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7 Soldiers

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16:01 / 24.02.05

Just some random thoughts.

Strikes me as that redesign of I Spyder (ala the FILTH color personality shower) was intended to be enough of a catalyst to bring the rest of the team together.

Obviously this wasn't intended to be the true "7" as there was only 6 of them.

Interesting archtypes:
Superherovestite (Xornvestite = fiction suit = etc?)

Journalist hero

The Whip, recording/reporting her experiences. Seems that whole sleeping with SPYDER thing crosses over with the question of when a Death Wish Fetish becomes a hero. She seems to have alot of unspoken theories on the hero persona in relation to a pantheon/team dynamic.

Gimmix played an interesting selfconscious non-hero. Curious spin on the Hero for Hire thing... hero for fame? perhaps a precursor to how GM will treat Zatanna?

So what's up with the Sheede swarming around that swamp/ soft space... very vertigo.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

18:58 / 24.02.05

Solid, solid book.

I had a very visceral and unpleasant reaction to the end of the book, when everybody gets slaughtered. It was very uncomfortable to read and I couldn't bring myself to reread the book until this morning. It weirded me out for the rest of the day, and I can't really put my finger on why, because it's not like I got a chance to get attached to the characters. I guess this Morrison character is just a heck of a writer.

However, I still stand by JLA:C statement that the Sheeda are lame and very un-scary. I feel like I'm reading a Gaiman knock-off when they pop up. I'm sure Morrison will make them creepier, but they still look silly as all hell.

19:26 / 24.02.05

Love the Blueberry stylistic influence on J.H. William's Western work here.

Time sewing machines. Nice!

19:33 / 24.02.05

GM walked a very fine line here with exquisite finesse. he manages to set up a bunch of wannabes and losers without making them the butt of a joke. they're sincere and sympathetic underdogs at the same time that they're clearly half-assed excuses for superheroes.

i loved the moment where they all go charging off together with what gifts and gimmicks they have into battle with the spider. it's just this perfect moment where your heart catches in your throat and you realize that these are people just diving with both feet into the unknown with only some crazy ring or a whip or whatever between them and certain death and it hits you how totally mental someone would have to be to do that. how crazy and wonderful any of them are, whether they're the new Whip or even up to Green Lantern or Batman or whoever.

wow.

19:49 / 24.02.05

J.H. Williams art impressed me even more than Grant's story here. His page layouts are inspired, and Promethea has made him an expert in gilded decorative amazing graphic design borders of pages.

Loved the double-page spread with the little square logos/visual representation of each of the 6 characters.

The Natural Way

21:31 / 24.02.05

I don't get it, Jake - to me the Sheeda are pure fucking evil. Yes, they're a bunch of fantasy roleplay baddies, but they still give me the chills. The Whip's screaming face....it reminded me of some of those spooky images from that joy of the 80's, Masquerade. Really creepy.

There were too many things I liked about this book, but I have to second Diz's reaction to the big pile up. And it really was heart-stopping when the 7 get slaughtered. I don't want to go to the revolving castle, Mummy.

22:09 / 24.02.05

Alex:

How do you know they WEREN'T behind the others? Blue Boy wouldn't say where his powers came from, and I find it hard to believe those rings just happened to show up on EBay.

And it's possible that Gimmix's "facelift" was nothing of the sort...

01:14 / 25.02.05

Okay, did anyone else notice that they've retconned Green Arrow and Speedy out of the Golden Age Seven Soldiers?

Thus, in this version Wing DOES get full 7S status, and then the Spider is in there solo, as a GA replacement.

Have there been any comments from anyone in the creative teams on that decision? Cos I was kinda looking forward to things tying in with GA somehow, especially since it's oldschool clean-cut arrowmobile green arrow, not rascally Ollie of the left-winger persuasion...

And as for Whip fucking I, Spider... you don't have to like someone to want to fuck them. Sometimes it even helps not to like them.

m.

01:27 / 25.02.05

The GA Green Arrow hasn't existed for 20 years. He was wiped by out by Crisis.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

03:52 / 25.02.05

Pappuce- Neh-Bu-loh and his bad skullface boys are nasty as hell. As I said, the scene with them at the end fucked with me a bit. It's the little guys on the flies that I find a bit comical.

Haus of Mystery

08:30 / 25.02.05

Weird synchronicity: tried out a new cafe whilst reading issue #0. Finished it, and the first thing that caught my eye was a poster for club night called 'GIMMIX'. (And one of the DJ's was called 'Hagbard Celine').

Grant Morrison is channelling through my breakfast

08:41 / 25.02.05

Bored the fuck out of me honestly.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:01 / 25.02.05

thought it was awesome. what a crackin read. actually spunked more than vinamarama.

can't be arsed to go into tho.

it was just fuckin great!

a rollicking read and dandy design - that'll do.

Haus of Mystery

09:42 / 25.02.05

Liked the art shifts, to suit the genre jumping - Vigilante looked like Blueberry in some panels, all loose Euro-art style. Prologue felt like Bissette & Totlebein at their finest.

I agree with the slight nauseous feeling this provoked. The way the heroes were so brutally wiped out - no JLA style Sci-Fi stuff here, just nasty things riding fucking great big spiders. Vigilante skewered just like that. Grunt's rediscovered his nasty side - it's Phase III all over again!

13:38 / 25.02.05

worth having again i think:

thought it was awesome. what a crackin read. actually spunked more than vinamarama.

can't be arsed to go into tho.

it was just fuckin great!

a rollicking read and dandy design - that'll do.

now before i can say anything else, could someone please help tie-up the litle mystery that i'm having to do with i, spyder (thos. LUDLOW galt) and robinson's starman? where do they link up? i think the spider was even in starman a couple times...?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:29 / 25.02.05

If I remember correctly, that was LUCAS Ludlow Dalt in STARMAN, and this is Tom - Lucas is presumably dead by the Shade's hand by now. Tom mentions his tunic while they're 'prepping him for surgery' - that it belonged to his dad and his brother. Yeah? I'd have to go check my STARMANs to be sure.

15:26 / 25.02.05

Yes, I love the tie-in to James Robinson's wonderful STARMAN series where they established the Ludlow family as baddies (and as always taking on the Spider name).

16:15 / 25.02.05

The Ludlow family have had an ongoing HATE on for THE SHADE for many generations. This was the crux of THE SHADE miniseries that explored this family's many attempts at killing him. That miniseries ended with a sort of truce and may have actually included this dalt as the brother who didn't want to die at SHADE's hand.

Meanwhile another SPIDER does make it into Opal City in time to exact revenge upon the SHADE. I'm not sure if in the end he was killed or escaped death in classic villian fashion. Makes me want to reread that series again.

Also those mosquito riding Sheede reminded me of SMAX (issue 3?) where one of them lands on SMAX's father's eye durring his funeral.

I'm wondering if there's a sort of heirarchy with-in the sheede.
Ne Buh Lo
the skull guy with a crown
Spider Riders
Spine Riders (ala JLA:C)
Mosquito riders
were there also some Charioteers as well?

also those 7 men of mystery... all Bald. Permutations of Grant again?

16:50 / 25.02.05

Permutations: of course. But of what? Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Red, Green, and Spirit?

Ho ho ho, blah.

I'm interested more in what motivated Grant to come up with fairies as the big bad for a year and a half. FAIRIES! With his obsessions OF trouncing the Modern Age and exalting the Silver, and his confessed preference of the DCU (He said he preferred the heroes and universe of DC because of its age, its "generations", and its iterations through all the different "Ages".) so I wonder if it's really just going back further — to bring in an enemy from an even earlier, more innocent, and yet more primevil time. Fairy Tales! Aaaah!

17:35 / 25.02.05

Well, in interviews he's mentioned wanting to create new archtypes for superheroes. I wonder if those original 7 soilders that presumably "died" where test runs on some of them. In terms of the Mystery Men I'm cusrious as to why he would choose 7 of them. They all seem the same though the sound/read differently, could a clue be found in DYN-O-MITE's comments on the significance of 7?

Maybe those 7 men are

. . . ach

Good points on the use of Fairies. JLA:C made mention of the NEBULAR MAN being "the Huntsman" so GM seems to be mining some of his local mythology for a suitable foe.

Haus of Mystery

17:35 / 25.02.05

I think we may not have seen the badness in it's entirety Chad.

05:48 / 26.02.05

The ferryman in the opening pages, is that suppossed to be Grant/George/etc much like how Moore wrote himself as the ferryman in his Swamp Thing run? I think so, although I'm a bit surprised he would pass up the chance to write a fictional version of Alan Moore.

Anyone who doesn't think the Sheeda are terrifying, just turn to the double page spread near the end. JH's Neh-Buh-Luh looks terrifying as well, which really surprised me, given the goofy -animated look McGuiness gave him in Classified.

08:11 / 26.02.05

Yes, the Sheeda really didn't work for me in Classified, and it had a lot to do with McGuiness's art.

These guys are an entirely different kettle of fish.

09:51 / 26.02.05

7S concludes on my 27th (twenty-seven, SEE?) birthday. (Of course, living in the UK I shan't be able to get bookend #1 til the day after.)

I sure hope I've achieved something by then. Fortnightly thrills until that point, anyways.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

12:59 / 26.02.05

Utter horror. Boy Blue's motherfucking Rebis shades! The Spyder's ace hellbilly look and tats. This may be the best comic Grant Morrison has ever written. He's stretched himself beyond his stylistic quirks to produce something incredible.

I wonder if the Ultramarines are still running around inside Neb-u-Lon?

The Natural Way

15:31 / 26.02.05

I'm wondering about that as well. Whatever. I can only assume they didn't succeed in properly socialising him at the moment. But maybe they've retreated to some tattered, far-blown planet with a love-bomb in tow, ready to detonate Nebuloh's heart....or some such Morrisonism.

I've been wondering who the 7th soldier was. Could be one of the main cast. What made him/her back out?

The Natural Way

15:33 / 26.02.05

Actually, there really is a lot I want to say about this comic. Must go and gather my thoughts.

17:06 / 26.02.05

"I'm interested more in what motivated Grant to come up with fairies as the big bad for a year and a half."

If you go back to the OLD stories (Thomas the Rhymer, Tam Lin, etc) fairies weren't twee little people with pretty wings, but utterly self-centered bastards who would make your life miserable if you didn't appease them (or have cold iron handy).

What's that line from Sandman?

"'I am that merry wanderer of the night.'? I am that giggling - dangerous - totally - bloody - psychotic - menace - to - life-and-limb, more like it."

yawn - thing's buddy

17:41 / 26.02.05

Cumon the Runce! - get yer thinking cap back on, south-chap!

A 'runtspective' on seven soldiers would be well jackson.

(scuse the patro-tone - channelling barley)

23:07 / 26.02.05

Great issue. Only Morrison could get me to read a damn western comic and actually enjoy it. Loved that fact that whole issue felt like we were witnessing the start of a new team. At one point I thought the fact that there were seven (or supposed to be seven) of them was a recurring theme for the whole arc. Like there was going to be lots of new teams of seven people running around. The end was total shock. That visual of The Whip screaming at me with those horrible dark creatures ripping her teammates apart was outstanding.

Total suprise seeing Neb-yu-lon, too.
(I still don't know how to spell it...)

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

01:14 / 27.02.05

Maybe Neb-U-Lon was #7? Kind of a John-a-Dreams backstabbing thing?

Note that the boatman is one of the "Seven Men".

Fuck me that last panel of the time sewing machine was INCREDIBLE.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

01:16 / 27.02.05

I like to think the Rebis shades meant something. I'm probably wrong.

08:07 / 27.02.05

Cameron, if you read this, let a distant French fan ask you a question:
how will the whole "Seven Soldiers" arc be collected ?
I guess each 4-issue part, like your own "Guardian", will have its own TPB... but what about the book-ends ?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

13:44 / 27.02.05

God, is there time left in the universe for me to say how much I liked this?

Okay, bad thing first. Mageddon- Humonguous evil muthafucker from the dawn of time. The Sheeda- Small evil muthafuckers that have periodically been around for best part of forever. Mageddon- Sends out impulses that excite the reptile brain making people cranky and deranged long before he even turns up. The Sheeda- Can control people in order to stir up fighting. Mageddon- Has those people behind Aztek preparing to fight him. The Sheeda- Apparently has the Seven Unknown Men, though I trust them not at all. However, big universe shagging baddies have a very limited MO so if Grant wants to do the same story twice, what options does he really have?

That aside, it was great. Pages 4/5, this is what abduction by Barbelith looks like to those inside the DCU doesn't it? This is a rescue mission... the seven unknown men... crown chakra/alien stone... tools and machinery you wouldn't understand. And why will seven minor heroes do the job that the JLA won't? I mean, they've at least had some success with the Sheeda.

So what's happening on that last page? Are those the Seven Men, are they going to swap those artifacts with stuff in the DCU, or are we in major retcon territory where we find out that they are claiming responsibility for the creation of the Guardian et al? Have the Men already set Plan B in motion or are they about to? Are they under attack by the Sheeda, is it some weird alternate dimension in, they're in a orange one with the time sewing machine but it also exists in a blue dimension where the Sheeda are? Why don't the Sheeda crossover and attack them?

This looks great. I'm looking forward to a year off this and wondering if Grant's going to make it through a project where, for the first time I can recall, everything ships on time and his story isn't messed up by an artist deciding to ignore the script and do their own thing.

13:51 / 28.02.05

Blue Boy wouldn't say where his powers came from

Damned if I know about the Blue Boy's suit, but I think that's the horn of Heimdall... I've been puzzling over the significance of the runes in the air when he blew it during the spider battle. If I remember correctly, it was Tiewaz, Uruz, Sig, Ansuz, Dagaz, Laguz, and Hagl... seven runes, perhaps one to represent each hero? Time to play the matching game...

(Why does reading Morrison always result in my obsessing on a minor detail that probably means nothing?)

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