Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers

[Rikdad]

As I look back on Seven Soldiers, it might just be the best event/miniseries of the decade. Intricate, focusing on obscure characters, but that is what allowed Morrison to act with total creative freedom.

Not so long after September 11, it features a team of villains who can't beat the DCU's leading heroes in a head-on-head battle, so they launch a sneak attack on New York. Does that sound familiar?

My more detailed breakdown is here:

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2016/02/r...-soldiers.html

[Sandy Hausler]

As I look back on Seven Soldiers, it might just be the best event/miniseries of the decade. Intricate, focusing on obscure characters, but that is what allowed Morrison to act with total creative freedom.

Not so long after September 11, it features a team of villains who can't beat the DCU's leading heroes in a head-on-head battle, so they launch a sneak attack on New York. Does that sound familiar?

My more detailed breakdown is here:

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2016/02/r...-soldiers.html

I know I'll be starting a controversy, but I found the series dull. I love Zatanna, but I did not like her book in this series. Not so important to the series, but puzzling to me was the use of "established characters," who are not the characters we know -- Shining Knight, Guardian, Klarion, the Witch Boy, Mister Miracle -- with no explanation. Morrison has always been kind of hit and miss for me -- loved his Doom Patrol and Animal Man, but disliked this series. He did create some great characters in this series -- Frankenstein and Bulleteer were gems. (I'm sorry that Bulleteer has never shown up since Seven Soldiers except in a cameo (to my knowledge).)

It's been years since I read the series, so I can't be more specific about my complaints (and since I really didn't like it, I'm not likely to reread it).

Sandy Hausler

[PyroTwilight]

The series as a whole was amazing. But Zatanna certainly didn't read as Zatanna more or less.

I did like the implication for Klarion that this was his "first" appearance chronologically and his other appearances were "later" in his timeline.

And while a great series I was always just a bit bothered by the way the books ended on a rather open note especially the whole Boss Darkseid bit in Mister Miracle.

Though seeing Gloria's defeat was fun.

And yeah Bulleteer should've gotten more focus after this series.

[Lee Stone]

I dug up my blog piece on Seven Soldiers.

This is what I had to say in 2005...

Oh... my...
Proof that Grant Morrison isn't washed up after all.

I just read Seven Soldiers of Victory #0 and it was found to be... very good.
Great introduction of characters, incredibly "new-reader" friendly and... best of all... it tells an entertaining story!
I actually want to see what's happening next.

It appears that Morrison works best on characters that aren't predefined. If he played role-playing games, he'd most likely be making his own characters rather than playing with pre-generated heroes. Looks like it holds him back if he has to bend his stories around a character that's pretty much been chiseled in stone.

That's why Doom Patrol worked. Why Animal-Man worked.
And why JLA and X-Men, while not bad, did not measure up to his best works.

And it's why Seven Soldiers works.

I just wonder if he can keep the interest up throughout the entire run.
The "entire run" is an ambitious 30-issue maxi-series, comprised of seven 4-issue mini-series and two bookends.

The Soldiers in the first issue (#0) aren't the same as the ones who appear in their own mini-series. In #0 the team consists of The Vigilante (an actual member of the original Seven Soldiers), The Whip (granddaughter of the Golden Age hero with the same name), Boy Blue (an update on the Little Boy Blue concept), Dyno-Mite Dan (legacy to the Golden Age characters TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite), Gimmix (update to Merry, Girl of 1000 Gimmicks) and Spyder (a mysterious assassin who specializes in spiders, update on the "Alias the Spider" character). The seventh member bailed out before the story began.
I don't want to give too much away but the story is rather unconventional and ends surprisingly.

Morrison's writing is on par with his best stories and not too over-the-top. And Williams' art is fantastic. His work in this issue draws comparisons to Chaykin and Sienkiewicz but he keeps it all his own. I reccomend at least reading this first issue.

I also archived the solicits and promo images for the series in a sort of index.

[Rikdad]

I love seeing your "hot take" from 2005, Lee.

I happened to pick up #1 before I'd seen any of the rest of the series, and seeing the "#1" figured that I was getting in at the start of something, when actually, it was the 30th and final issue. That was a tough comic to read until I found out that I'd missed the first 29 installments!

[Lee Stone]

I love seeing your "hot take" from 2005, Lee.

I happened to pick up #1 before I'd seen any of the rest of the series, and seeing the "#1" figured that I was getting in at the start of something, when actually, it was the 30th and final issue. That was a tough comic to read until I found out that I'd missed the first 29 installments!

Thanks.
I enjoyed your review, as well.

And yeah, I can only imagine how that must have been!

Btw... some new thoughts on it...

I never really cared about Guardian and Klarion before Seven Soldiers. It really raised them up for me.
Shining Knight, Bulleteer and Frankenstein were some of the best modernizings in recent years.
I loved Zatanna. But then, I always love magic characters when they're written by Morrison, Gaiman or Moore.

DC dropped the ball by not continuing any of it.
Just like Multiversity.

Morrison should be in management at DC, IMHO.

[HsssH]

Well Frankenstein was continued, sorta kinda, with that Flashpoint mini and new52 series.

[Tetragrammar]

I never get tired of this series. I try reading it once a year. The entire run was amazing with my personal favorites being the Zatanna and Frankenstein bits. Morrison was really the only reason I got into the main DC.

[JLH]

I know I'll be starting a controversy, but I found the series dull. I love Zatanna, but I did not like her book in this series. Not so important to the series, but puzzling to me was the use of "established characters," who are not the characters we know -- Shining Knight, Guardian, Klarion, the Witch Boy, Mister Miracle -- with no explanation. Morrison has always been kind of hit and miss for me -- loved his Doom Patrol and Animal Man, but disliked this series. He did create some great characters in this series -- Frankenstein and Bulleteer were gems. (I'm sorry that Bulleteer has never shown up since Seven Soldiers except in a cameo (to my knowledge).)

It's been years since I read the series, so I can't be more specific about my complaints (and since I really didn't like it, I'm not likely to reread it).

Sandy Hausler

I loved Morrison's DP and AM too--they're two of my favorite series--but his SS fell flat with me. I doubt I'll be reading it again either--especially because I sold it all a couple years ago! The series definitely has its fans though.

[Sandy Hausler]

I loved Morrison's DP and AM too--they're two of my favorite series--but his SS fell flat with me. I doubt I'll be reading it again either--especially because I sold it all a couple years ago! The series definitely has its fans though.

We're on the same page, JLH. And you are certainly correct that the series has its fans.

Sandy Hausler

[Prisoner 6655321]

I loved these books. I wish DC was still putting out stuff like this.

[BruceWayneJr.]

Well Frankenstein was continued, sorta kinda, with that Flashpoint mini and new52 series.

Yeah, that book was lots of fun, and the one New 52 title that I stuck around for until its end.

I love Seven Soldiers as well, and how it fits into the larger tapestry of the DC Universe. It picks up threads that Morrison had been laying down for years in JLA, as well as subtly tying into the big event at the time Infinite Crisis. Gonna read it again soon!

[Lee Stone]

I loved these books. I wish DC was still putting out stuff like this.

I agree.
If ten years, if we're lucky, we may get another mini-series from DC that's vaguely mentioned as being connected to the DCU in an important way and then abruptly ignored.