Everyone remembers the Justice Society of America, but do you know who The Seven Soldiers of Victory are? They lasted just 14 issues, but they made an indelible impression on many who read their adventures. Harlan Ellison remembers them very clearly: “Before the Magnificent Seven, there was the Seven Soldiers of Victory, (who were actually 8); even more than the Justice Society, (which I adored), I LOVED this bunch. Particularly, the Vigilante.”
The Seven Soldiers kept the same line up for their entire 14-issue run. Starting with their first appearance in Leading Comics #1 (December 1941), each episode featured Green Arrow and Speedy, the Shining Knight, the Star Spangled Kid, and Stripsey, the Vigilante, and the Crimson Avenger. There was also a very clear “Eighth Soldier” who functioned along side the other Seven. He was the sidekick of the Crimson Avenger and his name was Wing. The politics of the early ‘40s made it difficult to feature an Asian in a lead role, so the most basic reason for his exclusion from full membership appears to have been his race. However, some folks believe that the editors at DC enjoyed the alliterative quality of “Seven Soldiers” as a title and that this also played into played into the decision to exclude Wing.
Unfortunately, time has not been kind to the memory of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. When DC’s early sixties revival/reworking of the Golden Age comic heroes was proving to be a success with the fans, it didn’t take them long to bring the JSA back. They reappeared in Justice League of America #21 (August 1963). However, this forgotten team from the Golden Age didn’t show up for another 9 years, in Justice League of America #100 (August 1972). When they did show up, they were pictured on the cover looking down at their own tombstone! The Soldiers didn’t even make the cut when DC published “The Greatest Golden Team Up Stories Ever Told.” The endnotes, by Brian Augustyn, were brutally honest, saying, ”...frankly, their adventures weren’t what anyone would call the greatest anything.” Nor did their stories merit inclusion in DC’s “The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever.”
It is understandable how this “forgotten” status came to be. The stories were often forced and the artwork certainly seemed hurried, even for a quarterly publication like Leading Comics. But what ultimately made the Soldiers work is the fact that they were an actual team. They worked together, and their humanity even led them to become frustrated with each other. Another redeeming aspect was the possibilities the stories had. From travel through time to literary villains (#14 Bandits From The Book), somebody was at least thinking when they wrote. The problems seemed to lie in the execution.
Let’s look first at the initial formation of this largely forgotten team. The most obvious reason for the Soldiers is probably the success that DC was enjoying with the JSA. It was a case of, “If something works well once, it should work just as well the second time.”
But there was one problem with this. The most popular heroes were already in the JSA. Inside that problem, there was also a smaller problem, one that fans sometimes forget: the business itself. Who owned what character and who was responsible for those characters? What role did office politics itself have to play in the creation of the Soldiers? To solve this part of the origin, we need to quickly look at the structure of DC in the Golden Age.
What we now know is that DC was initially two very distinct and different companies. The first was called Detective Comics and the second was named All-American. Their secret origin actually starts in 1933 with Max Gaines, who published a collection of newspaper strip reprints called “Funnies on Parade.”
Next, in 1935, Major Wheeler-Nicholson published New Fun Comics. This was the first comic book on the market to publish all-new stories and plan a consistent schedule of publication. Within two years, Wheeler-Nicholson was publishing two titles regularly, More Fun Comics (the re-titled New Fun) and Adventure Comics. Both of these books were being published under the umbrella title of National Comics.
So, by 1937, The Major (never known for being an astute businessman) had acquired a new partner, Harry A. Donenfeld. Together, the two of them published a third title, Detective Comics. In addition, they also named their new partnership Detective Comics. Before long, that name was appearing as a company name on all three titles. (It is interesting to note that, prior to the partnership, Donenfeld was the part owner of the company that distributed National Comics, as well as the owner of the printing plant that made the comics themselves!)
The following year, 1938, Max Gaines (remember, the publisher of Funnies on Parade?) appeared in Donenfeld’s office and brought him a brand new strip that had been created by two kids from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. This strip, originally set for newspaper syndication, had been circulating among publishing offices and Gaines seemed to think it would be perfect for comic books. That strip, Superman, changed everything. Within a year, Batman showed up and the comic industry was suddenly dominated by superheroes.
Gaines, who had the most experience of anyone with publishing comics, went into a partnership with Donenfeld to start a second comic company. (Major Wheeler-Nicholson was, by now, completely out of the picture). The company Gaines created became All-American Comics. While Gaines had no say in anything at DC, (he didn’t own any part of it), the two companies agreed to promote each other’s books in house ads. This helped create the feeling that the two companies were really one.
Inspired by the success of the New York World’s Fair Annual on which both Batman and Superman appeared, the two companies were beginning to see the potential benefit of allowing characters that they each owned separately to appear in the other company's title. From there, it was only a short step to allowing the characters to appear inside each other’s stories. This exchange eventually led to the creation of the JSA.
Generally, the credit for the creation of the JSA goes to Gaines and Sheldon Mayer (an editor who already had a history of working with Gaines). There was even a third party involved with the creation of the JSA, the writer Gardner F. Fox. So, basically, the mangers and editors covering the responsibility for the JSA were employed by AA Comics (but while JSA was being published under by All-American, the cover bore the circular emblem proclaiming it “A DC Publication.” Atom, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkman all hailed from the AA line, while Spectre, Dr. Fate, Hourman and Sandman were all from the DC side of the two companies).
So, the JSA were a hit. And Harry Donenfeld, the owner of National Comics, started looking for a second team. Now, however, all the really great heroes that the two companies owned were being used in the JSA. The ones that were left (i.e. not being featured in JSA) were mostly back up features. In addition, many of these back up features didn’t even have real superpowers. Deciding who to include in the new team book was a problem.
Leading Comics was definitely created to house the new team. While some historians disagree about how the members were chosen, the responsibility for the selection seems to have ended up with an editor from the DC side. Of the heroes who were eventually chosen, several had an association with future Superman editor, Mort Weisinger. In addition, unlike the JSA, no one was chosen from the AA side of the company. Green Arrow and Speedy were appearing in More Fun, the Shining Knight came from Adventure Comics, Action Comics was the home of the Vigilante, Detective showcased Crimson Avenger and Wing, and Star Spangled Comics featured the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy.
There was one definite connection between all seven, however: no one had any direct superpowers. The only one who came close was the Shining Knight. His sword could cut through almost anything and his horse was able to fly. The famed Wizard Merlin had supplied these super extras back in the 6th century as a reward for heroic action. Unfortunately, the Knight ended up frozen for 14 centuries before thawing out just in time to fight in WWII. So, men who made a conscious decision to fight crime in a costume powered the entire team. They were not from another planet, they were not in essence magically based; they were ordinary Joes, just like most readers.
From the creative end, there were some similarities with the JSA. Early on, the stories tended to be bookended by a team meeting that was scripted by one writer, while the individual adventures within that story seemed to be the responsibility of the person who regularly worked on the book. Who exactly did what is extremely hard to determine. By issue 4 the book seems to be written by a single writer and illustrated by a single artist. Among those involved with the first six issues were Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel and Mort Weisinger himself. Throughout it all, Weisinger seems to be the connecting glue
What is known for sure is that Joe Samachson was responsible issues 6-14 (there was also a Samachson script for Leading Comics #15 (June 1945), but it didn’t see light until the ‘70s when it was published in the back of Adventure Comics #438-443).
Samachson’s involvement comes as no surprise. He had already proved himself by writing for DC’s big two, Batman and Superman, and he had also worked on Sandman and Green Arrow. It was probably the work on Green Arrow’s stories that helped bring him into the Soldiers. Mort Weisinger’s role in the creation of Green Arrow is well documented. After the Soldiers, Weisinger and Samachson continued to work together in some form or another. Their most famous collaboration was the Martian Manhunter and Samachson also wrote the first script for Tomahawk. As time went on, Joe would write for Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, and he also published award winning science fiction under the name of “William Morrison.”
With the line up for the soldiers in place, a new title is developed for them. Leading Comics first appeared in the winter of 1941-1942 and lasted until issue 41, which appeared in 1950. The Soldiers occupied the covers of the first 14 issues. The remaining issues were devoted to funny animals, and in issue 41 it became Leading Screen.
The very first issue featured the straightforward origin of the Soldiers. Unlike the JSA, who were sitting around a table talking in All-Star Comics #3 (December 1940), the soldiers were actually summoned together by the Arch criminal, The Hand. It seems that The Hand had been diagnosed with a terminal disease that left him with less than a month left on this mortal coil. He was appalled that he would never get a chance to use every criminal scheme he had ever cooked up, so he hired other criminals to do the dirty work.
After supplying his newly hired hands with the criminal plans, he issued a challenge to each of that criminal’s regular adversary. This is how the Seven Soldiers came together for the first time, at the suggestion of a major criminal! They weren't sitting around over a cup of coffee telling stories like the JSA, they were working! After the challenge of the Hand had been made, Green Arrow suggested to the others that they should meet again after they solved their individual problems. Once the villains and their leader had been dealt with, it was the Shining Knight who suggested they should make the meetings a regular event. All agreed, and in the narration that followed we heard the name of the team for the first time.
The team’s name itself was featured on the second cover, but over the years, they were also known as “Law’s Legionnaires.” In addition, the covers would sometime headline “Five Favorite Features!” (I firmly believe that someone in a high place at DC in the Golden Age was completely and totally enamored with the concept of alliteration).
One of the standout features of the Seven Soldiers of Victory was the covers, some of which rank with the best of the Golden Age. Leading Comics #1 started the action off immediately, as the heroes stood ready for action with Green Arrow and Speedy apparently dropping in from the Arrow Plane to join their friends. Issue four showed the villain laughing from another dimension (or under a curio glass) as the Soldiers tried valiantly to break through to him. The classic, however, was issue 8, where the soldiers were trapped in an Hourglass. There were of course, a few lapses in judgment. The cover of issue 11 shows the Soldiers being attacked by a giant hat.
While the stories overall may appear mediocre at best, the Soldiers were a good example of teamwork. They worked together to solve problems, they got upset with each other; they had a regular crew of villains, some of whom appeared several times, (The Hand, Dr. Doome) and they always had at the very least, an interesting concept for their adventures (that perennial science fiction favorite, time travel, happens several times). Lastly, they were, underneath it all, human.
On an interesting side note, the title of the team seemed to have prohibited other heroes from joining in. There were still some characters left who could have easily joined the original Seven: Robotman, Johnny Quick and Aquaman quickly come to mind. Since the book itself proclaimed the number seven in the title, however, the editors may have been reluctant to bring others aboard. Considering Mort Weisinger’s involvement, it is hard to believe that Aquaman didn't make the cut, or at least make an appearance.
When the Soldiers disappeared after issue 14, they were not seen again until a text page in Justice League of America #76 (December 1969). A picture of them, by Murphey Anderson, accompanied the text. Shortly after this appeared, Denny O’Neil revived the Vigilante for a few appearances. In 1972, The Seven Soldiers of Victory appeared on a cover for the first time over 25 years. Justice League of America #100 featured them, as they appeared ghost-like hovering over their own funeral. The explanation for their 25-year absence was a spectacular battle with the Nebula Man and some problems with time travel!
Eventually, the Soldiers became an offshoot of the All Star Squadron and there was some innocent rewriting of history as Green Arrow suddenly became unavailable for use and the Spider suddenly showed up. Regardless, Roy Thomas did a spectacular job of introducing many to these long absent heroes.
Critically maligned by some, enjoyed by many others, the Seven Soldiers Of Victory still accomplished one thing: they regularly made readers forget the troubles around them.
They of course have had some more modern appearances, but those are a different story.
