Vigilante (Greg Saunders)

Fictional Characters starting with V (66 items)
list by alison15

The original Vigilante was a western-themed hero who debuted in Action Comics #42 (November 1941). The origin of the Vigilante was straightforward, as was typical of 1940s mystery men. Greg Sanders (the spelling was changed to "Greg Saunders" in the 1990s) grandfather was an Native American fighter, and his father was a sheriff in Wyoming. As a young man, Saunders 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 the sheriff during a stagecoach hold-up. Afterwards Saunders devoted his life to battling criminals in the same manner, taking the Western-themed identity of the Vigilante. A slight revision to this came a few months later, when it was explained that the stagecoach was used to transport gold from a mine, and that the bandits were actually Easterners, since the idea of a stagecoach heist in modern times was improbable.

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. Stuff was murdered by the Dummy.