Leading Comics #14

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CGC records 18 graded copies for Leading Comics #14 (1945). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.

Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Bandits from the Books"

Hamlet attacks a performance of his play, and Oliver Queen and Roy Harper read about pirates stealing a yacht among other strange stories. They realize this is bigger than the two of them, it's a job for all Seven Soldiers of Victory. One of their teammates has already thought the same thing, as just then they find themselves summoned. The Soldiers convene at the house or Dr. Wimsett, where Vigilante's managed to track Hamlet. The scientist expounds on the strange phenomenon where sometimes literary characters seem to take on a life of their own and act in ways even their author never intended. He found a way to intensify that until the characters actually come to life! Unfortunately for him, while Wimsett was explaining all that to the heroes, all the characters he'd summoned ran away to raise more mischief. Except Humpty Dumpty, who explains to the Seven Soldiers what he heard the others discuss.

| Synopsis2 = Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy set out after Long John Silver, who's gone after some buried treasure as pirates are wont to do, and fortunately Humpty has a note with the location of his planned strike. They pursue the pirate crew to an island, and while the heroes seem to have the upper hand at first due to the pirates' unfamiliarity with modern guns, Silver manages to distract them and take them captive. The modern crimefighters eventually manage to get one over on Silver and his crew, and Star takes the map Silver's been following. He realizes it's actually a cutting from a book saying the island's rich in minerals, but that Silver thought it was some kind of code revealing the whereabouts of hidden treasure. As they bundle him into the Star-Rocket Racer, the pirate wistfully thinks to himself the kind of pillaging he could do if the vehicle were his...

| Synopsis3 = The gluttonous Falstaff has managed to acquire a gang who are helping him steal foodstuffs. They're becoming disgruntled, thinking this eloquent-sounding rogue would lead them in acquiring conventional loot, until Green Arrow and Speedy catch up to them. In the course of the fight Falstaff manages to incapacitate Green Arrow by falling on top of the archer with all his girth, impressing the gang into staying with him. Leaving the archers tied up while robbing a sausage packing plant next, GA manages to get their ropes off by use of a handy vat of grease. The archers catch Falstaff this time and take him back to Wimsett's place.

| Synopsis4 = Crimson Avenger and Wing set out on the trail of the two most loathsome characters Wimsett summoned. Uriah Heap, tormentor of David Copperfield, and the Old Man of the Sea, who once enslaved Sinbad the sailor by sitting on his shoulders, pull a similar trick by sitting on the shoulders of a man who runs a charity. Crimson Avenger and Wing track them down before they can escape with the contents of his strongbox, but Heap squirts them with onion juice which he also uses to create the fake tears the hide his cold heart. Next the villains pull their trick again, trying to win a piggyback race at a picnic with valuable prizes. Crim and Wing manage to catch them when Heap's legs give out from the strain.

| Synopsis5 = Having built quite the resume battling such beasts already, Shining Knight heads out to capture the giant who lived at the top of Jack's beanstalk. Along with the cheshire cat, lion and unicorn from *Alice and Wonderland*, the group gets hired on as sideshow exhibits for a traveling circus. Shining Knight at first battles a circus giant, a human specimen from Earth, before finding the escaped giant and manages to catch him after a pitched battle. The circus owner refuses to return the animals the giant brought with him, but as they aren't evil, the knight lets them go and returns with his captive.

| Synopsis6 = A story about a supposedly drunk farmhand being shot at by his own gun makes front page news. Hearing of this, Vigilante suspects some of the escaped literary characters to be responsible. Investigating, he finds the army of Lilliput building up arms in the area. Vigilante falls into a trap and finds himself latched to the ground, but manages to ignite the grass around them by striking his spurs on a rock. The tiny specimens escape, but Vigilante tracks them to a department store where they've commandeered model planes to act as their air force. The tiny people prove to be far less unstoppable than they imagined, as Vigilante's easily able to shoot them down. While rounding up the rest, however, the king goes missing in the tumult.

| Synopsis7 = The Seven Soldiers return with their captives to Wimsett's laboratory, but are unpleasantly surprised to learn he hasn't found a way to send the characters back to their books. Stripesy picks Humpty Dumpty off the floor to sit him on a shelf, and this lapse in attention is exploited by Long John Silver to attack him from behind, then all the captured villains turn on their captors. In the chaos Humpty Dumpty falls off, accidentally causing a mixture of chemicals that poofs all characters back into their books. Even the ones still on the loose, like Hamlet, the Wonderland circus animals and the Lilliputian king.

| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Seven Soldiers of Victory) **Crimson Avenger) ** Green Arrow) **Shining Knight) **Speedy) **Star-Spangled Kid) **Stripesy) **Vigilante) **Supporting Characters:** * Wing) **Antagonists:** * **Other Characters:** * Dr Wimsett * Prince Hamlet|Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark * Humpty Dumpty * Old King Cole **Locations:** * Dr Wimsett's estate **Items:** * **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Star-Spangled Kid) * Stripesy) **Supporting Characters:** * **Antagonists:** * Long John Silver ** Frankie **Other Characters:** * Blackbeard * William Kidd|Captain Kidd * Dr Wimsett * Humpty Dumpty * James Fenimore Cooper|Fennimore Cooper * Iroquois **Locations:** * **Items:** * **Vehicles:** * Star-Rocket Racer

| Appearing3 = **Featured Characters:** * Green Arrow) * Speedy) **Supporting Characters:** * **Antagonists:** * Falstaff **Other Characters:** * Dr Wimsett * Humpty Dumpty **Locations:** * **Items:** * **Vehicles:** * Arrowcar

| Appearing4 = **Featured Characters:** * Crimson Avenger) **Supporting Characters:** * Wing) **Antagonists:** * Old Man of the Sea * Uriah Heep **Other Characters:** * Charles Dickens * David Copperfield (illusionist)|David Copperfield * Dr Wimsett * Humpty Dumpty * Mr Hooper * Sinbad the Sailor **Locations:** * **Items:** * **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing5 = **Featured Characters:** * Shining Knight) **Supporting Characters:** * Winged Victory) **Antagonists:** * Giant **Other Characters:** * Cheshire Cat * Dr Wimsett * Humpty Dumpty * Jack and the Beanstalk|Jack * Old King Cole * Vigilante) **Locations:** * Circus * Dr Wimsett's estate **Items:** * **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing6 = **Featured Characters:** * Vigilante) **Supporting Characters:** * **Antagonists:** * Lilliput and Blefuscu|Lilliputians and their king **Other Characters:** * Dr Wimsett * Lemuel Gulliver * Humpty Dumpty * Tommy **Locations:** * Dr Wimsett's estate **Items:** * **Vehicles:** *

| Appearing7 = **Featured Characters:** * Seven Soldiers of Victory) **Crimson Avenger) **Green Arrow) **Shining Knight) **Speedy) **Star-Spangled Kid) **Stripesy) **Vigilante) **Supporting Characters:** * Wing) **Antagonists:** * Prince Hamlet|Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark * Falstaff * Giant * King of the Lilliputians * Lilliput and Blefuscu|Lilliputians * Long John Silver * Old Man of the Sea * Uriah Heep **Other Characters:** * Cheshire Cat * Dr Wimsett * Humpty Dumpty * Old King Cole * Willie **Locations:** * Dr Wimsett's estate **Items:** * **Vehicles:** *

| Notes = * *The bandits from the Books* is reprinted in The Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives Vol. 3 (Collected). * This is the last issue the Seven Soldiers of Victory of Earth-Two) were featured in until 1972 with Justice League of America Vol 1 100. | Trivia = * James Fenimore Cooper's name was misspelled as *Fennimore*. * In Gulliver's Travels, the head of the Lilliput and Blefuscu|Lilliputians is an emperor and not a king.

| Recommended = | Links =

Creative credits

Writers: Joe Samachson

Interior art: Arthur Cazeneuve

Source records & attribution

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

COMICBASE: comicbase:650753

GCD: 4284

PANEL PROFITS: 24203