Law's Legionnaires / Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory Appreciation thread

NOTE: This is for the group originally from the Golden Age of comics.
For the later group Grant Morrison was involved with, maybe try "[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?69168-Grant-Morrison-s-Seven-Soldiers"]Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers[/URL]" or "[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?9484-Seven-Soldiers-of-Victory"]Seven Soldiers of Victory[/URL]" existing threads.

ALSO NOTE: Parts of this thread are taken from discussions in the separate "[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?105784-Original-Golden-Age-Crimson-Avenger-(Lee-Travis)-appreciation-thread/page2"]Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread[/URL]".

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First, DC came up with [B][FONT=Century Gothic]The Justice Society of America[/FONT][/B], who debuted as team in [I]All Star Comics #3[/I] (Winter 1940 issue).

So, what's a comic book company to do next?

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/tKEYK1Z4ANE1nYEFBo4IkniPPttDZD2E1r_j7YkKDsiptAw5_p3DqH8uH1LMmdi3kP3tNpHzps43Uw=s0[/img][SIZE=1][indent]promo ad from [I]Sensation Comics #2[/I] (February 1942)[/indent][/SIZE]

The original line-up consisted of:[indent]* [B]Green Arrow & Speedy[/B] (first appeared in [I]More Fun Comics #73[/I], cover-dated November 1941)
* [B]Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy[/B] (first appeared in a brief preview published in [I]Action Comics #40[/I], cover-dated September 1941, then appeared regularly in [I]Star Spangled Comics[/I] starting with October 1941's issue#1)
* [B]Shining Knight[/B][SIZE=1] (Sir Justin) [/size]from [I]Adventure Comics[/I] starting with issue #66 (September 1941)
* [B]Vigilante[/B][SIZE=1] (Greg Saunders) [/SIZE] who first appeared in [I]Action Comics[/I] #42 (Nov. 1941)
* [B]The Crimson Avenger[/B] from [I]Detective Comics[/I].
[SIZE=1](see separate "[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?105784-Original-Golden-Age-Crimson-Avenger-(Lee-Travis)-appreciation-thread"]Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread[/URL]" for more on him)[/SIZE][/indent]
There was also [B][I]Wing[/I][/B][SIZE=1] (Wing How, the Crimson's stereotypical valet / sidekick)[/SIZE] who many, many years later would sometimes be referred to as the [I][U][U]Eighth[/U] Soldier[/U][/I].

[indent][SIZE=1](this material was first presented in the [URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?105784-Original-Golden-Age-Crimson-Avenger-(Lee-Travis)-appreciation-thread/page2"][I]Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread[/I][/URL])[/SIZE][/indent][quote]... the team first appeared in [B][I]Leading Comics #1[/I][/B], cover-dated Winter 1941.

[img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/2/23749/562386-46063_20060708061138_large.jpg[/img]

Their adventures as a team were published quarterly until issue #14 (Spring 1945).

[img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/3125/985217-lc14.jpg[/img]

Staring with issue#15, the book changed to more of a humor format.

Their next chronologically-published adventure would be in [B][I]Justice League of America #100-102[/I][/B] from 1972 during the annual meeting of the JLA and JSA, but an unpublished story from the 1940s would be published (with new artwork) as a serialized feature in [B][I]Adventure Comics #438-443[/I][/B] for 1975.

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/cSVsFmn3e_Xp948fGD64pit29wagLEuUSLOlqHBn3PUYOnCJslJp1tIG-QdZnO4YI29MekzghDVt=s0[/img] [/quote]

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/Q72OG1s4emRIX8ipkT3I-U2UKaXLgU_l5qNeHn5c_kKbS8NIcNrf2woYaGwQzn1pPGQVO-zmf2BD=s0[/img]

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/hI2BrpbuLzYQWRc2A3LRvDoX0yaN7z1EheoSDC7eQzscXL57f8ooDlysimWIpeqYpBRBy9es3rrm=s0[/img]

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/ToLqQig_lJU0JMtiVvitsNd85ZMzTT8S2tsiYhdRDoDZys_AIwvanRIBBFPNI6VFyDuO12KyM-XL=s0[/img]

In their first adventure as a team, a criminal called "The Hand" is told he is dying and that his condition is incurable. So, wanting to go out in a blaze of glory, he assembles group of villains and then challenges the heroes to stop them.
The villains are:[indent]* [B]Big Caesar[/B] (only appearance?)
* [B]The Dummy[/B] (later became a frequent foe of the Vigilante)
* [B]The Needle[/B] (who would face the Star Spangled Kid & Stripsey again in [I]Star Spangled Comics #9[/I])
* [B]Professor Merlin[/B] (Green Arrow villain who first appeared in [I]More Fun Comics #75[/I]?)
* [B]Red Dragon[/B] (first appeared in the Shining Knight's feature in [I]Adventure Comics #69[/I])[/indent][SIZE=1](to be continued . . . )[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=MajorHoy;3362630][SIZE=1](to be continued . . . ) [/SIZE][/quote]When the five villains are each defeated, the man known as "The Hand" doesn't take it too well, and decides that if [B][I][FONT=Comic Sans MS]he's[/FONT][/I][/B] going to die, he can still have "the last laugh" by killing the heroes himself before he dies!

But then, . . .
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/D6gK4UO3ubGcwkdmyr7A6GQTQVaTY0pKOGpg4YXDuOEbRuZGrwb2Hcg9gfsi0a2d3TlVNvP6240b=s0[/img]

The Hand still has to deal with the heroes, however. Ooops!

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/nVHbeXk1zp1b6nRreTnTe5-Ht7fvgmh23gihO6mGEw-rcD8yslwXXsqs-cocwunXbBrpB5bog3qa=s0[/img]

And, believe it or not, one day in the future, The Hand will return!

You can read Professor Merlin's first appearance in the newly published Green Arrow Golden Age omnibus, where he's the villain in GA's third story. He's not an archer, but I wonder if his name was the inspiration for Merlyn the Archer much later on?

I picked up volume 1 of the Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives a few years back just on a whim, because I enjoyed Golden Age DC and because the book was in the discount bin for half price at my LCS. Despite reading here and there than these guys were not as good as the JSA, I found that I enjoyed them just as much, and a lot of the art was better than the art for many of the JSA characters. My only real complaint about that first volume of four stories is that all four follow the exact same formula. But I enjoyed them regardless and went on to buy volumes 2 and 3 and discover that was it for the SSoV. 14 issues of Leading Comics was all they got. The formula does start to change with volume 2, and we even get some hero vs. hero action when they hunt for lost gold, and a scrambling of the usual hero/sidekick pairs when they end up shipwrecked. I won't spoil all the plots that Major Hoy is summarizing, but it's a good team with a diverse mix of (all non-super powered!) heroes. Well, Shining Knight has his magic armor and sword that Merlin gave him, but no inherent powers.

It was nice to see these guys again during Convergence, and to see the Shining Knight get the spotlight, though I didn't see the need to kill the team off.

[QUOTE=MajorHoy;3362421]The original line-up consisted of:[indent]* [B]Green Arrow & Speedy[/B] (first appeared in [I]More Fun Comics #73[/I], cover-dated November 1941)
* [B]Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy[/B] (first appeared in a brief preview published in [I]Action Comics #40[/I], cover-dated September 1941, then appeared regularly in [I]Star Spangled Comics[/I] starting with October 1941's issue#1)
* [B]Shining Knight[/B][SIZE=1] (Sir Justin) [/size]from [I]Adventure Comics[/I] starting with issue #66 (September 1941)
* [B]Vigilante[/B][SIZE=1] (Greg Saunders) [/SIZE] who first appeared in [I]Action Comics[/I] #42 (Nov. 1941)
* [B]The Crimson Avenger[/B] from [I]Detective Comics[/I].
[SIZE=1](see separate "[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?105784-Original-Golden-Age-Crimson-Avenger-(Lee-Travis)-appreciation-thread"]Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread[/URL]" for more on him)[/SIZE][/indent]
There was also [B][I]Wing[/I][/B][SIZE=1] (Wing How, the Crimson's stereotypical valet / sidekick)[/SIZE] who many, many years later would sometimes be referred to as the [I][U][U]Eighth[/U] Soldier[/U][/I].[/QUOTE]

Vigilante sometimes had a sidekick as well, Billy Gunn. Interestingly, Billy was older than the Vigilante, making both Vig and the Star Spangled Kid younger characters with older sidekicks.

[QUOTE=andersonh1;3363941]Vigilante sometimes had a sidekick as well, Billy Gunn. Interestingly, Billy was older than the Vigilante, making both Vig and the Star Spangled Kid younger characters with older sidekicks.[/QUOTE]

Additionally, Vigilante had Stuff, the Chinatown kid as a sidekick as well (though not in nay 7SV stories). This made him and Crimson Avenger two heroes with Asian (Chinese) sidekicks.

I'd love tpo see some modern versions of these guys. Not necessarily in the present day, but at least new stories using modern techniques and a more true-to-life look at the world. And yes, I do have a 7SV fanfic story in my head doing exactly that.

I always liked this group. I liked that Johns sort of modernized them a bit during his runs on JSA and Stars and Stripes.

Peace

[QUOTE=andersonh1;3363933]14 issues of Leading Comics was all they got.[/QUOTE]However, since the book was published quarterly (four times a year), the group itself was around for just over three years.

A SSoV reprint was in one of the first comics I read: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 111. The classic lineup will always be my favorite. It's just never the same without Green Arrow and Speedy ...

[QUOTE=MajorHoy;3364495]However, since the book was published quarterly (four times a year), the group itself was around for just over three years.[/QUOTE]

True, and that's not a bad run by Golden Age standards, when a number of characters didn't make it into the second half of the 1940s.

[QUOTE=JLH;3364879]A SSoV reprint was in one of the first comics I read: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 111. The classic lineup will always be my favorite. It's just never the same without Green Arrow and Speedy ...[/QUOTE]That story reprinted in [I]Justice League of America #111[/I][SIZE=1] (May/June 1974) [/SIZE]and continued in #112[SIZE=1] (July/August 1974) [/SIZE]. . .

[img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/6/67663/2790492-111.jpg[/img][img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/4/12821-2014-14387-1-justice-league-of-am.jpg[/img]

. . . was originally printed in [B][I]Leading Comics#2[/I][/B][SIZE=1] (Spring 1942)[/SIZE].

[img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/3125/974870-lc2.jpg[/img]

I really think this would be something DC could bring back. I would rework it so that they were all from different time periods. GA, Shining Knight and Vigilante say somewhat the same. Speedy would be XS. There would be a Starwoman, maybe Courtney's granddaughter? Stripe would be an android designed in Dugan's image with super-strength. Crimson Avenger would be a Red Lantern from pass the Legion's era. Time Lord would assemble them for nefarious purposes.

[QUOTE=Black Manta;3367122]I really think this would be something DC could bring back. I would rework it so that they were all from different time periods. GA, Shining Knight and Vigilante say somewhat the same. Speedy would be XS. There would be a Starwoman, maybe Courtney's granddaughter? Stripe would be an android designed in Dugan's image with super-strength. Crimson Avenger would be a Red Lantern from pass the Legion's era. Time Lord would assemble them for nefarious purposes.[/QUOTE]But some people would also think "Screw this; give us back Morrison's team."
[indent][img]https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_medium/6/67663/3836134-01.jpg[/img][/indent]

Me, I'd like the Golden Age concept revived but with [B]none[/B] of the heroes having superpowers. (So I'd maybe replace Shining Knight with, say, Manhunter.)