Defiant: The Robert Smalls Story Legion M new Graphic Novel and Film at Wondercon 2025

Legion M's newest project is the rediscovered American History of Robert Smalls who escaped slavery on a Confederate ship with his family and friends. I enjoyed speaking with producers Marvin Jones (Black Lightning) and Legion M executives Chris Cooper and David Baxter behind the graphic novel and film in development.

History is written by the winners and they erased the contributions of Robert Smalls's battle for freedom, and his refusal to leave his family and other slaves on the ship instead he devised a plan and executed it. Learning that his legacy included creating the public school system and being an elected member of Congress left me shocked but not surprised.

Learning that the Legion M members saw a meme on Twitter and requested this be the next project makes me even more curious about the crowd-funded studio!

Defiant: The Robert Smalls Story in Comics, Graphic Novel … and Film! – The unbelievable life of American hero Robert Smalls has been memorialized in an inspiring run of comics, a graphic novel on the near-horizon, and next up is a feature film from Legion M. As an enslaved harbor pilot in Charleston at the height of the Civil War, Robert Smalls pulled off the most audacious heist in history by commandeering a Confederate warship and filling it with family & friends to run the naval blockade to freedom in the North. Smalls then helped convince Abraham Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the Union Army – and became a naval hero. And that was only the beginning of Smalls’ extraordinary life. Join comics/graphic novel & screenwriter Rob Edwards (Captain America: Brave New World, Academy Award® nominated The Princess and The Frog), producer Marvin Jones (Black Lightning), and other members of the Legion M team as they talk about the process of adapting Small’s fantastic story to comics and film. Legion M executives Chris Cooper and David Baxter will moderate the discussion.


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