365 Days of Defiance, Day 357: Captain America reminds you it's okay to punch Nazis.

Panels from Captain America (1968 series) #300 (December 1984), script by J. M. DeMatteis as Michael Ellis, pencils by Paul Neary, inks by Dennis Janke, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Diana Albers
Say, Cap, who else is really really good at punching the Red Skull? (Tune in tomorrow.)

365 Days of Defiance, Day 356: Rush, rush / I wanna see, I wanna see ya get free with me

The fun thing about choosing a favorite member of the Legion of Super-Heroes is not only that there's gosh-so-many, but there's also wow-even-more era of Legion history to choose from, so you can have a favorite from every age! My favorite original Legionnaire: Saturn Girl! My favorite of the classic era: Phantom Girl! (Or, more important, the love-struck team of Tinya and Jo, Ultra Boy!) My favorite Baxter hero: Saturn Girl! My favorite Five Years Later-LSHer: Matter-Eater Lad! My favorite animated cartoon Legionnaire: Bouncing Boy! And hey, I just all around love snake-Jeckie, modern-day Ferro, Triplicate Girl, and even Hate Face, the hero with "the face of a devil, the soul of an angel." Let's not forget Brainiac 5! Dawnstar! Gates! Shikari! Infectious Lass! False Pretenses Lad! Paste-Eater Pete! Light Opera Lass! And the poor guy who has to keep track of 'em all, Roll Call Roy!

But by far, my favorite Legionnaire of my favorite era of Legion of Super-Heroes of them all: direct descendant of the original Flash and possessor of the Speed Force in the Thirty-First Century, Jenni Ognats, XS! Because in the darkest moment of the Legion, who can better save her teammate than the fastest girl alive?


Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1989 series, Earth-247 reality) #123 (January 2000), script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, pencils by Olivier Coipel, inks by Andy Lanning, colors by Tom McCraw, letters by Comicraft
As a Flash fan, I loves me this sequence even more than I hate the covers of the last nine issues of the original Barry Allen series for not even showing him running. This tier of four panels not uses speed lines and compressed panels to not only show the immense speed XS is traveling, but the pressure she's under and, in the last panel, the danger she's about to encounter...


...the danger of mind-controlled Legionnaires! And I think we all know how painful that can be. Maybe the whole schtick of this villain is that "no one can escape the Stem!" but honestly, there's always someone who's going to defy you and resist. Now it's Saturn Girl's turn.


And — I've said this before, especially in relation to Legion comics — I am a sucker for the last minute arrival of the cavalry, just as all seems darkest for our defiant duo. (Not to be confused with Duplicate Damsel.)


This segment was once again suggested by a pal who knows more about the Legion than Computo, and who certainly puts my surface-knowledge of the LSH to shame: Matthew Elmslie, your friendly host of the totally excellent Legion Abstract, which keeps the spirit well alive of the franchise seemingly forgotten by DC Comics. (Seriously, you guys: super-powered teenagers in the future. Is that not a great enough concept for you to hang one book on?) Thanks again, Matthew. And we've got at least one more Legion storyline suggested by Matthew comin' up in this last couple weeks of 365 Days of Defiance, because hey, it's the freakin' Legion!

Matthew was especially careful to suggest I include this coda from several pages later, which spells out the whole story so clearly and cleanly in teh same space it reminds you of the mission of the Legion of Super-Heroes. They do the impossible every day, one thousand years after you've had breakfast


Thanks, Matthew! Long live the Legion again!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 355: They're making history, working for victory

As Wonder Woman would gladly thump you over the head to remind you, fighting against the hordes of Hitler during the Second World War was scarcely the sole work of men. Sure, women were responsible for keeping industry running back at the home front (even for the Golden Age Stark International, since Howard Stark was too busy being neck deep in international espionage and fabulous starlets). But then there was Liberty Belle and Miss America and Spitfire and Fantomah and Invisible Scarlet O’Neil, but do you recall the most famous women of all — The Girl Commandos? It's okay if you don't, they weren't thatT famous. But they're pretty freakin' awesome. In fact, they're hot, hot, hot!


Panels from "Girl Commandoes Outwit Ratzis!" in Speed Comics #25 (Harvey, February 1943), pencils and inks by Jill Elgin (?)
Well, that mission came to a fiery and successful end, and all is well as these clever saboteurs fly back to England and OH NO WE FORGOT ONE


They immediately return to sneak into occupied France again, because one of the Girl Commando credos is no Girl Commando left behind. There, they meet and recruit Yvonne, a Frenchwoman with determination in her eye an a good left hook in her fist. This fulfills the requirements of all successful groups to have a French member at any one time: Swordsman, Crimson Fox, André Blanc-Dumont, Mlle. Marie, Frenchy, and the Frenchman. No, Gambit doesn't count. (Nor does he read or write.)


Locating where Ellen is being held, the Commandos design a subtle scheme to infiltrate and destroy a Nazi stronghold from within! Well, it involves grenades and guns, so it's not that subtle, but neither is running across the battlefield in a red-white-and-blue skintight outfit with rubber wings on your heads, 'kay?


Sure, y'all think you could take down a Nazi war factory from inside, but could you do it in skirts and stilettos? I think not. And chgeck out that amazing last panel, where Ellen and Pat escape a massive Die Hard-style explosion by running away from it. Sure, we may be trained to think that turning your back and walking away from an explosion show a lot more cool, but I'm gonna argue that running is a heck of a lot more sensible than walking, and is useful for preventing getting your hinder fried.


Go ahead, put on your well-loved LP of the Raiders soundtrack and cue it up to Indy's Theme and play it as the totally righteous Girl Commandos escape with Ellen safe, wire the factory to blow up like an especially jubilant Bastille Day gone overboard, and bring new recruit Yvonne into the fight. They had to do everything men commandos did, except backwards and in heels! Except not backwards.


"Make way for a commando, pigs!" is my new battle cry at the next Women's March.

Meanwhile, what's the effect of these deeds of derring-do done by determined dames upon the average Journalism Joe?


"Gawrsh, they shure is good-lookin', hyuk, hyuk." OH GO DUNK YOUR HEAD IN CONCRETE, SLUGGER.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 354: Sing a Song of Superman

In which Superman defeats the most hideous strength in the DC Universe...by singing!:


Panels from Final Crisis #7 (March 2009), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Doug Mahnke, inks by a whole lotta guys, colors by not so many guys, but still a lot of 'em, letters by Travis Lanham
So here I ask you: what song would Superman sing to defeat Darkseid? Could it be


Or maybe it's


Or perhaps Superman chose to sing


Do you think Superman sang this at Darkseid? Well, he did grow up in Kansas.


Me, I think Supes sang this, as befits the cosmic odyssey of the whole thing:


But let me know your suggestions! Write to "MTV's What Did Superman Sing? Contest, 100 Grand Central Station, New York, New York, 10036!" Or, you could say it in the comments.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 353: I changed the lyrics of this song to make it more about the Flash, as you do

It is the night
My body's weak
I'm on the ride
No time to sleep
I've got to run
Run like the wind
To be free again


And I've got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I'll run like the wind
Run like the wind


I was born the son of a lawless man
Always spoke my mind with a gun in my hand
Lived nine lives
Gunned down ten
Gonna run like the wind


And I've got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I'll run like the wind
Run like the wind


Accused and tried and told to hang
I was nowhere in sight when the church bells rang
Never was the kind to do as I was told
Gonna run like the wind before I get old


It is the night
My body's weak
I'm on the ride
No time to sleep
I've got to run
Run like the wind
To be free again


And I've got such a long way to go
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I'll run like the wind
Run like the wind


Panels from Flash: Our Worlds at War one-shot (October 2001), script by Geoff Johns, pencils by Angel Unzueta, inks by Jose Marzan, Jr., colors by Tom McCraw, color separations by Digital Chameleon, letters by John Costanza
Yes, I changed the lyrics for Flash. Here's the real song — well, sort of, from the late lamented SCTV:

365 Days of Defiance, Day 352: Rabbit Season

Panels from Usagi Yojimbo (1993 series) #12 (Mirage, February 1995); script, pencils, inks and lettersby Stan Sakai

365 Days of Defiance, Day 351: Stop! Hammer Time!

Panels from Fear Itself #7 (December 2011); script by Matt Fraction; pencils by Stuart Immonen; inks by Wade Von Grawbadger and Dexter Vines; colors by Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor, and Matt Milla; letters by Chris Eliopoulos