365 Days of Defiance, Day 245: From Bard to Verse

Panels from Thor #398 (December 1988), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Don Heck, colors by Greg Wright, letters by John Workman, Jr.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 244: Captain America is good at multitasking

Panels from The Avengers (1963 series) #6 (July 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chic Stone, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Sam Rosen

365 Days of Defiance, Day 243: A heart full of joy and gladness will always banish sadness and Stryfe

The Nineties! They were big, bold, and brassy, filled to the brim with epaulets, guns, and pouches, an age where large men with invisible feet roamed the scratchy, scratchy earth. But no matter the style of the nineties, you have to give 'em this: heroes were heroes, and they did the right things:




Panels from What If...? (1989 series) #69 nice [What If Stryke Killed the X-Men?] (January 1995), script by Mariano Nicieza, pencils by J.R. Justiniano, inks by Roy Richardson, colors by Kevin Tinsley, letters by Janice Chiang

365 Days of Defiance, Day 242: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Panels from Black Panther (2016 series) #11 (April 2017); script by Ta-Nehisi Coates; layouts by Chris Sprouse; finishes by Goran Sudzuka, Walden Wong, Karl Story, and Roberto Poggi; colors by Laura Martin with Larry Molinar, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Paul Lounts; letters by Joe Sabino

365 Days of Defiance, Day 241: Nomad's Land

There's many great scenes and panels of resistance and defiance in the relatively recent and Kirbyesquely epic "Trapped in Dimension Z" saga of Captain America. Here's one of my favorites from the very last pages of the arc's very last story, when we find out what has happened to Steve's adopted son Ian since Cap escaped Arnim Zola's deadly dictatorial regime:



Panels from Captain America (2013 series) #10 (October 2013); script by Rick Remender; pencils by John Romita Jr.; inks by Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, and Scott Hanna; colors by Dean White and Rachelle Rosenberg; letters by Joe Caramagna

365 Days of Defiance, Day 240: Kirby Says: Don't Ask, Just Punch a Nazi! (aka Today in Comics History, August 28: Happy birthday, Jack Kirby!)

Today is Jack Kirby's One Hundredth Birthday. Happy Birthday, Jack!


Self-portrait from Forever People #4 (August 1971), as reprinted in Kirby: King of Comics (2002) by Mark Evanier; pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta
I've spent this year focusing on mostly fictional acts of defiance and rebellion from the pages of our favorite medium, but let's take a moment on Jack's birthday to salute this actual hero of a man who not only drew supers who would punch Nazis and their sympathizers, he would put his money where his mouth was in real life:


from Kirby: King of Comics (2002) by Mark Evanier
The only sad thing about those paragraphs is that the last sentence is no longer true.

We need Kirby more than ever, but alas, he's departed from us. His absence leaves us all a little poorer, but he's left behind his work, his words, his art, and his ideas to continue to inspire us. So now's your time to step into the shoes of the King and try to carry on his legacy. Imagine. Create. Write. Draw. Believe. Resist. Rebel. Defy. Be a king.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 239: The more you say / The more I defy you / So get out of my face

Recently I showed you modern-day (well, contemporary to the '70s when the story was published) Agent Peggy Carter express her expectoral dislike of Nazis, but that was not the chronological first appearance of Peggy tellin' those jackbooted fascists to take a long walk off a short pier. Here's a sequence that, despite its publishication in 1966, takes place over twenty years before during the Big One, WWII! (Hey, how come it's not "the Big Two," then?) Peggy, the cannily-named Agent 13, has been captured by Nazis whuo demand she betray her beliefs, her country, and her boyfriend, a little-known guy called Captain America! There's no gobbing, but it still doesn't go well for her captors.


Panels from "If a Hostage Should Die!" in Tales of Suspense #77 (May 1966), script by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, pencils by John Romita Sr., inks by Frank Giacoia, letters by Sam Rosen
That Peggy is a spitfire! Even when she's not spittin'.