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The Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives #1
The Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives, Vol. 1
The Justice Society of America may have been DC Comics' greatest Golden Age SuperHero Team, but the Seven Soldiers of Victory were definitely a close second! The team features The Crimson Avenger (with Wing), The StarSpangled Kid and Stripesy, Green Arrow and Speedy, The Vigilante and The Shining Knight. In this hardcover edition, the team, also known as the Law's Legionaires, face off against The Hand, The Sense Master,The Black Skull and more!
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Mort Weisinger
115 books5 followersMortimer Weisinger was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features as Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick, served as story editor for the Adventures of Superman television series, and compiled the often-revised paperback 1001 Valuable Things You Can Get Free.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 22, 2018
When you’re talking “golden”, you’re usually talking something cool…
…or something of great value.
When we’re talking about the Golden Age of Comics, well, opinions differ. Sure the original books are valuable to collectors, but are they worth a read for modern connoisseurs of the funny books. Can 21st comic geeks appreciate comic books in their diaper wearing stage, written and illustrated in comic book sweatshops in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s without applying our hip, overly cynical modern sensibilities?
Eh, probably not.
DC was having success with the Justice Society of America, a collection of most of their A list roster of heroes, so hoping they could catch lightning in a bottle again (ch-ching) they put together another team of heroes, who aside from The Shining Knight (who’s got some magic working for him) are of the punch-and-kick-in-the-nut-sack variety.
Casual fans will recognize Green Arrow.
Speedy (Roy Harper) is, depending on who’s doing the writing, either an annoying punster or an annoying know-it-the-f*ck-all. He also invariably bails out the Green Arrow who rushes in first with a “plan”. And his reward:
The Shining Knight is from the past, rides a winged horse, and has magic iron mail and a magic sword. Plus, he gives rousing speeches.
The Vigilante is a cowboy-type, who travels around with an aged sidekick, Billy Gunn. Poor Billy never gets invited to the hero meetings, he’s probably sent back to shovel out the stables. The Vigilante specializes in pistols, pistol whipping, lassoing stuff and calling everyone "pardner".
Black Canary gets all moony for the Vig and Batman digs him.
The Star-Spangled Kid does the old sidekick switcheroo and has his adult chauffer double as Stripsey, his sidekick. Because the kid’s rich, they have a rocket powered car and come up with rock ‘em-sock ‘em maneuvers to foil n’er do wells. “Stripsey let’s do H76”, which usually translate to throwing a chair at some gangster’s dome.
Also, whenever they battle the bad guys, it’s almost invariably around water (they mix it up in the last story and end up in a vat of perfume), which means Star-Spangled Kid takes a lungful, passes out and Stripsey has to rescue his Richie-Rich-ass.
Finally, there’s the Crimson Avenger with his cringe-worthy, World War II era Asian sidekick Wing.
Wing, like Billy Gunn, rarely got together with the fellow heroes. He was probably off playing embarrassing Asian House Boy.
Jeff, this an old book. Is it also rife with misogyny?
Well random Goodreader, it you can actually find any female characters in here, aside from the Star-Spangled Kid’s Mom, then it probably would be.
As far as the Scooby-esque stories themselves, they all follow a similar pattern:
Arch villain comes up with some half-cocked scheme.
Villain takes out a newspaper ad to announce half-cocked scheme inviting aforementioned heroes to try and stop him.
Villain recruits five lackeys to assist with scheme.
Heroes meet and go after each lackey separately, then join up and kick the bejesus out of main villain.
The End.
Bottom line - About the Archive Editions – DC has done a great job re-packaging their historic books in these pricy tomes bound in a combination of fine Corinthian leather and faux Jack Kirby skin. This one has a nice introduction – giving the low down on the characters and how this team came to be.
Who’s this collection for? Comic book history zealots. Comic book readers who have lots of time on their hands. Comic book readers who are really old and want to re-live their childhood. If you’re a casual reader, I’d recommend checking to see if your library has them first, before ponying up some serious cash.
In the Justice League Unlimited series, the DCAU does a nice tribute to these heroes in the episode entitled, “Patriot Act”.
…or something of great value.
When we’re talking about the Golden Age of Comics, well, opinions differ. Sure the original books are valuable to collectors, but are they worth a read for modern connoisseurs of the funny books. Can 21st comic geeks appreciate comic books in their diaper wearing stage, written and illustrated in comic book sweatshops in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s without applying our hip, overly cynical modern sensibilities?
Eh, probably not.
DC was having success with the Justice Society of America, a collection of most of their A list roster of heroes, so hoping they could catch lightning in a bottle again (ch-ching) they put together another team of heroes, who aside from The Shining Knight (who’s got some magic working for him) are of the punch-and-kick-in-the-nut-sack variety.
Casual fans will recognize Green Arrow.
Speedy (Roy Harper) is, depending on who’s doing the writing, either an annoying punster or an annoying know-it-the-f*ck-all. He also invariably bails out the Green Arrow who rushes in first with a “plan”. And his reward:
The Shining Knight is from the past, rides a winged horse, and has magic iron mail and a magic sword. Plus, he gives rousing speeches.
The Vigilante is a cowboy-type, who travels around with an aged sidekick, Billy Gunn. Poor Billy never gets invited to the hero meetings, he’s probably sent back to shovel out the stables. The Vigilante specializes in pistols, pistol whipping, lassoing stuff and calling everyone "pardner".
Black Canary gets all moony for the Vig and Batman digs him.
The Star-Spangled Kid does the old sidekick switcheroo and has his adult chauffer double as Stripsey, his sidekick. Because the kid’s rich, they have a rocket powered car and come up with rock ‘em-sock ‘em maneuvers to foil n’er do wells. “Stripsey let’s do H76”, which usually translate to throwing a chair at some gangster’s dome.
Also, whenever they battle the bad guys, it’s almost invariably around water (they mix it up in the last story and end up in a vat of perfume), which means Star-Spangled Kid takes a lungful, passes out and Stripsey has to rescue his Richie-Rich-ass.
Finally, there’s the Crimson Avenger with his cringe-worthy, World War II era Asian sidekick Wing.
Wing, like Billy Gunn, rarely got together with the fellow heroes. He was probably off playing embarrassing Asian House Boy.
Jeff, this an old book. Is it also rife with misogyny?
Well random Goodreader, it you can actually find any female characters in here, aside from the Star-Spangled Kid’s Mom, then it probably would be.
As far as the Scooby-esque stories themselves, they all follow a similar pattern:
Arch villain comes up with some half-cocked scheme.
Villain takes out a newspaper ad to announce half-cocked scheme inviting aforementioned heroes to try and stop him.
Villain recruits five lackeys to assist with scheme.
Heroes meet and go after each lackey separately, then join up and kick the bejesus out of main villain.
The End.
Bottom line - About the Archive Editions – DC has done a great job re-packaging their historic books in these pricy tomes bound in a combination of fine Corinthian leather and faux Jack Kirby skin. This one has a nice introduction – giving the low down on the characters and how this team came to be.
Who’s this collection for? Comic book history zealots. Comic book readers who have lots of time on their hands. Comic book readers who are really old and want to re-live their childhood. If you’re a casual reader, I’d recommend checking to see if your library has them first, before ponying up some serious cash.
In the Justice League Unlimited series, the DCAU does a nice tribute to these heroes in the episode entitled, “Patriot Act”.
December 8, 2012
The Seven Soldiers of Victory were actually characters from five different golden age back features. There was the Green Arrow (sidekick: Speedy), the Crimson Avenger, The Star Spangled Kid (and sidekick: Stripesy), the Shining Knight, and the Vigilante. The Vigilante and Crimson Avenger also had sidekicks but that'd be nine soldiers of victory which doesn't sound as good.
The stories have a certain formula that DC adopted for most of its early Superhero team ups:
1) Superheroes get together.
2) Main heroes go out individually to fight the bad guys in their own stories.
3) They come back together in their final scene.
While in the 1960s and 70s, the Justice League would usually send them out in 2s and 3s, this pretty much remain the formulate for decades.
Unlike the Justice League or the Justice Society, most of the Seven Soldiers of Victory had no superpowers. The big exception to this was the Shining Knight who had a flying horse and impervious armor. In one story, it was all revealed that the superhero car of the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy was "ray proof" (yep, invulnerable to any sort of rays whatsoever.) In the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy had worked out a series of attacked planned like football plays and they'd call out the combination, "Give them 46-X" and defeat the bad guys with their well-practiced plays.
The Green Arrow and Speedy had arrows, although none of the miraculous trick arrows that'd become trademark in the 1950s and 60s just before DC turned Green Arrow into a Commie in 1969.
My favorite character in this book was the Shining Knight followed by the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy and then the Vigilante. Most of the characters outside of the Shining Knight aren't well defined, and the dialect of Crimson Avenger's sidekick wing is more stereotypical than Charlie Chan (and Wing lacks Chan's brilliance.)
That said, I really enjoyed this book. It's full of swashbuckling adventure, some pretty interesting villains including one criminal mastermind who brought several dictators from the past to help him achieve his ends. He then disperses them throughout the world leading to the famous line, "I wonder how Genghis Khan's doing in Alaska."
The artwork is good throughout with the Shining Knight really shining and his costume looking superb. It may not be particularly deep, but it's a lot of fun and that's what comics are supposed to be.
The stories have a certain formula that DC adopted for most of its early Superhero team ups:
1) Superheroes get together.
2) Main heroes go out individually to fight the bad guys in their own stories.
3) They come back together in their final scene.
While in the 1960s and 70s, the Justice League would usually send them out in 2s and 3s, this pretty much remain the formulate for decades.
Unlike the Justice League or the Justice Society, most of the Seven Soldiers of Victory had no superpowers. The big exception to this was the Shining Knight who had a flying horse and impervious armor. In one story, it was all revealed that the superhero car of the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy was "ray proof" (yep, invulnerable to any sort of rays whatsoever.) In the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy had worked out a series of attacked planned like football plays and they'd call out the combination, "Give them 46-X" and defeat the bad guys with their well-practiced plays.
The Green Arrow and Speedy had arrows, although none of the miraculous trick arrows that'd become trademark in the 1950s and 60s just before DC turned Green Arrow into a Commie in 1969.
My favorite character in this book was the Shining Knight followed by the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy and then the Vigilante. Most of the characters outside of the Shining Knight aren't well defined, and the dialect of Crimson Avenger's sidekick wing is more stereotypical than Charlie Chan (and Wing lacks Chan's brilliance.)
That said, I really enjoyed this book. It's full of swashbuckling adventure, some pretty interesting villains including one criminal mastermind who brought several dictators from the past to help him achieve his ends. He then disperses them throughout the world leading to the famous line, "I wonder how Genghis Khan's doing in Alaska."
The artwork is good throughout with the Shining Knight really shining and his costume looking superb. It may not be particularly deep, but it's a lot of fun and that's what comics are supposed to be.
October 10, 2020
I first learned of the Seven Soldiers of Victory decades after their last publication, when as a child I stumbled across an old issue of Justice League of America (#100). That was the first chapter in a mystery involving "The Unknown Soldier of Victory", with heroes on the cover standing solemnly at a grave. I would encounter the Seven Soldiers of Victory again years later in the superb All-Star Squadron series, but never have I read the original tales.
The Seven Soldiers of Victory - or the Law's Legionnaires, as they were referred to in many stories - was a group of lower-tier characters from some of the anthology titles DC Comics was publishing in 1941. Only one of them went on to everlasting fame (Green Arrow). The others are an interesting lot (Speedy, the Crimson Avenger, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy and the Vigilante). The first story gives them a plausible reason to get together: a master villain assembles them for nefarious ends.
The rest of the stories follow the same idea: the seven gather to foil a master villain, set off in separate chapters to accomplish goals and reunite at the end. None of the stories are excellent, but the artwork is decent and the characters are interesting (I assume each chapter captured the flavor of their respective strips). The last story is the best of the lot, as the writer (Bill Finger, co-creator of Batman) gives us supporting players in the various chapters in whose fates we can become invested (because we know our heroes will make it out in the end).
The book is standard Golden Age fare, but from an oft-forgotten corner of the DC Universe. Two more volumes to go someday!
The Seven Soldiers of Victory - or the Law's Legionnaires, as they were referred to in many stories - was a group of lower-tier characters from some of the anthology titles DC Comics was publishing in 1941. Only one of them went on to everlasting fame (Green Arrow). The others are an interesting lot (Speedy, the Crimson Avenger, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy and the Vigilante). The first story gives them a plausible reason to get together: a master villain assembles them for nefarious ends.
The rest of the stories follow the same idea: the seven gather to foil a master villain, set off in separate chapters to accomplish goals and reunite at the end. None of the stories are excellent, but the artwork is decent and the characters are interesting (I assume each chapter captured the flavor of their respective strips). The last story is the best of the lot, as the writer (Bill Finger, co-creator of Batman) gives us supporting players in the various chapters in whose fates we can become invested (because we know our heroes will make it out in the end).
The book is standard Golden Age fare, but from an oft-forgotten corner of the DC Universe. Two more volumes to go someday!
September 16, 2018
3.5. The Seven Soldiers were the second super-hero team of the Golden Age (curiously despite the Justice Society's success, the only other attempt at a team was Marvel's short-lived All-Winners Squad). In the opening story, a scheme by a dying master criminal to launch a crime wave brings the various heroes into battle with old foes, then with the big bad, then a decision to keep working together. That format — menace appears, heroes battle five henchvillains (the Seven included two sidekicks so five chapters was enough), then take on the archfoe — applied to the next three stories as well. The fourth, written by the great Bill Finger, is the best, as the Seven Soldiers go up against five crooks with super-enhanced senses.
Like a lot of Golden Age stories, YMMV.
Like a lot of Golden Age stories, YMMV.
September 11, 2023
This is as Comics as it gets
February 11, 2013
This DC archive reprints the first four issues of Leading Comics, which featured the team that would become known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory (a.k.a. the Law's Legionnaires). These are typical golden age comics: Quaint, a tad contrived at time and with varying art styles. Mort Meskin does a few chapters of the Vigilante, while George Papp does a similar number of stories starring Green Arrow and Speedy.
Be warned: The art quality is NOTHING like modern standards, and is barely above the standards of a humor comic strip. But these are genuinely fun comic stories to read. You've got seven (well, usually nine) guys with no super powers fighting against crime bosses, traveling in time, and all sorts of similar goofiness. Fun is something missing from modern comics, and the Seven Soldiers are excellent reminders of a bygone age.
Be warned: The art quality is NOTHING like modern standards, and is barely above the standards of a humor comic strip. But these are genuinely fun comic stories to read. You've got seven (well, usually nine) guys with no super powers fighting against crime bosses, traveling in time, and all sorts of similar goofiness. Fun is something missing from modern comics, and the Seven Soldiers are excellent reminders of a bygone age.
May 31, 2008
Nothing but sheer, goofy Golden Age fun. If you are a big fan of darker, 'realistic' modern comics, you might want to skip this and go read something by Mark Millar instead.
One of the villains uses a specialized pogo stick and another one pulls off a robbery by dressing as Santa Claus. You have been warned.
The SSoV were an attempt to recreate the success of the Justice Society by putting together a group of second tier heroes.
They are fun because they are all an adventure hero archetype ( Cowboy, Knight, Robin Hood, Pulp style hero etc)
Each story follows the same formula: heroes get together due to menace, split up to fight agents of menace then regroup to kick menaces' butt.
Lots of action, humor and very little in the way of political correctness or realism.
One of the villains uses a specialized pogo stick and another one pulls off a robbery by dressing as Santa Claus. You have been warned.
The SSoV were an attempt to recreate the success of the Justice Society by putting together a group of second tier heroes.
They are fun because they are all an adventure hero archetype ( Cowboy, Knight, Robin Hood, Pulp style hero etc)
Each story follows the same formula: heroes get together due to menace, split up to fight agents of menace then regroup to kick menaces' butt.
Lots of action, humor and very little in the way of political correctness or realism.
November 11, 2023
Seems like it defeats the purpose of having s superhero team if every issue is going to split them off on their own little side adventures.
C-
C-
August 4, 2010
The concept is pretty good, and I enjoyed the characters despite only being familiar with Green Arrow and Speedy, but the plots are a bit too formulaic. Each issue consists of a criminal mastermind hiring five other criminals to do something evil, the Seven Soldiers defeating each of the lesser criminals, and then the Soldiers joining back up at the end to defeat the main villain. Other than that, it is pretty entertaining for a Golden Age comic.
November 7, 2013
speedy really is just a poor knockoff of robin. i can see the reason for his sixty year crisis of self respect, whereas wing was well written (except for the pidgen english) and important to the crimson avenger.
really liked the last panel of the book, all seven in their civilian identities out together. never understood why the jla didn't do that, although it made for good stories. not fair that dugan the driver gets to hang out w/the others but wing doesn't.
really liked the last panel of the book, all seven in their civilian identities out together. never understood why the jla didn't do that, although it made for good stories. not fair that dugan the driver gets to hang out w/the others but wing doesn't.
July 7, 2013
Great as a period piece, but that's about it. Harlan Ellison preferred the Seven Soldiers over the Justice Society, which is utterly mystifying. The stories are uniformly bad, the artwork at best uneven (George Pappas! Mort Meskin!) The character of Wing, the Crimson Avenger's Chinese sidekick, is simply a dreadful racial stereotype typical of the 1940s.
That being said, a fun read.
That being said, a fun read.
August 1, 2014
Good Golden Age comic book stories told surprisingly well. The characters may be second-string, the stories aren't.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews