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Yeah, I know, I'm coming in wayyyyy late to this game. And not that anybody still cares...
But I'd just reread the trades of 7 SOLDIERS and was checking out the references to the "six soldiers" team in Issue 0. It seems to me that they didn't represent "different eras of heroes" -- they were representing different, then CURRENT approaches to revamping the superhero concept.
SEVEN SOLDIERS is all about re-juicing the concept -- and Grant's well aware he's not the first guy to throw his hat into this ring. The Six Who Failed are his meta-commentary on other kinds of contemporary attempts to reinvent the superhero concept.
VIGILANTE: The Golden Age, sure, but he's something older... even in the Golden Age he was a throwback. I mean, in the 1940s, here's a guy in a cowboy outfit, barely paying concession to the modern era by riding a motorcycle instead of a horse. Now the motorcycles are flying bikes, but he still hasn't changed -- maybe he's just gotten ornerier. He's not a superhero so much as a super-cowboy and resembles a certain Traditionalist strain -- the creators who hang onto the "classics" and make only minimal changes to adapt to the times. A self-conscious and proud dinosaur who's always going to do it the old-school way and resents these newfangled kids. Sure, flying motorbike, whatever. But that's as far as I'm gonna go to make these punks happy. (Who could this be referencing? Possibly John Byrne who, one year earlier, had rejected Morrison's radical DOOM PATROL continuity in favor of a minimal repaint of the 1960s version.)
Represents: Retro-Traditionalist
Example: John Byrne's DOOM PATROL
GIMMIX: Obviously, some kind of Moore / ABC reference -- goofing on the line's habit of aping Golden Age styles and fashions with "facelifts" -- occasional, self-consciously "mature" twists. Gimmix has the shtick of ToyBox from the TOP 10 books and the retro fashion sense of Cobweb or a female GreyShirt (from TOMORROW STORIES). Just as TOM STRONG is a Doc Savage update with an active sex life and occasional indulgences in psychedelics, Gimmix is a callback to a certain type of '40s character with an affection for the hooch and psychotherapy. Maybe Morrison's notorious Alan Moore issues may be surfacing in the line where it's suggested that "better books than mine" will be written about this character. Arch, deeply aware of her flaws, and trying to establish significance by referencing other characters.
Represents: Post-Modern Pastiche
Example: Alan Moore's ABC Books
DYNO-MITE DAN: Obviously, a fan-boy obsessed with "legacies." Your Geoff Johns, your James Robinson's STARMAN types, possibly your Waids and Busieks. Hanging onto the toys of the past, maybe recognizing that it's vaguely ridiculous, but trying to show people that it's "still cool."
Represents: Gee-Whiz Legacy Lovers
Examples: Geoff Johns JSA, Waid's FLASH, Robinson's STARMAN
I, SPYDER: Everybody else in this debate already explained why he's a perfect riff on the Ultimatisation / Authoritization of classic characters. I'd only add that in his arrival at the Vigilante's desert HQ, the art style shifts from Blueberry-esque to an invocation of Bryan Hitch's ULTIMATES/AUTHORITY widescreen/wide-panel style.
Represents: Hipper-Than-Thou Ultimatization
Examples: Millar, Ellis, THE ULTIMATES, THE AUTHORITY
THE WHIP: A more mature version of the "I, Spyder" type redo -- injecting a bit of pathos and three-dimensional humanity into the superhero genre, self-recognition and doubt about the perversity and fetishization of the costume, an embracing of the darker side of the character, a sense of legacy with a distinct break from the past. She's like a fusion of elements from Bendis's ALIAS, Andreyko's MANHUNTER, Brubaker's CATWOMAN and CAPT. AMERICA, Rucka & Brubaker's GOTHAM CENTRAL.
Represents: Darker / Psych. Complex Re-Take of the Superhero Universe
Examples: Bendis, Brubaker, ALIAS, GOTHAM CENTRAL
BLUE BOY: This is a hard one... I associate him with characters that are self-consciously "pop" -- re-takes of classic types, trying to strip the superhero concept to its "fun core," consciously rejecting the attempts to inject "Reality" into comics. You know, "the return of rrrrrreallly fun comix" characters like Allred's MADMAN, Mignola's HELLBOY, Steve Rude's THE MOTH. But he's also an example of a "name only" reboot -- taking an old character's name and broadest possible concept, and applying them to a character that the editors think will be hip. Here we have a reboot of a Golden Age character, "Blue" in color, who "sounds like a 15-year-old Mexican kid and whose origin and face are completely obscured -- whose powers come from a magical object of unknown origin. Is this weirdly prescient, or was the new Blue Beetle already in the works when Morrison wrote #0?
Represents: Rrrrreally Fun Pop Comix / Name-Only Reboots
Examples: Allred, MADMAN, Giffen & Rogers' BLUE BEETLE (?)
THE SEVENTH SOLDIER:
The Bulleteer, we'll realize... and of the 7, she'd probably fit the best into this gathering of rebooted old characters. She's practically the living embodiment of the IMAGE / Top Cow oversexed, supercool-looking female hero. The big difference and unexpected dimension of her character is her reticence to engage in this world of heroes & villains. She'd rather light than fight, and her story arc is all about her passivity -- by and large, replacing aggressive action with passive compassion. |
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