SEVEN SOLDIERS: KLARION THE WITCH BOY #1
© DC Comics
Seeking Seven Soldiers
By: Kurt AmackerDate: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Let me preface this week’s Comicscape with a few words about Seven Soldiers. First, the column contains major spoilers. If you plan to read the trade paperbacks, skip to the listings. Though, if you can live with reading spoilers, it might affect your reading experience for the better. Second, Grant Morrison has written an incredibly intricate comic metaseries – one not easily explained. Between its countless allusions to literature and mythology, its unconventional narrative structure, and its unique visuals, I simply can’t succinctly convey the story. Hence, if my summary and commentary feel cursory or insufficient, I apologize. One could devote a doctoral thesis to Seven Soldiers and still miss something. After I saw David Lynch’s film Eraserhead years ago, a good friend of mine remarked in a spirit similar to my feelings about this series, “I don’t get it, but I think I like it.” But, saying “I don’t get it” makes me sound like something of a dullard – I think Grant Morrison wants you to spend a lot of time “getting it.” As such, this column will serve as nothing more than my cursory observations about the series. Unlike some reviewers, I don’t intend to rant about how little I understood. Seven Soldiers is a dense, layered work of literature, deserving of time and attention. The writing is dense, but imaginative and entertaining, and the art is top notch. Like any great work, you won’t understand everything the first time around. As such, I hope to inspire you to either read the series or reread it, as I likely will.
After a seven month delay, Seven Soldiers concluded with issue #1 two weeks ago – or one, if a shipping problem delayed your copy as it did mine. The crossover event launched in March of 2005 with a #0 issue introducing readers to the mysterious Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp, who set in motion a series of events to fight the Harrowing. The Harrowing occurs at the pinnacle of any civilization, when the Sheeda – a macabre race of fairies – arrive to strip it bare. Nothing survives. After the #0 issue, DC incrementally released seven four-issue bimonthly miniseries. The publisher released the issues in the order of the overall story, with a checklist in the back of each. However, one could read the four issues composing any of the given miniseries as a self-contained story. After an initial gathering of the reformed Seven Soldiers of Victory die fighting the mythical Buffalo Spider at Miracle Mesa, seven heroes unknown to one another embark on their respective adventures with the Sheeda. They are the Sir Ystin (“Justin”), the Shining Knight; Klarion, the Witch Boy; Shiloh Norman, Mister Miracle; Jake Jordan, the Manhattan Guardian; Frankenstein, the DC version of the monster drawn from Len Wein’s Spawn of Frankenstein; and Zatanna. In the final issue, #1, their respective stories finally culminate in a battle against Gloriana Tenebrae, the Sheeda queen. In a move similar to the film Crash, we see several disparate stories conclude in time with each other. Morrison spends the series bringing our protagonists closer and closer to each other, only to throw them together on the streets of New York (except for Frankenstein, who fights in the future). The Sheeda survive because they know that a team of seven will be their undoing. In the past, they’ve targeted groups of that number, including the Justice League and the Ultramarine Corps. The trick is that the Seven Soldiers don’t meet each other until the end – a team of seven that isn’t even a team.
Morrison culled the seven heroes – and some of the supporting cast – from the DC Universe’s long and excessively complicated history. He revamped all, save Zatanna, from older characters – new versions that tacitly acknowledge their predecessors’ place in DC continuity. For instance, while the original Shining Knight, Sir Justin, hailed from King Arthur’s court in the 6th century, Morrison explains that Camelot has appeared repeatedly throughout history – a living, recurring archetype. The new Shining Knight, Sir Ystin, hails from an earlier Celtic version of the story from around 8,000 B.C. Similarly, the new Manhattan Guardian – Jake Jordon – and the Newsboy Army do not replace or negate the original guardian – Jim Harper – and the Newsboy Legion. Rather, Morrison uses his new variations to thematically emphasize the endless rise and fall of civilizations. It’s as if Morrison suggests that what we treasure now as Americans and as human beings in the 21st century has been experienced before and has fallen just as readily. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I applaud Morrison for reinterpreting established characters without retconning the old versions, and doing so rather creatively. It seems quite chic among comic writers to just ignore everything that happened prior and “reimagine” characters as they see fit. I should note, however, that Klarion never mentions his predecessor that first appeared in The Demon in 1973. Similarly, Morrison never explains the connection between his Frankenstein and any earlier appearances by the monster. Whether that constitutes some act of vicious retconning on the writer’s part or a simple oversight, we’ll likely never know. Maybe there are two Klarions, now.
Morrison originally presented the Sheeda and their queen, Gloriana Tenebrae, ambiguously. Several characters remark on their recurrence in world mythology as fairies and other wee folk, but Morrison withholds their origin for several issues. Indeed, he draws so heavily on mythology – Celtic, in particular – that we naturally assume that the Sheeda are simply a hoard of pissed-off fairies. Ultimately, we learn that they hail from the future – they are the last stage of human evolution and the end result of natural selection. They come from a bleak Earth revolving around a dying sun from one billion years in the future. They survive by plundering the past.
Morrison emphasizes the interaction between different mythological systems – including that of American comic books – and their affect on humanity, yet he makes the effect quite literal through the Sheeda. Not only are they mythology, but they are us. The idea of humanity harvesting its past carries broad implications. One can see it as a warning against the abuse of history – don’t re-explain the past to suit our vision of the present. Some have argued that it serves as a metaphor for the comic industry – a dire situation that survives only by stealing from the past. I’ve touched on that very subject in Comicscape a few times, stating that mainstream comic publishing – most conspicuously, Marvel and DC – survives by selling nostalgia, more than anything.
Depending on your critical perspective, Seven Soldiers is either feast or famine. With so many ideas working on so many levels in the series, you could spend the next year in cafes with your fellow literati examining every subplot, allusion, and metaphor. I’ve barely scratched the surface. But, if you want your stories straight, Seven Soldiers may leave you cold. In its weakest moments, it feels convoluted. But, several writers have already posted involved critical examinations of the series, including some that suggest the entire story corresponds with cabalism, so there’s no shortage of material to explore. While I don’t know that I’ll go that far into it, I enjoyed the series and will likely reread it. I hope you’ll do the same.
The Spinner Rack
By Al Brown and Kurt Amacker This week: underwear, flaming heads, incestuous undertones and hot green chicks! All that and still a dire lack of nipples. Also: new and completely unwarranted launches for Stormwatch and Wisdom; Kurt and I experiment with formatting.
DARK HORSE COMICS
Blade Of The Immortal #119 (MR) $2.99
Kotobukiya Star Wars C3po & R2d2 Vinyl Kit $149.99
Museum Of Terror Vol 3 TP $13.95
Star Wars Dark Times #1 (of 5) $2.99
Trigun Maximum Vol 10 TP $9.95
DC COMICS
52 Week #27 $2.50
Al: The blogosphere is starting to rumble, as it becomes increasingly clear that DC actually has no plan at all. By halfway through this series, we expect to see stories currently being played out in One Year Later arcs getting hints here. That's not really happening, and we're annoyed.
DC: Damn you, blogosphere! Guess who’s getting a visit from Bane?
Batman #658 $2.99
Al: Grant Morrison wraps up his first arc.
Batman And The Mad Monk #4 (of 6) $3.50
Batman Black White Series Mini Statue Kelley Jones $55.00
Batman Strikes #27 $2.25
Captain Atom Armageddon TP $19.99
Cartoon Network Action Pack #7 $2.25
Kurt: Hey, did anyone see Borat this weekend? Oh wait, I was supposed to talk about the book, wasn’t I?
DMZ #13 (MR) $2.99
Fables #55 (MR) $2.99
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #31 $2.99
Al: Someday I want to see Firestorm and Ghost Rider meet and have a contest to see whose head is more on fire.
Kurt: Ghost Rider has something that Firestorm will probably never have: a movie.
Gen 13 #2 $2.99
Al: Man, none of these Worldstorm relaunches are off to very good starts, are they? This was probably the best of the lot, but it still had sketchy art, cringe-worthy "teen" dialogue and an awful ending. But at least they prove that they understand Gen 13's core audience by showing Caitlin in her underwear on the cover of this issue.
Kurt: I was a bit underwhelmed by WildCats, but I’ll probably give it another shot.
Gen 13 Var Edition #2 $2.99
Green Arrow #68 $2.99
Green Lantern #14 (RES) $2.99
JLA Classified #29 $2.99
Martian Manhunter #4 (of 8) $2.99
Nightwing Renegade TP $14.99
Rokkin #5 $2.99
Kurt: With Dokken?
Stormwatch Phd #1 $2.99
Al: Huh...didn't realize they were dragging this out of the dumpster. Stormwatch was originally a Godawful nineties-kewl book that abruptly turned awesome when Warren Ellis took over and phased it into the Authority. This relaunch retains Weatherman Jackson King but throws out the budget; it's written by relative newcomer Christos Gage and drawn by the awesome Doug Mahnke (Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein).
Stormwatch Phd Var Edition A #1 $2.99
Stormwatch Phd Var Edition B #1 $2.99
Superman #657 $2.99
Tales Of The Unexpected #2 (of 8) $3.99
Al: We're all buying this solely for the hilariously creepy incest backup stories, right? I didn't even read the main story.
Kurt: If this were the old days, I’d make a joke about incest, your mom, Tijuana, and a bunch of frat guys. But since we swore off that stuff, I won’t.
Teen Titans #40 $2.99
Al: Miss Martian! Hot green chick! W00t!
Kurt: She-Hulk is going to be pissed.
Y The Last Man #51 (MR) $2.99
IMAGE COMICS
Cross Bronx #3 (of 4) (MR) $2.99
Al: This mostly sounds like a forgotten Boogie Down Productions album.
Kurt: Or the Sha Na Na comeback album.
Hunter Killer Basaldua CVR #9 $2.99
Hunter Killer Silvestri CVR #9 $2.99
Last Christmas #5 (of 5) (MR) $2.99
Phonogram #3 (MR) $3.50
MARVEL COMICS
Amazing Spider-Girl #2 $2.99
Annihilation #4 (of 6) $2.99
Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes II #1 (of 8) $3.99
Al: I have no idea what alternate universe this is supposed to be taking place in. Hawkeye's on the team, so it's certainly not 616.
Bullet Points #1 (of 5) $2.99
Al: Some kind of “What If Steve Rogers Never Became Captain America?” story..
Civil War Thor Returns Var #3 (of 7) (PP #736) $2.99
Kurt: Um, spoiler warning…yeah.
Civil War Thunderbolts Swimming With Sharks (pp#736) $4.99
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #4 (of 4) $2.99
Doctor Strange Oath #2 (of 5) $2.99
Al: Holy God, #1 of this series was way rad. Have you ever thought, "Dr. Strange really ought to be wicked cool, but everyone screws him up! Why can't anyone do Dr. Strange right?!" If so, you should pick this book up.
Kurt: This rules, but I still can’t believe that Brian K. Vaughan is leaving Runaways. I’m totally going to go cry.
Eternals #5 (of 7) $3.99
Kurt: Well, so far this has been pretty goddamned amazing.
Eternals Romita Jr Var #5 (of 7) $3.99
Franklin Richards Happy Franksgiving $2.99
Al: I'm the only person in the world who doesn't think these Mark Sumerak Franklin Richards stories are cute.
Kurt: I haven’t read any of them, but I’ll gladly throw in with you – they’re not cute.
Heroes Reborn Iron Man TP $29.99
Kurt: But this – this is cute.
Magician Apprentice #3 (of 12) $2.99
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #18 $2.99
Marvel Legacy 1980s Handbook $4.99
Marvel Zombies 2nd Ptg Spider-Man HC $19.99
New X-Men #32 $2.99
Al: New arc as the kids track down Wither.
Punisher #40 (MR) $2.99
Punisher Very Special Holidays TP $12.99
Secret War TP $24.99
Al: Spend 25 bucks to feel underwhelmed all over again!
Shanna The She Devil TP $16.99
Al: Spend 17 bucks and draw your own nipples!
Ultimate X-Men #76 $2.99
Wisdom #1 (of 6) (MR) $3.99
Al: TV writer Paul Cornell (Dr. Who) and the excellent Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis) bring you the miniseries no one was clamoring for: Wisdom, the British Excalibur member!
Kurt: This from Mr. Moon Knight himself.
Wolverine Origins #8 $2.99
Wolverine Poster Magazine $4.99
X-Men Fairy Tales TP $10.99
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.
More From Mania
Comicscape: The Dreaded Comic-Con Recap
Comicscape: Character Contrast in the Dark Knight
(Wednesday, July 23, 2008)
Comicscape February 16, 2005
(Wednesday, February 16, 2005)
Comicscape - December 1, 2004
(Wednesday, December 1, 2004)
Comicscape - September 24, 2003
(Wednesday, September 24, 2003)
Comicscape - June 18, 2003
(Wednesday, June 18, 2003)
Comicscape - November 2002
(Saturday, November 2, 2002)
Comicscape - October 2002
(Thursday, September 26, 2002)
See more related content
I had gotten them for awhile, but then delays and the fact that they made no sense (though they were somewhat a reimaginging of characters ie: Mister Miracle) left me wanting to keep the money for better titles.
Green Lantern is gone from my list now and you guys are right about 52, wth is going on?