GUARDIAN SOLDIER: CAMERON STEWART ON SEVEN SOLDIERS: MANHATTAN GUARDIAN

[MattBrady]

Continuing our talks with the artists of DC’s upcoming Seven Soldiers event (written by Grant Morrison), we sat down with Cameron Stewart, artist on the upcoming four issue, bi-monthly Seven Soldiers: The Manhattan Guardian miniseries.

The story follows Jake Jordan (not Jim Harper – named after Jack Kirby’s original Guardian character), a former cop who takes on the mantle of the Guardian after accidentally shooting a child and dealing with his own personal demons. Set in Manhattan, the story takes a typical Morrison turn, as the new hero finds himself battling the likes of the Subway Pirates in a search through the Masonic tunnels under New York City in a quest for the radioactive gem known as the Foundation Stone of New Manhattan – an object of power that the mysterious Sheeda seek to gain and control.

For Stewart, joining with Morrison was a little easier than falling off a bike – in fact, he was on board from before the word go.

“It was Grant who brought me on board,” Stewart told Newsarama. “We had planned to follow Seaguy, our Vertigo miniseries from last year, with two sequels, ‘Slaves of Mickey Eye’ and ‘Seaguy Eternal,’ but unfortunately the first series sold in less-than-blockbuster numbers and made the follow-up volumes untenable for the time being. We wanted to continue to work together, though, and so Grant asked if I would be interested in drawing the Zatanna book for the Seven Soldiers project he was planning. It was Pete [Tomasi, editor], I think, who later decided I would be more appropriate for The Manhattan Guardian.”

And the idea of working with Morrison again was something just to irresistible for the artist to pass on.

“I've said before that he is one of the most consistently inventive and exciting writers in comics, and my personal favorite, and I'll work with him for as long as he'll have me. I'm always terrifically flattered when he asks me to be his collaborator.

”I also thought that it sounded like it would be a fascinating and ambitious idea for a crossover - seven new titles, each one able to be read independently but also fit together into a huge sprawling epic. It sounded big and exciting and I thought it would be fun to contribute to both this project and the DC Universe as a whole.

”As far as pursuing other avenues, I am still quite eager to explore different genres and drawing styles and will continue to do so once Seven Soldiers is complete. My next project, for which I am already signed and will begin immediately after I finish my work on Seven Soldiers, is as far from superheroes as you can get and completely different to anything I've yet done in my career, and I'm excited about the creative challenge it will pose. I never want to get stuck doing merely one type of story, and plan to balance superheroics with creator-owned material of other genres for as long as it's possible to do so.”

Ask Stewart his first impression when he first heard Morrison’s larger plan for Seven Soldiers, that is, seven interrelated miniseries with a “team” that never meets, yet is fighting against a common enemy, and toward a common goal, and you’ll get the same response Morrison’s other collaborators have expressed: “‘How the hell is he going to pull this off?’ - that was the first thought when I read the proposal for the entire Seven Soldiers project,” Stewart said. “It's a mammoth document detailing all the plot strands that run through all seven books and how they cross over and influence each other, and it's quite mind-boggling in scope. I'm sure it's one of the most ambitious projects yet attempted in mainstream comics and it's certainly something that only someone of Grant's creativity would be able to execute.

”When I read the script for the first issue of The Manhattan Guardian I was really excited - it's exactly the kind of fast-moving, high-concept stuff that Grant is known for and it's full of brilliant ideas - from warring tribes of pirates that inhabit the secret tunnels of the Manhattan subway system, to a living, intelligent office building. It also provides a great new spin on the concepts of the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion.”

With the inclusion of The Newsboy Legion along with the Guardian, it becomes clear that the project does a little more than tip the hat to Jack Kirby’s heroes of Metropolis – there’s a bit of a reinterpretation and updating, too.

“I'm sure by now most people have seen Grant's pencil drawings for all the Seven Soldiers characters, and know that he's a talented artist in his own right. His concept for our Guardian was to give him a more police-like appearance, in recognition of the character's history as an officer. He designed and described an outfit for the Guardian that was influenced by riot cops, with black padded chest amour, a truncheon, and a helmet that looked like the original Iron Man.

“I was also supplied with a drawing by JH Williams that was far more like the classic Kirby design. After talking with Pete we decided that I should come up with something that was a mix of the two, somewhere between sci-fi soldier and superhero. I did away with the gold trunks and replaced the gold boots and gloves with more militaristic black padded ones, but retained the iconic badge-shaped shield and helmet that so defined the Kirby character. Hopefully the final result is a good balance of old and new, that clearly evokes the original character but remains modern.”

But, as with all super heroes, the costume is the easy part – it only carries part of the character’s essence. That is, anyone can wear a costume. A hero has to look the part, and his inner qualities have to be reflected in his outer appearance. “We of course want to make Jake a heroic figure so he gets the usual broad-shouldered, square-jawed treatment,” Stewart explained. “Body language is important - at the start of the book Jake is a broken and miserable man, having been expelled from the police force for mistakenly shooting a child, so his posture is not terribly confident, he slouches, he looks at the ground, he is introverted and shameful. Even after he puts on the Guardian costume he's still a bit awkward and graceless. As the story progresses and Jake becomes more comfortable in being the Guardian, his posture and attitude will reflect a new confidence.”

The Guardian wasn’t the only character that got a Morrison-esque twist by way of Stewart. There are those pirates, after all. “The subway pirates are bands of homeless people who now live deep beneath the streets of Manhattan and travel from station to station on the subway lines, marauding and looting. I was reminded of the Crimson Permanent Assurance, Terry Gilliam's short film about accountants-turned-pirates from the start of Monty Python's Meaning of Life, so tried to keep that in mind as I was drawing them - ties worn as headbands, bandoliers of cellphones, keys and credit cards worn as earrings, the spoils of victory from their urban New York victims. There's also No-Beard and All-Beard, rival captains of the pirate trains, one of whom is completely hairless and the other has so much hair that with his fur coat he resembles one giant beard.

As mentioned earlier, Seven Soldiers: Guardian will run bi-monthly for its four issues. The scheduling decision wasn’t made due to anything having to do with Stewart’s abilities, but rather the flow of the larger story.

“All the series have been set as bimonthlies so that the story can unfold properly - each of these titles can be read independently but if you do invest in all 30 parts, there is an overarching plot that progresses. In order to accomplish this the titles have been staggered so that they come out ‘in order.’

”The bimonthly schedule is also tremendously helpful for me, as I'm not exactly the quickest draw in town....”

So far, Stewart has the scripts for the first two issues, and he’s working steadily. “I’ve read the synopses for the remaining two and they sound just as fun as the first!”

Previously: JH Williams: Soldier #0

[algertman]

7SoV continues to impress

also i HOPE DC will ket Grant finish they SeaGuy trilogy

[MatthewSmith]

While I can certainly understand why Seaguy did "less than blockbuster" numbers, I still loved Cameron's work on that book. I'm pumped that he's getting another chance to work with Grant and by god, this Seven Soldiers thing is going to own my soul.

Its also going to cause me to go bankrupt, but that's another story.

[Bakema NL]

And it's almost upon us. Can't wait to start on this stuff. Pages look real nice. I've heard of the character but other than that I know jack poopoo about him.......it's this event that lured me in, to characters I almost have no knowledge of.........great.

[Mark Cardwell]

Well, I thought SEAGUY was great.

[lukabeast]

I'm so looking forward to this entire run of books, and glad to see Cameron and Grant working together again. I would love to see the two other Seaguy series published. I'm guessing if the TPB sells well enough we'll have a chance. It would be nice to see the world of SeaGuy flushed out a bit more.

[Raphe Cheli]

The first time I read Seaguy, I hated it. Then, I waited a few weeks and tried it again, and I loved it. Not to sound corny, but it's a comic you have to read when you're in a certain mood, I think, and if you take it too seriously (which I think I did the first time), it comes across as muddled. I think I tried to look past the silly premise to find something serious on the first read, but on a second read I looked past the silly premise to find something completely ridiculous.

And it worked.

I'm very much looking forward to all the 7 Soldiers comics, as well.

[American Caesar]

Eww... that one pirate is running around barefoot on a subway platform! Recipe for infection!

[Rod Odom]

Seaguy is a wonderful comic, and I look forward to this next collobration between Morrison and Stewart.

[Lex]

So, these homeless people have become pirates who loot New Yorkers and instead of ships, they ride on subway cars?

Brilliant!

This project gets cooler and cooler with ever scrap of info I see. I can't wait!

[grantg]

Originally posted by MattBrady
“I'm sure by now most people have seen Grant's pencil drawings for all the Seven Soldiers characters...

Anyone have a link to these? I haven't seen them yet.

[Lex]

Originally posted by grantg
Anyone have a link to these? I haven't seen them yet.

They were in an issue of Wizard (the only thing to get me to buy that mag). I'm not sure if anyone has put them up online.

[COREMARK]

Really looking forward to this book, and for the record I also liked Seaguy.

[Alfonso]

I didn't like Seaguy, but I'm willing to give all these Seven Soldiers books a try.

[BillReed]

Loved Seaguy, love Cam (in that reader-to-artist way, of course), love Grant (the bald seductress), and can't wait for Guardian and the rest of the Seven Soldiers series.

Subway pirates. Dammit, wish I'd thought of that.

[Dougie02]

Looks fricking sweet.

[Pack]

I'm excited about this Seven Soldiers project and I don't want to sound like I'm not but one thing that occurs to me after reading this is that a lot of the people working on this seem to be saying the same thing: It's a big project with a lot of interconnected yet independent pieces that all fit together but stand alone.
Sounds really fascinating. But my question is, will anybody be able to tell ? I mean, the 50,000-foot view sounds great but I just wonder if this will be one of those things that you need to sit on the floor with 50 comic books around you and yarn and push pins trying to map all the connections...
The other thing I'm wondering is about the whole concept of the "Seven Soldiers." Stewart mentions that the whole "team" will never meet so is Morrison leaving the DCU a new toy to play with (the Seven Soldiers) or is this a "one and done" kinda deal?
Again, I don't want to sound like I'm bitching about the books before I've even seen them. These are just the questions that come to my mind about this project at this stage.

[Alfonso]

Originally posted by Pack
I'm excited about this Seven Soldiers project and I don't want to sound like I'm not but one thing that occurs to me after reading this is that a lot of the people working on this seem to be saying the same thing: It's a big project with a lot of interconnected yet independent pieces that all fit together but stand alone.
Sounds really fascinating. But my question is, will anybody be able to tell ? I mean, the 50,000-foot view sounds great but I just wonder if this will be one of those things that you need to sit on the floor with 50 comic books around you and yarn and push pins trying to map all the connections...
The other thing I'm wondering is about the whole concept of the "Seven Soldiers." Stewart mentions that the whole "team" will never meet so is Morrison leaving the DCU a new toy to play with (the Seven Soldiers) or is this a "one and done" kinda deal?
Again, I don't want to sound like I'm bitching about the books before I've even seen them. These are just the questions that come to my mind about this project at this stage.

I think the only answer a DC rep would give you is "Read the books to find out." You're basically asking how it works and what the purpose is, which is the key mystery surrounding the entire event.

[Pack]

Originally posted by Alfonso
I think the only answer a DC rep would give you is "Read the books to find out." You're basically asking how it works and what the purpose is, which is the key mystery surrounding the entire event.

Actually, I'm not really asking that. I'm asking if this will all work together or if they're really sincere when they say that you don't need to follow everything to get a whole story. What's more, since the hypothetical rep (and I agree that's what they would say...) is trying to convince me to buy the whole thing, I want to be sure that a bigger picture will emerge or will it be like some of DC's infamous Crisis crossovers in which a few panels had a red sky.
And I think if you told Morrison that the key mystery to this whole event is whether it works or not, he wouldn't take that as much of an act of trust in his ability.
Besides, I'm not really asking for answers . I said I planned to buy the books and find out for myself. I'm just wondering what impressions some of my peers in comic book fandom (Wow, what a geeky phrase...) are getting at this point.

[Banana_Oil]

Originally posted by Lex
They were in an issue of Wizard (the only thing to get me to buy that mag). I'm not sure if anyone has put them up online.

If your comic shop still has any of the free Seven Soldiers preview leaflet, a few of Morrison's sketches are in that.

He designed many characters himself in Zenith, Doom Patrol, and The Invisibles. Probably has input in every comic he writes, really...

[kingofcities]

Originally posted by Pack
Actually, I'm not really asking that. I'm asking if this will all work together or if they're really sincere when they say that you don't need to follow everything to get a whole story. What's more, since the hypothetical rep (and I agree that's what they would say...) is trying to convince me to buy the whole thing, I want to be sure that a bigger picture will emerge or will it be like some of DC's infamous Crisis crossovers in which a few panels had a red sky.
And I think if you told Morrison that the key mystery to this whole event is whether it works or not, he wouldn't take that as much of an act of trust in his ability.
Besides, I'm not really asking for answers . I said I planned to buy the books and find out for myself. I'm just wondering what impressions some of my peers in comic book fandom (Wow, what a geeky phrase...) are getting at this point.

Considering how large this project is, I understand your concern. However, also considering it's Morrison who is writing this, I don't think this will be a "red sky" crossover. Morrison is creative and ambitious. I think he'd rather go over the top and fall flat on his face than to try and cheat his readers with a silly gimmick just to get their cash. I can't wait to read these books as they come out, and I REALLY can't wait to re-read them again after the entire story is finished.

Oh, and Cameron Stewart rules. I never liked the original Guardian character, but having Stewart and Morrison working on this series has me VERY interested.

[GeorgeG]

Originally posted by Pack
I'm just wondering what impressions some of my peers in comic book fandom (Wow, what a geeky phrase...) are getting at this point.

I'm not interested in this at all, to tell you the truth. Every article that has been done up to this point, hasn't swayed me one bit. In fact, they just reinforce my first impression.

Now don't get me wrong, if this works for other people and they're all gung-ho for it, then that's great. That's one thing that's great about comics, some things will connect with readers, while it won't connect w/ others.

I just can't get into (except for Zatanna), what, D-level characters if that? Not to mention they're all being revamped, given a new spin, or whatever it's called these days. I have to wonder why even do that?

Is it just to let Grant Morrison come up with as many zany ideas as he possibly can and hoping that one or two will stick? I figure this is the case. Seemed that way with Seaguy. And for me, and according to Cameron regarding sales, that didn't work with a lot of people. Why does DC feel it will work here?

Are these Subway pirates DC's Morlocks? Is this Jake Jordan related to Hal Jordan? We see Sir Justin involved w/ the death of Firestorm in Identity Crisis, why not use that guy instead of this revamped knight? Wouldn't the burden of his death, maybe weigh on his mind...and wouldn't it be interesting if we read that in his story while he goes along the Seven Soldier theme?

But again, if these ideas work for others, great. Me--I'll wait for his All-Star Superman.

[Greg T]

Morrison and Stewart are a team that I will follow to the ends of the earth. Hell, who am I kidding? I'll buy anything that Cameron Stewart draws....yeah, anything.

[Pack]

Originally posted by GeorgeG
I'm not interested in this at all, to tell you the truth. Every article that has been done up to this point, hasn't swayed me one bit. In fact, they just reinforce my first impression.

Now don't get me wrong, if this works for other people and they're all gung-ho for it, then that's great. That's one thing that's great about comics, some things will connect with readers, while it won't connect w/ others.

I just can't get into (except for Zatanna), what, D-level characters if that? Not to mention they're all being revamped, given a new spin, or whatever it's called these days. I have to wonder why even do that?

Is it just to let Grant Morrison come up with as many zany ideas as he possibly can and hoping that one or two will stick? I figure this is the case. Seemed that way with Seaguy. And for me, and according to Cameron regarding sales, that didn't work with a lot of people. Why does DC feel it will work here?

Are these Subway pirates DC's Morlocks? Is this Jake Jordan related to Hal Jordan? We see Sir Justin involved w/ the death of Firestorm in Identity Crisis, why not use that guy instead of this revamped knight? Wouldn't the burden of his death, maybe weigh on his mind...and wouldn't it be interesting if we read that in his story while he goes along the Seven Soldier theme?

But again, if these ideas work for others, great. Me--I'll wait for his All-Star Superman.

These are some interesting comments and they kinda touch on some things I had in mind.
Why is Morrison coming up with all these revamps for these D-level characters? Well, my guess would be that part of his pitch to DC was that he would take some old unused (and unusable...?) characters and present new, commercially viable takes on them.
But if you've been around for any length of time, you know that this idea, while it sounds good, is suspect at best. Anyone remember how Hypertime was going to "change everything"? Or how "Zero Hour" would undo all the knots in DC continuity (Note the newest reboot of the Legion which just popped up and I'm sure will be addressed in this summer's new mega-crossover)? There's the meta-gene which was responsible for all superpowers in the DCU from "Invasion" ... or was that the Godwave from "Genesis"?
While Morrison is dropping at least eight new concepts here (the seven lead characters and the "team" of the Seven Soldiers) I wonder what this will lead to if anything. Maybe nothing. And, of course, that's fine. This project is so large in scope that if it's complete unto itself, I say no one has any right to complain.
But I wonder if that's the case or if DC is supporting it because they think it will lead to some successful spin-offs. The deMatteis/Giffen/Maguire Justice League used "Legends" as a springboard and if I remember right, "Starman" came out of "Zero Hour" so it's possible there's a long-running book or two in here. I'm just wondering if the Seven Soldiers is being presented as an ongoing concept or if Morrison is just trying to spruce up the individual characters.

[kingofcities]

Originally posted by Pack
I'm just wondering if the Seven Soldiers is being presented as an ongoing concept or if Morrison is just trying to spruce up the individual characters.

I think it's just a spruce up. It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that he might revisit these characters again, but I don't believe he has any plans to immediately after Seven Soldiers. But if the characters take on a life of their own in the popularity department, you never know if DC might publish some new series. I'm sure their editorial department has already been talking about this.