Seven Soldiers of Victory, Volume 4

Seven Soldiers of Victory #4

by Grant Morrison (Writer), Doug Mahnke, Freddie E. Williams II

The brilliant mind of Grant Morrison (Animal Man, Doom Patrol) is showcased once again as his most groundbreaking and ambitious project concludes! Independently, each of these characters is featured in a story arc that redefines his or her purpose in the DCU. But their stories also interweave with the other Soldiers' tales, forming a grander story of a devastating global threat to mankind. Together these reluctant champions must arise and somehow work together to save the world...without ever meeting one another!

Collecting: Frankenstein 2-4, Mister Miracle 3-4, Bulleteer 3-4, Seven Soldiers of Victory 1

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 2007

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The climax of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers paid off well.

A great blend of genres, with a recurring theme of loser superheroes as in Bulleteer with porn stars and spurned lovers really fleshing out a universe that usually focuses on the most epic heroes. Mister Miracle seemed like it would be the best of the series, with Kirby God motifs which is usually Morrison's preferred wheelhouse, but kind of suffered being the only one with multiple artists. Frankenstein is my favorite, as an overt horror series written with as much intensity as possible and ties together all the other storyline.

Seven Soldiers was a very special from a brilliant writer. It took work to keep track of all that goes on, but that is what makes it feel so rewarding to read. They rarely make comics like this anymore...

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I should make a "damn it, Morrison" shelf. All too often, he starts with a highly ambitious concept, which starts well and ends in confusion. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan, I respect his love for comics past and that he pushes his writing, and I think he's more brilliant than not. And yet...

Here is (yet another) example of that tendency. The concept is very ambitious: take seven little-known DC characters of old (ok, six plus Zatanna) and give them each their own miniseries, done in distinct styles, and tie them up together in the end without letting the stories overlap too much. A team story where the team never meets. I can only imagine that the last issue was interesting to plot out, considering that all of the characters were playing some role in ending the same menace without interacting.

The problem with that is that the different characters are not created equal. Klarion, Shining Knight, and (believe it or not) Frankenstein all ended up being really good reads on their own. Zatanna's series seemed directionless, kind of like she was added to the group just because she was the one that readers would recognize. Bulleteer's had a few interesting elements (the superhero wannabes who get themselves killed, for example) but otherwise didn't contribute much. And the Miracle Man and Guardian series just left me cold.

And then there was the confused finale, with way too much going on. It's seven distinct stories being made to come together all in one issue, so of course it's overwhelmed storytelling. I didn't exactly feel satisfied with the conclusion, but I enjoyed the journey well enough.

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que difícil reseñar este trabajo de Morrison. Los siete personajes que apenas si se cruza uno con otro forman un ensamble frente a un enemigo en común aceleran una escalada final vertiginosa en un numero final que me dejó tan boquiabierto como desconcertado por momentos. Siete tramas confluyen en un final con sorpresas, vueltas de tuerca. La verdad es que algunas tienen poca implicancia en la gran historia de fondo sin dejar de ser muy entretenidas lecturas. Ahora, lo que se dibuja JHWilliams III en este último numero es algo pocas veces visto, desde manejar los siete estilos diferentes marcados en cada arco a la narrativa visual y secuencial. Es tan ambicioso que marea y obliga a una relectura, quizás en un orden distinto al ordenado en los cuatro tomos. Es un experimento de resultado positivo aunque por varios momentos me sentí descolocado ya que requiere un esfuerzo que prima sobre el mero entretenimiento.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grant Morrison's "Seven Soldiers of Victory" was a fun, and unique, read. Combining seven different titles with a common story/enemy is a fascinating concept. This makes for one strange, trippy, and awesome story.

With this 4th Volume, the story draws to an end. The Seven Soldiers, each in their own setpiece, manage to defeat aspects of the Sheeda invasion. The art styles are all different, for each individual title, and this makes a very cool spectrum of different art styles describing, essentially, the same thing.

I intend to get the Omnibus complete edition of these 4 volumes and I would highly recommend this series. it is original and unique and that makes it stand out.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

This hugely inventive series comes to a close in this fourth and final volume, as the Seven Soldiers gather to defeat the evil Sheeda from obliterating the world.

Mr Miracle faces down Dark Side and his Anti-Life Equation with the help of Aurackles; Frankenstein travels to Mars to fight Melmoth, the husband of the Sheeda Queen Gloriana, before travelling through time to present day Earth and joining the fight; Bulleteer faces down the woman who had an affair with her husband, leading him down the path to his premature death; and Shining Knight takes on Gloriana in a sword fight.

While I've liked Grant Morrison's take on these little known characters, I felt this fourth volume was rushed and somewhat lacking in any clear resolution. The characters he spent the first two books building up - Shining Knight, Klarion the Witchboy, Zatanna, and Manhattan Guardian - barely figure in this final conflict, and Manhattan Guardian's story basically ends with him getting back together with his wife.

Bulleteer's storyline felt very disconnected from the others as she basically refused to be a hero and ended up trying to save the life of the woman who brought this detested new life upon her.

The only storyline I felt gave the book any gravitas was Frankenstein's, who in this book is a kind of Hellboy-ish character. Doug Mahnke's artwork is spectacular and with Frankenstein's adventures on Mars and with SHADE, I wished the whole book had been about him.

As for the Seven Soldiers, well they don't really meet, and I don't really know what happened at the end. There was a fight but the action was so splintered it's difficult to know what happened or what the outcome was or even really what the point of it all was. I suppose the journey was enjoyable enough.

Also Grant Morrison has an annoying habit of inserting himself into his own stories. He did it in "Animal Man", he did it in "The Invisibles", and he does it here! It doesn't add anything to the story and feels very egotistical on his part.

"Volume 4" is a strange ending for a strange series but "Seven Soldiers of Victory" is a hugely imaginative undertaking with fantastic artwork throughout. Worth a look for any comics fan so long as you're not looking for solid endings and plenty of spacey/zany side-tracks along the way.

[Joe Sergi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say I'm usually not smart enough to read Grant Morrison. This series started out linear enough and was actually quite fun.

But, I have absolutely no idea how it ended--I wasn't smart enough and quite frankly, my personal view, is that a mainstream comic book shouldn't require that much work. (that's not saying that I don't like books where each time you read it, you appreciate it more (like Watchman) but my personal feeling is that you should also enjoy the first reading.)

This was originally 30 issues, so I was a little perturbed that after 29 issues of mostly linear stories (except Frankenstein) you end up with a medium breaking existential romp that makes your brain bleed. (I'm also not sure how this fits in with the DCU, Countdown, or Final Crisis. But, since Countdown to Fibal Crisis and Final Crisis don't fit, it's a minor complaint).

Don't get me wrong, Grant Morrison is a genius. I'm smart enough to recognize that, I'm just not smart enough to enjoy his genius.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The finales to the last three series are all good, but the capstone 'Seven Soldiers of Victory' issue is amazing.

[Gabriel Llagostera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran cierre de la historia. Morrison plantea el conflicto de una manera súper original, y es que los Seven Soldiers luchen sin trabajar en conjunto. El último número es una locura absoluta. Muy bueno.

[Cristhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild ride!

[Tommy Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta take a Grant Morrison break soon. Loved this book and love their work, but their writing is just absolute insanity at times.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining if uneven experiment. I like that Grant tried something different, but his attempts to blend an old school super hero epic with a lot of modern takes didn't always click. I give him credit for trying to revamp some second tier heroes, even when those attempts weren't too successful or involved fixing characters that didn't need fixing.
This volume contained:

Mr. Miracle: odd blend of hip-hop and philosophy that doesn't quite work. Plus, it's near impossible to improve on Jack Kirby, so this one was a bit doomed at the start.

Bulleteer: tries to say something about the elements of sex and fetishism in comic book heroes, but tends to reveal in the sex, and so kills any chance of saying something clever or revealing about the idea.
Like the Bulleteer character, but she's surrounded by dull, sad people and given really bad, pointless stories.

Frankenstien: here Grant makes up for all his mistakes, which turns the iconic monster into DC's version of Hellboy and then sends him on these wonderful pulp/surreal monster fighting adventures. Best story in this volume and one of the few characters in this project worthy of a sequel story.

The grand finale is interesting, so much is happening it feels a bit rushed, only half the stories get a decent wrap up and it feels like Grant couldn't be bothered to explain everything, and was tired and just wanted to finish it. I did like it being done all in individual chapters, each with a different artist.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's sad to see this series go out with such an inconsistent volume. "Write what you know" is a cliche, but sometimes it's one writers must heed. Grant Morrison's take on hip-hop blaxploitation in "Mr. Miracle" is clumsy and containing nothing deeper than the surface sheen, and his ironic look at sexism in fast 21st century culture in "Bulleteer" isn't ironic enough to get by with all the cheescake. He's way out of his comfort zone, and it shows. It doesn't help that the art in those sections--by Freddie Williams and Yanick Paquette--is not on par with the other folks Grant has on board. Disappointing, but still worth it for the Frankestein issues with Mahnke and seeing how Morrison's own Frankenstein experiment with these long dormant characters comes together.

And credit where its due, in creating a new line of books, having five of seven hit as spectacularly as these do is quite a feat. The big finish is also as big and exciting as it needs to be, so Morrison and crew really do got out on a bang.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn you, Grant Morrison! I was following along just fine and then you throw that last issue at me and I have no idea what happened. I will confess that the stories of the three remaining soldiers (the bullet woman, Frankenstein, and Mister Miracle) were a lot less interesting to me than those of the first four and didn't seem to tie in as directly with the whole Sheeda overstory. I purchased the last volume because only the first three were in my library system and now I'm wondering if I'd have been better off not having read it :P. did dislike it, really, just didn't get it. Williams's art is incredible as usual.

[Dramatica Darmody · Rating 2 out of 5]

That wound up being confusing and ultimately rather boring at the end.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I liked it. I was, frankly, somewhat underwhelmed by the experience, as I think I expected more from the individual miniseries than I got. I like how Morrison wove different supporting characters through the various miniseries, but I never quite felt any danger from the Sheeda. It became more an experiment in putting together a puzzle than a fun story.

I thought that the individual series were somewhat mixed - Guardian was terrific, as was Bulleteer. Zatanna - despite being a character I typically loathe - worked well in her story. Mister Miracle was fun, but I felt like it was only vaguely tied to the Seven Soldiers storyline. Klarion wasn't clicking for me - he never seemed to have much direction, going from the "wow wow wow" excitement of the outside world to... well, whatever he did in the final chapter.

Frankenstein was the series I expected the most from and wound up being the most letdown by. Everyone described it as fun, one-liner-heavy good stuff. I didn't see that. Mahnke drew some great alien landscapes, but it was just Frank showing up somewhere and shooting something, while talking to S.H.A.D.E. I was expecting some more excitement. Shining Knight was solid too. I liked Bianchi's linework and gorgeous shading, but was confused by some of his page layouts.

I guess I enjoyed it, but I felt that most of the miniseries weren't exceptional. They were merely good, with the connections between them being the main "plus" quality of the entire Seven Soldiers super-story.

I didn't feel disappointed by the final issue at all. It was rushed, but I didn't feel that it was necessarily less clear than the rest of the series. Noteworthy: A few Soldiers did meet in the finale! It was fun. I probably need to read it again with the hype and expectations stripped away though. I'm sure that there were themes and connections that I didn't get from the first read anyway.

[Dubzor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series was a very mixed bag, though it's difficult to say if its failings are strong enough to taint what good there is here. Regardless as to how the series as a whole fairs, this volume is nothing but a disappointment.

The whole idea for this grand journey was to bring seven forgotten characters to a new life with their own stories that all tied together for some greater undertaking. They were the super-team that would never meet, but somehow together would save the world. It's a great idea, and one thing this volume does well is show how these seven individuals manage to act in such a way that they either knowingly or otherwise, end an invading force.

It's biggest failing though is that some conclusions are more satisfying than others. For example, Bulleteer's involvement cleverly wraps up her entire character concept up in a nice shiny bow. Meanwhile Guardian...um...rides a horse. Klarion is the key to taking out the big bad weapon. Zatanna is just kinda there and somehow has her powers back and does...something? It's vague, and doesn't make a lot of sense...duh, Morrison.

Then there's some characters that really don't have much at all to do with the plot, at least as far as I can tell. Mister Miracle seems to be there solely to provide exposition. No...seriously, that's it. His big final showdown is has no real impact on the world ending events other than it reveals who helped aid the invasion. Frankenstein...kills people and steals a ship. It's all very uneven.

Combine all this with an ending that name drops characters we don't even see, brings other characters back from the dead for...reasons...and is just on the whole unsatisfying. Really, the only storyline worth reading out of all of these is Bulleteer. But not enough to recommend tacking the entire series for.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so the tale ends almost so that the ending doesn't even matter, such a paltry thing as victory ultimately unimportant for superheroes. How several of our champions replace the bad guys, how some merely find happiness in their own lives, how some merely move on...

Reading Grant Morrison will always risk being a bewildering experience, and I think Seven Soldiers was designed that way, a trip into a grand vision like no other superhero adventure, in some ways the same "culling of civilization" story you can find in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (actually, I wonder if it's a coincidence that Nolan's complete trilogy has such striking parallels to Morrison's saga here?).

Between this and Final Crisis, Morrison was doing a modern Jack Kirby, and perhaps it's telling that much of Kirby's DC material itself remains ahead of its time, so it only figures if Seven Soldiers and (Final Crisis) is, too.

Fans of straightforward comics perhaps need not apply.

[Paan Chhaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this entire series. DC comics has a wonderful occult scene and it really shone in Morrison's hands -and he uses the full richness and history of the DCverse to tell this story, and does it well. There are also some awesome questions asked about the nature (state of mind) of being a costumed hero. I really loved the back-drop characters like The Whip, Gimmix, Mindgrabber and Sally Sonic. The Bulleteer was a welcome addition and I am personally sorry DC comics never did anything with this character after this run. Loved seeing Vigilante, Spyder was cool, dug the Arthurian twists, The Sheeda, The Croatoan, The Newsboy Army/Legion revamped. The main 7 are all great, The Frankenstein stole the page for me whenever he appears. Zatanna was wonderful, and her being one of DC's best heroes is proven in this book. Shining Knight benefited most from the gorgeous art in this series. Manhattan Guardian was also an imposing presence, visually.

[Venus Maneater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it was too ambitious to take on seven characters, seven stories. To make them all come together in one big finale.

And the finale, well. I found it lacking. In action, in a message I was hoping that would come but never came.

Maybe 5 volumes would've been better than four.

All in all I loved reading this tale, this take on fae folklore and super-hero woes. Klarion, Zatanna, The Bulleteer and Frankenstein. Those are the stories that will stay with me. The others I found lacking, in content, art and depth.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying, if not slightly muddled, conclusion to one of DC's more curious efforts of the mid-Aughts.

What raises this fourth volume above the more middling middle sections is the story about Frankenstein and the incredible finale.

The former is bristling with smirking glee, all twirling action with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

The latter is an absolute triumph: a melding of seven disparate characters coming together in the most unexpected ways.

A very welcome diversion from the overall monotony of DC's story-chute. Give it a go, folks.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y la saga de Morrison concluye en este volumen. Las últimas 3 series llegan a su final culminando con el Seven Soldiers 1. El último capítulo enlaza todas las series, Morrison y Williams III entregan un número más experimental, lleno de información, pequeños detalles cobran gran relevancia y se hace necesario revisar todas las pistas dejadas en las series para apreciar la magnitud de este cierre.

Las 7 series conectan de diferentes maneras, unas más directas que otras, pero todas hacen parte de la gran imagen creada.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much of this collection just felt stitched together and pointless, and then the final issue that wraps it all up didn’t have the time to make it coherent. I had to read a summary of the end to figure out what all happened. As much as I loved the first three collections, this ending just left me feeling deflated.

[Chris Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, you can't have it all. The overall on 4 volumes is a solid 4 stars but the last chapter had a feel to it that Morrison cares more about the individual series instead of wrapping up the tale as a whole. It just , sort of, ends. Still, the series is well worth your time.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was an interesting story ended with a confusing plop. Seemed like the story had to end NOW, so cram everything together and let's go home. More detail should have been given as these soldiers end their battle with the Sheeda.

[Adam Šilhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tak převládající pocit po přečtení posledního dílu je "prostě nevím". Průběžně se mi některé minisérie líbili více a jediná, která mě vyloženě štvala byl Mister Miracle.

I ten konec byl vlastně asi dobrý.

Jen se nemůžu zbavit pocitu, že prostě nevím.

[Mik Cope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmph. This was the conclusion to the story. It's classic Morrison, i.e. weird and epic, but - is it any good? The final, wraparound 7 Soldiers issue was, frankly, just confusing. I was probably more impressed on first reading this than upon re-reading it.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morrison proves to be a master at plotting and writing cosmic stories. I am still confused by the ending.And, i suspect that is the point. Frankenstein monster as moral arbiter?

[Corey Timmins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Need drugs to sew together plot. Drugs will prevent reading comprehension.

So genius.

[Desmond Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a very difficult time wrapping my head around this one. Just thought it was sad and weird. :[