{mysteriously vanishing while grinning}

Long time ago, I decided
That I would decipher the rules
How genius could turn into madness,
And that would show all of those fools!

I was screaming and giggling and ranting
At experiments furry and strange!
All of that was before you walked in through my door,
Then ev’rything started to change …

    Down at the pub that we called Manganello’s,
    We’d raise a pitcher or two …
    We swore we’d show all our mad-science fellows
    All of the things we could do!

    We would toast to victorious battles,
    (Or, at times, the occasional loss)
    And ANTONIO SMITH
    Knows he can’t trifle with
    Dave and Helen … the henchman and boss!

With the intern named Mell, we would raise lots of hell
And give in to each violent urge!
But who knew, amidst all the gunfire,
Your genius would start to emerge?

We would carve out a swath of destruction
From the tropical isle to the Moon!
But the breakthrough to madness comes closer,
And I know I must end this, and soon …

I never meant this to happen,
I didn’t plan, at the start,
When toying with you, to discover
Your mind was the key to my heart …

We could be crazy together,
But that is a price I won’t pay!
So I’ll now lie, with a dry eye,
And I’ll tell you it’s better this way …

    You must go on to a life without madness,
    Hopefully not go insane …
    I want to free you from danger and sadness,
    I want to spare you the pain …

    You were more than a subject, or victim,
    Or experiment strapped to a bench …
    Though I feel like a jerk,
    I’ll abandon my work
    Just to save …
    (I love you, Dave)
    My wonderful hench.

Helen’s pose is a bit hard to read in panel 3 – it’s hard to tell what direction her torso is facing.

Personality sprite strips: 21. If today’s panel 4 isn’t a callback to this panel 4 then I don’t know what it is.

However I will also say that the personality sprites’ reappearance does reinforce Helen’s “mad people” line in a pleasing fashion, insofar as they are tiny invisible people that only she can see. In fact, it would be great if all of Helen’s sprites were surrounding her – a mental menagerie comforting her, underscoring how alone she is at this moment.

@ed: I couldn’t. I wasn’t born yet.

Why didn’t someone tell me this in 1986?

http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/05_10/1988/0094625/l_61539_0094625_7c1a0f81.jpg

See how that “A” looks like a “FU” too.