Leading Comics #3

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CGC records 33 graded copies for Leading Comics #3 (1942). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.

Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Tyrants of Time"

Dr. Wilfred Doome) invents a time machine, and uses it to recruit five conquerors: Nero), Attila the Hun), Napoleon Bonaparte), Genghis Khan), and Alexander the Great), to accomplish a series of crimes in 1942. Doome plans to have them help him acquire the things needed to modify his time machine so they can all travel to the future and conquer the world of tomorrow.

During a preliminary robbery on Wall Street, the gang encounters and escapes from Green Arrow) and Speedy), who are in the process of testing a two-way radio that'll let the partners hear everything the other does. Attilla knocks Roy down and takes the device as spoils of war. This enables the archers to overhear the temporal criminals' plans, and realize they were probably more than a group of militant historical reenactors, and that something's going on that's probably serious enough to call in the rest of the Seven Soldiers) for a meeting. Hearing the various schemes Dr. Doome has in mind for his followers, involving stealing rare elements to upgrade the time machine, the heroes each pick a crime to thwart, and split up.

| StoryTitle2 = Star-Spangled Kid: "Defeat Before Waterloo" | Synopsis2 = After leaving behind his disappointed father, Star and Stripesy pile into the Star-Rocket Racer and take off for Canada, where Napoleon's been sent with a gang to perform his heist. The general orders the underlings he's been supplied to bomb the railroad track that collects from the mine they intend to rob so that they won't be noticed. However, they *have* been noticed by a pair of hobos. Fortunately, these same hobos notice when Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy launch an attack on the villains, only to be defeated and thrown into a river to drown, and rescue the patriotic vigilantes. Although they're unwilling to help fight criminals, *dictators* are a different story, and the two vagabonds agree to back up the heroes taking on Napoleon. After the Star-Rocket Racer crashes into and downs their plane, the shaken crooks give up when faced with equal numbers. Meanwhile, Napoleon, desperate to find a white charger so he can depict himself in his usual dramatic way, finds a merry-go-round and mounts it, only to be mistaken for a lunatic and picked up by some men from an asylum. Outraged, Napoleon uses a device Doome gave him to return to his own time. | StoryTitle3 = Green Arrow: "Untitled" | Synopsis3 = In the swamps of Florida, inventor Leo Starr has invented robots he intends to be used as soldiers so men can be spared the horrors of war. Starr experiences them himself when Alexander shells his lab with a catapult, crushing the inventor. The ancient conqueror orders one robot to bring him the radium Starr was using to power the robots, which he's been sent to collect for the time machine. Green Arrow and Speedy are taken prisoner by more robots guarding the perimeter.

Fortunately, one of the robots developed sentience and a proclivity for jokes, which annoys Alexander. However, his sword is useless against the metal man, and with the conqueror out of the past away from their controls, the other robots are distracted until GA and Speedy use a fire hose to short-circuit them. Alexander tries to flee into the swamp, but is amazed by the ferocity of the animals there he's never seen. Daunted by all of this, he also returns to his own time to at least face dangers he knows. Seeing two of his hirelings flying back through time, Dr. Doome begins to worry he's facing some powerful organized opposition. | StoryTitle4 = Shining Knight: "The Man Who Told A Fish Story" | Synopsis4 = Justin Arthur gathers his weapons and rides out to Alaska for his battle with Genghis Khan. On the way, he sees Bill Bates, a down-on-his-luck fisherman, be dragooned into a bet to catch a whale by other men on the docks. Knightly honor gets Sir Justin to compel Bates to honor the bet, but he's seen a thing or two, and thinks fortune may be on his' side.

Meanwhile, the Khan and some of his own men along with modern gangsters, make to rob a ship carrying valuable platinum. Shining Knight pursues them into a cavernous hideout inside of an iceberg. The weapons of the unrighteous horde are no match for his magical accoutrements, but plain old brute force serves them better, as they dogpile the hero and throw him overboard. Although weighed down by his armor, Shining Knight manages to climb to the surface by stabbing his sword repeatedly higher into the rock wall. Outside, he sees a passing whale, and rides it to cripple the villains' boat. When it pulls Bates' own boat, laden with the stolen loot and their prisoners, he shows it off to the other fishermen and claims victory on their bet.

Meanwhile, Genghis also vanishes into the past, and this time Dr. Doome sees that it was the Shining Knight who vanquished his ally. He begins formulating contingency plans now that he knows he's up against such powerful enemies. | StoryTitle5 = Vigilante: "The Spirit of Wild Bill Dickson" | Synopsis5 = An old timer sees a pack train of tantalum starting off toward civilization. Attila and his Huns knock its meager guard staff off a cliff. A former sheriff, "Wild" Bill Dickson mounts up and goes after the evildoers, only be to driven off a cliff himself, but his gunbelt catches on a protruding branch. Before long, Vigilante and Billy Gunn show up looking for their historical enemy, and haul Bill to safety, although Gunn's dubious of his claims, thinking Bill Dickson was gunned down sixty-six years before. Unfortunately, the posse looking for the train robbers also thinks Bill Dickson is dead, and make to lynch the old timer for being in on the robbery.

Meanwhile, Attila and his Huns set a trap for pursuers, and Vig and Billy ride their motorcycle right off the front of Mount Rushmore, but he manages to save them by lassoing a crag of rock. A brawl ensues and the villains are lassoed as well. Hero and mentor find Bill Dickson about to be lynched, but save him. He explains the man who was shot years ago was the uncle he was named after. The villains also disappear back to their own time rather than face justice in the present. | StoryTitle6 = Crimson Avenger: "Fiddler's Farewell" | Synopsis6 = Young Sammy Singer stows away on a ship with his dog, hoping to make his family proud of him. When he's found, he's expected to work for his space. Soon a Roman slave galley commanded by Nero sails by the ship and shoots a flare, claiming to be actors from a movie shoot whose boat was washed off-course. Hearing this, Sammy sneaks onto *their* boat, figuring to get home more quickly. The Roman warriors quickly overwhelm the ship's crew, and the captain (along with not a few of Nero's own followers) is so annoyed by the emperor's horrific fiddling he agrees to surrender his cargo. Crimson Avenger and Wing are nearby, but are captured by the Romans as well when they try to intervene. Nero orders the ship set aflame, and the crew remains to battle the blaze while the recovered heroes debark to continue their pursuit of the evil emperor.

The heroes are captured again and chained to an oar, but Sammy steals a guard's sword and cuts them and the other slaves free, giving them the manpower to seize control of the galley. From the way Nero was looking at a certain lighthouse just before he also disappeared back into time, Crim deduces it might be Dr. Doome's hideout. Speaking of the Doctor, with all his plains thwarted, he begins to think of modifying his time machine to use it to escape. Even though this will be extremely risky without the elements he sent the historical villains to gather. | StoryTitle7 = Seven Soldiers of Victory: "Conclusion" | Synopsis7 = The Soldiers congregate and head to Dr. Doome's headquarters. After surviving a few traps, they pursue him into his time machine, which drops them right in the middle of the siege of Troy. Furthermore, Doome's convinced Ulysses and the other Greek forces that these brightly-costumed interlopers are enemy forces. When the superheroes easily handle his retinue, though, Ulysses announces his wish to parley, unconvinced that warriors as bold as them could be the treacherous saboteurs Doome claims. About to be forced to ride in the Trojan Horse for his duplicity, Doome instead uses one of the recall devices which he'd given to his temporal allies to vanish back to the 1940's. Speedy thought to grab one too, allowing the Seven Soldiers to return as well. Desperately he tries to flee into the future, but the machine explodes without the modifications that were impossible because the Soldiers foiled his plans. It's unclear if Doome died in the explosion or succeeded in making his escape to the future.

| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Seven Soldiers of Victory) **Crimson Avenger) **Green Arrow) **Shining Knight) **Speedy) **Star-Spangled Kid) **Stripesy) **Vigilante) **Wing) **Supporting Characters:** * Dr. Moresby) **Antagonists:** * Doctor Doome) * Alexander the Great) * Attila the Hun) ** Huns * Genghis Khan) Secretly Vandal Savage), see notes ** Tartar warriors * Napoleon Bonaparte) * Nero Claudius Caesar) ** his Praetorian Guards

**Other Characters:** *

**Animals:** * Winged Victory) (Shining Knight's winged horse)

**Locations:** * Earth-Two ** 1942 *** United States of America **** New York ***** Long Island ***** New York City ****** Manhattan **** South Dakota ***** Mount Rushmore **** Alaska ** 333 BCE *** Persia **** Tyre ** 1st Century *** Rome ** 5th Century *** Hungary ** 1214 *** China **** Pekin ** 1813 *** Germany **** Saxony ***** Leipzig

**Items:** * Dr. Doome's time-travel equipment

**Vehicles:** * Arrowcar * Vig-Cycle

| Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Star-Spangled Kid) **Stripesy) **Supporting Characters:** * Zipper (beggar) * Dusty (beggar) **Antagonists:** * Napoleon Bonaparte) ** Duke ** Turk ** Spivy **Other Characters:** * Sylvester Pemberton's father) **Locations:** * **Items:** * Gold **Vehicles:** * Star-Rocket Racer

| Appearing3 = **Featured Characters:** *Green Arrow) **Speedy) **Supporting Characters:** * Alexander the Great) **Antagonists:** * **Other Characters:** * Leo Starr, inventor **Animals:** * An American crocodile (Alexander thought that it was a crocodile from the Nile) * A rattlesnake **Locations:** * United States of America ** Florida *** Everglades **Items:** * Leo Starr's robots ** Oscar * Catapult * Radium **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing4 = **Featured Characters:** *Shining Knight) **Supporting Characters:** * Winged Victory) **Antagonists:** * Genghis Khan) ** Tartar warriors ** petty criminals **Other Characters:** * **Animals**: * A polar bear * A whale **Animals**: * A dinosaur **Locations:** * United States of America ** Alaska **Items:** * Platinum **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing5 = **Featured Characters:** *Vigilante) **Supporting Characters:** * Billy Gunn) **Antagonists:** * Attila the Hun) ** Huns **Other Characters:** * Wild Bill Dickson, former sheriff **Animals**: * A mammoth **Locations:** * United States of America ** South Dakota **Items:** * Tantalum **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing6 = **Featured Characters:** *Crimson Avenger) **Wing) **Supporting Characters:** * Sammy Singer, stowaway **Antagonists:** * Nero Claudius Caesar) ** his Praetorian Guards *** Horatio *** Marcus **Other Characters:** * slave oarsmen **Animals:** * Scraps (Sammy Singer's dog) **Locations:** * **Items:** * Uranium **Vehicles:** * The Triton * Roman galley

| Appearing7 = **Featured Characters:** * Seven Soldiers of Victory) **Crimson Avenger) **Green Arrow) **Shining Knight) **Speedy) **Star-Spangled Kid) **Stripesy) **Vigilante) **Wing) **Supporting Characters:** * **Antagonists:** * Doctor Doome) **Other Characters:** * Ulysses) * Greek warriors **Locations:** * United States of America ** New York *** Long Island * 12th Century BCE ** Trojan War *** Turkey **** Troy **Items:** * Dr. Doome's time-travel equipment ** Oscar * Trojan Horse **Vehicles:** *

| Notes = * *The Tyrants of Time* is reprinted in The Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives Vol. 1 (Collected). * This story was retold with additional details in *All-Star Squadron #29* (1984). * In Green Lantern Vol 1 10, immortal caveman Vandal Savage) claimed to have been Genghis Khan. While some of Savage's other assertions in that story have been shown to be false, this one has not been disputed. | Trivia = * Wing is portrayed as stereotypical Chinese, changing "R"s to "L"s. * Nero is portrayed as playing a fiddle. The fiddle (aka violin) was not invented in Nero's time; He actually played a cithara.. * Alexander refers to Jupiter while in battle, but Jupiter is a Roman god; as a Macedonian, he surely would have referred to Zeus instead. It was fixed in the retelling in *All-Star Squadron #29*. * Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy fight Napoleon near the Canadian border, where a spur line from Quebec gold mines meets the main line. Clearly this is not New York. Three possible places: Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. * Guards from a unnamed asylum take Napoleon. When retold, the asylum is retconned as the Arkham Asylum. * Green Arrow mentions that history says that Alexander will die at 31 y.o. by excess of wine. Death of Alexander the Great|Actually, Alexander died at 32. Wine is only regarded as one of the possible causes. On Earth-One, Alexander, along other conquerors throughout history, had their destinies doomed by an artifact known as the Emperor Eagle Statue. * Loafers in Alaska refer to whales as fishes... but you know that the whale is a mammal, don't you? | Recommended = | Links =

Creative credits

Interior art: Mort Meskin, Hal Sherman, George Papp, Creig Flessel, John Lehti

Source records & attribution

Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.

COMICBASE: comicbase:650742

GCD: 2264

PANEL PROFITS: 24220