365 Days of Defiance, Day 350: Defiance, Oh Yeah! (Today in Comics History, December 16, 1773)

Gather 'round, children, and Unca Bully will tell y'all a tale of a brave, fearless soft drink mixture who saved American democracy on this very day in 1773. (picks up my banjo, starts to strum) Aw, dang it, I don't know how to play the banjo.

Anyway, today's the day, 245 years ago and a universe two or three steps to the right, when liquid hombre Kool-Aid Man and his posse of kids that were suspiciously not his own arrived in 1773 and set about seeing about a thing or two about a thing or two.


from "Thirst in Time" in The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #2 (Marvel, 1984), script by Jim Salicrup, pencils by Dan DeCarlo, inks by Jim DeCarlo, colors by Ken Feduniewicz and Judi Higgins, letters by Gaspar Saladino
You know, Kool-Aid Man, you are filled to the brim with delicious cooling, refreshing liquid. Did it not occur to you to let one of the great fathers of our country sip heartily at you and quench his revolutionary thirst? No. It did not. Also: why does Kool-Aid Man always carry a smaller version of himself? And how does he ride a horse one-handed? Answer: pretty well, actually.


Another good question: "Father, why are you eighty years older than us?"


Kool-Aid Man: Timecop! And did you ever think, LL Kool A, that it wasn't the best of ideas breaking a big-ass hole in the side of a boat?


Here's somthin' you don't see every day: an anthropomorphic representation of the sensation of thirst having a sabre duel with the mascot of a Kraft Foods product on the deck of a Colonial-era transport ship. Not even in an Alan Moore comic do you see that. Well, okay, that one issue of Promethea.


Of course, for history to be returned to its proper course, the Boston Tea Party must continue as it originally did, so it's a grand thing that Kool-Aid Man captured the Thirsties. Surely this will not affect American history at all, what with the historical accounts of the giant red liquid orb who assisted the American Revolution in its bold cause. And yes, kids, that is why Kool-Aid Man is on the front of the quarter.


And now it's off to save John F. Kennedy from getting thirsty on his drive through Dallas! Good luck, ya big cherry-flavored lug!


And so Kool-Aid finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap...will be the leap through a wall home.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 349: Nuts to you, Nazis

Panels from X-Men: Grand Design #1 (February 2018); script, pencils, inks, colors, and letters by Ed Piskor

365 Days of Defiance, Day 348: Every year this comic treasury becomes more and more vital

Panels from Marvel Treasury Special featuring Captain America's Bicentennial Battles #1 (September 1976), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by John Verpoorten, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 347: I believe in miracles

Mr. Miracle! The world's greatest escape artist! Incredible defier of odds! Opponent to the evil Darkseid! Created by Jack Kirby! Member of the Justice L

NO NO NO START AGAIN

Because this Mr. Miracle has no relation to the Scott Free version we all know and love ('specially Big Barda!) and is a lont-out-of-copyright and he'd-need-a-new-name anyway mystery man, once again from the pages of the tremendously defiant Captain Fearless Comics, which I've spotlighted here and here with the heroes respectively known as Citizen Smith and Diamond Jim (but really Lana). How powerful is this sorta-Spectreque mystic hero? Why, he wears a green suit, that's how.


Panels from the "Mr. Miracle" story in Captain Fearless Comics #2 (Temerson/Helnit/Continental, September 1941), pencils by Ray Willner

365 Days of Defiance, Day 346: I want your Skrulls / I need your Skrulls

Panels from Black Panther (2005 series) #41 (November 2008), script by Jason Aaron, pencils and inks by Jefte Palo, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Cory Petit

365 Days of Defiance, Day 345: God would like us to be joyful even when our hearts lie panting on the floor

Hey Bully! (you might be thinking just about now) How come you've posted so many panels from comic books that show defiance in the face of danger or despair, and you have never once shown us Rust Cohle from the 2014 season one finale of "True Detective" defiantly mouthing off "L’chaim, fatass?"

And that's a very good question. The main reason, of course, is that I took the oath of the official Union of Comics Bloggers (Mike Sterling, President since 1969) to never mention Matthew McConaughey on a comics blog, or especially to reference the so-called "McConaissance" of the 2010s. Since y'all have ruined that by asking a question about one of Mister McConaughey's starring roles, I guess I'm technically not in violation of that ruling, but just know that I have to appear at the end of the month before a jury of my peers to defend my reference. I hope you're happy with yourselves.

Anyway, it's common and canon knowledge that Rust Cohle is a fervent fan of Daredevil comics, because, sure, who isn't? And as I like to say around these here parts

COMICS DID IT FIRST!

Panels from Daredevil (1998 series) #46 (June 2003), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Alex Maleev, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Cory Petit
So there. I have run rings round you logically. And McConaughicly.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 344: Justice League Assemble

Earlier in this year-long (plus) series about rebellion, revolution and jus' plain defiance, I've posted several panels from issues of Grant Morrison's JLA, which is one of my absolute fav'rites and which I consider to be just about the quintessential example of "the" perfect comic book. (Give or take Morrison not being able to use Hawkman.) I've especially pointed you to moments of EXTREME! Defiance in JLA #41: Aztek makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Earth, and Zauriel rallies the hosts of Heaven (all right, I admit it, Hawkman couldn'ta done that). Yes, I particularly love Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7, and to be sure Legion of Super-Heroes #294 has so much defying in it I had to do multiple posts about it, but even though it's a double issue, I think JLA #41 pound for pound has a measurably greater hero-per-defiance ratio than any comic book published. You know it's true, because I went to my local deli and tied up their precision scales for about half an hour weighing comic books. Which is why my copy of JLA #41 smells like pastrami now, and you know what? That only makes it better.


Panels from JLA #41 (May 2000), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Howard Porter, inks by Drew Geraci, colors by Pat Garrahy, color separations by Heroic Age, letters by Ken Lopez
Well, that's exciting: Wonder Woman is leading a group of superheroes to fight against the cosmic menace of Mageddon, the menace so powerful it didn't even need to add an "Ar" to the beginning of its name. So how many heroes you got backing you up there, Wondy? A dozen? A baker's dozen? A little bull's dozen? (18.)

Nope. How about...

EVERYBODY.

(Click picture to all together now-size)

We do mean EVERYBODY, not just heroes. There's pretty much super-powered humans from all over earth here! And if'n you look closely, I you can even see me, punching out a mini-Mageddon! Hurt my hoof a little but Wonder Woman gave it a kiss afterwards to make it all better, so it was all worth it.

I promised you, the last time I talked about JLA #41, that I was holding the "big one" in reserve from that issue. Here it is.