| Seven Soldiers of Victory | |
|---|---|
 The original Seven Soldiers. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Leading Comics #1 (Winter 1941) |
| Created by | Mort Weisinger (writer) Mort Meskin |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | See members |
TheSeven Soldiers of Victory (also known asLaw's Legionnaires) is a team of fictionalcomic booksuperheroes in theDC Comicsuniverse. They first appeared inLeading Comics #1 (Winter 1941), and were created byMort Weisinger andMort Meskin.[1] The team was a short-lived assembly of some of the less famous superheroes in theDC Universe who have made occasional appearances since theirGolden Age debut.[2]
The Seven Soldiers of Victory (also known as the Law's Legionnaires) isDC Comics' second super-hero team, following theJustice Society of America. Like the Justice Society, the membership of the Seven Soldiers is drawn from DC's anthology comics:Vigilante (fromAction Comics);Crimson Avenger (fromDetective Comics);Green Arrow andSpeedy (fromMore Fun Comics);Shining Knight (fromAdventure Comics); andStar-Spangled Kid andStripesy (fromStar-Spangled Comics).[3]
Unlike most superhero teams, the Seven Soldiers include two sidekicks, Speedy and Stripesy, as members (Stripesy is a rarity, an adult sidekick to a "kid" lead character).[4] Crimson Avenger's sidekickWing also takes part in the team's adventures, and is in every other way an "eighth Soldier", but is never considered an "official" member. All but one of its members (Shining Knight, a time-displacedArthurian knight who rides a winged horse and uses an enchanted sword and suit of armor) are non-powered humans who rely on conventional weapons or training in place of superhuman abilities.
PerLeading Comics #1, the team's origin comes about when the criminal mastermind called the Hand (later the Iron Hand), believing himself terminally ill, gives his greatest unused schemes to five other supercriminals who he saved from the police (Big Caesar, the Dummy, the Needle, Professor Merlin, and the Red Dragon) to commit crimes across the U.S. as "the Hand's Five Fingers" and prove his genius to the world. The Hand also challenges the five criminals' enemies (Crimson Avenger, the Vigilante, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Green Arrow and Speedy and Shining Knight, respectively) to stop the criminals, presuming they will fail. However, the heroes defeat the Hand's Five Fingers. The heroes converge on the Hand's base after he reveals his whereabouts; the villain had found out a cure for his condition and decides to eliminate the heroes so he can remain free, but the heroes evade his traps. When the villain tries to use a lightning ray machine against them, the Vigilante shoots a crucial component of the device, bringing machinery down upon the Hand and apparently killing him. Deciding they work well together, the heroes form the Seven Soldiers of Victory.[5]
The Seven Soldiers of Victory appear in the first 14 issues ofLeading Comics (which changed to an all-humor format in #15).
A script byJoseph Samachson from the 1940s, in which the elflike Willie Wisher banishes the Soldiers to "the Land of Magic", where they encounter various supernatural characters, was later serialized in 1975 inAdventure Comics #438–443, with each chapter illustrated by a different artist (includingDick Dillin,Howard Chaykin,Lee Elias,Mike Grell,Ernie Chan, andJosé Luis García-López).[6][7][8]
The team is resurrected inJustice League of America #100–102.[9] During the celebration of their 100th meeting, the JLA is brought to Earth-Two by the Justice Society of America, where a giant ethereal hand controlled by the Iron Hand (who turned up alive) threatens to destroy their world unless he is given control over it. Having been unable to destroy the hand themselves, the only clue the JSA could find was a mystical vision of a grave for "the Unknown Soldier of Victory". An unearthlyOracle, summoned up byDoctor Fate,Zatanna, and theThunderbolt ofJohnny Thunder, reveals to the JLA and the JSA that the Seven Soldiers had fought and destroyed a similar menace called theNebula Man many years previously, though at the seeming cost of their existences. The Oracle then explains that the Soldiers had instead been scattered throughout history. The two teams split into smaller groups and are sent back in time by the Oracle to find them.
Doctor Fate, theAtom, and theElongated Man find Crimson Avenger in Mexico, where he believes he is the Aztec sun god.[10]Superman, theSandman, andMetamorpho rescue the amnesiac Shining Knight from the hordes ofGenghis Khan.Hawkman,Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Golden AgeWonder Woman find the Golden Age Green Arrow in medieval England, where he had been mistaken forRobin Hood.Batman,Hourman, andStarman retrieve Stripesy from ancient Egypt.[11]
The Silver AgeGreen Arrow,Black Canary, andJohnny Thunder and theThunderbolt save the Vigilante from a tribe of Indians in the Old West.Aquaman,Wildcat, andGreen Lantern rescue the Star-Spangled Kid from 50,000 years in the past.Zatanna, the Silver AgeFlash andRed Tornado free Speedy from ancient Greece where he had been transformed into a centaur byCirce. The Golden AgeGreen Lantern,Mister Terrific and the Golden AgeRobin go on a quest to discover the identity of the Unknown Soldier of Victory, whose tomb lay in the mountains of Tibet where the Seven Soldiers had fallen after defeating the Nebula Man. The Seven Soldiers are reunited, but Earth-1 andDiana Prince had been attacked by the Iron Hand. She is able to overcome him, but he is no longer able to stop the giant hand. The heroes create a new Nebula Rod to deal with the giant hand, but whoever uses the Nebula Rod is certain to perish (as did Crimson Avenger's partner Wing, revealed to be the Unknown Soldier of Victory, when the Nebula Man was stopped). While the heroes argue over who will make the sacrifice, the android Red Tornado takes the Nebula Rod and destroys the Hand, destroying himself in the process.[12]
The only other modern meeting of the team (either in Pre- or Post-Crisis continuity) takes place inInfinity, Inc. #11, in which the Vigilante, Shining Knight, Green Arrow, Speedy and the Star-Spangled Kid gather at the grave of Crimson Avenger.[13] He had died two years earlier saving Gotham City from a boatload of explosives inDC Comics Presents #38.
In the original Post-Crisisretcon of the team, both Wing and the Vigilante's sidekick Stuff the Chinatown Kid are promoted to full membership, to replace the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy, who had been removed from active continuity. Stuff had never appeared with the team during the originalLeading Comics run, while an older man named Billy Gunn helped out the Vigilante on his cases in the comic.
Thisretcon is changed in the late nineties, inStars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9. While Stuff remains a full member, Wing is not an official Soldier because his mentor Crimson Avenger wants him to do something more important with his life. The remaining spot on the team is filled by theSpider, an archer who had originally appeared in Quality Comics'Crack Comics. This Spider is really a villain and has been working with the team's archenemy the Hand, creator of the original Nebula Man. The Spider sabotages the Nebula Rod, and sends the team to fight a fruitless battle. The villain tries to kill Wing, but he escapes and reaches the other Soldiers. They repair the Nebula Rod and use it to destroy the Nebula Man. Wing dies and his teammates are again tossed through time and later retrieved by the JLA and JSA. The only major difference between this story and the 1972 story is that this time the Vigilante is found after he had spent nearly 20 years fighting crime in the Old West.[14]
In 2010'sDC Universe: Legacies #2,TNT andDyna-Mite are retconned into the team's original line-up.[15][16][17] It has not yet been revealed precisely how this retcon affects the respective histories of the Spider, TNT or Dyna-Mite.
The Seven Soldiers have not reformed in the Modern Age (partly due to Grant Morrison's project). Three of the originals -Shining Knight, theVigilante andStripesy (now STRIPE) - remain. The team has inspired a few legacies. The first isStargirl, who at first carries the mantle of the Star-Spangled Kid in memory of Sylvester Pemberton, who was killed bySolomon Grundy. She is now a double legacy, as she also carries on the legacy ofStarman. The second legacy is the newCrimson Avenger, who has appeared sporadically in the seriesJSA. She has yet to make an appearanceOne Year Later, though she is seen towards the end ofInfinite Crisis. The third one is Gardner Grayle, theAtomic Knight. The last one is the new Sir Justin in Grant Morrison's project.
Another group takes the name of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in theShowcase issue of the miniseries known asSilver Age. This group, brought together to help the Justice League of America and the other major heroes and teams of the 1960s to battle the menace ofAgamemno, consists ofAdam Strange,Batgirl,Blackhawk,Deadman,Mento,Metamorpho, and a newShining Knight. This group's Shining Knight is Gardner Grayle from the Silver Age featureThe Atomic Knights; in previously published stories that occurred after theSilver Age limited series, he becomes theAtomic Knight and joins theOutsiders. This is the only appearance of this particular assemblage.
Seven Soldiers is acomic book metaseries written byGrant Morrison and published byDC Comics. It was published as seven interrelatedmini-series and two bookend issues. The series features a new version of the Seven Soldiers of Victory fighting to saveEarth from theSheeda.
The series was bookended bySeven Soldiers #0 and #1, with art byJ. H. Williams III.[18] The rest was made up of seven mini-series:[19]Shining Knight with art bySimone Bianchi,[20]Manhattan Guardian with art byCameron Stewart,[21]Zatanna with art byRyan Sook,[22]Klarion with art byFrazer Irving,Mister Miracle with art byPascal Ferry,Bulleteer with art byYanick Paquette, andFrankenstein with art byDoug Mahnke.
In "The New Golden Age", the Seven Soldiers of Victory reunite upon being summoned by Jill Carlyle. While Jill takes the adults on a mission,Stargirl andRed Arrow find out that they are going afterClock King. They find the Seven Soldiers of Victory fighting Clock King on a ship where the original Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) had died. Before Stargirl destroysPer Degaton's time machine that sends the ship back to its own time, Crimson Avenger tells her to find Wing. Once time is fixed, history was changed so that Travis' body was found. A funeral was held by the Justice League and the Justice Society of America. The next day, Courtney joins Pat and the Seven Soldiers of Victory for breakfast.[23]
The re-integration of the Wildstorm characters into the DCU saw a relaunch of theWildcats title. In issue #2-3, Jacob Marlowe unveils a version of the Seven Soldiers of Victory that will serve as a public 'face' and PR cover for the covert actions of the Wildcats team.[24] This team consists of Threshold (formerly ofDv8), Majestic, Andromache, Maul, Mother One, Agent Wax, and Pike.
Notable enemies in order of appearance include:
The Seven Soldiers of Victory appear inStargirl, consisting of theStar-Spangled Kid,Stripesy,Green Arrow,Speedy,Vigilante,Shining Knight,Crimson Avenger, andWing. This version of the group operated years before theJustice Society of America.[35][36]
The original appearances have been collected as part of theDC Archive Editions:
An unpublished Seven Soldiers of Victory story finally saw print as a backup feature inAdventure Comics #438 – three decades after it was written. Noted scientist and author Joseph Samachson had penned his last Soldiers story in 1945, when the super hero team were a regular feature inLeading Comics.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)An unpublished script starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory was published within five issues ofAdventure Comics…Thirty years after the Seven Soldiers of Victory feature was canceled!