I'm looking for a comic I read decades ago and only remember two panels.

August 2, 2015 4:56 PM

Two or three decades ago I read a comic which I've been thinking about off and on the last few years, but I haven't been able to find it again. All I can remember about it was that there was a solid black panel followed by a panel where someone explains that there had just been something like a gap (or hole?) in reality (or time?)

Not much to go on, I know. I thought that with the description of the gap/hole in reality/time it would have to be some big crossover/retcon event, and I thought I remembered that the comic had Eternity in it, so Secret Wars and Secret Wars II seemed like obvious suspects. I reread them and they're not what I'm looking for (the sequence where The Beyonder destroys all of everything everywhere and then it's recreated is definitely not the sequence I remember). I'm not sure if what I'm looking for took place in one of the crossover titles which weren't collected into either omnibus.

I thought that if I misremembering Eternity's involvement then the next most likely candidate would be Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I reread that recently and that's also not it.

I definitely read the comic before 1993, but think I probably read it more towards the mid-1980s.

Does anyone know what story this might have been (or, barring that, have any ideas how to go about finding that out)?

posted by johnofjack to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: Could it be Defenders #92 (February 1981)? It sounds like it to me. Sadly, I can't figure out how to create a hyperlink from my Kindle, but there's a cover and synopsis over on the Marvel Database.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:41 PM on August 2, 2015

Response by poster: Ah. Yes, I think that is it. I remember now that someone had told me that the comic was defective because of the empty panel, but I felt vindicated when it was part of the story. (I also remembered that some of the other side of the page was showing through, but that was hardly uncommon).

Now to see if this is available in TPB anywhere....
posted by johnofjack at 6:53 PM on August 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Looks like it's in Essential Defenders v. 5. I put in an ILL request for it.
posted by johnofjack at 7:04 PM on August 2, 2015

You'll be glad you did. That's the lion's share of a run that was pretty much DC/Vertigo before there was a DC/Vertigo; I loved the book as a kid, and it's still quite near and dear to my heart now.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:21 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

OMG thank you guys, this just put me back on the track of two Defenders issues I had as a kid. Have ordered the Essential Defenders issue off eBay. Nostalgia!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 7:26 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That was the issue I was looking for. Thanks again.
posted by johnofjack at 3:01 PM on September 10, 2015