SEVEN SOLDIERS, SEVEN CHARACTERS, SEVEN ARTISTS

[MattBrady]

Okay – so Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers #0 hits in February, featuring a collection of characters that’s somewhat…odd, to say the least. Frankenstein, Shining Knight, Klarion, the Witch Boy; Mister Miracle, Bulleteer, Zatanna, and The (Manhattan) Guardian. Under Morrison’s guidance, they will save the world…

As Morrison told Newsarama in an August interview: “The Seven Soldiers are a group of mostly new and inexperienced 'heroes' who must somehow band together to save the world from an extinction level threat at the hands of some new, old villains from an entire culture dedicated to rape and pillage.

No big deal, you might think but these reluctant heroes have to do the job without actually meeting one another! Lucky for them, every action has long-ranging consequences in Seven Soldiers; a chance decision made by a character in one book can, and usually does, reverberate through all the other titles and profoundly affect other characters in the story.

The idea for this kind of huge ensemble, Robert Altman approach came first, as a development of the kind of long-range connected narratives I'd been experimenting with on The Invisibles and New X-Men in particular. Once I had the seven minis worked out, it occurred to me that DC owned the name Seven Soldiers of Victory and that Seven Soldiers would make a perfect overall title for this project, so that's how it emerged. The team that never meets but fights together.

”It's a 'modular' approach, in the sense that every first issue is a complete origin story with a cliffhanger and ever subsequent issue delivers a stand-alone adventure. You can read any of the books as singles or as 4-part series. If you only want to read Shining Knight, for instance, you'll still get a good 4-part complete story of young Sir Justin in the 21st century, and each book also sets up a potential ongoing series if the character proves popular with readers.

”The fun really starts when you combine all the books like a 30 piece jigsaw to reveal the epic story behind it all, with a cast of hundreds, criss-crossing and affecting one another's lives. I think it adds up to the most intricate and ambitious single superhero story anyone's attempted.

”My hope is that each of the books has a different enough flavor for all of the seven to find their own special audience - there's hip hop psychedelia, full-on fantasy adventure in modern day Los Angeles, a gritty, hard luck heroine book, a rollercoaster techno-thriller, a sci-fi western, vampire knights from hell riding giant spiders and more fresh new superheroes than anyone has a right to expect. This is a huge mega-novel, cape fiction's own Lord of the Rings. It could just as easily fall flat on its face but I’m hoping there are enough people out there who want new kinds of thrills.

”The current vogue in superhero comics, post-“Hush” is for the 'definitive' take, which tends to manifest itself as creators playing it safe by cherry-picking and re-packaging all the best and most popular elements of an already successful feature. It's a commercial strip-mining kind of approach to a given property that seems to make a lot of sense until you realize it can really only work once before you find yourself in the awful position of having to make up stuff again. Seven Soldiers is an attempt to clear some new ground and make stories for people who want something a little different from 'greatest hits' reworkings of books they've already read.”

So, as said – it all kicks off in February with a #0 issue with art by J.H. Williams. The solicitation for the story reads: “In issue #0, illustrated by master storyteller J.H. Williams III (PROMETHEA), Shelly Gaynor is the grand-daughter of Golden Age hero the WHIP. She’s revived the old family business and is turning her experiences as an urban crime-fighter into a best-selling book.

”But when Shelly answers an ad to join the aging crimebuster Vigilante and his new team of “Seven Soldiers” in the hunt for an ancient monster haunting the deserts of the southwest, her super-hero dream becomes a terror-trip into the heart of an undying nightmare.”

So who are the other artists throwing in with Morrison for this mad plan, and when do the other miniseries start hitting? We’ve got you covered. The artists illustrating the seven, four-issue Seven Soldiers miniseries (and tentative launch dates) are:

Shining Knight (March) – Simone Bianchi. The new Knight is still named Sir Justin, but he’s 17 years old, and the last of the Knights of the Broken Table. The knights are led by an ageing Lancelot from the Arthurian Age, and are fighting against the Sheeda from the ruins of Camelot.

Guardian (March) – Cameron (Catwoman) Stewart. Jake Jordan, an ex-cop who accidentally killed an innocent child, now living out his second chance at marking a difference.

Zatanna (April) – Ryan (Hawkman) Sook. The same character from the DCU, but now, with an apprentice, and searching the US for four books of power owned by her father (Zatara) – as well as a renewed sense of purpose.

Klarion, the Witch Boy (April) – Frazer (The Authority: Scorched Earth) Irving. As Morrison said in August: “I’ve started from scratch and can only apologize to Peter David, who at least tried to keep this particular property in continuity. I’ve thrown all previous versions out to create the poster boy for the Puritan Goth weird horror genre. Klarion as Marilyn Manson.”

Mr. Miracle (September) – Pascal (Adam Strange) Ferry. Shiloh Norman, who filled the role of the amazing escape artist in the second volume of the series, returns to the costume and name, albeit with limited memories of his time spent with Scott Free and Oberon. He’s become the world’s greatest escape artist, but has found life to be hollow – and wants something more.

Bulleteer (November) – Yanick Paquette & Michael Bair. An updated version of the former Fawcett character, Alix Harrower is covered in “living metal” that, while makes her impenetrable to damage and harm, forces her to live life as an outcast.

Frankenstein (November) – Doug Mahnke. Probably the most unexpected character, Morrison’s Frankenstein is based loosely on the publisher’s Spawn of Frankenstein, which appearaed as a backup in the ‘70s Phantom Stranger series. Able to “regenerate” himself by adding on pieces of dead men, Frankenstein has the right arm of a black slave, and the left arm of the angel, Michael.

“7S Second Bookend” (early ’06) – J.H. Williams.

In addition to the title characters, Morrison will be reintroducing scads of other forgotten characters, including the likes of the Spider, and the Newsboy Army (updated from the Newsboy Legion).

[Zadillo]

Good lord, this looks so damn cool!

And I'm rooting for Sir Justin, since he shares my name...

-Zadillo

[algertman]

complete badass

can't wait

[Mickey Mouth]

Eagerly looking forward to this. And I would think that Zatanna's involvement effectively kills theories that she is the ID Crisis killer.

[candrusiak]

This has got me really hyped for this.

Should be outstanding!

[Hdefined]

Well . . . I wasn't expecting this. Maybe I didn't read the fine print in the previous interviews. I thought it was going to be one series with different arcs, not separate ongoing miniseries. The main difference being, I don't know if I can afford it all at once. It really depends on the cover price of the titles. Please don't be $2.95 each . . .

[MatthewSmith]

I was already going to buy every issue of this, because I'm a sucker for Grant Morrison's work. But the additions of Pascal Ferry, Cameron Stewart, and Doug Mahnke among the others has got me chomping at the bit even more.

This can't get to me fast enough.

[csGuy]

Originally posted by Hdefined
Well . . . I wasn't expecting this. Maybe I didn't read the fine print in the previous interviews. I thought it was going to be one series with different arcs, not separate ongoing miniseries. The main difference being, I don't know if I can afford it all at once. It really depends on the cover price of the titles. Please don't be $2.95 each . . .

It's spread out through most of 2005, I think you'll be safe. I was also worried that they'd release all 7 minis at the same time.

[Bakema NL]

I was already interested when I read the former news article about this project, but now I'm very eager to read these books, it sounds original and fun.

[MatthewSmith]

Originally posted by csGuy
It's spread out through most of 2005, I think you'll be safe. I was also worried that they'd release all 7 minis at the same time.

Yeah, its gonna be spread out.

Like the article said, the last bookend doesn't come out until early 2006.

[Hannibal King]

I for one cannot wait for this to hit either. I am a big fan of Morrison's and DC has been pumping out the great books lately, not only as events but in their ongoing series as well. Check out JSA, Green Arrow and Superman.

I have always loved the Shining Knight from years and years ago, and Zatanna and Spawn of Frankenstein as well. This series is so going to kick ass that it will blow Marvel and Bendis's House of M crossover out of the water.

BTW, I love Marvel and have been a huge fan since day one of my ever lovin' life, but DC has really started to mop the floor with them. It is really nice to finally see some serious competition rise to the occasion. It can only help the industry and delight us fans as well. I will probably pick up House of M, but I am looking forward to Seven Soldiers!

[BriGuy]

The Spider was awesome in the early issues of the current Hawkman series.

[Solamon]

I'll try out anything written by Grant Morrison. He's just so zany!

[Gordon McAlpin]

And not just because I'm pervy!

[Gordon McAlpin]

Mr. Miracle (September) – Pascal (Adam Strange) Ferry. Shiloh Norman, who filled the role of the amazing escape artist in the second volume of the series, returns to the costume and name, albeit with limited memories of his time spent with Scott Free and Oberon. He’s become the world’s greatest escape artist, but has found life to be hollow – and wants something more.

Wait ... did that just say "Shiloh Norman"?

http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing16/feature1.shtml

Gotta love Grant Morrison.

[Primate]

I am unbeliveably happy to see Zatanna used in-continuity. She's one of my favorite DC characters. Her Vertigo jaunts are great, but she really is one of the heavy-hitters of the magical side of the DCU and can be used to great effect against the superhero backdrop. Great character visually, loads of fun, with a great gimmick, t'nod uoy kniht?

As a big Superman fan, I am little trepidatious of the "reinvenion" of the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. Still, if there's a single writer I would trust to re-start these characters from scratch, it'd be Morrison. Now, are we to assume that these are the first appearances of the Guardian and the Newsboys, a la Byrne's "Doom Patrol"? or are their earlier post-Crisis stories still in-continuity?

[maltese_pratt]

Scott Free, Big Barda, Oberon, and Steve Rude. Anything else concerning Mr. Miracle would be uncivilized.

[jedifish]

Looks pretty interesting. Can't wait to check it out.

[walterk]

maybe I've missed it somehow, but is there going to be any 'distinguishing mark' on the covers to let us know that a title is part of this?

(For someone who may not have a checklist/memorized list of each title that'll be debuting as part of the 'Seven Soldiers' stuff, so that brief/quick browsing would still allow one to know to pick it up?)

~Walt

[COREMARK]

I so cannot wait for this, the concept and the characters sound really interesting. I'm really happy to see Pascal Ferry handling the art chores on one of the minis as his work on Adam Strange is jaw dropping.

[Christian Otte]

Looks very cool indeed. Here's hoping for some nice hardcover collections.

[jmarshall]

Originally posted by MattBrady
”The current vogue in superhero comics, post-“Hush” is for the 'definitive' take, which tends to manifest itself as creators playing it safe by cherry-picking and re-packaging all the best and most popular elements of an already successful feature. It's a commercial strip-mining kind of approach to a given property that seems to make a lot of sense until you realize it can really only work once before you find yourself in the awful position of having to make up stuff again.

Wow, kind of a slam on Hush there. I wonder what Jeph Loeb would say to that?

[Hdefined]

Looks like DC's milking Morrison for all he's worth. And to think, a year ago at this time, he was writing one book and the story at the time was another crappy alternate X-future.

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by Primate
Now, are we to assume that these are the first appearances of the Guardian and the Newsboys, a la Byrne's "Doom Patrol"? or are their earlier post-Crisis stories still in-continuity?

Well, it does say it will be a different character unlike the case of Klarion.

[BurgundyTears]

Frankenstein has the right arm of a black slave, and the left arm of the angel, Michael.

Michael has died since his appearances in the Spectre? Has some big event happened that I should know about?