Legendary Leading Comics #1-#14 3 3

[Ghastly542454]

35 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Was Joe Samachson a science fiction writer as well? Many of these stories seem to have that flair about them.  Another great cover and interesting in that only four of the eight characters are actually shown looking at the reader. By the way which of the eight characters didn't count in the Seven Soldiers lineup?

According to Wikipedia, he wrote several science fiction novels under a pseudonym and also worked for the pulps. He started working for DC in 1942 and in 1955 created the Martian Manhunter.

Wing, the valet for the Crimson Avenger, was never an actual member of the group.

[Top City Comics]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:43 AM, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #6 Spring 1943 Cover by Ed Dobotka and the story “The Treasure That Time Forgot” written by Joe Samachson.

To help with the war relief, the heroes compete in teams trying to locate a billion dollars in gold that Pizarro took from Atahaulpa. Crimson Avenger and Wing do not participate in the teams and instead pursue the gold on their own. The Soldierseventually succeed in obtaining pre-Columbian gold for the Allied cause. 

My copy of Leading Comics #6 came from Boardie @Top City Comics in 2018. I can’t remember what I paid for it but I did have it put into a new holder.

Sweet set bro!!

[Comicdey]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:46 AM, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #7 Summer 1943 Cover by Jon Small and the story “The Wizard of Wisstark!” by Joe Samachson. 

The Soldiers are taken to the Arctic city of “Wisstark” whose “wizard” is an American with no real magical powers, who taught his adopted people democracy. The Seven Soldiers of Victory fight “wizards” from the city of Stanovia and expose them as fakes, thereby bringing peace to that temperate kingdom in Antarctica. 

Pages 6 and 7 of the first chapter are each composed of the art for two pages, reduced in size to make a pair of pages instead of four, as the total page count in National/DC Comics was reduced. But the count would be reduced even further beginning with the next issue. 

My beautiful copy of Leading Comics #7 came from Boardie @skypinkblu in 2017 after another Boardie @Comicdey had first considered buying it. For whatever reason he decided he didn’t want it and it was made available to me. I paid $450 for it. It was in one on the first generation CGC holders (no first generation “goodness” with me-I detest them) and it was quickly sent off for a new holder and presents so much better now in my opinion.

I had my reasons.   It obviously was better suited for you 🌈

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #8-Fall 1943 Cover by Jon Small (pencils) and Maurice del Bourgo (inks). The story “Exiles in Time! “by Joe Samachson. 

With a stolen time ray, The Dummy (not a puppet but a small, evil man who looked like a puppet)sends the Soldiers to various past eras, where teams help the Three Musketeers, fight Japanese invaders in ancient China, discover America alongside Vikings under Leif Ericsson, save Julius Caesar from Roman criminals, and aid Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci with his own time machine, sends the Shining Knight back to 1943 where he and the other Soldiers defeat The Dummy.

This is one of the few Leading Comics covers where the Crimson Avenger’s sidekick Wing (the unofficial eighth member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory) is pictured. 

My copy of Leading Comics #8 was purchased in November 2019 when during the weekend after Thanksgiving I decided to turn on my iPad and there it was in an eBay listing for $799 buy it now. It was gone in a matter of seconds.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Ghastly542454

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

26 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #8-Fall 1943 Cover by Jon Small (pencils) and Maurice del Bourgo (inks). The story “Exiles in Time! “by Joe Samachson. 

With a stolen time ray, The Dummy (not a puppet but a small, evil man who looked like a puppet)sends the Soldiers to various past eras, where teams help the Three Musketeers, fight Japanese invaders in ancient China, discover America alongside Vikings under Leif Ericsson, save Julius Caesar from Roman criminals, and aid Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci with his own time machine, sends the Shining Knight back to 1943 where he and the other Soldiers defeat The Dummy.

This is one of the few Leading Comics covers where the Crimson Avenger’s sidekick Wing (the unofficial eighth member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory) is pictured. 

My copy of Leading Comics #8 was purchased in November 2019 when during the weekend after Thanksgiving I decided to turn on my iPad and there it was in an eBay listing for $799 buy it now. It was gone in a matter of seconds.

 

I love that cover and it is the reason I picked up this book at the Yorba Linda show in 2019 from a decent run. There was another I wanted but someone else snagged it; still this was a good one to get and read. The splash panel is fun and it also has a great back cover; love those DC house ads!

 

[Ghastly542454]

1 hour ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

I love that cover and it is the reason I picked up this book at the Yorba Linda show in 2019 from a decent run. There was another I wanted but someone else snagged it; still this was a good one to get and read. The splash panel is fun and it also has a great back cover; love those DC house ads!

 

@50YrsCollctngCmcs were you at Yorba Linda on either 2017 or 2018? Torpedo Comics had a nice run of raw Leading Comics. They were spread between 2 boxes and some guy at the first box pretty much cleaned out most of them. All of them were priced really low!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

1 hour ago, Ghastly542454 said:

@50YrsCollctngCmcs were you at Yorba Linda on either 2017 or 2018? Torpedo Comics had a nice run of raw Leading Comics. They were spread between 2 boxes and some guy at the first box pretty much cleaned out most of them. All of them were priced really low!

Yes that's right: I thought it was 2019 but maybe it was 2018. Anyway I was right behind that guy cleaning them out!! And I think this book was about $200.

Edited August 24, 2020 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #9 Winter 1943-44 Cover by Jon Small and the story “The Chameleon of Crime!” by Joe Samachson.

Mr. X, “The Chameleon of Crime”, a man with 1,000 faces, wagers several high-stakes hoodlums that he can commit crimes that will stymie the individual Soldiers of Victory. Thogh he can change his face, his voice, even his age, Mr. X is eventually captured and revealed to be ugly beneath his many disguises. 

All Star Comics #5 had earlier starred a villain known as Mr. X, although there is no resemblance besides the name. 

I can’t remember anything about how I acquired my copy of Leading Comics #9. It’s a nice copy though!

[sagii]

Enjoying the Thread very much! 

[Ghastly542454]

8 minutes ago, sagii said:

Enjoying the Thread very much! 

Thanks 😊 Cory!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

6 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #9 Winter 1943-44 Cover by Jon Small and the story “The Chameleon of Crime!” by Joe Samachson.

Mr. X, “The Chameleon of Crime”, a man with 1,000 faces, wagers several high-stakes hoodlums that he can commit crimes that will stymie the individual Soldiers of Victory. Thogh he can change his face, his voice, even his age, Mr. X is eventually captured and revealed to be ugly beneath his many disguises. 

All Star Comics #5 had earlier starred a villain known as Mr. X, although there is no resemblance besides the name. 

I can’t remember anything about how I acquired my copy of Leading Comics #9. It’s a nice copy though!

 

I like how they tilted the title logo on this issue to accommodate the artwork.

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #10 Spring 1944-Cover by Louis Cazeneuve and the story “King of the Hundred Isles” by Joe Samachson.

The Soldiers are shipwrecked and wind up on different islands, in unique partnerships: Crimson Avenger with Speedy, Green Arrow with the Vigilante, Stripesy with Wing, and Shining Knight with the Star-Spangled Kid. The battle the criminal Baby-Face Johnson (named after Baby-Face Nelson 1903-34), who rules the region. 

When the famous ichthyologist Professor Moran's expedition to the Pacific Ocean disappears, his friend Professor Moresby recruits the Shining Knight to embark on a search, and Sir Justin bring along his friends, the Seven Soldiers of Victory. As the museum's steamship begins to encounter a storm, Wing spots a ghostly-looking, glowing, orange sailing ship, and as their own ship comes about to approach it, the steamer runs aground on some unseen rocks. A powerful storm strikes, as the engines are reversed, but it is too late to get the ship free of the reef, the hull breaks apart, and the heroes are hard put to survive the night, clinging to broken spars, flotsam, and one lifeboat. 

The Crimson Avenger and Speedy wash up on one small, remote, Pacific island, and explore it. Nothing is there but palm trees and goats. Some crates from their ship have drifted to this island, from which they salvage a radio receiver and a chest of tools. They settle in, Robinson Crusoe style, to building shelters and fences, and herding goats. 

Four gangsters show up in a motorboat, and knock out the young bowman and the crimson crime crusher, tie them up, then leave them on a big rock, at low tide, and speed away. These hoods work for "the King." As the waters rise and a big school of small fish sweep in, the Crimson Avenger uses the red searchlight in his belt buckle to trick the fish into nibbling at their hemp ropes. Soon the crime fighters are able to free themselves, and they swim back to their island, and find that the gangsters have taken over their dwelling. Night has fallen. They quietly observe while the hoods run their mouths. The King sent them to this place to do a particular job, and if Crimson and Speedy have already showed up, they don't know who else could be around, so they had better hurry it up. They file outside, in the dark, and go to work on the beach, painting a sailboat with phosphorescent paint. The heroes figure out that these thugs were rigging up a replacement for the sailboat that had lured their ship onto the rocks in the first place! 

Before attacking the gang, Crimson and Speedy paint themselves, and some of their goats, with the phosphorescent paint, then put on an impromptu spook show while pummeling the hoods into submission. But they can't get any info out of these punks, because they're far more afraid of "the King" than they are of these two vigilantes. So Crimson and Speedy steal their motorboat, and abandon them on the island, and go to search for their ruler. 

Vigilante and Green Arrow wash up on a small island and explore it; they find a very modern house, containing a museum-sized aquarium, with glass walls fronting big tanks of exotic fish. An elderly and very deaf caretaker is on duty but  can't hear them well enough to tell them anything. Exploring further, they spot long-missing racketeer Baby-Face Johnson, without getting spotted themselves. They listen in as Johnson instructs his gangsters,and learn that he's using this place as a hatchery for a rare species of fish. Then Baby-Face spots the two mystery men,and sends four thugs on them. G.A. and Vigilante use their weapons to disarm the gunmen, but then a stray shot shatters one glass panel, and amid the sudden flooding the gangsters get the advantage. They get ready to toss Arrow and Vigilante into a tank with a very large octopus, but Vigilante busts this glass tank with a good kick, and the massive cephalopod pours into the room, among the hoods. Green Arrow takes down two thugs, while Vigilante lassos and hogties the octopus, and the three other villains run away. 

Outside, Johnson deploys his gunmen, with riflemen covering both exits and a raiding team ready to charge in the front door. Amid this activity there is an interruption, one thug sprints into the clearing, with a report from "the other island," about how some whacky scientists have set up shop there, much earlier, and are collecting rare fish. Baby-Face vows to deal with these chiselers next, but first it's time to take out Green Arrow and Vigilante. But they've already left the building, on an arrowline from a second-story window, and now attack the eight assembled crooks from an unexpected angle. Before the fight can resolve itself, a massive earthquake plus volcanic activity plus a tidal wave all smash the island at the same time! 

The big aquarium is destroyed and whatever fish survive escape into the ocean. The gangsters all or mostly escape, in two rowboats, while Green Arrow and Vigilante grab a floating tree trunk, and everybody is swept out to sea. 

Stripesy and Wing, unconscious and half-drowned, wash up on an inhabited island, and are rescued by a crew of enslaved Quaker farm workers, all speaking in antique English. These guys revive the heroes by rolling them to and fro across barrels, an artificial respiration technique from the 1700s. William, Robert, and Jonathan, and the rest, are descended from a stranded crew of mutineers who washed up in these isles two hundred years earlier, and were invaded and put to work by "King" Baby-Face Johnson and his gang of "courtiers" two years earlier. Now their occupation is to grow fruits and vegetables, and pay them as tribute to their tyrannical "King." Stripesy is appalled to learn that they have never even considered fighting back, but that would be against their religion. 

Later Wing and Stripesy observe as the King's tax collectors arrive to claim a shipment of harvested food. The shipment is smaller than usual, and the hoods take offense at this, and harshly discipline the farmers, until Stripesy and Wing decide they've seen enough. There's a fight, and most of the thugs are quickly subdued, but one escapes to warn the King and another opens a corral full of sea turtles, which lurch their way towards the beach, cutting off Wing and Stripesy. As the hood tells it, these reptiles are plenty dangerous, and the heroes are momentarily stumped on how to deal with them, but Wing uses sticks to distract the beasts, then Stripesy hits on the solution of jumping onto the turtles' backs, and with a great deal of leaping, the comrades in combat are able to hopscotch their way to an escape. The fight resumes, but two sneaky thugs climb up some coconut trees and hurl the fruit at the heroes' heads, scoring two knock-outs. They get ready to painfully execute the unconscious Soldiers of Victory. 

Elsewhere in the Hundred Isles, Professor Moran's party, stranded by a much earlier shipwreck, have succeeded in finding what they had come there for in the first place. Moran himself, in a diving suit, has captured a live specimen of Arthopodophagus Moranensis, from a completely new genus of Pisces. This specimen and others are stored in a series of shallow ponds, on the strand near the beached, but upright, wreckage of the expedition's ship. Before Moran can write up his discovery in his notes, he catches his first sight of the local gangsters, approaching in a speedboat. Being gangsters, they're there to take over, at gunpoint, and their boss wants all of the specimen fish. That's when the Shining Knight and Star-Spangled Kid, riding Winged Victory, arrive overhead. 

Victory lands, words are bandied, and four hoodlums open fire on the rescue party. Sir Justin easily deflects all of this gunfire with the flat of his blade, handling it at blinding speed, then slices a submachinegun in two. The Kid, meanwhile, punches two hoods and grapples a third, tossing him in a trademark Kid-Stripesy hand-off technique, but his partner in this brawl is an old-school swordsman, and doesn't know this move. The tide turns in the bad guys' favor, and both of these crime-fighters get head-knocked unconscious with pistol handles. Victory, with Justin still atop him, flaps off into the open air, but the Star-Spangled Kid gets captured, tied up, and tossed in the hold of the beached ship, along with Professor Moran and his crew. They are guarded, but the guards are on the beach, thus seeing the ship from only one side. Working against an exposed nail, the Kid is able to wear thru his ropes, and soon unties the rest of the party. 

Moran has invented a fish-catching device, the greatest object of its kind ever developed, and he tells the Kid all about it, at great length. Meanwhile not far away, the Shining Knight regathers his senses, and undertakes to find the Kid. As he and Victory approach the shipwreck, they see a hallucination, of the court of their liege King Arthur. And on the ground, the homesick hoods hallucinate an old haunt of theirs, Joisy Joe's Pool Jernt. Then Sir Justin falls into the midst of them, the nostalgic illusion is shattered, and the fight resumes! The Star-Spangled Kid pitches in, and soon the hoods are all subdued. Moran explains that all the hallucinations were caused by his fish-catching device, which worked on fish by making them see whatever they most desired, which for fish, was always food. 

Justin and the Kid must depart on Victory, to seek their comrades, but Professor Moran is confident he can keep the captured thugs under control by using his device. 

Stripesy and Wing have been tied to trees, and the gangsters are recreationally shooting at them, doing difficult rodeo trick shots, from too far away, and narrowly missing. Mildly frustrated, they move much closer, and get ready to kill off the two Soldiers of Victory. That's when William and Jonathan, two of the friends that Stripesy and Wing made earlier, show up. They intervene, verbally at first, but the gangsters just say all the wrong things, and the peaceable farmers show surprising skill and speed in thrashing them, at first. But these punks are packing guns, and in a few seconds they've got them out and aimed. That's when Justin and the Kid, and Justin's horse, drop on them, from out of the sky. That shortens the fight, considerably. 

The four heroes and their new allies cross over to another island, where they find William and Jonathan's fellow serfs being forced at gunpoint to build a new aquarium for "the King." After a brisk brawl, these thugs have also been laid low. The farming folk have some questions, and after some quick explanations, they take up the gangsters' rifles, and put THEM to work, building a jail. Sir Justin flies off to seek out the other teammates. 

On another island, the pistol-packing Professor Moran is also overseeing some slave labor. His five gangster shovelers are digging a channel, by which the next high tide might re-float the beached but mostly intact steamship. This actually works, but while Moran is gloating about it, one hoodlum gets behind him with a shovel and whaps him over the head. 

Not far away, King Baby-Face has figured out that all Seven Soldiers are here, and he's got a plan for dealing with them, which he now divulges to his underbosses. 

In short order Sir Justin and Winged Victory have sought out the other four Soldiers, who have already helped themselves to a speedboat, and the five of them race back to Moran's now-floating steamship. They notice too late that the gangsters have taken it over, and with a sharp maneuver, the crooks manage to crash the speedboat. Before they can open fire on the four floating heroes, the Shining Knight swoops in and bombs them with rocks. The team reassembles itself on the main deck, and the hoodlums give up. Professor Moran is found and freed, then Wing notices an unmanned speedboat motoring directly at their ship. Green Arrow and Speedy thunk some arrows into the steering wheel, causing the boat to turn aside, then shoot it again to get it going in the opposite direction. This sends it directly back to the spot on the beach where the King and his motley court are gleefully waiting for an explosion. They get one, and it scatters them in all directions. Mostly on foot, the Seven Soldiers chase down the fleeing thugs and take them out of the fight, each using their distinctive techniques. 

The bad guys are turned over to the newly-armed farm workers, and are put to work. The Seven Soldiers, and the Moran Expedition, get the steamship underway, and return to the U.S. 

My copy of Leading Comics #10 came from @Top City Comics in 2018. I think I paid $400 or $450 for it and had it put into a new holder.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

53 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

 

 

Very nice copy and thanks for the write up. The Quaker angle in the story is interesting; you don't hear much about Quakers anymore but they had a profound influence in the founding of the country and of course were noted pacifists.

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #11-Summer 1944 Cover by Louis Cazeneuve and the story “The Hard-Luck Hat” by Joe Samachson.

Not much to say about this issue. Handsome Harry’s gang consisting of Shifty, Sam, and Bull along with various other criminal gangs King-Pin Kong, J. Billington Bilker, Gas-Pipe Grogan, Bozo, Tommy, Bopper, and Mr. Akers (not our @Ricksneatstuff!!!😂)are involved in  various adventures with Handsome Harry’s lucky hat until it end up becoming a nest for some birds!!! Handsome Harry is then captured. 

My copy of Leading Comics #11 was purchased raw at the Yorba Linda Comic Con in 2018 from Torpedo Comics who had a nice run of them. Unfortunately for me, I was third in line going through the 2 boxes containing the run and by the time I got to them, issue #11 was the only one left that I needed. I paid $200 for it.  I then sent it off to be graded by CGC.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

1 hour ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #11-Summer 1944 Cover by Louis Cazeneuve and the story “The Hard-Luck Hat” by Joe Samachson.

Not much to say about this issue. Handsome Harry’s gang consisting of Shifty, Sam, and Bull along with various other criminal gangs King-Pin Kong, J. Billington Bilker, Gas-Pipe Grogan, Bozo, Tommy, Bopper, and Mr. Akers (not our @Ricksneatstuff!!!😂)are involved in  various adventures with Handsome Harry’s lucky hat until it end up becoming a nest for some birds!!! Handsome Harry is then captured. 

My copy of Leading Comics #11 was purchased raw at the Yorba Linda Comic Con in 2018 from Torpedo Comics who had a nice run of them. Unfortunately for me, I was third in line going through the 2 boxes containing the run and by the time I got to them, issue #11 was the only one left that I needed. I paid $200 for it.  I then sent it off to be graded by CGC.

 

@BustedFlush and I sometimes try to figure out which comic covers were concepted after a three martini lunch and I think this one is a contender!!

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #12 Fall 1944 Cover by Jon Small and the story “Million Dollar Challenge” by Joe Samachson. 

The Soldiers go after five hidden valuables to earn a $1,000,000 from the estate of Weldon Darrel to benefit charity. Not much of a story here. 

My copy of Leading Comics #12 was a copy I had owned since the 1970’s. I sent it in for grading and it came back a 5.0 with white pages.

[Crowzilla]

On 8/13/2020 at 2:16 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

My copy of Leading Comics #1 was acquired through a trade of a Spiderman #129 CGC 8.5 that was signed by Stan Lee and $400 in 2017. 

Please tell me at least that you got the $400 and not the other way around.

I don't think I ever realized that Leading #1 came out before More Fun #74. Kinda cool it's GA's 2nd appearance.

[Ghastly542454]

49 minutes ago, Crowzilla said:

Please tell me at least that you got the $400 and not the other way around.

I don't think I ever realized that Leading #1 came out before More Fun #74. Kinda cool it's GA's 2nd appearance.

Yes I got the $400.Also, GA’s first appearance was in More Fun #74. But GA’s first COVER appearance was in Leading Comics #1 which came out a month later.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

4 hours ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Leading Comics #12 Fall 1944 Cover by Jon Small and the story “Million Dollar Challenge” by Joe Samachson. 

The Soldiers go after five hidden valuables to earn a $1,000,000 from the estate of Weldon Darrel to benefit charity. Not much of a story here. 

My copy of Leading Comics #12 was a copy I had owned since the 1970’s. I sent it in for grading and it came back a 5.0 with white pages.

 

Wow, you were Leading the pack on collecting Leading comics a long time ago! I bet that didn't cost too much in the day. The covers seem to have lost a bit of energy but this one is better than the Hat cover. It also seems like they were de-emphasizing the Seven Soldiers and going with the five main characters at this point. By the way, outside of Star Spangled and Leading  comics did the Star Spangled kid appear anywhere else? He even got booted out of the title role in that magazine by issue 7; small wonder I have issue 6 and his story is almost unreadable.

[Ghastly542454]

Leading Comics #13 Winter 1944-45 Cover by Louis Cazeneuve and the story “Trophies of Crime!” by Joe Samachson. The interior artwork was done by his brother Arthur Cazeneuve. By the way, Louis Cazeneuve is best known for co-creating Red Raven for Marvel Comics. He also did a lot of work on Aquaman, Shining Knight, and Boy Commandos. 

In this issue, the heroes tackle The Barracuda, a master crook who desires curios for his crime museum. By this issue, Green Arrow’s Arrowplane can fly as well as race along the ground. I personally really like the robot cover to this issue. 

My copy of Leading Comics #13 came from High Grade Comics in 2018. It was raw and I was surprised to find it there. I think I paid $325 for it and then submitted it to CGC for grading.