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  1. #1
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Default 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 "Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers" or "Seven Soldiers of Victory" existing threads.

    ALSO NOTE: Parts of this thread are taken from discussions in the separate "Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread".

    -------------------------------

    First, DC came up with The Justice Society of America, who debuted as team in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940 issue).

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

    promo ad from Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942)

  2. #2
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    The original line-up consisted of:
    * Green Arrow & Speedy (first appeared in More Fun Comics #73, cover-dated November 1941)
    * Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy (first appeared in a brief preview published in Action Comics #40, cover-dated September 1941, then appeared regularly in Star Spangled Comics starting with October 1941's issue#1)
    * Shining Knight (Sir Justin) from Adventure Comics starting with issue #66 (September 1941)
    * Vigilante (Greg Saunders) who first appeared in Action Comics #42 (Nov. 1941)
    * The Crimson Avenger from Detective Comics.
    (see separate "Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread" for more on him)
    There was also Wing (Wing How, the Crimson's stereotypical valet / sidekick) who many, many years later would sometimes be referred to as the Eighth Soldier.

  3. #3
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    ... the team first appeared in Leading Comics #1, cover-dated Winter 1941.



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



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

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adventure would be in Justice League of America #100-102 from 1972 during the annual meeting of the JLA and JSA, but an unpublished story from the 1940s would be published (with new artwork) as a serialized feature in Adventure Comics #438-443 for 1975.


  4. #4
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    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:
    * Big Caesar (only appearance?)
    * The Dummy (later became a frequent foe of the Vigilante)
    * The Needle (who would face the Star Spangled Kid & Stripsey again in Star Spangled Comics #9)
    * Professor Merlin (Green Arrow villain who first appeared in More Fun Comics #75?)
    * Red Dragon (first appeared in the Shining Knight's feature in Adventure Comics #69)
    (to be continued . . . )

  5. #5
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    (to be continued . . . )
    When the five villains are each defeated, the man known as "The Hand" doesn't take it too well, and decides that if he's going to die, he can still have "the last laugh" by killing the heroes himself before he dies!

    But then, . . .


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



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

  6. #6
    Mighty Member andersonh1's Avatar
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    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.

  7. #7
    Mighty Member andersonh1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    The original line-up consisted of:
    * Green Arrow & Speedy (first appeared in More Fun Comics #73, cover-dated November 1941)
    * Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy (first appeared in a brief preview published in Action Comics #40, cover-dated September 1941, then appeared regularly in Star Spangled Comics starting with October 1941's issue#1)
    * Shining Knight (Sir Justin) from Adventure Comics starting with issue #66 (September 1941)
    * Vigilante (Greg Saunders) who first appeared in Action Comics #42 (Nov. 1941)
    * The Crimson Avenger from Detective Comics.
    (see separate "Original Golden Age Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) appreciation thread" for more on him)
    There was also Wing (Wing How, the Crimson's stereotypical valet / sidekick) who many, many years later would sometimes be referred to as the Eighth Soldier.
    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.

  8. #8
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andersonh1 View Post
    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.
    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.

  9. #9
    Extraordinary Member Nomads1's Avatar
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    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

  10. #10
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andersonh1 View Post
    14 issues of Leading Comics was all they got.
    However, since the book was published quarterly (four times a year), the group itself was around for just over three years.

  11. #11
    Mighty Member JLH's Avatar
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    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 ...

  12. #12
    Mighty Member andersonh1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    However, since the book was published quarterly (four times a year), the group itself was around for just over three years.
    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.

  13. #13
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLH View Post
    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 ...
    That story reprinted in Justice League of America #111 (May/June 1974) and continued in #112 (July/August 1974) . . .



    . . . was originally printed in Leading Comics#2 (Spring 1942).


  14. #14
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    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.

  15. #15
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Black Manta View Post
    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.
    But some people would also think "Screw this; give us back Morrison's team."

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

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