#the seven soldiers of victory

[sailorsunnyfun101]

Hello!! **Shows you his limbo insert**

His name is zirno and he has a relative who is a sheep :3

She is the daughter of Judah (yes, yes, I know, but in my AU she is not a Melmoth robot)

[chernobog13]

LEADING COMICS #2 (March, 1942). Cover by Mort Meskin.

The Seven Soldiers of Victory, aka Law's Legionnaires, take on the evil Black Star!

The SSV were DC Comics' (then known as National) second super-hero team, after the more famous Justice Society of America. And like the JSA, all the SSV members appeared in anthology titles, but not their own comic books (that rule would eventually be lifted for the JSA).

The Justice Society was comprised of heroes from both National (Doctor Fate, Hourman, the Spectre, Sandman, Starman, and honorary members Superman and Batman) and affiliated publisher All-American Publications (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, Black Canary, and Mr. Terrific)*. The Seven Soldiers, on the other hand, came only from National's books.

Unfortunately, this second-hand team with second-tier heroes didn't last. The Soldiers' feature ended in Leading Comics #14 (March, 1945), although the individual members did manage to last a little longer in their own features before disappearing by the end of the decade.

Although The Vigilante managed to get his own 1947 movie serial. And Green Arrow and Speedy became part of a handful of DC superheroes (along with Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman) who were published continually from their first appearance until well into the Silver Age.

(That's right - Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, Atom, Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, Black Canary and Mr. Terrific weren't originally DC characters! They only became part of DC officially when National and All-American merged into one company in 1944.)

[pat1dee]

The Seven Soldiers Of Victory

By Murphy Anderson

[tomoleary]

Mort Meskin - Leading Comics #1 (DC, 1941) The Seven Soldiers of Victory

Source

[spagh-eddie]

he is making toast

btw if anyone has ideas for things about the world that would be fun to have klarion interact w... please tell me... I may draw it 👁👁

[liusia-piu]

for @rottengrowls

[the-grey-stuff]

You know he would say this

[quadrupleangst]

dw guys I'll give him a girlfriend in the next post

[darksideofthemamon]

Re-reading Seven Soldiers of Victory and once again, I must appreciate this callback in Klarion's story.

[countdhracula]

He just was done with this pilgrim outfit :V

[brainrotgoverner]

Giving Klarion a supportive and actually paternal stepfather in SSOV comics who seems to actually care about him like his own son, wants progress, (created a parliament and supports steam-driven machines), tells him to hold his tongue around the submissioneries yet never snuffs out his curiosities and rebel spirit and always indulges in his doubts instead of the classic abusive parent trope is...

It was a choice.

And by choice I mean I am compeletly OBSESSED with that side-character that appeared in like 2 issues and was never mentioned again.

He has white hair while everyone else has black hair he is the pure white lamb amongst the sinner this man has me in a chokehold why do I always get obsessed with side characters

[dcdreamblog]

Seeing you talk about the Crimson Avenger reminded me, what can you tell us about the Seven Soldiers of Victory? I’ve seen different article talk about different members and the number don’t always add up. I’ve seen something about a guy named the Spider, one article even says TNT and Dyna-Mite were members!

And sometimes there’s eight of them?

Oh you will regret this. I actually did my thesis on the 7 Soldiers (Specifically ABOUT the historical mysteries of their membership), you can see on the selfie they posted that I have a decal for them on my phone. This question is a big one. So let's cover what we know...

(Group Photo of the 7 Soldiers from the Squadron's '43 Yearbook. I have cut out the members on the left for rhetorical purposes) This is what I would call the 5 core, inarguable members of the 7 Soldiers.

Crimson Avenger: Lee Travis, newspaper publisher, the first mystery man (Fun fact, because of the drastic difference in costuming. It wasn't until after Travis' death that it was confirmed this Avenger and the original Avenger were the same person) Shining Knight: Sir Justin, displaced knight from the Arthurian era Vigilante: The rider of the purple sage. Frontier mystery man secretly country-western artist Greg Saunders Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy: Industrial heir Sylvester Pemberton and his bodyguard/chauffeur Patrick Dugan. This is the easy part. Below is the hard part.

Two core team members weren't counted for unfortunately obvious reasons for the era...

(Crimson Avenger and Wing at a Squadron Function in 1942) Wing How, the Crimson Avenger's chauffeur and later confidante/sidekick. A Chinese immigrant to Travis' native New York

(Vigilante and Stuff riding down the streets of Independence, MI. 1940) Stuff, The Chinatown Kid. AKA Danny Leong. Another Chinese immigrant this time adopted by country western star Greg Saunders, secretly The Vigilante How and Leong, being Chinese "tag alongs" which was already a loaded trope by the 1940s were often treated more like accessories than real members of the team by media and the public. If you want to know the other 2 soldiers that were on the team when it was founded to lend it that name. Its those two. But it got more complicated than that. 2. The 7 Soldiers gained new members during the War but their name never changed

(TNT and Dyna-Mite at the DC Courthouse after receiving a medal from the city) TNT and Dyna-Mite, DC natives and perhaps the most personally popular superheroes who were not members of the Justice Society during the War years. Owing to their personal popularity in the nation's capital. WHEN they became members of the Soldiers is unknown but they were inducted by December of 1941 at the latest as they partcipated in the "Black Star" case It is unknown whether or not Dyna-Mite remained associated with the team after TNT's tragic death in the line of duty in early 1942. And then there's..him...

(The Spider, glimpsed on the edge of a billboard in his native St Louis) The Spider, AKA Thomas Hallaway. For fairly obvious reasons is no longer concerned part of the superhero community. He was, in fact, an unrepentant criminal who used the cover of a superhero persona as an alibi. It wasn't until post war that his treachery was discovered when he attempted to assassinate both Jay and Joan Garrick, losing his life in the attempt under mysterious circumstances. In the modern day it was discovered that The Spider himself was responsible for the 7 Soldiers' disappearance post war, having been in cahoots with perennial enemy The Iron Hand. The Soldiers were scattered through time and only recovered during one of the early cases of the Justice League, leading to the heroic sacrifice of Wing How to save the lives of his teammates When he became associated with the Soldiers is unknown and he is retroactively cast out from his membership in the Soldiers specifically and the All Star Squadron in general save for the most dry of historical perspectives. Conclusion: If you want me to answer who the "7 Soldiers" were. To me (noting that this is a personal opinion, not a historical fact). It's The Crimson Avenger, Wing, Vigilante, Stuff, Shining Knight, Star Spangled-Kid and Stripesy. With knowledge that TNT and Dyna-Mite were also members because what's in a name anyway? The Spider, by his own action has been stricken from any claim to any membership of any heroic organization.

[kitzatara]

Which aspect of Zatanna's power do you think is underutilized?

TBH almost every aspect of Zatanna’s power is underutilized. Consistently, all the time, always and forever. For starters every time Zatanna gets a significant power boost or realizes her true potential, it’s walked back, retconned, or just ignored a few months later without fail. Back when she left the Justice League in the detroit era after traversing the collective unconscious of all humanity and seeing “the godhead” it was revealed in the Spectre that it had been a trick by Wotan? Iirc he says it was an illusion he created with Zatara’s magic?

During JLA Black Baptism in the 90s? Early 2000s? She begins to lose her mind and transmutates the entire moon. The whole moon. Giving it wings, a giant eyeball, etc. a couple years later in the JLA run where she defeats Amazo the moon is headed for earth, Diana asks if she can stop it and she states she doesn’t have nearly that much power…. Despite the aforementioned ability to transmutate it. Even her defeat of Amazo she on panel states is red tornado’s victory despite her doing literally all the work.

In both JLD runs Zatanna is responsible for defeating the big bad’s of the series. Pralaya and the Upside Down Man respectively. (Technically Hecate too but) As soon as she defeated Pralaya and restored all of creation the damn continuity rebooted. Making it so it never happened. With the latest run, after she beat upside down man it’s revealed part of his power resides in her and potentially could lead to his return only for the death of the justice league event to completely scrap that plot line, restore the USDM and then nothing was ever done with that story again. (To date).

It literally happened this month where in Wonder Woman 9 Zatanna says she can’t help the super sons who’ve been turned into dogs by Circe because she states Circe is so powerful with magic going back to the gods despite literally having beaten and ubdone Circe’s magic in the past and also defeated gods in the aforementioned JLD runs.

The only really big one that hasn’t technically had a walk back is her 7 Soldier of Victory story and her defeat of Zor the reality warping time tailor, who she defeats by literally breaking the fourth wall and manipulating comic panels. However flashpoint happens right after that story. So for the New 52, it was like that story had never happened. It has since been referenced in the current rebirth continuity at least twice in the sideways comic and the knight terrors event of last year so we knownit is now canon. But it wasn’t for a couple years. And it’s a bitter sweet thing because while it hasn’t been retconned, it also is ignored and has not been expanded on. It’s never brought up how she can just casually reach past the fabric of her fictional universe and manipulate panels of the comics.

Reading all her stories you start to notice this frustrating pattern that is at this point almost a cycle. Zatanna starts off in a new story or continuity significantly weaker than previously shown, she gains a confidence boost and starts to come into her power, she then does a crazy mind bending powerful feat of magic. And then boom. Retcon, continuity shift, new event that erases the previous growth and lands her solidly back to square one.

like I mentioned in previous asks, Zatanna can do anything, not just because of her backwards magic, but she has the power to back it up. And she suffers not only from lack of creativity, and continuous attempts to nerf her so that she doesn’t outshine the more popular characters, but also from these continuous reboots and whatnot. And again power is not everything, her struggles to accept herself and grow into her confidence and deal with making mistakes is so fascinating and makes her victories all the more satisfying. But her power is literally disrespected at all levels. From scale, to the borderline fetishistic binding and gagging of her (despite doing magic without speaking multiple times in literally every continuity), and the constant resetting her back to square one.

it’s hard to pick one aspect of her powers that are underutilized because it’s all underutilized. And only in imaginative stories like 7 soldiers or JLD do we really get to see writers cut loose with her and their imagination, and they’re wonderful and so fun. I need DC to stop being afraid of letting her be an A-lister and treat her with the respect she deserves. Status quo be damned.

so yeah. Thanks for the ask!

[porcelianboy2]

Klarion: *Exists*

Judah:

[chernobog13]

The Crimson Avenger, who started out in Detective Comics (vol. 1) #20 (October, 1938) was originally a Green Hornet clone (complete with a gas gun, Asian valet/sidekick, and believed by the law to be a criminal), and DC Comics' first masked hero.

A few years after his debut costumed heroes were more popular that masked vigilantes. The Crimson Avenger and Wing, his sidekick, received new colorful costumes, and became two-fisted crime busters. They then became founding members of DC's second superhero team, the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

(At about the same time it also happened to the Golden Age Sandman, who not only gained a superhero costume but a sidekick - Sandy, the Golden Boy - as well).

The Crimson Avenger later died heroically saving a city. His original mask, hat and cloak survive as keepsakes of the Justice League, which they use in initiation ceremonies for new members.

[spagh-eddie]

so you know that thing a while back where people were naming things that would put Victorian children/pilgrims into a coma? I uh. yeah.

guys I love klarion so much... especially Frazer Irving's klarion he's so special to me. silly little witch boy