scans_daily

The Fall 1943 issue of LEADING COMICS had "Exiles in Time", written by Joe Samachson and drawn by the workmanlike-but-not-outstanding Jon Small. For a mostly depowered group, the SSOV ran into time machines a lot (this issue, Dr. Doome in the third issue) and it's probably this one that inspired Len Wein to separate the Soldiers into different time eras in JLA#100-102. We even get a return villain--sort of--because the Dummy, first introduced in Leading Comics #1, and who became Vigilante's arch enemy in Vig's own strip, returns in this issue to face the entire SSOV.

One wonders if Big Figure, the dwarfish/little person crime boss in WATCHMEN, was inspired by the Dummy? As far as I know Charlton heroes (on whom WATCHMEN was based) had no recurring dwarfish or midget criminal in their comics. In the SSOV's first adventure, the Dummy worked for/with the Hand, but even the Hand called him, despite his name, the "cleverest of them all". Here, we see that the criminals are working for HIM...

16 and a third pages out of 50 pages.

No hint here of the animated puppet that Roy Thomas implied the Dummy was. Maybe the Dummy could somehow transfer his mind from the puppet to the flesh-and-blood little person he was?

The narrator, with lines like "The Dummy, sinister servitor of evil" and "the pint-sized prince of plunderers" sounds a lot like the announcer on the old Adam West Batman TV show...

Considering that the SSOV is mostly a group of Batman-level adventurers, the idea of them teaming up to tackle a far-flung underworld organization makes sense. The SSOV is closer in spirit, in operation, to Batman Inc. than the JSA or JlA.

The Vigilante seems to be the one to draw the group together this time, to fight his arch-enemy, the Dummy.

Actually, after fighting Dr. Doome, and almost being stranded in the Trojan War, Vigilante's reaction should have been, "A Time Machine...what AGAIN?"

I don't know if I were a criminal mastermind and I got my hands on a time machine (I wonder what Time Trust member he tortured to get it?) if my first impulse would be to send my enemies back in time...I'd be looking at the Stock Market headlines weeks in the future, and making a killing, but that's just me.

Green Arrow and Speedy ended up meeting the Three Musketeers (minus D'Artagnan)in 17th century France...it seems you can't visit 17th century France WITHOUT meeting the trio immortalized by Dumas! Yeah, Superman, Batman and Robin did the same a decade later in WORLD'S FINEST, but GA and Speedy were there first. Unfortunately, Green Arrow and Speedy got arrested along with Aramis, Porthos and Athos under suspicion of the theft of the Queen's necklace, another recurring thing in 17th century France. They escape, encounter Louis XIV, and then...

We're going to have to assume that Green Arrow and Speedy were fluent in French. The Golden Age Green Arrow used to be an expert on Native American culture, maybe he had to read a lot of the French explorers of the New World.

The Crimson Avenger and Wing go a little further back...landing in Wing's native land. They try to determine what time they're in, but clues are far and few between, until they encounter a tinkerer/inventor named Li Ho....

See? You didn't even suspect that it was the Japanese that the Great Wall was built to keep out! You thought it was from the Mongols and other barbarians from the Northern Steppes! (How would a wall keep out people coming by boat from an island nation? But remember, this was 1943, and in any comic book of the period, the Japanese were villainous and the Chinese were our allies, even if often cliched stereotypes. Wing actually comes out better than say, Chop-Chop of the Blackhawks.)

Amusingly, the Crimson Avenger uses judo against some of the invading Japanese "a few centuries before they're due to learn about it".

But the Avenger spots one "practical" invention of Li Ho--

Apologies for the racist, stereotypical, cliched dialogue for Wing. Speaking of dialogue--Wing understanding modern Mandarin Chinese is to be expected, and we can assume the Avenger picked some up in conversations with Wing, but it's interesting to think that Wing and the Avenger can understand the Old Chinese spoken over two thousands years ago-- before the development of even old Mandarin!

The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy wake up freezing in a Northern sea, but encounter a mutiny on a Viking Ship, in which the mutineers are fighting their leaders, Eric and his grown son Leif. The Kid and Stripesy helps Eric and Lief beat the mutineers, and then volunteer to go with Lief on a voyage to discovery a land to relieve the famine they're experiencing. Like they have anything else to do..?

And then they help stop ANOTHER mutiny...

Oh, well, at least they didn't travel with that jerk, Columbus...

Since they didn't encounter any native Americans this voyage, the "we discovered" is not quite so grating as it could have been.

Okay, maybe I can believe that the Kid, who is a bit of a knowitall on many subjects, knows old Norse, but it's hard to believe Stripesy--who is an amazing engineer, but talks English in a Bronx accent---knows old Norse too. Maybe the Kid translated.

Vig turns up in Julius Caesar's Rome, meets Caesar, Mark Antony, and especially the ultra-rich Crassus. Some of the Dummy's henchmen (without the Dummy's knoweldge) decide to travel to the same time, to steal some of Crassus' gold, and due to several mischances, Vigilante and the time-travelling criminals end up fighting on the same side.

Evidently Vigilante took Latin in high school or college, and remembered it pretty well...

The Shining Knight ends up in late 15th century or early 16th century Italy, and encounters Leonardo Da Vinci--luckily for everyone. The Knight defeats an enemy of Leonardo's, and then Leonardo shows him some of his inventions and paintings.

A perfectly working time machine --only needing electrical current. Riiiight.

Nice acknowledgement that Sir Justin is time-lost. I'm not sure why Sir Justin knows late 15th-century Italian, although possibly he knew Latin before he came to modern times. Maybe working at the museum, he picked some up. Justin and Da Vinci are attacked once more by the Count, and then Leonardo uses his now electrically-powered machine.

Nice little irony about the gold. We can see why the Dummy didn't use the time machine for SOME robberies, anyway...

The Dummy proves himself to be a very tricky opponent.

This is the last issue of LEADING COMICS I can scan here, because I only have the first two Archive editions of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. I've yet to read the third. I know "The King of a Hundred Isles" is reprinted elsewhere on the Net in its entirity, I read it one afternoon, but unfortunately I'm having problems finding it at the moment.

If I do get the third, I'll be sure to scan them here. While primitive by today's more sophisticated standards, compared to other comics of the day, they're pretty fun, and it's interesting to see a group where the emphasis is on skill, rather than power.