Written by Grant Morrison.
Art by (See Credits Below).
Collection Cover Art by Ryan Sook.
Notes: To clarify possible confusion, the complete Seven Soldiers saga was initially compiled into four paperback volumes in 2006-2007. This same 400-page compendium (it’s the equivalent of 2006-2007’s Volumes 1-2) first appeared in hardcover form in 2010. This title is also available digitally. Lastly, there is a nearly 800-page Omnibus hardcover version, which compiles the complete epic.
SUMMARY:
Released in 2012 by DC Comics, this mammoth 400-page paperback reprints the first half of the Seven Soldiers saga consisting of: Seven Soldiers of Victory # 0; Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight # 1-4; Seven Soldiers: Guardian # 1-4; Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch Boy # 1-3; and Seven Soldiers: Zatanna # 1-3. The concluding fourth issues for Klarion and Zatanna appear in Volume 2.
- Seven Soldiers of Victory # 0. Art is provided by J.H. Williams; Dave Stewart; and Todd Klein; with Williams & Stewart as the cover art team. Greg Saunders – the elderly Golden Age Vigilante (a member of the original Seven Soldiers) recruits five D-List super-heroes/mercenaries to help him hunt the monstrous Buffalo Spider in the Arizona desert. Once their mission ends horrifically, the enigmatic Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp initiate a contingency plan to thwart the extra-dimensional threat known as The Sheeda.
Note: Continuity-wise, Seven Soldiers of Victory Issue # 0 occurs shortly after Zatanna # 1 and before Shining Knight # 3-4.
- Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight # 1-4. Art is provided by Simone Bianchi; Dave Stewart; Nathan Eyring; and Rob Leigh, with Bianchi & Stewart as the cover art team. Escaping Camelot’s destruction by demonic forces, young knight Ystin (Justin) and a flying white horse, Vanguard, are mystically propelled into modern-day Los Angeles. Once an immortal mobster takes custody of Vanguard, his posh, heavily-armed estate is brutally attacked by The Sheeda. A fugitive Ystin later seeks the local police’s help. Taken captive by the demonic Sheeda Queen known as Gloriana Tenebrae, a defiant Ystin’s secret is revealed.
- Seven Soldiers: Guardian # 1-4. Art is provided by Cameron Stewart; Moose Baumann; and Pat Brosseau; with Stewart as the cover artist. Recruited as a crusading New York newspaper’s in-house super-hero, ex-cop Jake Jordan (aka the Manhattan Guardian) battles gruesome subway pirates beneath New York City to rescue his girlfriend. Jordan then saves surviving hostages from a state-of-the-art robotic theme park where one of its creators has gone amok. Seeking to quit, a disillusioned Jordan learns from his benefactor the shocking truth re: the original Newsboy Army’s mission to Slaughter Swamp. Another revelation pertains to background characters also appearing in Shining Knight and Zatanna.
Note: The bleak finale has only one panel implying who a homicide victim must be. Scenes in Zatanna # 2-3 also briefly allude to this same mystery.
- Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch Boy # 1-3. Art is provided by Frazer Irving & Pat Brosseau, with Irving as the cover artist. Klarion and his feline accomplice, Teekl, flee their underground home known as Limbo Town (the home of the lost Roanoke colony) to explore the surface world. Yet, Gloriana Tenebrae’s treacherous husband, Malmoth, manipulates a naïve Klarion in a covert bid to invade Limbo Town.
- Seven Soldiers: Zatanna # 1-3. Art is provided by Ryan Sook; Mick Gray; Nathan Eyring; Jared K. Fletcher; Nick J. Napolitano, with Ryan Sook & Dave Stewart on the cover image. At a New York therapy group session for super-heroes, a seemingly powerless Zatanna Zatara confides her self-blame for the recent incineration of some trusted friends helping her in a personal matter. Despite her depleted confidence, she embarks on a cross-country road trip with a mysterious young female, Misty, whose own magical powers replicate Zatanna’s by using a mystical die.
Note: For continuity purposes, the Zatanna # 3 segment occurs shortly after Shining Knight # 4.
REVIEW:
Seven Soldiers’ first half is a definite game-changer re: mature and sophisticated super-hero story-telling. Hence, writer Grant Morrison’s nightmarish vision oozes considerable potential, but it’s far from perfect. As seen in Shining Knight # 1-2, Klarion # 1-2, and some scenes in Zatanna # 1, Morrison’s muddled epic becomes near-incomprehensible once all the Vertigo Comics-style weirdness just stops making sense.
Even deliberately grisly visuals justify only so much of the murkiness permeating Seven Soldiers. Think of it this way: deciphering large sections of Seven Soldiers is like trying to fathom mind-blowing science fiction like Robert A. Heinlein’s novel, The Number of The Beast, or Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Slaughterhouse Five – as far as casual reading is concerned. At least, Morrison (or maybe it’s really DC) bleeps out sporadic profanities to keep his dialogue somewhat clean.
Still, Morrison and his art squads overdose on the macabre, which results in some vile excuses for shock value. Unsurprisingly, these plot elements don’t help explain what exactly either The Sheeda or The Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp are, let alone what they intend to do. That’s where perhaps Morrison makes his biggest misjudgment.
For all the ingenious crossovers bridging these four mini-series, Morrison doesn’t try hard enough conveying better hints of what’s really going on to his audience. Yet, the premise that these Seven Soldiers will supposedly never meet, or even know of each other’s existence, still seems brilliant – at least, in theory.
As ghoulish as many of this saga’s scenes are, the worst offense is a late plot twist depicting a child molester/murderer. The fact that Morrison exploits this putrid sub-plot with an issue title of “Sex Secrets of the Newsboy Army!” inexcusably speaks for itself. Perhaps it’s best that Morrison doesn’t divulge specifics beyond implying the culprit’s fate. In other words, the repugnant ‘Newsboy Army’ murder-mystery really has no business in Morrison’s grand scheme, as it’s more like a diversion vs. finally getting some helpful insight re: The Sheeda.
Despite Morrison’s unforced creative errors, his wicked storytelling improves at some necessary junctures (i.e. both Klarion # 3 and Shining Knight # 3-4 make far more sense than their first two issues). His impressive Zatanna series (which is faithful to her character’s history, including interaction with the Phantom Stranger) is easily this book’s winner, though Guardian early on scores some fine moments, too.
As for this collection’s best asset, it’s the potentially high-caliber visuals (including this volume’s terrific Ryan Sook cover). The flip side, unfortunately, is a nasty fixation on can-you-top-this? carnage. Melding DC continuity with Vertigo Comics-esque storytelling, Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory, Volume 1 is a formidable read. Yet, its deep flaws should have a necessitated a definitive edit, if only for good taste’s sake.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Morrison’s two-page introduction elaborates his somewhat pompous rationale for this project. Each of the individual stories appears with its full-page cover image. A full-page advertisement reveals a black-and-white sketch image of the second volume’s cover. A ten-page section insightfully explores the artistic evolution of the Seven Soldiers saga, including some detailed character costume design sketches for Morrison’s new Seven Soldiers. A two-page color spread vividly reflects the original Books 1-2 paperback covers from 2006.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6½ Stars
