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Post by The Spider on Mar 21, 2006 2:08:18 GMT
I think on Millarworld someone suggested that the Seven Soldiers might not refer to the main characters, but rather the supporting characters/sidekicks/etc... like Misty, Vanguard, Baby Brain, Sally Sonic, Motherbox, Teekl, Bride, whatshername from FRANKENSTEIN #1, etc.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 21, 2006 8:10:38 GMT
I'm going with Shining Knight as the one who dies, I think. Saceificing herself to save the world is just what a knight does. It also wraps neatly with the character whose civilisation was destroyed in turn destroying those responsible.
That said... With the Cauldron around, death may not be so bad as it sounds.
Traditionally, though, the way to destroy the Cauldron is for a living being to deliberately throw themselves in, knowing they will die in the process. So maybe that's how the soldier dies, whoever it is...
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brett
Apprentice
"We'll get you some cool new clothes, Tom"
Posts: 162
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Post by brett on Mar 23, 2006 8:54:35 GMT
I'm a bit surprised about the non-love for Williams' work on MM #4. I loved it and thought it was on par with Ferry's stuff, if not better. Some of Ferry's art in #1 was just gorgeous, but there was some average stuff from him there as well. Williams kept a good consistency to his work which I liked, and aped Ferry pretty well during the Metron scenes as well. If there was no Billy Dallas Patton detour, I would have been pretty satisfied artwise, which is hell surprising given that I was gutted, gutted I tell you, when Ferry left after that first issue.
And 'Forever Flavoured Man' has to be the best title for a story since, oh, 'Mood 7 Mind Destroyer'. 'Frankenstein vs the Fairies' might steal that title (heh) though.
Frankenstein just gets better and better. If #4 is as good as it is shaping up to be, I'll have no problem declaring it the best of the minis.
Bulleteer was a good finish. I thought at first that Sally Sonic was really old, because she had a real fairy-tale type secret origin which seemed to take place a couple of hundred years ago. Plus with her parents dying, I assumed 40 or so years had passed for her. The references to her being in her twenties though doesn't reconcile with this, which is too bad, because her outliving her parents is more tragic if they die of old age and if she's a bit old as well, rather than her being just in her twneties and them dying. The Teddy Bear King nearly stole the show with his two-panel cameo. Very reminsicient of Super-Ted.
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Post by Duncan on Mar 23, 2006 13:09:35 GMT
I think Sally's supposed to be part of Zatanna's therapy group (the girl who smokes and can't get served in a bar) in #1 of that mini, which would make her 75 now. Her origin just looked like 30's-40's English countryside to me.
Can't agree on Williams II though; I did think he did a perfectly decent job on MM#3, but #4 was wack. He's not half the design-guy Ferry is, and that really hurt what was - I thought - a strong emotional fugue conclusion on that one. Tacky, I thought, and a shame, as really every issue otherwise in the whole thing has looked pretty great; in retrospect Irving's Klarion is prolly my standout, though Mahnke has been tearing.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 23, 2006 13:20:47 GMT
I like the whole 60's feel to Sally, I must admit. Right from the alliterative names - Sally Smart and Sally Sonic - to the whole "I would never break the law!" attitude, she's absolutely a Golden Age heroine. It's just her misfortune to be active in a far more 80's world. I agree with Brett that her age when her parents died was a bit jarring. I expected her to be older, but to me it was a minor blip in an otherwise excellent background. The death of the Teddy Bear King rather symbolised the death of her childhood, and made for a rather interesting metaphor for the death of innocence that was to follow. I have found very few 'villains' to be so memorable on their first appearance, and I rather hope Sally will appear again at some stage. Hopefully when Morrison writes that Bulleteer ongoing I want to see
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Post by Duncan on Mar 23, 2006 18:16:59 GMT
Yeah, I agree. Again, Alix is pretty much sidelined in her own book, but this is sort of the point; I really want Sally to be redeemed (was pretty much a whimpering puddle as soon as Barnabus met his end, regardless of the further indignities and distresses heaped on her) - Alix'll probably be at her hospital bed-side when 7S #1 drops and hopefully she can talk some sense into her. Or *listen* - that's what she does. Alix is my favourite _person_ of all the soldiers.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 23, 2006 18:32:13 GMT
Yeah, I hope so too, Duncan. I like the idea of Alix helping Sally to find her way back to who she truly is.
Alix is a really well thought out character, and a lot more female than most comic heroines in the way she reacts to situations. I like that a lot.
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jesse
Newbie
FUNKY
Posts: 84
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Post by jesse on Mar 24, 2006 18:44:16 GMT
I'm probably somewhere in between Brett and Duncan's asessment of Freddie from MM. It wasn't Ferry, but it wasn't awful.
As for the idea Spider brought up earlier, doesn't that team of sidekicks paradigm not really work, (at least thus far), because Frankenstein doesn't really have a sidekick? He refused to take on the girl in issue one, left the children in issue two, and walked away from the Bride and her group in issue three.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 24, 2006 18:59:22 GMT
Doesn't work for me either, Jesse. The only character who could really be considered a sidekick in any way is Misty. Teekl is a familiar, and calling him anything else would be pushing it. Bulleteer & Shining Knight have none unless you'd count the winged horse. Mr Miracle doesn't have one... No, I don't see it.
I think the 7 are the people we are supposed to think they are.
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Post by Duncan on Mar 24, 2006 23:13:32 GMT
They all do have accoutrements of sorts; you're forgetting Metal Mickey and Motherboxxx, EK, but still I think it's wrong. However, there's guys in there like the Mind-Grabber Kid from Zee and Bulleteer that could definitely figure in the finale. Sally Sonic, too, as mentioned above.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Mar 24, 2006 23:18:06 GMT
I expect a lot of them will feature. But how many will be significant to the resolution? I expect Misty will be, and she's about the only one. Not that I don't think Morrison will throw SOME twist in there...
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Post by Elliot Kane on May 3, 2006 1:09:10 GMT
Well, Frank #4 rather ruled. I did love to see him kick ass on the so far rather invincible Sheeda. Excellent stuff
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Post by howard on May 3, 2006 18:39:39 GMT
I've really enjoyed this series. I think the whole thing kicks major bootie!
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Post by hector on Jun 8, 2006 0:44:09 GMT
Seven Soldiers #1 solicits has been cancelled without defined date for reschedule.
That put me in a bad mood.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Jun 8, 2006 1:07:55 GMT
Oh gah! That really sucks! I was really looking forward to that...
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Post by hector on Nov 1, 2006 7:44:52 GMT
I would be happy if every comic book I read were written by Grant Morrison. Or Co-Written by him. Or based on ideas by him. Seven Soldiers #1 was incredibly good. It was a completely apt ending for the series. A few people (including Elliot) has said that ending was somewhat unsatisfying, I say it was a perfect ending for the series. Morrison left us wanting for more. SS was about comics, about how to fight the self defeating creative entropy currently appearing in a few mainstream comic books. It wouldn't have had a point if every plotline was nicely tied and a complete resolution achieved. No, we want to know more about the characters, we want to keep reading about them. Seven Soldiers was a complete success. Mr. Miracle's point in the miniseries flew right over me. Even if I really liked the mini I tought his importance was tangential at best. I was wrong. MM turned out to be central in the overall thematic structure of Seven Soldiers. His death in SS #1 was innecesary, some would say it was stupid or maybe even a lackulster attempt of bringing gravitas to the story. And all of that it's right. It was exactly that. But his bright, colorful ressurection at the final page contrasted his grim, drery manner of dying. Shilo, once again, escaped the grey, dull suffering of the "real" world. His wrongful death. As said elsewhere, the only thing that can escape a black hole is imagination. Aurakles was a stroke of a genius. A wonderful homage of Kirby's Eternals and something lacking in the DCU. I would read a monthly of Aurakles and the Super Neanderthals without a doubt. Having Aurakles's DNA as the Spear was another genius' stroke. Bulleteer is now the descendant of Earth's first superhero. That's a lineage I hope she lives up to. Ever since Rock of Ages I have said that if there is one title Morrison was born to do, was The Fourth World. No one can figure out what the hell do to them. For all his closeness to Kirby, Evanier never could make it something memorable. Definitely not the masturbatory wet dreams of John Byrne. Give Morrison a Fourth World title and let him loose. He can do wonders with they, Seven Soldiers is just another proof. I loved Ystina's glorious future in the past and Guardian's reunion with his family. It seems the more human they are, Morrison gives them the happiest ending. I didn't saw Klarion becoming Sheeda-King and I definitely didn't saw Frankestein becoming his puppet. All those are worthy of a follow up. All in all, Seven Soldiers was what I tought it would be. Read separately, the minis are enjoyable and well-written. taken as a whole, is a comic books modern masterpiece. One of my favorite Grant Morrison works ever.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Nov 1, 2006 10:16:57 GMT
I agree on the genius, but I think it is flawed. Of the minis, both Shining Knight and (Especially) Mister Miracle were just not very good. SK was more about the meta-plot than Ystina, and her love for Galahad seems very tucked on the end to give her a touch of humanity. Who she is as a person never came out. MM was just bad. You can talk about the meta-text till the ends of the Earth, but it fails utterly as a story. It also only fits in with the whole of SS thematically rather than being a part of the wider plot, making it far and away the weakest link. SS#1 was interesting, but felt rushed, to me. It changes things without ending them, and fails to establish a new status quo in proper detail. I didn't want every little detail tied up, Hec, but what I did want was a satisfyingly epic conclusion. I didn't feel that this was it. I did like the punishment meted out to the Time Tailor, though. That was just evil... but in a good way ;D Taking the entire thing as a mega-epic, I loved a lot more than I hated, and I really want to see a lot of these characters again. Especially if written by Morrison. But I'm not about to say the entire thing was without flaw, because it was not
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Post by hector on Nov 1, 2006 10:26:55 GMT
Deja Vu. I had this exact same arguement before elsewhere.
I was under the impression you liked SK. Must have been mistaken. In fact this is the first time I've read you as critical of the series.
About Mr. Miracle let's just say it was a very Morrison part of the story, something I've come to expect as integral to his storytelling.
And of course it wasn't perfect. Misty survived.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Nov 1, 2006 10:30:56 GMT
I thought Misty was great. I'm glad she made it
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Post by hector on Nov 1, 2006 10:33:29 GMT
I have a pathological dislike for annoying smartmouthed irritating girls.
Except for Layla Miller. And Dakota fanning. Which are practically the same thing.
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