This month, Rand Bellavia takes a look at his growing longbox, and reflects on comics released in April 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016!

Rand Bellavia is back to share his fond memories of decades of comic collecting and reading in this month’s Random Access Memory.

April 1981

What If 27

If What If taught us anything, it’s that any change — no matter how insignificant — will result in everybody dying. What If Ms. Marvel Never Demonstrated Her Feminism By Exposing Her Naval? The heat death of the universe, that’s what.

What If perfectly distills one of the weirder tropes of superhero comics: All heroes are destined to die, but they get better. And with What If, we don’t even require a glorious resurrection scene, as these stories are even more imaginary than the imaginary stories that appear in the other Marvel comics. But what does it say about us that we enjoying seeing our heroes die this much?

This is one of the best examples — and justifiably so, as the Phoenix force is genuinely frightening in its power, and “Dark Phoenix” is the most popular story in one of the most popular comic runs of all time. Though adding “The X-Men ask:” to the title seems a bit hacky and desperate.

Predictably, the Phoenix’s need for power gets the better of Jean once again.

This sets the scene for a Korvac Saga-style finale, with Jean handily disposing of the X-Men one at a time.

Of course it comes down to Scott and Jean. Jean wins. Cue Heat Death of the Universe.

Comics I Read From April 1981

Amazing Spider-Man 218
Avengers 209
Captain America 259
Cerebus 25
Daredevil 173
Fantastic Four 232
Ka-Zar 5
Moon Knight 9
Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 56

April 1986

Daredevil 233

The finale of Miller and Mazzucchelli’s “Born Again” does not disappoint. In fact, it ups the ante by involving the Avengers. And Frank Miller does more to define Captain America in these three panels than most others do writing his comic for a year.

In fact, as this issue deals primarily with Nuke, the comic feature Cap as much as Daredevil.

Cap doesn’t yet know that Nuke was part of the same program that created the Super Soldier formula. All he knows is that:

This comic is so good that you almost don’t notice the narrative shift from third to first person in that second panel. Also, this moment of poignancy is undercut a bit by our knowledge that Matt’s response in not due to a lack of patriotism but rather the result of his blindness.

Comparing this scene with similar scenes between Superman and governmental authority in The Dark Knight Returns, it seems that Miller has a higher option of Cap than Superman.

Swamp Thing 50

When people talk about 1986 being a watershed year for comics, they’re talking about Watchmen, Maus, and The Dark Knight Returns. But this month gave us the last issue of Daredevil‘s “Born Again” and the last issue of Swamp Thing‘s “American Gothic.”

John Constantine spent the last 12 issues sending Swamp Thing on seemingly unrelated “monster of the month” adventures. It was all in preparation for their fight against the “Big Bad,” which they would each battle separately.

John is in the company of some of the greatest magicians in the world, while Swamp Thing — accompanied by the greatest supernatural beings the DCU has to offer — confronts their unknown villain more directly.

Etrigan the Demon is the first to face the enemy.

And it turns out that Evil can focus their attention on two things at once.

Prepare for the heat death of Sargon’s universe.

Next up is Dr. Fate, who does about as well as Etrigan.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Unlike Sargon, Zatara has yet to return from the dead.

Surely the Spectre will fare better than Dr. Fate and Etrigan.

And what’s Swamp Thing doing here anyway?

And what has that last year of stories been all about?

After his meeting with the Parliament of Trees, Swamp Thing was disappointed, but they taught him more than he thought.

Finally, we see the embodiment of evil for what it is.

He’s looking at the finger of a giant hand. The hand reaches up to meet a similarly sized hand that descends from the heavens. The hands clasp together. The long anticipated ultimate battle of Good and Evil ends in a handshake. (This is better than it could have been. When I first read this I was genuinely worried that they were going to arm — or worse, thumb — wrestle.)

Swamp Thing is as confused as everybody else. Well, everyone except the Phantom Stranger.

Comics I Read From April 1986

Alien Encounters 6
Amazing Spider-Man 278, 279
Avengers 269
Batman:The Dark Knight Returns 2
Cerebus 85
Last Days of the Justice Society of America
Mage 12
Marvel Fanfare 27
Miracleman 8
Moonshadow 8
The One 6
Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 116
Power Man and Iron Fist 124
Scout 6
Shadow 3
Solomon Kane 6
Uncanny X-Men 207
Vigilante 31
Vision and the Scarlet Witch 10
Web of Spider-Man 17
West Coast Avengers 11

April 1991

Hellblazer 42

Garth Ennis’ began his inaugural John Constantine story “Dangerous Habits” by given John terminal lung cancer. The story heats up quite a bit this issue, as he confronts Old Scratch himself. But first he seeks help from an old friend.

Turns out Brendan has kept pretty busy since John last saw him. There is a pool in his basement filled with holy water.

Of course, being a Garth Ennis comic, it’s the best stout anyone has ever tasted. And of course, being John Constantine’s friend, Brendan is not long for this world.

So Brendan dies, and up pops the First of the Fallen.

John suggests they offer Brendan one final toast.

John puts the candles out, changing the stout back to holy water, which — it turns out — does not agree with the Prince of Darkness’s tummy.

This is a great story in an of itself, but it also significantly ups the stakes on a story that already had pretty high stakes in the first place. (I mean, it’s not Heat Death of the Universe, but it’s pretty intense stuff.)

April 1996

Invisibles 21

This is the issue were Dane starts to come into his own. He recovers memories of his time in the Invisible College.

These words and images were taken from a dream that Grant Morrison had, because of course they were.

Dane is contacted by Barbelith, a satellite/cosmic traffic light that pops up frequently to enlighten the Invisibles (and humanity in general). Barbelith also first appeared to Morrison in a dream, but Morrison’s subconscious was likely informed by Philip K. Dick’s VALIS, as well as the name of the true God in Sethian Gnosticism (Barbelo) — both of which Morrison was almost certainly familiar with.

Gnostics believed that we are living in a false world created by the demiurge YHWH. In order to show us that we were “in the Matrix,” Barbelo incarnated into YHWH’s false world as:

Barbelith’s words connect ideas from Gnosticism and Philip K. Dick’s VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth into the Invislbles’ larger concept of life as a game we have all chosen to play.

The phrases “Try to remember” and “It’s only a game” are the first text boxes in issue 12 (“Dead Man Fall”), making it clear that the voice speaking to a dying Bobby Murray throughout that issue was Barbelith’s.

Dane tries to visit his mother but is ambushed by servants of the Outer Church. Remembering Tom O’Bedlam’s instruction, he finds a magic world on the telly and finally embraces his power as Jack Frost.

Boy is there to “rescue” him, and he learns that his past is more connected to the Invisibles than he thought.

Comics I Read from April 1996

Batman: Black and White 1
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 83
Bone 24
Captain America 452
Cerebus 205
Flash 114
Flex Mentallo 1
Hellblazer 102
Hitman 2
Medieval Spawn/Witchblade 1
Preacher 14
Seekers 5
Sin City: That Yellow Bastard 3
Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil
Starman 19
Swamp Thing 167
Untold Tales of Spider-Man 10
WildCATs 28

April 2001

Hitman 60

This is the final issue of Garth Ennis and John McCrea’s Hitman. Even while working in the DC Universe, Ennis tends to avoid super-heroic high adventure (no Heat Death of the Universe to be found) but the story still doesn’t end well for anyone. Not that this is a surprise, for the readers or the characters.

Most of their friends are dead, and the deck is stacked against them. Tommy wants to go it alone, but Natt isn’t having it.

Things don’t go well.

And it gets worse.

McCrea delivers some cinematic imagery. Hard to believe that someone hasn’t tried to film this yet.

As you might imagine, Natt can’t stay on his feet long enough to get to the chopper.

As they lie together bleeding out, Tommy shares a dream he had, and curtain.

April 2006

Gorilla Gorilla

Long before he rode Tiny Titans to glory, Famous Cartoonist Art Baltazar teamed up with Disney to unleash Gorilla Gorilla, the story of a gorilla and a lizard who are roommates.

I love the kid logic of the President rewarding Gorilla Gorilla with a TV remote and a cell phone.

Back in 2001, my band Ookla the Mok released Smell No Evil, a rock opera about a space rocket test monkey and the boy who loved him. (“His Monkey Made a Man Out of Him.”) One of the songs (“Song of Kong”) asks the musical question ‘What if King Kong and Godzilla were roommates?” (The answer, of course: the Heat Death of the Universe.) Another song on the album is called “Gorilla (gorilla).” This is not a coincidence:

In honor of this comic (and, I suppose, the recently released Godzilla vs. Kong) here is a lyric video for Ookla’s “Song of Kong”:

Ookla the Mok : Song of Kong (Lyrics video)

A lyrics video of Ookla the Mok’s song “Song of Kong” from their CD Smell no evil. Available here : http://amzn.to/1TOmBulVideo created by @ltgtutoNerd Respo…

April 2011

Dark Horse Presents 1

The reboot of Dark Horse Presents was mighty indeed, and well worth seeking out in back issue bins. This debut issue included the return of both Paul Chadwick’s Concrete and Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster, a Harlan Ellison story, and the opening chapters of ongoing stories by comics legends Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams, and Richard Corben!

With all that gold — did I mention there’s also a Star Wars story illustrated by Paul Gulacy, and work by Carla Speed McNeil and David Chelsea? — I was not prepared for my favorite work in the issue to be from the only creator I was unfamiliar with:

This brilliant strip is by Australian cartoonist Patrick Alexander. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at that page. Impossibly, each panel seems funnier than the previous one. Alexander’s work is featured in several issues of Dark Horse Presents and is always amazing. This strip was also included in the debut issue:

April 2016

Wonder Woman: Earth One volume 1

This is the first of a trilogy of original graphic novels, the final volume of which was recently published. As the cover makes clear, Morrison’s plan was to bring Wonder Woman back to her feminist/bondage roots. Yanick Paquette’s art (and page layout) is fantastic in all three volumes, which makes the anatomy on this cover all the more puzzling — Wonder Woman’s neck is too long and her head appears too small for her body.

Weirdly — given how much the opening Paradise Island scenes in the Wonder Woman films pop — this volume doesn’t really take off until Diana finds herself in “man’s world.”

Diana discovers a dying woman.

The writing and art combine perfectly to convey the sadness and horror that Diana is feeling.

Diana expresses her anger and disappointment to the soldiers who have gathered to stop her.

In this reimagination, Steve Trevor is Black, which makes this scene even more uncomfortable.

Much of the story is told in flashback, as Diana is on trial on Paradise Island. Etta Candy’s testimony is wildly entertaining.

Steve’s testimony is great, as well.

Wonder Woman is amazing and pitch-perfect throughout, but Etta is the sassy star of the book.

RANDom Access Memory – April 2021

April 1981