I spent all morning re-reading 7 Soldiers, and all afternoon reading your reviews on here. They have truly cleared up all lingering questions I had about certain issues, and I am in your debt now.

Back to my soapbox concerning the Newsboy Army…

Does anybody have any theories on who Ed is talking to when he says:

1) I’m his editor, by the way (fourth wall: was he speaking to us the readers?)

2) We’ll beat you somehow… (meaning the Newsboy Army were really fighting Zor, not neessarly Gloriana, all this time). Ed equals the Seventh Unknown Man (note the similar angle of Ed’s face when he says it with the “GM” guy from page one)

So Melmoth is Klarion’s ancestor (through traveling back in time), but it appears that Melmoth and his sheeda are descendents of Klarion’s race (as technically Klarion and co. were born before the sheeda even existed) of little blue men? So they are both each other’s ancestors and both are kings of the sheeda. Wow that’s confusing (and, of course, impossible nonsense).

Bill: this may be nothing more than pure fanboy enthusiasm on my part, but I’d like to think that after Aurakles is freed, he disappears into the timespace continuum just as “Dark Side” predicts he would…leading him eventually to his 1972 appearance in JLA #100 as Oracle, where he guides the Justice League and Justice Society to retrieve the original Seven Soldiers so they can stop the Nebula Man, which in turn sets off all sorts of other events in this miniseries. In other words, from Oracle’s subjective viewpoint that first published appearance is chronologically his most recent appearance. This seems in keeping with the sort of time-travel tomfoolery Morrison loves to incorporate in his work…and I wouldn’t be surprised if the original draft of the SS #1 script included an Ouroborous-swallowing-his-own-tail note to that effect.

thanks…

And ps, please add Ian Brill to the roll call of the Seven Bloggers …

Good call on spotting the Alix/Aurakales/”hushed and profane spear” connection. Can’t believe I didn’t twig to the Red hair clue. Great bit of work you’ve done here. I think SS #1 was pretty successful considering that GM wasn’t allowed the page count he felt he initially needed.

Hats off to you, sir.

And now, a few questions and thoughts.

1. Did I miss something or did Aurekles just disappear after Dark Side freed him? If so, how did the Mister Miracle series tie into the overarching story? Other than thematically, of course. It felt to me that he finally finished his origin story on the last page of SS #1 and was ready to start helping out just a bit too late.

2. Now that Klarion is King of the Sheeda (and, other than creating the pivotal pile of rubble did he help out at all either?), is the world in any better shape? As Misty says, he’ll have to continue the Sheeda’s harvesting of the past to survive, but he’s smarter than the previous Queen and he’s got Frankenstein in his thrall. I figure five minutes after the end of SS #1, he shows up with a rebuilt army and ravages the planet.

3. I think we’ve seen one more of the Seven Imperishable Treasures than you’ve counted. That’s got to be the Hammer that Bors uses to split the atom.

4. I agree that I, Spyder was the secret adjunct soldier that each Seven needs to have. He even had transformations like the rest, although his were imposed on him by outside forces and, with his cold blood, he just went along with them instead of struggling like the other Soldiers had to.

5. How does Neh-buh-loh’s failed transformation (again imposed by outside–well, inside in his case–forces) fit in thematically. His emotional growth led him to save Misty, but he saw it as a failure as it interfered with his ability to serve as Huntsman, stunted his growth, and eventually doomed him. So that’s what happens when you don’t successfully grow up; Frankenstein shoots you in the face.

To make this comment more relevant and less sappy: One comment I read that I thought was interesting about SS#1 was that Tom Dalt became a secret soldier of sorts. Klarion betrayed the “team” by taking over the Sheeda, and we know that you can’t have a team of six or bad things will happen, so I, Spyder stepped in and became the secret seventh soldier. Well, I thought it was interesting, at least.

Just like to add another ‘well done’ as well. It was a great series of posts, almost as much fun as reading the real thing (and it made more sense too!). Keep up the great work!

The “Do” and “Be” reference “Do be do be do,” I’m guessing. “Strangers in the Night” by Sinatra and all that. I think.

Interesting to see Lance in the crossword puzzle, though. This made me remember Alix’s husband. She would’ve taken the ‘Harrower’ name from him. So was he the true spear of destiny, or was Alix related to Aurakles before? Aurakles, the original progenitor of the human race? Hmm.

I dunno. I’m rambling.

It all makes sense now! It’s about Comic Books!

Thank you, Greg, for your heroic work.

Your close reading of each issue, in the context of the whole saga being concluded, was really worthwhile. Lots of interesting insights and story details!

I was particularly impressed when you pointed out some little glitches that I’d spotted too (eg, was Uglyhead’s town in the north or the south?). But on top of that you had plenty more – in that panel in SS #1 I sure didn’t notice Klarion’s drill and the rubble that launched the spear – a minor detail that actually adds some weight to the various soldiers’ contribution to Gloriana’s defeat.

Anyway thanks for extending the Seven Soldiers experience for another month. I think Morrison in this series actively invites reader participation in completing the story … characters talking about mystery string and connecting it all into the big picture, and Zatanna actually reaching out to the readers for help … so you’ve really done your bit!

Seven Bloggers of Victory? You, Jog, Not-Beastmaster, RAB, Patrick MM, the Barbelith Army, a couple of unknown extras … Who got cold feet? And which one of you bastards will betray them?

Sorry about that.

Thanks once again Greg!