Comic Book Resources

I swear whenever Brian turns out to be right too. And he was definately right about this one.

Sigh. I won't go through the same old "Morrison dropped the ball on this, but the artists sure made pretty pictures" spiel, but I will link to Paul O'Brien's take, which is as reasonable as any prominent web-based review I've seen.

Linking to Paul's review as a response to this piece is silly (although linking to it as just "Hey, here's a neat review of Seven Soldiers #1" is cool, as it IS a neat review), in that his review has practically nothing to do with my original piece or Stony's comments here.

My piece and Stony's comments were about Seven Soldiers read all together.

Paul's piece is about Seven Soldiers #1 by itself.

Two different things. Sorta surprising to see you compare the two.

"Seven Soldiers, reading the 30 issues as a whole, told a colossal tale unlike any I have seen in comics before." "No, Seven Soldiers #1 was only a B- comic!"

Doesn't really work.

I agree with both.

I also can't figure out how the Mister Miracle mini tied in with everything else.

I agree with both.

Which is precisely my point. They're not contrasting positions, but that is how it was presented initially.

My reading is that I, Spyder and not Mr. Miracle was the seventh soldier. Mr. Miracle has a very deep tie to the larger mythology, and his personal struggle touches on just about every theme the larger work addresses as a whole--it's like a little holographic chunk of the project. It adds a lot to it that the story of I, Spyder wouldn't necessarily.

Derek -

I was thinking that too.

Then I remembered the Original Seven Soldiers of Victory.

There were Eight of them.

Ok, I realised while typing this that it comes out a little stream-of-consciousness; please forgive:

Wing wasn't a Soldier proper, was he? He was, in effect, just a guy who was tied into the story of the Seven Soldiers intimately--like Shilo. That said, I'm not sure that Morrison would have done an eighth soldier without a reason besides making a winking reference to the classics; the project was very self-contained in that, like his New X-men run, you could read only it and have everything you need to understand the significant plot, themes, etc., with no outside knowledge required.--although, with the outside knowledge, you can get another layer of meaning (e.g. the intended last use and final retirement of the tired X-tropes, or the eighth soldier).

I agree it's PRETTY self-contained.

But having read Justice League America 100-102, the first post- Golden Age Seven Soldiers story provide a lot of background on Aurakles, the Nebula Man, and the Iron Hand.

And one of the major plot points of THAT story was Wing, the "eight soldier" sacraficing himself.

I suppose I'll have to wait until Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume five or six to know! It sounds like a hell of a tale, though.

Derek, if you want to read Justice League 100-102 now, it's available in trade as part of the Crisis series of JLA/JSA team-ups (in full color). Sorry, I don't remember which volume it is in, but a quick look at the back cover will tell you. You'll also get one or two of the other annual team-ups in the same volume.

Since I love the old Earth-1/Earth-2 team-ups and my originals are tattered and worn, I've bought them all as they were released.

Ah, no need to really read it right now. I appreciate 7SoV just fine on its own, and when the Showcase eventually arrives, it'll be a nice reason to re-read the whole thing. Thank you, though! Maybe if I have a light week, I'll grab the trade anyway, just 'cause.

I'd like to see a Seven Soldiers Companion trade.
Stick in JLA 100-102, the Alan Moore Swamp Thing issue that Zatanna's referencing, the Golden Age Spectre story that Zatanna # 4 quotes.... Maybe toss in the first few Klarion the witch-boy appearances from the Demon.

(Which, technically just got de-continuitized by the Seven Soldiers Klarion. But they're SO AWESOME!)

And all the other stuff that I haven't read or heard about that Morrison references in this series.

Although I agree with Derek; Morrison made it so we don't HAVE to have read any of this.