365 Days of Defiance, Day 266: Chelonaphobia

Panels from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #4 (February 2017), script by Matthew K. Manning, pencils by Jon Sommariva, inks by Sean Parsons, colors by Leonardo Ito, letters by Shawn Lee

365 Days of Defiance, Day 265: The Captain of Her Heart

Even when he's not fighting garbed in red, white, and blue, and even when he's known as just plain The Captain instead of Captain America, Steve Rogers still puts up not only a good fight, but the best fight.



Panels from The Avengers (1963 series) #290 (April 1988), co-plot by Mark Gruenwald, co-plot and script by Ralph Macchio, breakdowns by John Buscema, finishes by Tom Palmer, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Bill Oakley

365 Days of Defiance, Day 264: "My name is Blackagar Boltagon, king of the uncanny Inhumans, son of Agon and Rynda, guest star in Fantastic Four comics. Father to a mad son, husband to a wife having a really great hair day. And I will have my comic book series, in this life or the next."

Gladiator combat! It's all the rage this season for Kirby-created characters! But don't make black Bolt thor...when you throw him in the ring and tell him to kill his defeated opponent, there's only one thing Mister Boltagon is gonna say, and that's "..............." Oh wait, he can talk now.


Panels from Black Bolt #2 (August 2017), script by Saladin Ahmed, art by Christian Ward, letters by Clayton Cowles
Man, they shoulda used this for the TV series!

But as one of the great philosophers of our time has opined, that trick never works! And B.B. is tossed back into the cells, whwre he and his better-not-turn-your-back-on-'em temporary allies are prepared to get out of Dodge! Because jailbreak! It's all the rage this season for Kirby-created characters!



Next issue: The Great Escape! It's all the rage this season for...eh, you know the rest.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 263: Oppor-tuna-ty knocks for Aquaman

Aquaman's mad as halibut...


Panels from Aquaman #23 (Late July 2017), script by Dan Abnett, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Wayne Faucher, colors by Gabe Eltaeb, letters by Pat Brosseau
...he's not gonna take it any moray!


Panels from Aquaman #24 (Early August 2017); script by Dan Abnett; pencils by Scot Eaton and Philippe Briones; inks by Wayne Faucher, Philippe Briones, and Scott Hanna; colors by Gabe Eltaeb, letters by Pat Brosseau
Walleye'm outta here.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 262: World War Batman (also: Today in Comics History, September 19, 1944)

Earth-2 Batman...stalking Nazis! This can only mean one thing...it must be a Roy Thomas story!


from The Brave and the Bold (1955 series) #167 (DC, October 1980), pencils by Dave Cockrum, inks by Dan Adkins, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda, and script by...


Oh. Maybe not.

You can tell it's Earth-2 Batman because he doesn't have a yellow circle around his chest emblem. And that the cars are from the 1940s. And that his parents died after the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks version of Zorro, not 1972's The Erotic Adventures of Zorro.


Meanwhile also minutes later...the Blackhawks! Hey, it's a Mark Evanier script! Oh wait, it isn't.


But what was the Nazi's evil plan?


OH NO THEY BLEW UP DOC SAVAGE

365 Days of Defiance, Day 261: *Striking Hypervillains In an Expanded, Lumped-together Dimension

Panels from Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.* #1 (April 1996), script by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Cary Nord, inks by Mark Pennington, colors by Steve Buccellato, color separations by Malibu, letters by Richard Starkings

365 Days of Defiance, Day 260: He's told us not to blow it 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile

Panels from 1st Issue Special [Starman III] #12 (March 1976), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Vosburg, inks by Mike Royer
And then we didn't see Mikaal again for nineteen years, so let's just assume he kept on keepin' on defying all that time. Okay?



Panels from Starman (1994 series) #3 (January 1995), script by James Robinson, pencils by Tony Harris, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by John Workman
Oh. Oh, crap.

Does Starman-Blue get better? Does he live once more to fight and defy again?



Panels from Starman (1994 series) #8 (June 1995), script by James Robinson, pencils by Tony Harris, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by John Workman
Why, of course. Yes, he did.



Shine on, you crazy blue diamond!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 259: She dresses incorrectly, no-one told her how / Seventeen, she not keen on being like anyone else

Jubilee (one of my favorite good guys!) has been captured by Bastion (boo, hiss! He's a bad guy). He's torturing her psychologically: working to convince her the X-Men are dead or captured.


from Generation X (1994 series) #27 (Marvel, May 1997), script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Chris Bachalo and Pop Mhan, inks by Al Vey and Scott Hanna, colors by Marie Javins and Dr. Martin, letters by Richard Starkings
Does Jubes crack and break? Well, what do you think? She's an X-Man.


Gosh, I love this girl.


Also in this issue: Jubilee makes pancakes, but that's not important right now.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 258: Arthur Dent: Who He Is and How he Came to Be

Panels from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1 (DC, 1993); original story by Douglas Adams, script adaptation by John Carnell; pencils by Steve Leialoha; inks by Steve Baskerville, Art Nichols, and Steve Leialoha; colors by Lovern Kindzierski; letters by Todd Klein

365 Days of Defiance, Day 257: Marvels

Panels from Generations: Captain Marvel & Captain Mar-Vell one-shot (November 2017), script by Margaret Stohl, pencils and inks by Brent Schoonover, colors by Jordan Boyd, letters by Joe Caramagna

365 Days of Defiance, Day 256: A Never-Ending Battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Wouldja believe that some people objected to these panels of Superman saving illegal immigrants from being shot?



Panels from Action Comics #987 (Early November 2017), script by Dan Jurgens, pencils by Viktor Bogdanovic, inks by Jonathan Glapion and Jay Leisten, colors by Mike Spicer, letters by Rob Leigh
This is just to remind you: those people are wrong.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 255: Quién es más macho? Batman es más macho.

Batman's always been pretty awesome, but I pinpoint his current "absolute master of strategy" portrayal as debuting in early issues of Grant Morrison's JLA, where Bruce Wayne proves exactly how worthy he is to stand along his super-powered Justice League teammates by taking out a group of SPOILER

White Martians

without breaking a sweat.




Panels from JLA #3 (March 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
The cover of this issue asks the musical question: WHO CAN SAVE YOU NOW?


Panels from JLA #3 (March 1997), pencils by Howard Porter, inks by John Dell, colors by Pat Garrahy (?)
And the answer is of course

na na na na na na na na Batman

365 Days of Defiance, Day 254: He's kinda like Ghost Rider, but he's evil and racist, so let's punch him

In this issue of Marvel Premiere, the Black Panther is not only fighting the Ku Klux Klan, but the Klan's supernatural villain, the Soul Strangler.


Panels from Marvel Premiere #53 (April 1980), script by Ed Hannigan, pencils by Jerry Bingham, inks by Al Gordon, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Diana Albers
Ooh, this doesn't look good...


...for the Klan.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 253: Deep underwater is where I left my love

Where are Batman and Robin this week? Gotham City? Blüdhaven? It's Markovia, right? I bet it's Markovia.


Panels from "Atlantis Goes to War!" in Batman (1940 series) #19 (October-November 1943), script by Don Cameron, pencils and inks by Dick Sprang, letters by George Roussos
AW HECK NO it's Atlantis! So you just know that Batman's gonna meet Aquaman. Or maybe Sub-Mariner. Wouldja believe Mark Harris?

But actually no! With his usual Batluck, he's meeting Nazis! Hey, have you ever seen Batman do a double-take? Study this panel carefully!


And hey, it turns out that the Prince is a double of Robin! Yes, this is the story where Robin dies and the Prince of Atlantis takes his place for the next 40 years! Naw, I'm jus' foolin' ya. But this is a Prince and the Pauper riff. With Nazis!


Robin strikes back against Atlantian Centurions! (Hey, why doesn't that armor rust?) Also: a face-off with his double! This is the scene where he and the Prince fight and Batman has to decide which one of them to shoot.


Dick knocks out the Prince and impersonates him in order to save Batman, who's about to be executed. But the Nazis prove to be treacherous scum. (Of course.)


Batman is freed and Atlantis shakes off the duplictious Nazis thanks to the decrees of the Atlantean Princess, with whom Dick Grayson has fallen in love!


Aw, don't mope, Dick. I'm sure there'll be another princess for you to fall in love with coming along in a dec ade or four.


Anyway! Punch Nazis, on the ground and under water.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 252: Don't waste your time/ Don't waste a minute / Listen here / Don't waste your time

Panels from Cyborg (2016 series) #7 (February 2017), script by John Semper Jr., pencils by Paul Pelletier, inks by Tony Kordos, colors by Guy Major, letters by Rob Leigh

365 Days of Defiance, Day 251: When do you think it will all become clear / 'Cause I'm being taken over by the fear

I always like it when Batman finally listens to — and learns from — one of his partners. (There's a reason we call it "The Batman Family.")



Panels from Batman (2016 series) #24 (Early August 2017), script by Tom King, pencils and inks by Clay Mann, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters byDeron Bennett
Tom King has been hitting it out of the park this year with Batman. May these good stories run for many more months!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 250: And you don't mess around with Kal

Well, whaddaya know: against all expectations, I actually liked this series this year. Here's a favorite moment.



Panels from Dark Knight III: The Master Race #9 (July 2017), story by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by Klaus Janson, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Clem Robins

365 Days of Defiance, Day 249: Crooks Can Be Patriots, Part 2

Panels from Batman/Captain America one-shot (December 1996); script, pencils, inks, and letters by John Byrne; colors by Patricia Mulvihill; color separations by Jamison

365 Days of Defiance, Day 248: Crooks Can Be Patriots, Part 1

Panels from "Satan's Son Sells Out!" in Police Comics #9 (May 1942); script, pencils, inks, and letters by Jack Cole