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Underground > Comic Books >

7 Soldiers: Shining Knight

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11:10 / 03.03.05

Get ready for a miniseries best described as The Lord of the Rings meets The O.C.! Visionary writer Grant Morrison and artist Simone Bianchi (Marvel Italia's Conan the Barbarian, The Ego Sum Trilogy) continue the 30-part SEVEN SOLDIERS saga with the 4-issue SEVEN SOLDIERS: SHINING KNIGHT, a modern fantasy epic!

Though twilight and red ruin falls on Camelot, the Knights of the Broken Table stand ready to battle the forces of the Beyond. Little do they realize that the only one within their spent and bloodied ranks who can save what remains of their world is 16-year-old Sir Justin, a teenaged warrior who, with his winged horse Victory, finds himself thrust into the maddening world of the 21st century to save the future of all mankind! And the best place to start the battle? Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, of course!

Of course.

13:23 / 03.03.05

A few comments, based on the preview:

There are six knights named, with the 7th likely to be Sir Justin himself, who shares the name of the original Shining Knight, but (at this point) nothing else.

Peredur is a Welsh hero, but the description suggests Grant is tapping into his later incarnation, Percival/Parsifal. The blindness is a new wrinkle, possibly based on a temporary blindness he had in Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King'.

As I've said elsewhere, Gawain appears to be at least a partial homage to the Silent Knight, from DC's Silver Age.

20:22 / 03.03.05

The preview, fellows and fellowettes. It's got some very nice art, not unlike Gil Kane or Barry Windsor-Smith, but with a modern vibe and a bit of pop.

20:46 / 03.03.05

Gawain, apparently, means White Falcon.

(thank you, Boboss, for this info.)

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:02 / 06.03.05

Allegedly. Another etymology, I think, is "courteous".

00:25 / 07.03.05

The etymology I read derived from the Welsh Gwalchmai, and meant "Hawk of May" *shrugs*

18:39 / 07.03.05

anyone read the preview copy of this yet?

08:37 / 08.03.05

First review here

09:22 / 08.03.05

Grant's out of order stealing ideas from the Wachowski's - bang out of order.

18:26 / 09.03.05

Interview with Simone Bianchi

21:03 / 09.03.05

That idea was DARROW's... who was working on Shaolin Cowboy sometime before his Matrix gig... appariently.

um... very enjoyable book. More of the winding castle and what appears to be a lesser Ne Bul O.

Sheeda Queen, just who does she remind me of . . .

22:09 / 09.03.05

I can see a bit of Sil, from Species....

22:29 / 09.03.05

The art reminds me of Gil Kane and Barry Windsor-Smith...

Comments on the issue to follow eventually. Let me give the quick review now: "It's good."

The Natural Way

12:38 / 10.03.05

I thought it was good also, but agree with the reviewer that the set-up's fairly slight/classic. Don't really give a shit, though, 'cause SS books are coming out fortnightly and soon there'll be plenty more dinner, and because this ish had loads of other stuff going for it.

I really enjoyed the Knights, even though it was a shame they all had to bite it so soon after we were introduced. Hey-ho, I suppose we were just catching their last, transcendent moments of glory, and indeed they rocked. Esp Caradoc who-loves-peace-most-of-all. Of course he does. I lolled out lol, I did. Typical Grant, I don't know where they got the lantern from, so I'll just assume they were already packing it. Tho', to be fair, this kind of mistake could easily be down to the artist. ever since reading the script to Invissy 1, I really don't trust artists....

But I did like the art - the Queen of Squids was properly scary and Borg-queeny. I don't like it when she bites into the apple and gets all Snow-White, Mummy. In fact, the allusions to all things fairy-fantasy is really fun. The Outer Church as the Unseelie Court bit works for me. As does the scene shift to Camelot.

Have to sort stuff out now.

17:12 / 10.03.05

They get the lantern offa the zombie knights.

19:36 / 10.03.05

A few random references for the pile:

Castle Revolving is a direct translation of Caer Sidi, the castle of the goddess Arianrhod, which sat at the hub of the "Silver Wheel" in Annwn, the Welsh underworld. It was also called the Castle of Glass, which links it to Ynis Witrin, the Isle of Glass (aka Avalon, and possibly Glastonbury).

Olwen is the daughter of a giant in the Welsh folktale Culhwch & Olwen, and the desired bride of Culhwch. He, along with a whole bunch of Arthur's knights, quest to achieve the nearly impossible tasks her father sets before him, in order to gain her hand.

One notable request is for the Cauldron of Diwrnach, which acted as a horn of plenty, and was rumored to be able to raise the dead. It has been suggested that this was the same as the cauldron of the Dagda, chief of the Tuatha de Dannan, which had the same properties.

The sword of Findias formerly was the property of the god Nuada Silverhand, and was said to make it's wielder invincible. Along with the cauldron of the Dagda, it was one of the four Treasures of Ireland.

Finally, Lancelot is described as "long-handed", which links him to the Celtic god "Lugh the Long-Handed", who had mastered every skill.

21:15 / 10.03.05

She's definitely the Borg Queen, aye.

21:19 / 10.03.05

I just added those comments to the wiki.

Very cool.

21:45 / 10.03.05

Okay, first wave of comments (hopefully with more to follow):

The Knights of the Broken Table might just be a bit analogous to the Justice League's Big 7. Lancelot seems quite Superman-ish, and (these just being rough estimates), Gawain is Batman, Caradoc is J'onn, Peredur is Wonder Woman (well, she *was* recently blinded, and, erm, this is the closest match), Bors is Flash, and Galahad is Green Lantern. Also, notably, King Arthur is clearly wearing orange scales, so he's Aquaman. But the Seventh Knight we've got here is Justin, our new Shining Knight. Also note: He has to capture the lantern from the baddies, the lantern which just happens to be green (and there are big green giants attacking with the Sheeda).

The book's also quite steeped in fairy tales, which seems to be a major plot point of Seven Soldiers so far. This "Gloriana Tenebrae," the vampire queen Neh-Buh-Loh spoke of in Grant's JLA:C arc, is giving off serious vibes of Medusa, the "evil witch" archetype, Gozer the Gozerian from Ghostbusters, Lilith, queen of monsters, and, hell, numerous other things, into one solid amalgamation.

"Justin. I'm a horse. Whoever heard of a mad horse?" I cared about Vanguard quite a bit, but the magical Mr. Ed seems quite dead at the end. Although, this *is* a fairy tale of sorts, so he could get better. It is a bit odd for the cops not to acknowledge some knowledge of super-heroes and the weirdness that comes with 'em, but we're not exactly sure what time period it is that Justin finds himself in, necessarily. And Justin's speaking a ye olde anglican dialect. Wonder if he'll ever learn modern American. Hmm.

Well, it was a fun old comic, and the art is amazing. I await the next ish. That's quite a cliffhanger; what happened to each issue standing on its own? Not that I'd ever pass up buying the rest, mind you...

21:50 / 10.03.05

Left out one:

"Gloriana" is the name given to the title character in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" (who is equated with Queen Elizabeth I, but that's probably not relevant). As "Tenebrae" means "Darkness" the name "Gloriana Tenebrae" is fitting for the queen of the "dark faeries".

miss wonderstarr

22:04 / 10.03.05

This was a fabulous comic. I think I was tripping thru some of it, because I spent half an hour on the first four pages, but really this grabbed me far more deeply than Vimanarama -- ironic because on the face of it, Shining Knight could be brushed off as Saturday morning Swords and Sorcery. Is Justin speaking real (translatable) Welsh at the end, or is it a pseudo/archaic version?

The feeling of depth and potency in the mythos was intense; I don't know these legends well enough, the above annotations aside, to judge how much Morrison is inventing or adapting, as opposed to just taking directly, but there is a sense of incredible history and breadth... every artefact having various names (Caliburn the treasure of Findias, the Cauldron or Undry) and an associated rich past. Morrison's obvious inventions such as Nebuloh and the Spider-Mare knit in very smoothly, rather than seeming like cameo crossovers from a modern-day superhero universe. Sheeda-Side also has at least two other names, repeated twice in this episode and already acquiring the beginnings of mythic resonance ("Summer's End"/"The Vampire Sun").

My take on Gloriana Tenebrae's echo of the Oz and Sleeping Beauty Witches was that perhaps our 20th century popular culture has picked up on a hint of this ancient evil... not that she was making some nod-nudge reference, but that she came first and the fairy-tales and films were a semi-conscious reference back to her. I wonder if there's anything in her name, or this name of hers, being Latin and the conquered culture being Welsh.

22:45 / 10.03.05

I don't speak Welsh, but I've been able to make some headway on the words at the end:

Y = "the", or "of the".
Llamin = dunno "llam" means "jump"...perhaps a verb form?
Arach = not sure, but it's apparently important.
Arwyr = "hero", and may be their translation of "knight", which might make "arwyr y roi" mean "knight of the king".
"Avallach" is an old name for Avalon, and I'm betting "Ystin" is Justin.

Anyone else care to take a shot?

23:24 / 10.03.05

After more research. Arach could be "contract" or "dragon". I'm guessing "dragon".

"Llamin" is tougher. It just _might_ mean "shining" or "leaping", as in:

"The Shining/Leaping Dragon Knight! Knight of the King! Dragon of Avalon Justin! Dragon of Avalon."

Or...maybe not.

07:50 / 11.03.05

damn and arse i carnt get this til tomorrow. but i've been thinking about the nasty homestead vibe that everyone's talking about w. regard to this comic had me thinking of these. first encountered by me in a story in alan moore's book about the lame nun in the old church: vaginal/ fertility symbols that due to the rankness of priests and other sexually confounded chappies often bear nasty scars. grunge molly's son has used [things like] them before, calling attention to them in his hellblazer story years ago, 'the maw' i believe he called them then. so here's your sheeda/ sidhe gone big bad lady archetype.

yawn - thing's buddy

07:52 / 11.03.05

was well jackson.

art is superb - bits actually remind me of the baroque biro-ness of GM's own art on his Gideon Stargrave shtuff.

Like Paps, I'm lappin' the mythsterious backdrop - fairies, pointy eared bikini flesh n shit and yon battlecry, "Fight On" stirred both my inner and outer glasswegians.

Welsh is the best o keltic tungs too. Drop into present wiv Justy warbling "European" was nice touch - reminded me of film, 'thirteenth warrior' and linguistic trickery used as narrative device within.

Horse looked well fucked. Heavy meat.

Is great comic. Is better still for lack of vertigo badge.

Hope this shite is selling.

miss wonderstarr

08:37 / 11.03.05

"The Shining/Leaping Dragon Knight! Knight of the King! Dragon of Avalon Justin! Dragon of Avalon."

This sounds oddly plausible, given that Siadwel Rhys in Morrison's "Zenith" Phase I also faced off against intimidating enemy odds with a defiant self-proclamation of "You hear me? I'm Red Dragon! Y Ddraig Goch..."

10:04 / 11.03.05

Wasn't so keen on the art. As individual pictures it worked fine but didn't feel it had much flow as a strip. That's just me picking holes, though.

10:12 / 11.03.05

Still waiting for mine to arrive (I've taken to ordering on line now, as there are so few comics I get, and also means that I avoid temptation of picking up stuff I don't really want).

As ever though, Barb provides a fantastic thread about a comic book, offering insights to something that make you want to re-read books again and again.

I'm only sad that I missed the last JL Classified by GM, as it seems that some of the stuff from that plays into this, is that right?

14:08 / 11.03.05

I'm only sad that I missed the last JL Classified by GM, as it seems that some of the stuff from that plays into this, is that right?

Not particularly...it gives us the origin of the Huntsman, and the first appearance of the Sheeda, but it's essentially a standalone.

14:17 / 11.03.05

Will write more, but really liked it. Frank Frazetta and Pat Mills must be spinning in their graves, though. If they're dead.

The Natural Way

15:19 / 11.03.05

she came first and the fairy-tales and films were a semi-conscious reference back to her.

Oh, absolutely.

And I'm with you, Yawn, re the Vertigo tag. I fucking love superheroes.

19:47 / 11.03.05

Haven't really read this yet but the art dazzled me. I love the graytones he puts in, and I know how much work it is to not only pencil & ink your own stuff, much less do watercolor gray tones. The only other comic artist I can think of who does that is Gene Ha.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

05:36 / 12.03.05

Am I falling for the 'reading too much into it' game by saying that Justin appears to carry a Green Lantern into battle? Seven Soldiers- Seven main Members of Grant's JLA, I wonder if each of the characters will have some little analogue like that, I presume those weird men from the Issue 0 are chosing people who would be willing to kill the Sheeda, which is why they don't go and get Grant's JLA involved directly, them all being 'no kill' type of people.

Nice.

08:01 / 12.03.05

I presume those weird men from the Issue 0 are chosing people who would be willing to kill the Sheeda, which is why they don't go and get Grant's JLA involved directly

Hmm, I think this is a bit of a stretch. My personal feeling is that this point could well be fudged*, 'cause the real reason they've been chosen is tied to the meta-narrative.
As I've said elsewhere, I suspect Grant's gone for low level characters because he wants to tell either a) a story about triumph over extreme adversity - god killers essentially - or b) a transformative story where low level characters become as the JLA - attain godlike status.
The thing is, whether either of these theories holds any water, isn't really the point, the fact of the matter is, Grant almost certainly has some *big reason* for choosing the seven that is tied to the story he wants to tell, and Grant's big reasons tend to obscure specific narrative points.

Just my feeling, anyhoo.

*I said "fudged", not entirely brushed under the carpet. I think there is something in all this talk of analogues, for example

14:08 / 12.03.05

Am I falling for the 'reading too much into it' game by saying that Justin appears to carry a Green Lantern into battle?

I was too embarrassed to mention this. But it seems so obviously to be one.

He also beats up the animated corpse of a king called Arthur who's wearing chainmail, if you want to get daft.

Seven is definitely going to be the new five, though.

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