365 Days of Defiance, Day 294: We Are Legion, Day Nine: Long Live the Legion

And so here we end at Day 294, and if you're wondering why this final installment was so closely timed to fall upon this date...well, please just note the number of this historic issue of Legion of Super-Heroes. Right, huh? So, for the past week-and-change I've been showing you so many uprising of defiance against Darkseid that you'd think this comic book, even double-sized as it it, simply can squeeze in yet another scene of YOU SHALL NOT PASS. We saw Supergirl apparently put Darkseid down for the count yesterday, is he decisively defeated? Not yet. Sheesh, we're almost at the letters page and house ads!


Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
Who shall defy Darkseid? How about...everybody? Ladies and gentlemen and Quislet, preeeeesenting...The Legion of Super-Heroes! And Karate Kid!


...and more Legionnaires, and the Heroes of Lallor, who you'll be forgiven if you don't remember, and all the Daxamites, and probably Matter-Eater Lad! We will not be stopped, Darkseid!


Darkseid today has learned a valuable strategic lesson: never get involved in a land war in Asia. Also: the Legion of Super-Heroes will never, never, never stop fighting evil and corruption. You got that, Stonehead? OH MAN HE JUST RAN AWAY! Yellowbelly! Run away! Run away!


I love and miss the Legion of Super-Heroes. Please consider publishing them again, DC Comics? You've got the twentieth century in good hands. Let's make certain its far-off descendants — one thousand years in the future — are still fighting the good fight, never, ever, ever giving up.

Long live the Legion!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 293: We Are Legion, Day Eight: That's Just Super

Spotlighting our Sensational Second Week of We Are Legion! Don't worry too much, Legion non-fans, it won't last much longer. (Mainly 'coz I think Darkseid just won.)


Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
But for those of you who wear a ring with an "L' on your finger and always finish off the pnrase "Long Live the..." with a word that rhymes with "region," the battle of rebellion to stop Darkseid is getting bigger and louder and more intense until you just gotta ask who else could they throw into the mix? Maybe some certain ones who haven't even appeared in the Legion book for the past couple years? Talk about your special guest appearance because you demanded it...it's the Wonder Twins Superboy and Supergirl!


Oh no, Superboy's down! Who can save us now?


Supergirl?


Mmmmmmaybe!
(Big-Ass Great Darkness Conclusion tomorrow!)

365 Days of Defiance, Day 292: We Are Legion, Day Seven: The Boys Are Back in Town

At last, the climax and centerpiece of LSH #294: just when it seems like all is going well against the shadow hordes, the boss himself, That Jerk Darkseid™ shows up to undo all their good work and triumphs and replacement arm surgery. Darkseid, yer a jerk, and you always were. Ya bum.
Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #292 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
But even as Light Lass falls, there's one Legionnaire — Shadow Lass — who will protect the mysterioius Child (oh yeah, forgot about him) from being captured and corrupted by Darkseid. Hey, does this two-page spread remind you of anything?

(Click picture to big-ass-darkness-size)
Hey, does this two-page spread remind you of anything?

The Creation of Adam (1508–1512), pencils, inks, and colors by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, scripter unknown but probably Stan Lee
In all his millennia, including all those kick-ass Jack Kirby stories, Darkseid has never heard so much impudence as he's getting right now from Tasmia Mallor! To be fair, he's pretty old now and is at the equivalence of yelling "YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN." He's just so darn cranky. But Shadow Lass will not give up that child! Well, it's a stalemate, Darkseid, right? Ehhhh, maybe not. WHO WILL DEFY HIM NOW?!?


OH YEAH BABY IT'S THE FREAKIN' NEW GODS (CREATED BY JACK KIRBY)


Darkseid sure is in for a world o' hurt now, huh? Eh, you'd be surprised. Tune in tomorrow!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 291: We Are Legion, Day Six: Brainiac fingers. But with more hair!

Here's more Legionnaires workin' as a full-fledge team, thanks to all those workouts in the Danger Room Legion Lounge: Magnet Man, Galaxy Guy, Calculator Cal, Periodic Tab, and DC'S Wolverine! (AKA Cosmic Boy, Star Boy, Brainiac 5, Element Lad, and Timber Wolf, all of 'em not deserving of me makin' funny names for them, but whatcha gonna do.) Fight fight fight fight Legion! I think that's their slogan.
Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #292 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 290: We Are Legion, Day Five: I am yours / I am ruthless / I am torn / I am Caesar / I am sun / I am human

During the past few installments of We Are Legion, I've shown you the Sub Legion and various assorted members of the Legion available by the pound for your convenience face off against Darkseid's brain-befuddled slaves, but when are we gonna see an actual Legion Team um...team up to fight the good fight and hold back the rampaging horrible hordes?

Why, right now! Go, go, Legion guys!
Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #292 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 289: We Are Legion, Day Four: Little and Large

I'm continuing my survey of Legion of Super-Heroes #294, the epic conclusion of The Great Darkness Saga, with a look at the battles against this guy:


Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
Today! Big guy Gim Allon (aka Colossal Boy) and my favorite Legionnaire, Shrinking Green Violet (Salu Digby) must battle the Darkseid minion, the evil clone of Lydea Mallor (you might remember her from the series L.E.G.I.O.N. even though it hadn't been published yet back then). Go big or go home, Gim! And hey Salu? Let's get small!




This is honestly the kind of teamwork and innovative fighting that I love in comics, and please don't think too long about how much earwax Vi would have all over her. Ewwwww.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 288: We Are Legion, Day Three: She got the moon in her eye

She's been with the pre-Crisis Legion so long that it's hard to remember the days when she was just hanging around with her sister Dream Girl, but the White Witch didn't become a Legionnaire until she proved herself during the Great Darkness Saga, just by bein' a good witchy woman like the one so often sung about by the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Santana, and other musical artists on the 30th Century Fox label. Fight the power, WW!
Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza

Bully Eats Food: Red Robin Burgers

I am at Red Robin!


As their commercials go: yummmmmm!

365 Days of Defiance, Day 287: We Are Legion, Day Two: Here Comes the Sun

As we continue our Legion of Super-Heroes battle against the dread dreary delectable (?) Darkseid, Legionnaire Dirk Morgna, better known as Sun Boy, steps up to the plate to take a swing against a dark demon! As Superman himself might have said..."Burn."
Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 286: We Are Legion, Day One: The simple things you see are all complicated / I look pretty young, but I'm just back-dated

Perhaps the finest single issue ever of Legion of Super-Heroes begins with a somber portent of only nine words, one of which is is honkin' great big-ass set of letters hewn out of the very earth:


Panels from Legion of Super-Heroes (1980 series) #294 (December 1982), co-plot and script by Paul Levitz, co-plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
LSH #294 is "the epic conclusion to The Great Darkness Saga" (and if you haven't never read it, then boy howdy, it's a good time and price to get it now), wraps up the multi-issue adventure in which the Legionnaires of one thousand years from now are pitted against dark, twisted versions of heroes from the past (coincidentally, from a thousand years past). Who's behind all this villainy? Aw, just look at the panel (above).


The remainder of this action-packed double-sized issue is a comics masterwork of raging against the machine: everybody, and I pretty much mean everybody, rushes selflessly into the battle against Darkseid. It's got battles, philosophy, nods to classical art, jokes, Polar Boy, a couple super-gueststars, and if you aren't careful, you just might learn something. Why, there's pretty much everything in here except the Legionnaire's kitchen sink, and sadly, Matter-Eater Lad. Since practically every other page is a salute to defiance, rebellion, and just plain standing up against the approaching darkness, I'm gonna devote the better part of the next week (and maybe beyond) to show you the full Legion and worlds of the United Planets versus the guy who shoulda been in the Justice League movie. Why, look who's fighting against Darkseid's mind-controlled hordes of unstoppable Daxamite soldiers: the Science Police (of Science!) and...the Hawkmen of Thanagar? Geez, fellas, we thought your origins were too messed up to make a guest appearance, but welcome aboard!


Look, even the Little Heroes Who Can (they thought they could, they thought they could), the Legion of Substitute Heroes, is joining the battle! Go go go, Infectious Lass!


Tomorrow: The Legion! More Legion! And yet even still more Legion! Gosh, I sure hope you all like the Legion.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 285: Slash Fiction

Panels from Slash Maraud #6 (DC, April 1988), script by Doug Moench, pencils and inks by Paul Gulacy, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Costanza

365 Days of Defiance, Day 284: And that's a promise from the good panther people at Wakanda

Panels from Secret Empire #9 (October 2017); script by Nick Spencer; pencils by Leinil Francis Yu, Joe Bennett, and Rod Reis; inks by Gerry Alanguilan, Leinil Francis Yu, Joe Pimentel, and Rod Reis; colors by Sunny Gho and Dono Sánchez-Almara; letters by Travis Lanham

365 Days of Defiance, Day 283: I don't have to put up with you giving me the third degree

Today, something a little different. It's the birthday of perhaps my favorite female vocalist of all time: (and yes, even Jane Wiedlin and Björk have to take a back seat to her) Kirsty MacColl. Kirsty would have been 58 today, and I mourn for her as well as celebrate her: she died in 2000 in a tragic, criminal boating accident, and I miss the many miraculous songs she would have recorded had she not died, and her spirit, humor, and joy in the world of music. She has always been very special to me.



One of my favorite Kirsty songs is from her 1991 LP Electric Landlady and is an early example of "Mambo MacColl": her songs inspired by her love of Cuban and Caribbean rhythm. I especially recommend her final 2000 album Tropical Brainstorm for many examples of Kirsty embracing the constructs of world music. "My Affair" is a protest song, a song of defiance, but not political: it's personal, as Kirsty always was, an intimate expression of individual spirit and inner fire. It may not be comics, and it may not be political, but for today, at least, please remember Kirsty and her music. Here's "My Affair."


"My Affair" by Kirsty MacColl (1991), composed by Kirsty MacColl/Mark E. Nevin
When I was just a child
My folks would drive me wild
They'd spy upon my every move
Until it drove me to despair
They told me what to wear
They told me not to cut my hair
But that's all over now
I had to tell them anyhow

It's my affair
Where I go and what I do
It's my affair oh yeah
It's my affair
It's up to me and not to you
It's my affair

That's the way I want to keep it
I kissed the boy in secret
Thrilled me to the very core
I couldn't stop I wanted more and
I didn't hear the door and
They caught me on the floor
With my affair

And when we first got wed
We used to stay in bed
All day and night all night and day
We bedded half our lives away
But that's all over now
We move in higher circles
Chomping through the upper crust
I couldn't see you for the dust
And then you met that girl
Who left you with your money spent
And now it's no concern of yours
If I sleep with the President

It's my affair
And if I don't come home tonight
It's my affair alright
It's my affair
Who I see is up to me
It's my affair

That's how I want to keep it
I kiss the boys in secret
Hiding in the parking lot
Is just as far as I have got but
If the phone should ring and
There's no one there
Then it's my affair

Eso es asunto de ella
Donde va why lo que hare

Well it's all over now
You've seen the last of me
And I don't have to put up with you
Giving me the third degree
So you go on your way
And don't come sneaking round the back door
Trying to get yourself

It's my affair
And if I don't come home tonight
It's my affair alright
It's my affair
Who I see is up to me
It's my affair



I miss you very much, Kirsty.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 282: To overthrow the men who pervert it

This one's a little over the top, sure, but if you can't have a time-travelling Abe Lincoln punching post-apocalypse Immortan Don in 2017...




Panels from Trump vs. Time Lincoln one-shot (Summer 2017), script by David Perez, pencils and inks by David Hutchison, colors by Lee Duhig
"The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts — not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it. — Abraham Lincoln, Notes for Speeches at Columbus and Cincinnati, 1959

365 Days of Defiance, Day 281: Home Under the Sea

Just like how yesterday Captain Marvel fought for Mr. Tawky Tawny's rights to live where he wants, so too does Aquaman!




Panels from Aquaman (2016 series) #25 (August 2017), script by Dan Abnett, art by Stjepan Sejic, letters by Steve Wands

365 Days of Defiance, Day 280: The Nazi or the Tiger

There's a famous story starring Captain Marvel — the Shazam! guy, not any of the later pretenders to that name — defending and fighting for the rights of Mr. Tawky Tawny, the intelligent English-speaking tiger, to live in a house in a neighborhood. I earlier spoofed this story in a post where I suggested that Mr. Tawky Tawny was a gay tiger (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that if he is). But let me take this, a tale with a big speaking cat and a mighty magical mortal, absolutely at face value to remind you that when some persons don't want other tigers persons living in their neighborhood, it's a time to fight back.



Panels from "Mr. Tawny's New Home" in Captain Marvel Adventures #90 (Fawcett, 1948), script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by C. C. Beck
Hoo boy. Jim Croce didn't have a chance to sing a lyric about this, but you can be darn sure he would have to say don't bitchslap Captain Marvel in a song.


The bigots and racists and anti-tigerists set up a hate rally (sound familiar, 2017?) to push their small-minded prejudice and drive Mr. Tawny out of town. Guys like this don't always wear hoods, but you can tell 'em when you see 'em.


Mr. Tawky Tawny to the rescue of the town!


My point (and I do have one) is just say no to supremacists and racists trying to keep their culture and neighborhood "pure." Or, as pal Andrew, who reminded me of this story recently (Thanks Andrew!), has often wisely said: be the Big Red Cheese you want to see in the world. I think that says it all, don't you?

365 Days of Defiance, Day 279: Spirit of Iron Makes Skin of Stone

Panels from Black Panther (2016 series) #8 (January 2017), script by Ta-Nehisi Coates, pencils by Chris Sprouse, inks by Karl Story, colors by Laura Martin, letters by Joe Sabino

365 Days of Defiance, Day 278: Every day is our D-Day

Panels from "Declaration" in Dark Reign: New Nation one-shot (February 2009), script by Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman, pencils and inks by Stefano Caselli, colors by Daniele Rudoni, letters by Cory Petit

Bully Eats Food: Red Robin (🎵 yummm 🎵)

(Food stunts for today have been portrayed by my slender stunt double, Flat Bully, the two-dimensional pal who's easy to travel with.)

While driving my pal Elaine around to her medical appointments, I discpvered that there was a Red Robin restaurant in Merrick, Long Island! I'd only seen it in commercials and I literally didn't know it was a sit-down menu place; I always thought it was a counter service restaurant! And yet I can sit down! (Well, yes, even tho' I have no knees, because I am Flat Bully.)