The secret of L.A.W. is basically a marketing ploy to expose the comic reading world to characters that they may never have heard about, cared abour, or spent money on. In order to maximize the appeal, DC comics created a situation where the Justice League of America (the DC flagship title) had succumbed to the machinations of an evil super villain. Their defeat resulted in a time tossed disappearance. This resulted in the creation of a team of second tringers to replace the league and for the government to activate L.A.W. (Living Assault Weapon)
The conception of L.A.W. was to take a bunch of characters that were purchased in a package deal and carefully spread out as individuals throughout the connected DC Universe and put that back together in a quasi-government sanctioned team.
The Charlton comics character revival took time to happen. In the meantime, the players had grown and changed far beyond their original generic points of view.
The Blue Beetle had already spent time in past incarnations of the Justice League as had Captain Atom.
Sarge Steel had been portrayed as both a hero and a government stooge who enjoyed being a nuisance to the superhero community. He was sometimes pictured in cahoots with Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad.
Among the membership of the Suicide Squad prior to L.A.W. as Nightshade. She was among the original and longest surviving members
The Question had achieved critical acclaim in his own title. The Series was grim and gritty and original. It set the groundwork for his conspiracy minded animated identity.
The untested wildcard of the group was the little known Judomaster. Judomaster actually did better in later incarnations. The rebooted character was part of the Justice Society of America.
The most controversial character of the group was Peacemaker. He is the hardest character to reboot. Mostly because of the extreme political leanings of the original character coupled with his psychological problems. Peacemaker was the star of his own Mini-series. If you want a complete exploration of this character you should read that.
I don't know if this mini-series has been collected anywhere, but you should read it, if you can find it. Pick you favorite and explore the character. 
Theodore Stephen "Ted" Kord is the second Blue Beetle, a superhero who was originally published by Charlton Comics and later picked up by DC Comics.[1][2] This version of the character was created by Steve Ditko and first appeared as a back-up feature in Captain Atom#83 (November 1966), with Gary Friedrich scripting from Ditko's conception and plot.
Captain Atom is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations. The character was created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Space Adventures #33 (March 1960).[1] Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for DC’s post-Crisis continuity. In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its superhero comics and restarted the histories of some characters from scratch, including Captain Atom, giving him a new origin, appearance and slightly altered powers. The character of Captain Atom was the inspiration for the character Doctor Manhattan who was featured in the miniseries (and later live-action film adaptation) Watchmen.
Judomaster is the name given to three fictional superheroes published by DC Comics. The first Judomaster debuted in Special War Series #4 (November 1965) published by Charlton Comics, and was created by Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin.
Nightshade is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine published by DC Comics. Created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Captain Atom v2 #82 (September 1966) originally published by Charlton Comics.
The Peacemaker is the name of a series of superheroes originally owned by Charlton Comicsand later acquired by DC Comics. The original Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (Nov. 1966), and was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette.
Sarge Steel is a detective/spy character published by Charlton Comics during the 1960s. As he was published during the time of Charlton's Action Heroes line of superheroes, and had loose ties to some, he is sometimes included with that group. He was purchased by DC Comics along with the other "Action Heroes".
Sarge (short for "Sargent," as in "Sargent Shriver") Steel has a mechanical left hand. As Dick Giordano stated in the editorial page of L.A.W. #4 he was created by Pat Masulli, and later written and drawn by Joe Gill and artist Dick Giordano. Other artists, including the team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, would later take over.
The L.A.W. was formed in response to the disappearance of the Justice League of America after they were attacked by the Avatar. After causing the JLA to disappear along with their Watchtower, he then attacked a European Space Agency launch facility. During the attack, Captain Atom showed up to stop him, but he was quickly defeated and captured by the Avatar. The Avatar kept Captain Atom trapped within a large crystal that contained his powers. The Avatar revealed that he needed Captain Atom's powers to carry out his plan.
Senior Advisor of Metahuman Affairs, Sarge Steel, was asked by the President to go to the Swiss Alps to find any information that he could about the Avatar and the disappearance of the JLA. Sarge Steel was being sent to the Swiss Alps because the Peacemaker Project was located there and they had a wide variety of information; specifically, information regarding the Avatar and the disappearance of the JLA. As Sarge Steel was arriving, the Avatar's Ravanans were attacking the Peacemaker Project. With the help of the new Peacemaker, Mitchell Black, they were able to defeat the Ravanans before too much of the base was destroyed.
During the fight at the Peacemaker Project, the Blue Beetle and the Question were investigating a group of Avatar's followers. It was here that they met up with Judomaster who was going out on his own to correct a wrong that he had committed (although he was unsure of what the "wrong that he committed" actually was yet). The three heroes were attacked by Avatar's group of followers and they fled in Blue Beetle's bug-shaped personal aircraft. While fleeing, they were contacted by Sergeant Steel to come and meet him in the Swiss Alps.
When they arrived at the Peacemaker Project's base, it was revealed that Nightshade was also there, recovering from a procedure that Fatehad performed to remove a succubus that was inhabiting her body. She had developed new powers as a result of the procedure. She could now easily travel through shadows and use them to form a "shadow cyclone" as a weapon against the Ravanans that she had been tracking. Nightshade was able to prevent the Ravanans from capturing French Ambassador Yves Fortè.
During a battle with Avatar and his Ravanans, Peacemaker, Blue Beetle, The Question, and Judomaster were defeated and Judomaster was taken back to Avatar's base. While chained to the wall, Judomaster revealed that the Avatar is actually his former sidekick, Tiger.
Nightshade was able to locate the missing JLA and the Watchtower by utilizing her new powers. She was able to free them from the stasis that the Avatar had placed them in and the JLA helped Nightshade repel the attacking Ravanans. The JLA returned to Earth to battle the remaining Ravanans while Peacemaker, Blue Beetle, and The Question went into outer space to destroy the targeting system that the Avatar had in place to destroy all of the military outlets in the world. Blue Beetle successfully shut down the system and averted a major catastrophe. Judomaster then met with the Avatar and, knowing that he was beaten, the Avatar gave up his mission.
The L.A.W. were able to free Captain Atom and all of the members went their separate ways. The Blue Beetle decided that he was going to take some time off from being a super-hero for a while so that he can better understand who he truly is
Sarge (short for "Sargent," as in "Sargent Shriver") Steel has a mechanical left hand. As Dick Giordano stated in the editorial page of L.A.W. #4 he was created by Pat Masulli, and later written and drawn by Joe Gill and artist Dick Giordano. Other artists, including the team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, would later take over.
The L.A.W. was formed in response to the disappearance of the Justice League of America after they were attacked by the Avatar. After causing the JLA to disappear along with their Watchtower, he then attacked a European Space Agency launch facility. During the attack, Captain Atom showed up to stop him, but he was quickly defeated and captured by the Avatar. The Avatar kept Captain Atom trapped within a large crystal that contained his powers. The Avatar revealed that he needed Captain Atom's powers to carry out his plan.
Senior Advisor of Metahuman Affairs, Sarge Steel, was asked by the President to go to the Swiss Alps to find any information that he could about the Avatar and the disappearance of the JLA. Sarge Steel was being sent to the Swiss Alps because the Peacemaker Project was located there and they had a wide variety of information; specifically, information regarding the Avatar and the disappearance of the JLA. As Sarge Steel was arriving, the Avatar's Ravanans were attacking the Peacemaker Project. With the help of the new Peacemaker, Mitchell Black, they were able to defeat the Ravanans before too much of the base was destroyed.
During the fight at the Peacemaker Project, the Blue Beetle and the Question were investigating a group of Avatar's followers. It was here that they met up with Judomaster who was going out on his own to correct a wrong that he had committed (although he was unsure of what the "wrong that he committed" actually was yet). The three heroes were attacked by Avatar's group of followers and they fled in Blue Beetle's bug-shaped personal aircraft. While fleeing, they were contacted by Sergeant Steel to come and meet him in the Swiss Alps.
When they arrived at the Peacemaker Project's base, it was revealed that Nightshade was also there, recovering from a procedure that Fatehad performed to remove a succubus that was inhabiting her body. She had developed new powers as a result of the procedure. She could now easily travel through shadows and use them to form a "shadow cyclone" as a weapon against the Ravanans that she had been tracking. Nightshade was able to prevent the Ravanans from capturing French Ambassador Yves Fortè.
During a battle with Avatar and his Ravanans, Peacemaker, Blue Beetle, The Question, and Judomaster were defeated and Judomaster was taken back to Avatar's base. While chained to the wall, Judomaster revealed that the Avatar is actually his former sidekick, Tiger.
Nightshade was able to locate the missing JLA and the Watchtower by utilizing her new powers. She was able to free them from the stasis that the Avatar had placed them in and the JLA helped Nightshade repel the attacking Ravanans. The JLA returned to Earth to battle the remaining Ravanans while Peacemaker, Blue Beetle, and The Question went into outer space to destroy the targeting system that the Avatar had in place to destroy all of the military outlets in the world. Blue Beetle successfully shut down the system and averted a major catastrophe. Judomaster then met with the Avatar and, knowing that he was beaten, the Avatar gave up his mission.
The L.A.W. were able to free Captain Atom and all of the members went their separate ways. The Blue Beetle decided that he was going to take some time off from being a super-hero for a while so that he can better understand who he truly is
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