Today in Comics History, May 13, 1940: St. Basil, Patron of Guys Who Swear "Never Again" and Pour Out Their Bottles of Vodka, is invoked

from "Igor Sikorsky" in Real Life Comics #8 (Pines, November 1942), pencils and inks by Edmond Good

365 Days of Defiance, Day 133: War of the Gods

Panels from Secret Wars (2015 series) #7 (January 2016), script by Jonathan Hickman, pencils and inks by Esad Ribic, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, May 13, 1989: Comic book actually titles its final issue "The Fist of Love."

from Psi-Force #32 (Marvel/New Universe,June 1989), script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Rodney Ramos, inks by Chris Ivy, colors by Nel Yomtov, letters by Rick Parker

365 Days of Defiance, Day 132: Let the fire get higher

One of the things I like best about Grant Morrison's comic book tales: at his best he doesn't just spotlight the sheer heroics of those four-color characters who wear capes and cowls and fancy masks, but also the average Joe (and Jo-Elle) on the street. Here's humanity, spurred on by the inspiring words of Superman broadcast around the world, fending off an invasion of the White Martians by using fire. Yes, that was the day Earth triumphed, because everybody was allowed to play with matches.


Panels from JLA #4 (April 1997), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Howard Porter, inks by John Dell, colors by Pat Garrahy, color separations by Heroic Age, letters by Ken Lopez

365 Days of Defiance, Day 131: Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

Panels from Doctor Strange (1974 series) #1 (June 1974), co-plot and script by Steve Englehart (honestly, who else?), co-plot and pencils by Frank Brunner, inks by Dick Giordano (hey! What are you doing over here at Marvel, Dick?), colors by Glynis Wein, letters by John Costanza
(Epilogue!)


Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha?

Today in Comics History, May 11, 1999: An adventure begins that will, oddly enough, somehow involve Thomas the Tank Engine

from The Invisibles (1999 series) #8 (DC/Vertigo, August 1999), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Sean Phililips, inks by Jay Stephens, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein

365 Days of Defiance, Day 130: Storm the Court

Wakanda has been overthrown in a bloody coup (Doctor Doom is behind it all, but that's not important right now). T'Challa the Black Panther has escaped, but his wife Storm (hey! remember when Storm was Black Panther's wife? Remember that their wedding was so important to the universe that the Watcher showed up at the ceremony? Eh, maybe he just came for the hors d'oeuvres.) has been captured and is now on show trial. Is she going to go to her fate without defiance? Ha! If you said anything other than HECK NO, you don't know our Miz Munroe.


Panels from Doomwar #1 (April 2010), script by Jonathan Maberry, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Andy Lanning and Robert Campanella, colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu, letters by Cory Petit
Storm can't use her powers, oh no! So no summoning rain clouds or tornados or low-pressure systems. But she still has her words, her wit, and her never-ending love for the Black Panther to use as her weapons of defiance:

Today in Comics History, May 10, 1985: Comically oversized newspaper pursues Spider-Man

from Web of Spider-Man (1985 series) #5 (Marvel, August 1985), script by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by Jim Mooney, inks by Greg LaRocque and Kyle Baker, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Phil Felix
(See also.)

Today in Comics History, May 10: Punisher sneaks into crack lab through very narrow panel layout

from Daredevil (1964 series) #257 (August 1988); script by Ann Nocenti; pencils by John Romita, Jr.; inks by Al Williamson; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by Joe Rosen

365 Days of Defiance, Day 129: Please try to guess the startling identities of our amazing guest stars...oh, it's Namor and Sue.

It's the third issue of Alpha Flight! So naturally, the heroes to stand firm against the devilish deeds (done masterly) of The Master of the World is...Alpha Flight Sub-Mariner and Invisible Woman WHAT?!?



Panels from Alpha Flight (1983 series) #3 (October 1983); script, pencils, and inks by John Byrne; colors by Andy Yanchus; letters by Tom Orzechowski

Oh man, John Byrne forgot which comic he was writing. Again.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 128: Separated at Birth: And I thought the Shield had big feet

Left: Pep Comics (Archie/MLJ 1940 series) #22 (December 1941); pencils and inks by Irv Novick
Right: Super Comics (Citren News Company, Canada) #1 (c. December 1941); retouches on Shield's costume by unknown artist
(Click picture to men's 21 extra-wide-size)

Pep Comics #22 is cover-dated December 1941, but was put on sale on or about October 15, 1941: seven weeks before Pearl Harbor and before the USA declared war. And the famous Hitler-sluggin' cover of Captain America Comics #1 was published in December 1940, a year before.

My point, and I do have one: be like Kirby and Novick: resist early, resist often, folks.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 127: Balder's never gonna give you up

Panels from Thor (1998 series) #31 (January 2001), script by Dan Jurgens, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Wes Abbott
(Click the panel above for the secret message!)