365 Days of Defiance, Day 273: Gonna burn you, gonna make you swell / Mongul on a hard sell

Mongul, intergalactic despot and poor man's Darkseid, enjoys it when heroes resist him. There's a technical word for that.

Panels from Trinity (2016 series) #5 (March 2017); script, pencils, inks, and colors by Francis Manapul ; letters by Steve Wands
(Click picture to Mongulnormous-size)
...Dumbass.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 272: The Repeated Mistakes of Baron Zemo II

Hey, remember when Captain America fought and defied Baron Zemo (Senior) only a little while after he got dethawed, eventually defeating Zemo so succesfully that Zemo died and never came back? Sure, we all do!

Well, you woulda thunk the second Zemo (Franz Gruber, historical composter of the song "Silent Night" — it's true! Look it up!) would've learned from the first Zeemster's battles with Cap-Meister that bad guys never prosper against the American spirit, as shown in Tales of Suspense #99!


Panels from "The Man Who Lived Twice!" in Tales of Suspense #99 (March 1968), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Syd Shores, letters by Artie Simek
But how did it all end? you may ask. (And that's a very good question.) Well, since this was indeed the final issue of Tales of Suspense...the world will never know.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 271: The Day Marvel Studios Refused to Meet Robert Downey's Salary Demands

How do you think Tony Stark is going to die? Sure, we've all thought a lot about it. Personally, I believe he'll probably die laying on a pile of money with many beautiful women, but this What If? issue gives us another suggestion. Stay tuned for the classic story we just had to call "What If Tony Stark Did Not Die Laying on a Pile of Money with Many Beautiful Women?"


Panels from What If? (1989 series) #55 [What If The Avengers Lost Operation: Galactic Storm] (November 1993), script by Len Kaminski, pencils by Craig Brasfield, inks by Frank Turner, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Janice Chiang
Nope, he's actually lying on a pile of Ronan the Accuser with many powerful self-destruct devices! He's defiant to the end and twice as explodey. To be fair, not as fun as the many beautiful women, but Thor would have sung many beautiful songs about either death.


Huh. Well, so it's over then.



To be continued?!? What kinda What If? story is this?!? What If Marvel Couldn't Wrap Up a What If Comic in 27 pages?

365 Days of Defiance, Day 270: Well, I think I'm going out of my head

The ("All-New," but they're the same ones that're in the movie, so shut up Marvel) Guardians of the Galaxy are "borrowing" something (that's trash panda language for "stealing") from the base of Taneleer Tivan, the Collector (hey, Benicio del Toro! Let's all give him a big hand! Here' you can have one of Thanos's.) Unfortunately for them, the Collector protects his preciousssss items by using the William Conrad Fridge Alert an alien race called "Ghosts" who corkscrew into your brain, psychically link their victims together, and then turn up their personal terror dial to eleven. Hey, judging from how bad Groot looks here, possibly up to twelve.


from All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #2 (July 2017), script by Gerry Duggan, pencils by Aaron Kuder, inks by Aaron Kuder, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by Cory Petit
So who do you think is the Guardian with the most willpower and the darkest secrets inside their brain who can resist the Ghosts? That's right...Mantis! I mean Drax.


Whatever's inside there, that's a secret that Drax ain't gonna share with these a-holes. Aw, I bet it's that he's a big fan of embroidery. DEATH-EMBROIDERY.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 269: Honey for the Beehive

Panels from JLA #37 (January 2000), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Howard Porter, inks by John Dell, colors by Pat Garrahy, separations by Heroic Age, letters by Ken Lopez

365 Days of Defiance, Day 268: Lots of rebellion but not a single space raccoon in sight

Panels from Guardians of the Galaxy (1990 series) #1 (June 1990), script and pencils by Jim Valentino, inks by Steve Montano, colors by Evelyn Stein, letters by Ken Lopez

365 Days of Defiance, Day 267: No, you stop resisting yourself! Why are you resisting yourself?

Panels from Black Panther and the Crew #1 (June 2017), script by Ta-Nehisi Coates, pencils by Butch Guice, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Dan Brown, letters by Joe Sabino