Out of my way, Death Head! I'm goin' to dig my spurs into a mean mustang! 
Leading Comics #5 is an issue of the series Leading Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1942.
Synopsis for Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Miracles That Money Couldn't Buy"
Murderer Porky Johnson escapes from jail when a plane sent by the mysterious Skull bombs the prison and lowers a rope ladder for him to grab as it makes a final pass. He's only one of several criminals put away by the Seven Soldiers of Victory whose escape from prison was arranged by the Skull. This menacing character turns out to be a wealthy man who wants to be the owner of some extravagant things even his wealth can't bring him, and he's happy to resort to illicit means to get them. Each of the five escaped cons is assigned the task of recovering some exotic item for the Skull's pleasure.
Appearing in Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Miracles That Money Couldn't Buy"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Skull (Dies)
- Porky Johnson (Dies)
- Bull Corbin
- Bronco Slade (Dies)
- Matt Greider (Dies)
- Sparkler (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Roscoe Meek
- Edward Grimes
- Dr. Moresby
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Vigilante: "The Case of the Criminal Vigilante"
Roscoe Meek lives up to his name by being completely whipped by his wife. He wishes he had more nerve; then he'd be able to do something brave like capture the escaped Bronco Slade. Just then Vigilante rides by to see the world's fastest racehorse, Spinaway, then suddenly guns down the horse's caretakers and rides away on it. Realizing that can't be the real Vigilante, Roscoe rides after him, hoping to capture the criminal and prove his courage. The real Vigilante hears the news and catches up to Bronco Slade using his stolen horse (disguised) to pull a stagecoach, but in the brawl that follows the unseasoned Roscoe Meek accidentally knocks out Vigilante while trying to help. The hero agrees to team up to catch the real crook. They trail Slade and Spinaway to a train, only to find out it's privately owned by the Skull himself, and are taken captive by the archfiend's henchmen.
Appearing in Vigilante: "The Case of the Criminal Vigilante"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for Star-Spangled Kid: "The Diamond of Doom"
Mr. Pemberton demands his layabout son get a job and thrusts the classified ads at him. However, in them Sylvester notices what seems to be a call for a secret meeting for him in his costumed identity. Star and Stripesy, in disguise as solicitors for a blindness charity, go to the meeting place. They're immediately recognized by the man inside, the thief Sparkler, who knows and has a grudge against them from past encounters. He set up this trap, knowing sooner or later he'd run into them and decided to stage the encounter on his terms. The crook leaves the heroes trapped in a room full of candles that will burn up all the oxygen and suffocate them. Fortunately, Stripesey filched a note from Sparkler's pocket revealing his plan to steal the famous Koram Diamond, and their cage isn't secured, letting them roll it and crash through a window. They foil Sparkler's attempt to steal the diamond, and having failed the Skull, he stows away aboard a ship to skip the country. Unfortunately for him, Sparkler doesn't realize the ship's being fumigated and dies of lethal gas like how he'd been sentenced to die before being rescued.
Appearing in Star-Spangled Kid: "The Diamond of Doom"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for Crimson Avenger: "Destiny Among the Stars"
Bull Corbin's sent to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky as they're where Edward Grimes is making test flights with his new rocketship. Crimson Avenger hears about Corbin being spotted in the area and speeds to the location to see what the criminal's up to, which turns out to be forcing Grimes to show him how to pilot the rocket. Corbin flees into the caves to escape Crim's fists, but leads the hero into a trap. Crim and Wing soon escape, and in trying to escape both them and the Skull, who is not amused by Corbin's demand for a big payoff and sends other henchmen to kill him, Corbin tries to escape in the rocket himself. However, he doesn't know enough about its controls to change its course once it lifts off. The ship flies into the depths of space with Bull Corbin trapped aboard, exiled to an eternal form of the solitary confinement he'd been rescued from.
Appearing in Crimson Avenger: "Destiny Among the Stars"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for Shining Knight: "Knight Without Armor"
Matt Greider's been ordered by the Skull to steal nothing less than the Shining Knight's magical suit of armor, so he'll be safe from any threat. Greider's already tangled with the hero once, and has no intention of doing so again. Instead he plans to steal another suit of armor and pass it off as the hero's, and to do so he forms a gang and they pretend to be a crew of security guards come to transport some of the museum's most valuable pieces to a secret storehouse in case of an air raid. By a bit of terrible luck, Greider's chosen the museum where Justin Arthur works, and he decides to investigate as the Shining Knight. The Knight easily foils their attempt to get away with the treasures, and while hiding out Greider realizes the young man who slipped out of sight just before the hero came after him is probably the Shining Knight himself! Now bent on revenge, he goes back on his vow and assembles a new gang, to take on the Knight after all. They capture Justin, but Professor Moresby dons his protege's armor and flies to the rescue just in time. Pursued by the proper Shining Knight, Greider flees into a power station, where he doesn't pay enough attention where he's going and is electrocuted by the machinery. He'd been sentenced to die in the electric chair, and met the same fate.
Appearing in Shining Knight: "Knight Without Armor"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for Green Arrow: "The Murderer Who Couldn't Be Hanged"
Porky Johnson's assigned to steal the invention of a Dr. Boggs, which can reverse the effects of aging! Porky mails the ray to his employer, but then disguises himself as a cop and goes undercover at a lecture Green Arrow's giving to real police officers to make sure the archer doesn't get in his way. Fortunately, Speedy sees Porky pulling his gun and shoots it out of the crook's hand. They pursue the crook to a mountain peak hideout, and in the brawl that follows Porky falls over the side. In trying to save him with a line, Green Arrow's a hair too late, and Porky Johnson falls to his doom. Ironic that he was meant to be hung, but died because a rope couldn't reach him. The archers' attention is on the fact that they have the Skull's address that Porky used to mail the ray machine to him, and now the Seven Soldiers know where to find their enemy.
Appearing in Green Arrow: "The Murderer Who Couldn't Be Hanged"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Miracles That Money Couldn't Buy, conclusion"
The Seven Soldiers gather and storm their way through the Skull's private army. In the bedlam that follows, Bronco Slade dies as well from friendly fire, dying from a bullet when he'd been meant to be executed by firing squad. Fighting their way to the Skull himself, the Soldiers find him aged to death. He didn't know the ray machine was set to bequeath youth to the scientist's animal test subjects, but without being reset its ray would have the opposite effect on a human.
Appearing in Seven Soldiers of Victory: "The Miracles That Money Couldn't Buy, conclusion"
- Appearances not yet listed
Notes
- The Miracles that Money Couldn't Buy is reprinted in The Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives Vol. 2.
- The main story was presented in chapters:
- Chap. 2: "The Case of the Criminal Vigilante"
- Chap. 3: "Diamond of Doom"
- Chap. 4: "Death Among the Stars"
- Chap. 5: "Knight Without Armor"
- Chap. 6: "The Murderer Who Couldn't Be Hanged"
- Chap. 7: Conclusion
See Also