John Byrne penciled this arc while also penciling X-Men (and just a few months before the Dark Phoenix storyline began) is astonishing. (Uncanny? Mighty?)

The Yesterday Quest attempts to tell the origin story of siblings the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. It took no less than four writers to wrestle this story to the mat, and — frankly — they needed more writers. If you don’t already know, Wanda and Pietro’s origin is nearly as convoluted as Hawkman’s, and this beautiful mess of a story only adds to the confusion.

All stories have to start somewhere, and the Yesterday Quest starts with a bovine doula.

Now, starting back when the Avengers fought Count Nefaria (in Avengers 166, before the Korvac Saga) about three panels per issue were devoted to an unassuming old man with a huge grey beard. This guy was Django Maximoff, who — apparently, but of course, not really — was Wanda and Pietro’s biological father. According to him, they weren’t even named Wanda and Pietro but rather Ana and Mateo.

If you weren’t keeping score at the time, we were all under the impression that their parents were Golden Age heroes Miss America and The Whizzer. (I know I know. Yes, he’s a speedster. No, he’s not into water sports.) Believe it or not, this is all before the — let’s be honest, only more confusing — revelation that their actual father was Magneto.

But back to the heifer midwife.

This “Oh So Very Marvel Comics in the Seventies” revelation probably would have been a lot more effective if they hadn’t already shown us a panel of a cow in clothing walking erect and holding two human infants.

Comics I Read From April 1979

Amazing Spider-Man 194
Cerebus 9
Daredevil 159
Defenders 73
Incredible Hulk 237
Iron Man 124
Uncanny X-Men 123

April 1984

Alpha Flight 12

Five years later and John Byrne still rules my world.

This was a time when I was getting back into comics after a little time off. I grabbed this comic off a spinner rack at a gas station while traveling with my family. It was my first issue of Alpha Flight. I remembered them from Byrne’s X-Men and thought I’d give it a shot.

I also recall that was the first comic I read where I noticed how often characters in super-hero comics say each other’s names and discuss each other’s power sets while talking casually among themselves. (It’s almost as if they knew that some kid would be reading this with no idea who most of the characters were.)

But all you bloodthirsty lot care about is which one shall surely die(!) Byrne pulls it off in a shocking and satisfying manner, which — given the huge announcement on the cover — is reasonably impressive. Alpha Flight find themselves betrayed! The reader is thus lulled into the false notion that the betrayer will surely die(!) but then, when everything looks bleakest and it appears that there’s no way the good guys can win, Guardian risks everything to save the day. Oh noes! Not Guardian! (35 year old spoiler warning: It’s Guardian.)

But no! Guardian defeats the betrayer. He survives the final battle — battered and bruised, but alive!

And we’ve only got about three more pages! We get this nerve-wracking countdown:

And then this:

A genuinely shocking and horrific moment that is kind of ruined by a pointless thought balloon. Even if there had to be a thought balloon there, why not “What an explosion! I better make sure Mac is okay!” It’s bad enough Byrne has her distracting Guardian at the worst possible moment — forcing her to witness her husband’s death, and also kind of making her an unwilling co-conspirator — but having her thinking “I wonder if there’s more cheese in here?” while doing so, seems unnecessarily cruel.

And if you think that was cruel, Byrne waits over a year to bring Guardian back, and then makes it all so much worse.

Also, could someone please recolor these pages?

Saga of the Swamp Thing 26

Blah blah blah. Alan Moore write good. Steve Bissette create ground-breaking page layout. Swamp Thing very scary comic. Sophisticated Suspense. But I’m here to praise inker John Totleben’s fantastic brushwork.

Check out the malice in (and stubble on) Matt Cable’s face.

Has Etrigan ever looked cooler?

And, of course, Swamp Thing is never quite so swampy as when inked by Totleben.

Uncanny X-Men 183

This classic issue of Uncanny X-Men opens with an uncomfortable conversation between Peter (“Colossus”) Rasputin and Kitty (“Ariel,” “Sprite,” “Shadowcat,” [this next one can’t be right — checks notes]“Star-Lord,” “Kitty Pryde”) Pryde.

*Kitty’s brain is referring to the original Secret Wars, where Colossus (along with several other super-heroes deemed worthy enough to sell action figures) were taken to another planet and forced to fight a bunch of random visually-appealing super villains.

It’s a simple thing, but the hard shift from Peter’s to Kitty’s thoughts during this conversation is brilliant. This is where Chris Claremont was at his best. I’m sure he would say that he was just continuing to showcase the same basic human emotional reality that Stan Lee used to make Marvel successful in the first place, but Claremont really took it up a notch.

After the conversation, Kitty receives comfort from Storm.

Then, ominously, Wolverine asks Peter out for a drink. Uninvited, Nightcrawler tags along.

Claremont had spent years developing Logan’s humanity, chiefly through his relationship with Kitty. (Logan’s relationship with Rogue in the X-Men films is based on his relationship with Kitty in the comics.)

See that big guy in the black shirt in that first panel? That’s the Juggernaut. So, before too long, Logan manages to get him to fight Colossus, giving Peter the punishment he deserves (and the outlet he needs).

Comics I Read From April 1984

Alien Legion 2
Amazing Spider-Man 254
Avengers 245
Camelot 3000 11
Captain America 295
Cerebus 61
Daredevil 209
Defenders 133
Dreadstar 11
Grimjack 1
Marvel Fanfare 15
Marvel Super-Hero Secret Wars 4
Marvel Team-Up 143
Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 92
Silverheels 3
Somerset Holmes 4
Super Powers 1
Tales of the Teen Titans 44, Annual 3
3D Alien Worlds 1
Thriller 8
Vigilante 8
Zot 2

April 1989

Animal Man 12

The clues that Grant Morrison’s Animal Man is ultimately about the relationship between creator and creation are there from the start, but this is the issue where it become overt.

For those who don’t speak Grant Morrison, “agents of the power that brings your world into being” is Grant Morrison for Grant Morrison.

The best bit (and main clue as to what’s really going on) is the destruction of Hamed Ali. Reducing him to pencils, then a sketch, then his basic shapes makes it clear that “He Who Never Dies” only ever existed as a drawing on a page. Which, when you think about it, means that Hamed Ali is correct in stating that he will never die.

April 1994

Hellblazer 78

Garth Ennis’ final Hellblazer story begins with a blank page and an admonition:

Throughout his run on Hellblazer Ennis created many great supporting characters, one of which was former solider Header. John and Header sit, quietly smoking cigarettes, then Header tells John about the time when he was ordered to kill a British mercenary in the Falklands.

And, of course, anyone familiar with this book already knows that John Constantine’s friends expire like milk.

Still raw from grief, John stumbles across an old friend selling herself for drug money. He offers help in that Oh So John Constantine way (i.e., beats up her pimp and takes her home against her will).

Of course, his concern is sincere — and her need is great. But the timing couldn’t be worse, as all the threads in John’s life are about to come completely undone.

That tiny bit of self-awareness gets trampled down pretty quickly, and it’s only when it all comes crashing down around him that John can truly face the fact that his typical solutions won’t work; silk-cuts, a trench-coat, and a charming grin aren’t worth much against addiction, race riots, and the First of the Fallen.

Comics I Read from April 1994

Amazing Spider-Man 390
American Freak: a Tale of the Un-Men 4
Animal Man 72
Books of Magic 1
Cerebus 181
Demon 48
Dreadstar 1
Eightball 13
Flash 91
Grendel Tales: the Devil’s Hammer 3
Hate 15
Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction 2
Hellstorm: Prince of Lies 14
Incredible Hulk 418
Madman Comics 1
Milk and Cheese’s First Second Issue [5]
Sandman 60
Shade the Changing Man 48
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 5
Swamp Thing 143

April 1999

Preacher 50

Five years later, and Garth Ennis still rules my world.

One of the unintended consequences of being reunited with his mother is that Jesse was given his father’s Medal of Honor. In an effort to learn more about John Custer, Jesse reaches out to “Spaceman,” one of his father’s war buddies. They meet in Washington DC at the Vietnam Memorial wall. Small talk includes a conversation about Space’s son.

Space then tells Jesse how John Custer won the Medal of Honor. Abandoned behind enemy lines, Space gets injured. Feeling betrayed but refusing to leave Space behind, John expresses the frustration he feels about being in Vietnam. Space considers pointing out John’s privilege, but almost immediately swallows it.

Eventually, Space’s pain is too much for him, but John refuses to leave him behind, so Space takes matters into his own hands.

And it gets worse.

Are they?

But as great as that is, you don’t get the Medal of Honor for standing up for your friend. With Space on his back, John walks through a nest of Vietcong, exposing them to US troops. Caught between US and Vietcong cross-fire, John is shot multiple times by both sides for his trouble.

Having heard the tale, Jesse still needs to decide what to do with the Medal of Honor.

Space thinks it’s a good idea:

April 2004

Invincible 12

Robert Kirkman’s long-running super-hero epic Invincible may not have the pop culture footprint of the Walking Dead, but comic book fans certainly lapped it up. And while Walking Dead immediately established itself as a horror comic aimed squarely at an adult audience, Invincible’s shift from kid-friendly super-heroics to ultra-violent bloodfest was downright Spielbergian.

Invincible’s father — a Superman analogue — is revealed to be an alien super-spy sent to prepare Earth for an invasion. After finding this out, Invincible tries to stop him, and that doesn’t work out so well for him.

The colorist got to use a lot of red in this issue:

After beating Mark into submission, his father asks him why he is fighting for a planet and culture that aren’t his, and what — given his longer life span — he expects to still have 500 years from now.

Unable to strike the killing blow, Mark’s father flies away, leaving him (and Earth). And while Mark may not see it, we are afforded the first glimpse of his father’s eventual rehabilitation.

April 2009

It’s Teflon Month – I read 53 comics and none of them stuck.

April 2014

Walking Dead 125

Ten year later, and Robert Kirkman still rules my world.

After 100 issues of any ongoing comic, certain patterns emerge. The most obvious pattern in Walking Dead is the introduction of the leader of a new group who at first seems reasonable enough and then is quickly revealed to be a monstrous super-villain. The primary exception to this is Negan, who sprints rights out of the blocks as a horrifying psychopath, only to later reveal that while he acknowledges that he’s the Bad Guy, he doesn’t really think of himself as such a bad guy.

Of course, Rick isn’t having any of it.

Rick offers Negan a modest proposal:

Unexpectedly (maddeningly, insanely) Negan thinks this is a great idea.

And then we get one of the most shocking moments in a comic built on shocking moments:

Here Rick continues to shift his alignment from lawful good to chaotic good (and back again) — doing what needs to be done, then almost immediately torturing himself about it afterward. In this case, it manifests as his stubborn insistence on saving Negan’s life and then jailing him so everyone can see that he’s not on board with murdering his enemies. (Unless, of course, he is.)

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RANDom Access Memory – April 2019

April 1979