VIGILANTE (I)

Name: The Vigilante (I)
Secret Identity: Gregory Saunders
Status: Hero
Base of Operations: New York City
Group Affiliation: Law's Legionnaires AKA The Seven Soldiers of Victory
Occupation: Singer/Masked Adventurer
Known Relatives: Jud Saunders (grandfather, deceased), Nathaniel Saunders (father, deceased), Cyril Saunders (cousin), Sheira Saunders (cousin)
Height: 6 ft. Weight: 188 lbs.
Eyes: Blue Hair: Black

Powers and Abilities: The Vigilante is an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, and is equally skilled at riding both motorcycles and horses. His weapons of choice are his twin Colt .45 Peacemakers (though he can handle any firearm with ease) and his ever-present lariat, with which he can hogtie any foe in record time. He has a natural talent for singing, and can play just about any song by ear, preferring to do so on acoustic guitar.

History: Heroism seemed to run in the Saunders family. Both Greg Saunders's grandfather and father served as sheriff of their small Wyoming town, and his East Coast cousins Sheira (see Hawkgirl) and Cyril (see Speed Saunders) rubbed elbows with "mystery men" of all sorts on a regular basis. Though attracted to the adventure such a life would lead to, and thrilled by the stories of the Old West heroes his father would tell him, Greg had his heart set from a young age on entertaining folks for a living. While his father taught him the ways of the law, he secretly planned on heading off to the big city and becoming a musician, and in 1934 at the age of 18, he did just that, running away to New York with a guitar on his back and five dollars in his pocket. After a few years of playing in gin joints and seedy theaters, Greg landed a record contract and started to ply his trade on the radio. Dubbed "The Prairie Troubadour" by his manager Billy "Pop" Gunn, he began to build a decent career, traveling from one city to the next, performing both in person and on the local radio affiliates. Back in Wyoming, his father continued to serve as sheriff, even though he was getting on in years. Greg kept insisting to the man that he should retire, and even offered to help out financially, but his father wouldn't hear of it. Then in early 1941, the elder Saunders was killed while trying to stop robbers from stealing a gold shipment moving through his town. Feeling that he could have prevented it if he'd stayed in Wyoming to carry on the family tradition, Greg vowed to become the lawman his father wanted him to be. Taking a cue from both the emerging heroes of his time and the Western gunfighters of old, he strapped on his father's guns, hid his face behind a red bandana, and dubbed himself the Vigilante.

After tracking down his father's killers, Greg brought his unique style of crimefighting to the Big Apple, and later with him on the road as he continued his public career as a country singer. Just a few months after beginning his new vocation, the Vigilante joined up with six other emerging heroes to take down a secret organization called the Iron Hand. With the shadow of World War II looming over the United States, they later decided they could serve their country best as a team instead of individually, and formally banded together as the Law's Legionnaires (see The Seven Soldiers of Victory), defending their home soil as many of the more powerful heroes went overseas to fight the Axis powers. "Vig" still acted alone on occasion, however, until working on a case in Chinatown in 1943, where he encountered 10-year-old Daniel Leong. His grandfather had been framed by a Japanese agent known as the Head, and the two of them banded together to clear the man's name and bring in the real criminals. Afterward, Daniel tagged along with Greg in both his singing and crimefighting careers, adopting the name "Stuff, the Chinatown Kid". Sadly, their adventures came to an abrupt end in 1948, when the Vigilante disappeared while on a mission with the Law's Legionnaires. The circumstances of his disappearance, as well as the fates of the rest of the Soldiers, remains a mystery to this day.

In modern times, a new Vigilante, Adrian Chase, has emerged to fight crime in Las Vegas as a member of the New Outsiders (see New Outsiders). There is no known connection between the two heroes beyond the name.