5 Facts About Stargirl's Seven Soldiers of Victory (who disappeared for 27 years in Comics History)

As a comic book fan, I've always been fascinated by a team called the "7 Soldiers of Victory." They were created in the 1940s and mysteriously disappeared from comics. They were re-introduced in the early 1970s- In fact, they were "Missing" from comics history for 27 YEARS!! I remember their reintroduction   in 1972’s Justice League of America #100-102.
 Here's their interesting history: 

5 Facts About Stargirl's Seven Soldiers of Victory
By Joshua Lapin-Bertone DC comics
Thursday, August 6th, 2020

If you’ve been watching DC Universe’s Stargirl then you might have caught a cool little Easter egg several weeks ago. In the episode “Brainwave,” Pat shows Courtney a photo of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, a team of Golden Age lawmen. And in the episode "Shining Knight," we get to meet one of the team's members! Although the Seven Soldiers never got the name recognition the Justice Society had, they still hold their own special place in the history of the DC Universe. If Stargirl has you curious, here are 5 fascinating facts about the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

1) They Had a Unique Lineup
The original Seven Soldiers was a diverse group of heroes from various backgrounds and even time periods!

Green Arrow – Archer extraordinaire.
Speedy – Green Arrow’s sidekick, and an expert archer himself.
Star-Spangled Kid – A young boy whose sense of patriotism inspired him to become a crimefighter.
Stripesy – Chauffeur and adult sidekick to the Star-Spangled Kid.
Shining Knight – A time-displaced knight from King Arthur’s court equipped with enchanted armor and a flying steed.
Vigilante – A gunslinger modeled after frontier-era lawmen.
Crimson Avenger – A noir-inspired vigilante armed with a gas gun.
Wing – The Crimson Avenger’s sidekick and chauffeur.
Interestingly enough, the group had multiple chauffeurs.

2) They Were Bad at Math
Yes, the team consists of eight heroes, not seven. That’s because Wing’s place in the group was debated. Although other sidekicks like Stripesy and Speedy were considered official members, Wing’s status was more ambiguous. (The Shining Knight’s horse Winged Victory was also considered an unofficial member, but that’s another story.) The group also called themselves Law’s Legionnaires at one point, which got around the math problem, but the name never stuck the way Seven Soldiers of Victory did. In 1972’s Justice League of America #102, Wing was finally recognized as an official Soldier after the other members learned he sacrificed himself to save the world from the Nebula Man.

3) The Team Was Formed by a Villain
In a weird case of misplaced arrogance, a villain known as the Hand brought the Seven Soldiers together. In the group's debut adventure in 1941’s Leading Comics #1, the Hand planned a series of elaborate crimes, and he tried to prove how clever he was by challenging the heroes to stop him. The overconfident criminal placed a newspaper ad calling the heroes together so he could tell them his plan. As you can imagine, the group put a stop to the Hand’s crimes, arrested his underlings, and decided to make their heroic get-togethers a regular occurrence.

4) Their Final Golden Age Story Was Lost for Decades
The Seven Soldiers starred in Leading Comics for the title’s first fourteen issues. The group never got as popular as the Justice Society, and with Leading Comics #15, the title became a humor magazine while the heroes continued their solo adventures in other comics. Before this shift, a Seven Soldiers story was written for Leading Comics #15 and it was left unpublished for thirty years. In 1975, Joseph Samachson’s script was finally published in Adventure Comics #438-443, with brand-new art from Bronze Age artists like Dick Dillin, Mike Grell and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.


5) They Had a Literal Timeout
After their final Golden Age appearance in Leading Comics #14, the group next appeared 27 years later in 1972’s Justice League of America #100-102. In this adventure, as the JLA celebrates its 100th meeting, it's called by the Justice Society to Earth-Two, where both groups learn they must rescue the time-displaced Seven Soldiers of Victory to prevent an oncoming apocalypse. The Seven Soldiers had been scattered throughout the timestream during a battle with Nebula Man. The Justice Society and Justice League rescued the Soldiers, and all three teams joined forces to stop the Iron Hand, a rebranded version of the villain who'd recruited the Soldiers decades earlier. This story brought the Seven Soldiers back from obscurity and brought new life to forgotten characters like the Star-Spangled Kid.