The original Vigilante was a western-themed hero who debuted in
Action Comics #42 (November 1941): originally named
Greg Sanders, the spelling was changed to
Greg Saunders in the 1990s. Grandson of a Native American fighter, and the son of a sheriff in Wyoming, Saunders, as a young man, moved east to New York City and became a country singer, radio's "
Prairie Troubadour". Greg returned to his home after his father was killed, bringing to justice the gang of bandits who killed him. The Vigilante, like many heroes of the era, acquired a sidekick to aid him in his crime fighting. Stuff the Chinatown Kid was introduced in
Action Comics #45. He assisted the Vigilante when a Japanese spy, known as the Head, framed Stuff's grandfather for provoking a
Tong war. The majority of the Vigilante's solo adventures were against non-powered, costumed criminals. He was an excellent brawler, trick shooter, sharpshooter, horseman/motorcycle rider, and an expert with the
lariat. These skills gave him advantage over his adversaries in his adventures, which centered primarily in NYC. The Vigilante fought few foes that could be considered real "super-villains". His arch-foes were the
Dummy, a brilliant weapons inventor and professional killer who resembled a ventriloquist's dummy in both size and facial features, and the Rainbow Man, who committed crimes with a color motif. The Vigilante also encountered the Rattler on several occasions, as well as the Fiddler and the Shade, though the latter two villains are not the same foes that battled the
Flash. Other foes included Shakes the Underworld Poet and the Dictionary, a gangster with a heightened vocabulary. The Vigilante was also a member of the
Seven Soldiers of Victory (also known as the Law's Legionnaires), one of the earliest super-hero teams (appearing in
Leading Comics). In these adventures, his sidekick Stuff never appeared, being replaced by an old, somewhat crotchety man named Billy Gunn. The Vigilante was also one of the few super-hero features to survive the end of the "
Golden Age" of super-hero comics, lasting as a solo feature until
Action Comics #198 (1954), when he was replaced by
Tommy Tomorrow. The Vigilante was revived during the "Bronze Age" in the pages of
Justice League of America, when the Seven Soldiers of Victory were brought back into active continuity. Like Green Arrow, he was a lost member of the Seven Soldiers, but he did not participate in the JLA/JSA quest to rescue them. All the members were hurled through time after defeating
Nebula Man (except for Wing who was killed). The "Silver Age" Green Arrow, Black Canary and Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt saved the Vigilante from a tribe of Native Americans in the Old West who felt that eventually the white men would take over their land. The Earth-1 Vigilante's contact with the League was limited to a two-part story where he aided the JLA against aliens determined to over-pollute the Earth. He remarks in his first appearance in
Adventure Comics that the League did help him re-establish his career, even providing him with a new motorcycle. He also received a periodic feature in the pages of
Adventure Comics, drawn by
Mike Sekowsky and
Gray Morrow, and also in ''World's Finest Comics''. The short-lived series in ''World's Finest'' culminated in the Vigilante coming to
Gotham City to meet his old partner Stuff, only to find his friend murdered by his old enemy, the Dummy. At the end of the series, Vigilante rides off with Stuff's son. Vigilante continued to sporadically appear as a superhero in
DC Comics, having been established as running a
dude ranch in Mesa City (the former home of Western hero
Johnny Thunder).
Seven Soldiers In
Grant Morrison's
Seven Soldiers #0, the Vigilante establishes a new Seven Soldiers of Victory to battle the monstrous spider of Miracle Mesa. He is apparently killed alongside the rest of the team, only to re-appear as a ghost in
Bulleteer #3 (also part of the
Seven Soldiers series). He attempts to recruit a new team of seven to further battle the threat of the Sheeda. He claims Bulleteer's actions will allow him to 'rest'.
Return In ''
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' Greg Saunders appears, alive, as the sheriff of Warpath, a town on the
Mexican border formerly known for supervillain activity. Olsen's narration notes that Saunders has been dead and came back to life but does not go into detail. Olsen also notes that Saunders appears younger, though he retains his past experiences. Saunders and a mysterious version of the hero known as the Guardian beat back a villainous invasion from Mexico.
The New 52 In 2011, "
The New 52" rebooted the DC Universe. Vigilante was renamed to
Greg Sanders and operated in Opal City during the mid-20th Century.
Shade contacted him to help rescue his great-grandson Darnell Caldecotte from Nazi spies. Afterward, Shade upheld his deal with Vigilante by giving him the intel on the local gangs and they parted ways. ==Powers and abilities==