Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Sidney369]

Personally, I support the StargirlxCyclone ship.

[Jabroniville]

THE SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY:
-Created by Mort Weisinger & Mort Meskin in Winter 1941, the Seven Soldiers (also known as Law's Legionnaires) were comprised of the few Anthology-based heroes at DC who WEREN'T on the JSA- Green Arrow, Speedy, The Crimson Avenger, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, Vigilante, and The Shining Knight. The odd conceit was that the team was pretty much entirely non-powered humans, AND also had two SIDEKICKS on it. Oddly, the Avenger's sidekick Wing was known to appear with the others in the book, but wasn't really considered a member of the team. Dicks.

-The team lasted for fourteen issues in Leading Comics (which went All-Comedy by #15), fighting various crooks, conquerors and super-villains. Afterwards, they went their separate ways without mention, and most of the heroes stuck around for a bit longer- they were all revived at once in a 1972 Justice League story, in which the Justice Society called the JLA in to help them free the Seven Soldiers from a time-travel trap their old enemy The Iron Hand (their debut villain, in fact) had trapped them in. So the JLA/JSA teams split up and rescued individual Soldiers from various points in history (Green Arrow was about to be hanged as Robin Hood). In the story, one of them would HAVE to die to stop The Iron Hand, but they saved the day with all Seven Soldiers still alive. So what happened? Well, it turns out that Crimson Avenger's sidekick, WING, was the one who did it- Crimson Avenger is merely seen explaining and mourning his off-panel death.

-Afterwards, the team would go their separate ways, only meeting at the grave of the Avenger (who predeceased the others). The team would prove problematic, however, as the Crisis wiped out quite a bit of old-school stuff. The team's merging was still fine, as they were merely Earth-Two guys transplanted into the Golden Age of the regular ol' Earth now, but Green Arrow and Speedy were retconned out of history into being modern heroes exclusively! To fix this, Vigilante's sidekick Stuff (The Chinatown Kid) and Wing were added to the roster, adding up to seven again. Inexplicably, this was changed AGAIN by Geoff Johns, as Wing was now NOT a member, and instead was replaced by Alias- The Spider (an archer from Quality Comics), who took a "Green Arrow" role, and was now revealed to be a bad guy in secret. The end to the "the Soldiers are rescued" story was now changed so that his old sidekick Billy Gunn was killed as well as Wing, and Vig had been sent to the Wild West for 20 years!

-In 2010, they got ANOTHER Retcon, as now TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite were placed onto the line-up. I have NO IDEA why this was done. Grant Morrision would use the team's name for a weird Seven Soldiers revamp. The Soldiers themselves would sort of team up again in a Justice League Unlimited episode, gathering five that were Justice Leaguers (with Courtney Whitmore instead of Sylvester Pemberton, as Syl wasn't around in this world) in battle against Wade "The General" Eiling, only to have The Crimson Avenger and Speedy get teleported in to help at the last second! Green Arrow is annoyed that all they got 'ported in were "The Crimson Avenger and my old sidekick!"- the only appearance of Roy Harper in the series.

-All in all, not bad for a team with fourteen appearances in their own era! And only DC Comics could over-complicate such a non-influential team THAT BADLY.

[Ares]

You know, you'd think air control would be a good justification for having a hat. Like she can just keep it from being blown off her head.

I had a similar thought with Spider-Man Noir, who could use his cling power to keep his hat on his head.

[Ares]

As for the Seven Soldiers of Victory, I kind of dig the idea of a team where no one technically has any powers, but are still effective. It has a very pulp feel to it.

And yeah, they did needlessly complicate them. The original story was a fun JLA/JSA adventure that featured a pretty heartwarming sacrifice by both Wing and the Red Tornado. Plus "Nebula Man" is just a cool villain name and a fun threat. It also featured Sir Justin beating Superman in a fight.

Crisis naturally messed things up with the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy, but that should have been a relatively easy fix.

Then Geoff John's had to make the replacement archer a villain, and then Grant Morrison hit the Soldiers like a metric ton of overcomplicated bricks and then poured another ton of metafictional concrete over the impact site to hide the corpses.

I'd honestly see a Seven Soldiers book as being fun, a non-Justice/Titans team with a little more freedom, and some reason for the 7 member team limit.

The Soldiers are also interesting in that they're one of the few all male hero teams. The Blackhawks and Challengers of the Unknown don't count IMO, since the former was a military unit while the latter were action scientists.

[Davies]

Uh ... while I'm all for dumping on Geoff Johns, the Spider's villainous turn was on James Robinson, who revealed it in The Shade in 1997, three years before the account of him betraying the Seven Soldiers appeared in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. ...

[Ares]

Ah, my bad, I remembered the Stars and STRIPE issue as being that moment. One more thing I can blame Robinson for then.

[Ken]

The Soldiers of Victory adventures also tended to include either Billy Gunn or Stuff the Chinatown Kid, the Vigilante's sidekicks. They too were not counted among the seven.

Technically, the most powerful member of the team was Winged Victory - the flying nigh invulnerable horse.

The Law's Legionnaires were the all National/DC team. Adventure (SK&WV), Detective (CA&W), More Fun (GA&Sp), Star-Spangled (SSK&St), and Action (V&BG/V&StCTK) were all National books. Yes, the Soldiers of Victory were competing, after a fashion, with the JSA.

One possible fix for Green Arrow and Speedy would have been to introduce, say, Simon King and Rex Hunter as the golden age Green Arrow and Speedy. Give them the first origin that GA and Speedy had (the Lost Mesa story from More Fun Comics #89), and let them keep the brown hair and blond hair (rather than blond and ginger that Oliver and Roy had).

Len Wein in the DC Universe Legacies book, which ironically ended near when the New 52 started, took the let TNT and Dyna-Mite take Green Arrow and Speedy's places.

"Whatever Happened to the Crimson Avenger", Lee Travis' death story, from DC Comics Presents#38 was voted one of the best stories of 1981.

[Ken]

The Blackhawks and Challengers of the Unknown don't count IMO, since the former was a military unit while the latter were action scientists.

Plus there's Zinda Blake and June Robbins. Zinda took a loooooong time to show up. June showed up in Showcase #7, where Rocky, Ace, Red, and Prof debuted in Showcase #6.

[Jabroniville]

THE CRIMSON AVENGER I (Lee Walter Travis)
Created By: Jim Chambers
First Appearance: Detective Comics #20 (Oct. 1938)
Role: Background Hero, Blatant Green Hornet Rip-Off
Group Affiliations: The All-Star Squadron, The Seven Soldiers of Victory
PL 8 (112)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+7)
Athletics 5 (+7)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+11)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Streetwise) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Radio Announcer) 6 (+9)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 8 (+12)
Perception 5 (+9)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Pistols) 2 (+11)
Stealth 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Equipment 4 (Car, Twin Pistols), Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Guns), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Jack-of-All-Trades, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork, Tracking, Well-Informed

Equipment:
"Gas Gun" Affliction 6 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Asleep) (Extras: Ranged, Area- 15ft. Cloud +1/2) (15) -- (16)

• AE: "Twin Pistols" Blast 5 (Feats: Split) (11)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Twin Pistols +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Gas Gun +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)
Responsibility (Guns)- Travis does not want his trademark guns to define and control his life, and so he drops them, becoming a standard Two-Fisted Superhero instead. This renders him a mere PL 7 in his later adventures.
Relationship (Wing)

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 24 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 15 (112)

-The more I do bios and do research, the more I realize that the Crisis and everything that came with it ended up messing DC continuity WAYYYY more than the "bunch of Earths" concept ever did (trying to explain Post-Crisis to my friends always goes down south the second I get to the "so they had to merge all the histories into one", as even they realize that'd be an impossible dream). Look at the Crimson Avenger, for example. Debuting in 1938, thus pre-dating even Batman, he was a REALLY obvious rip-off of the Green Hornet (a successful radio character in the '30s, leading to the more famous TV show much later), right down to the Asian valet/chauffer (Kato becoming Chinese and being named "Wing") and gas gun. His visual appearance took a whole lot from THE SHADOW, too- the cape/fedora thing is a big tip-off. Lee Travis basically vanished into mediocrity, despite having a 69-issue run in Detective Comics (where he was obviously a follow-up strip to the Batman's) and joining the short-lived Seven Soldiers of Victory in Leading Comics. He switched to a more standard look of tights once THOSE types of heroes became more in vogue than The Shadow & Green Hornet, but it was not to be, and he vanished from history along with most of the other Seven Soldiers of Victory. In all, he lasted from 1938-1944- a decent run by those days, but well ahead of most of his contemporaries since he didn't even outlast the War.

-But then... the Golden Age Superman was edited out of comics history. This left Lee Travis as the longest-standing real costumed super-hero in the DC Universe (notably, he pre-dates Batman by seven issues of Detective Comics), thus earning this nobody the rank of "First Superhero", and thus fame in the Post-Crisis DCU. One writer proclaimed that his status meant that the Justice League would induct new members using his costume props (the cape & hat) as part fo their ceremony, honoring "the first of us all". So from a lame rip-off to First Superhero, all thanks to the Crisis. And now he's got a female successor, with a much different concept, and some retroactive stuff to explain him further, like being controlled by his supernatural guns to punish the guilty (the Sun-esque logo on his tights was actually a stylized BULLET HOLE because he didn't want the guns to control him).

-In any case, Lee Travis has two potential origins- in one, he's a Radio Announcer who just kind of decided to fight crime after witnessing a robbery. Later, Post-Crisis, he received a vision in Nanda Parbat about the future heroics of Superman, and decides to become a hero after watching Supes' sacrifice against Doomsday. In a roundabout way, this "fixes" the issue of the Avenger being the first superhero ever, as he's now inspired by the TRUE originator. He was sent into the future along with the other Seven Soldiers, lost his sidekick Wing in the same story, and finally died heroically saving lives from an explosion caused by The Ultra-Humanite.

-Crimson Avenger is remarkably simple. Good detective with a real job & some wealth, a Sidekick, and a Gas Gun. Very simple stuff. Since his only appearance in a fight consists of him going down more easily than any other Justice Leaguer there, he's not that effective compared to the other Seven Soldiers.

[Jabroniville]

WING (Wing How)
Created By: Jim Chambers
First Appearance: Detective Comics #20 (Oct. 1938)
Role: Asian Sidekick, Kato Knock-Off
Group Affiliations: The All-Star Squadron, The Seven Soldiers of Victory
PL 6 (94)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9)
Athletics 6 (+7)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+11)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Streetwise) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Valet) 5 (+6)
Insight 2 (+6)
Investigation 8 (+12)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Vehicles 1 (+7)

Advantages:
Evasion, Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Set-Up, Teamwork

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)
Relationship (Lee Travis)

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (94)

-Wing is an obvious riff on Kato, the Asian chauffer/valet to the Green Hornet. A Chinese immigrant to moved to America to escape Japanese persecution, he gave an "exotic" vibe to Lee Travis' adventures. Initially not wearing any sort of alternate uniform to his chauffer's get-up, Wing later becomes a superhero alongside the Avenger, wearing a yellow version of the Avenger's red tights. Lee Travis often attempted to convince Wing that he had a brighter future than in kicking ass, but it is soon revealed in JLA #100 that Wing has sacrificed his life to defeat The Nebula Man, saving the world.

-Wing is a very basic PL 6 "Sidekick" character. A great fighter for the era, but on the weak and small side.

[catsi563]

The Soldiers of Victory adventures also tended to include either Billy Gunn or Stuff the Chinatown Kid, the Vigilante's sidekicks. They too were not counted among the seven.

Technically, the most powerful member of the team was Winged Victory - the flying nigh invulnerable horse.

The Law's Legionnaires were the all National/DC team. Adventure (SK&WV), Detective (CA&W), More Fun (GA&Sp), Star-Spangled (SSK&St), and Action (V&BG/V&StCTK) were all National books. Yes, the Soldiers of Victory were competing, after a fashion, with the JSA.

One possible fix for Green Arrow and Speedy would have been to introduce, say, Simon King and Rex Hunter as the golden age Green Arrow and Speedy. Give them the first origin that GA and Speedy had (the Lost Mesa story from More Fun Comics #89), and let them keep the brown hair and blond hair (rather than blond and ginger that Oliver and Roy had).

Len Wein in the DC Universe Legacies book, which ironically ended near when the New 52 started, took the let TNT and Dyna-Mite take Green Arrow and Speedy's places.

"Whatever Happened to the Crimson Avenger", Lee Travis' death story, from DC Comics Presents#38 was voted one of the best stories of 1981.

the 7 soldiers also made an appearance in JLU where they faced off against the transformed General Eiling in a great homage to their legacy which included Shining Knight being an utter badass by standing up to Eiling even though he was entirely outmatched

[Jabroniville]

especially when you realize that the root of her chattiness is in her trauma and depression. People like that keep talking because they FEAR the silence. that if they dont keep talking people will leave them and theyll suddenly have to deal with the silence which is where their fears and insecurities live. Add in that she hears all these negative things about her and shed be absolutely compelled to keep talking for the attention it brings both negative and positive

imagine shed be a pretty fascinating a case study in trauma and depression

Yup- sadly, Johns himself pretty much never mentions it once after her debut issue- all we get is that scene of Power Girl going "I thought she suffered from atypical depression. So why is she smiling?" and we learn that Maxine lets it out when she uses her powers and has fun. After that she's mostly just "The goofy, awkward girl", crushing on Damage and hanging around Stargirl.

[Ken]

-The more I do bios and do research, the more I realize that the Crisis and everything that came with it ended up messing DC continuity WAYYYY more than the "bunch of Earths" concept ever did.

AMEN!!

Canary's daughter, AND NO ONE NOTICED. Then the Crisis happened and DC Continuity went to shit.

His existence got bizarre in 1985. Then the Crisis happened and DC Continuity went to shit.

#50 is when the "Crisis" hit All-Star Squadron, and the DC Universe was turned to shit.

[Ken]

-In any case, Lee Travis has two potential origins- in one, he's a Radio Announcer who just kind of decided to fight crime after witnessing a robbery.

Lee Travis wasn't a radio announcer. Lee Travis was the publisher of the Daily Sentin-- -er- wait, no the Globe-Leader newspaper.

Britt Reid was the publisher of the Daily Sentinel.

[Jabroniville]

THE CRIMSON AVENGER II (Jill Carlyle- possible name)
Created By: Geoff Johns & Scott Kolin
First Appearance: Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 (April 2000)
Role: Legacy Hero
Group Affiliations: None
PL 12 (150)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Expertise (Lawyer) 5 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+6)
Perception 5 (+7)
Insight 4 (+6)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Crimson Avenger's Guns- Non-Removable Magical Devices"
Blast 12 (Extras: Perception-Ranged, Penetrating) (48) -- [49]

• AE: Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended, Easy) (Flaws: Limited to Current Target's Location & Victim's Grave) (30)

Insubstantial 4 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Reaction) [25]
Senses 4 (Postcognition) (Flaws: Limited- Murder Victim's Death Only) [2]
"Manifest Skill" Variable 1 (Flaws: Limited to Skills Possessed By Victim) [6]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Pistols -- (+12 Perception-Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)
Responsibility (Guns)- The Crimson Avenger is cursed to hunt down and execute those responsible for the deaths of others- she says the spirits of those slain command her. She even has a hard time not shooting anyone who merely comes between her and her targets.
Power Loss (Insubstantial)- Magic will still affect her.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 82 / Defenses: 13 (150)

-Crimson Avenger II is a plot-device character created to both be inspired by the original Crimson Avenger (essentially another Legacy Hero), and to do various plot-related things (injure Power Girl, reveal part of Wildcat's past, help out against the Ultra-Humanite, etc.). Seeming partially invincible in her first year, she's ended up being shuffled into the metahuman mix by now, and pops up during mass crossovers from time to time. More of a gimmick than a well-developed character, as she's basically defined as being a solo operative. The "Jill Carlyle" name appears on a headstone behind her, and fans have taken to calling her that, but it's likely she has no given name.

-She was a lawyer who used a pair of pistols that belonged to Lee Travis to murder a criminal who'd gotten off on a technicality. However, it turned out that the pistols were CURSED, and now she's stuck on a permanent-quest to punish those who've escaped justice. She once went on a rampage, nearly killing Power Girl & Wildcat thanks to Ted Grant having framed a man for a crime which resulted in the man's execution. Grant admitted his guilt in the act, but noted that the man was a crook who'd murdered OTHER people, and thus felt justified in getting him framed- it was just a technicality that he hadn't killed THIS victim! Apparently that was enough of a grey moral shade for the second Avenger, who left him alone after "taking some of his Nine Lives" away. She's later seen killing Catalyst when Prometheus sent a bunch of villains to do some stuff.

-Deciding her PL was the toughest thing, as she DEMOLISHED Power Girl and Wildcat, but at the same point, she got the drop on them, and most heroes & villains get certain benefits for their debut appearances. She's since been semi-downgraded as a very shooty character whose guns point her in the direction she needs to go. Since they're mystical in nature and she CAN'T be rid of them, they're a Power- not a Device.She gets a ton of accuracy (they automatically fire when pointed at a target), and have high levels of power- nearly murdering Power Girl is no mean feat, and she one-shotted Captain Atom as well (sending him into the future). Note that as a lawyer, she's no born combatant, and it's the GUNS doing the fighting for her; all she does is point. Thus the guns are Perception-Ranged. It's her ONLY attack, so she's maxed out there.