title: "Confrontation!"
writer: Joe Samachson
art: Dick Dillin & Tex Blaisdell
editor: Joe Orlando
cover: Jim Aparo (signed)
Synopsis:
The Seven Soldiers have returned to Willie Wisher, intent on "settling things." Willie, however, tosses a few curves at them, starting with a solid steel wall. The Shining Knight and his enchanted blade, however, cuts through the wall like butter.
Then Willie wishes a whoop of gorillas to scare the Soldiers away, but the Crimson Avenger and his crimson gas confuses them, so the Vigilante ropes them up.
Next, Willie wishes for a gang of hoodlums, but The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy don't bat an eye while disposing of them.
Tiring of having to come up with "menaces" at a moment's notice, Willie wishes himself a flying broomstick to take him away, but Green Arrow and Speedy nab him, bringing him down to earth.
As Willie threatens to come up with something spectacular, the Soldiers ask for a time-out. They confer, and decide that their only course of action is to try to out-think Willie. They hit on a plan to make him doubt his own powers, and how they could be inconveniencing other innocent people. Overcome with emotion, Willie wishes that he had never been born....
And the next moment, Willie disappears and the story (and film) are over.
We return to where and when we started: at the premiere showing of the film starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory. However, the audience isn't buying this "epic" for a second, and begin booing the film's producer, who was there to introduce the film. Yet from out of the darkness the Seven Soldiers themselves step forward and vouch for the authenticity of the film. The story ends on the heroes considering Willie's cryptic words that they would never forget him.....
Commentary:
We return to where and when we started: at the premiere showing of the film starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory. However, the audience isn't buying this "epic" for a second, and begin booing the film's producer, who was there to introduce the film. Yet from out of the darkness the Seven Soldiers themselves step forward and vouch for the authenticity of the film. The story ends on the heroes considering Willie's cryptic words that they would never forget him.....
Commentary:
So there you have it, a 40+ page epic starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory!
As a kid who came upon this story as a back-up in an Aquaman comic, I was not really aware of what I was reading. When every character you come across is new (to you) you don't know what is "big" and what isn't. Now that I'm older, I can see that DC was trying to milk Seventies' Golden Age nostalgia to keep retired and semi-forgotten, unpublished characters in the spotlight.
As I mentioned before, the Seven Soldiers of Victory as a group ended their initial "life" after Leading Comics #14 in 1945. It was not until nearly 30 years later that they returned in a new adventure in Justice League of America #s 100-102. It was revealed in that story that they had fought a menace named the Nebula Man, but with dire consequences. He had been a cosmic being, and when he had been defeated he exploded, sending each of the Seven Soldiers back in time. And at that time, the Crimson Avenger's partner, Wing, had been killed. The Justice League and Justice Society tracked them down, and brought them back to the present.
The three issues of Justice League of America must have sold very well, because for the next few years the Seven Soldiers started being reprinted in various DC comics, both as a group and as individuals. And then when DC moved their offices, this unpublished script by Joe Samachson was found, and certain fans-turned-pros convinced editor Joe Orlando to commission new art for it. And here we are!
As for the story, it really does wrap up exceedingly well. It conveniently has something for each Soldier to do, and then they as a group end up out-thinking Willie Wisher. I have to say that as a kid I had not seen It's A Wonderful Life, so the conclusion of Willie wishing himself out of existence seemed like a novel idea to me then. Years later, I realize that Samachson wrote this story BEFORE It's A Wonderful Life was made (in 1946) so *he* came up with it before Frank Capra did (assuming the ending wasn't altered in some way).
Unfortunately, this back-up series did not get the fan reaction necessary to give the Seven Soldiers a permanent home. I can imagine that DC wanted to try to revive them, as they did later that year with another Golden Age group, The Freedom Fighters. Instead of a new Seven Soldiers series, though, we got the Star-Spangled Kid appearing in the pages of All-Star Comics, where he would eventually join the Justice Society. (There is an ad for his first appearance in that comic in this very comic, which is odd to say the least.) The Shining Knight guest-starred in that series a few issues later, where he eventually managed to return to his own time (Medieval England). The Vigilante meanwhile appeared in a few issues of World's Finest Comics, but evidently wasn't popular enough to stay very long. The Crimson Avenger got one solo story in an issue of DC Comics Presents. And Green Arrow, Speedy, and Stripesy never reappeared again!
But for a brief, shining moment it was the heydey of the Leading Comics stars. And it was, dare I say it, magical. I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as these creators clearly did, and I enjoyed bringing it to you!
As a kid who came upon this story as a back-up in an Aquaman comic, I was not really aware of what I was reading. When every character you come across is new (to you) you don't know what is "big" and what isn't. Now that I'm older, I can see that DC was trying to milk Seventies' Golden Age nostalgia to keep retired and semi-forgotten, unpublished characters in the spotlight.
As I mentioned before, the Seven Soldiers of Victory as a group ended their initial "life" after Leading Comics #14 in 1945. It was not until nearly 30 years later that they returned in a new adventure in Justice League of America #s 100-102. It was revealed in that story that they had fought a menace named the Nebula Man, but with dire consequences. He had been a cosmic being, and when he had been defeated he exploded, sending each of the Seven Soldiers back in time. And at that time, the Crimson Avenger's partner, Wing, had been killed. The Justice League and Justice Society tracked them down, and brought them back to the present.
The three issues of Justice League of America must have sold very well, because for the next few years the Seven Soldiers started being reprinted in various DC comics, both as a group and as individuals. And then when DC moved their offices, this unpublished script by Joe Samachson was found, and certain fans-turned-pros convinced editor Joe Orlando to commission new art for it. And here we are!
As for the story, it really does wrap up exceedingly well. It conveniently has something for each Soldier to do, and then they as a group end up out-thinking Willie Wisher. I have to say that as a kid I had not seen It's A Wonderful Life, so the conclusion of Willie wishing himself out of existence seemed like a novel idea to me then. Years later, I realize that Samachson wrote this story BEFORE It's A Wonderful Life was made (in 1946) so *he* came up with it before Frank Capra did (assuming the ending wasn't altered in some way).
Unfortunately, this back-up series did not get the fan reaction necessary to give the Seven Soldiers a permanent home. I can imagine that DC wanted to try to revive them, as they did later that year with another Golden Age group, The Freedom Fighters. Instead of a new Seven Soldiers series, though, we got the Star-Spangled Kid appearing in the pages of All-Star Comics, where he would eventually join the Justice Society. (There is an ad for his first appearance in that comic in this very comic, which is odd to say the least.) The Shining Knight guest-starred in that series a few issues later, where he eventually managed to return to his own time (Medieval England). The Vigilante meanwhile appeared in a few issues of World's Finest Comics, but evidently wasn't popular enough to stay very long. The Crimson Avenger got one solo story in an issue of DC Comics Presents. And Green Arrow, Speedy, and Stripesy never reappeared again!
But for a brief, shining moment it was the heydey of the Leading Comics stars. And it was, dare I say it, magical. I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as these creators clearly did, and I enjoyed bringing it to you!
This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the six page story here it its entirety, exactly as it appeared in its comic-book form.
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