Seven Soldiers of Victory, Book 1 [Hardcover]

Grant Morrison (Author), JH Williams III (Illustrator), Cameron Stewart (Illustrator), Frazer Irving (Illustrator), Simone Bianchi (Illustrator), Ryan Sook (Illustrator), Mick Gray (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2010

SEVEN SOLDIERS is an epic tale of life, death, triumph and redemption that explores the nature of heroism and sacrifice. Featuring the first four of the seven soldiers: The Shining Knight, The Guardian, Zatanna and Klarion the Witch Boy. Independently, each of these characters is featured in a story that redefines their purpose in the DC Universe. But their stories also interweave with the others, telling a grander story of a devastating global threat to mankind. Together, these reluctant champions must work together to save the world from the insidious threat of the invading Sheeda warriors — without even meeting one another.

Collects SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY #0, THE GUARDIAN #1-4, KLARION #1-3, ZATANNA #1-3, and THE SHINING KNIGHT #1-4.
 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Morrison's 2005 project, whose first half is collected here, is an astonishingly clever feat of superhero writing: eight simultaneous, interconnected serials (each drawn by a different artist) about a "team" that has to save the world despite the fact that its members' frames of reference are so disparate that they're unaware of each other's existence. It's a rich piece of work, full of bizarre conceits like pirates riding secret subway lines under New York City. After an ingenious fake-out in the opening chapter (a multi-stylistic tour de force drawn by J. H. Williams III), the "soldiers" are shown as recast versions of long-languishing comics characters, and each of their stories gets its own distinct tone. Simone Bianchi draws the Shining Knight (an Arthurian fish out of water in the big city) with high-fantasy invention surrounding photorealistic figures; the "Klarion the Witch Boy" sequence concerns a dissident in a subterranean Puritan village, drawn by Frazer Irving as creeping, blue-lit horror; the Manhattan Guardian stories tweak the character's Golden Age association with a "Newsboy Legion" to make him a newspaper's in-house superhero, drawn by Cameron Stewart as lightly satirical action-adventure; and Ryan Sook navigates the occult visions and fourth-wall breaking of the Zatanna chapters with admirable clarity.

From Booklist

Sending DC’s front line on cosmic adventures (Final Crisis) or using his own subversive narratives to push at the medium’s outer edges (Invisibles), Morrison is comicdom’s resident wild-idea man and metastoryteller. Here he redefines some of DC’s more obscure properties in a mad frenzy of concepts and twists, leading off with this hook: What if there was a team of superheroes who never met each other? Included are stories of four of the eventual seven members—the magician Zatanna is a highlight—all of whose adventures stand alone but also subtly interweave. The art is uniformly impressive, the standout being Frazer Irving’s Klarion the Witch Boy, pulsing with ominous supernatural life. Unfortunately, collecting the comics in publishing order doesn’t even provide the complete adventures of the four featured characters, let alone two of the best (a sword-wielding Frankenstein and the down-to-earth Bulleteer), who aren’t included at all. This is a grand presentation that feels disappointingly incomplete, but if you’re prepared to commit to future volumes, you’ll get one epic superhero wallop that’s worth the wait. --Jesse Karp

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (June 22, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401226957
• ISBN-13: 978-1401226954
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.7 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Grant Morrison is one of comics' greatest innovators. His long list of credits includes Batman: Arkham Asylum, JLA, Seven Soldiers, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, The Invisibles and The Filth. He is currently writing Batman and All-Star Superman.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow, is not as thick as I thought it wold be, July 23, 2010

By 

Xavier Zavala Heras "Lexavi80" (GYE, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seven Soldiers of Victory, Book 1 (Hardcover)

I got my copy yesterday. Beautiful as it is. 400 pages of good reading. I love it...

I was really impressed abut how thin the book looks. I also got The Blackest Night this same week, and although the GL book is 300 pages, both seems to have the same thickness. Not complaining, mind you!.

I hope DC keeps doing more editions like this: Good reading with lots of pages. Some ideas might be a big ass book containing the first three numbers of Superman/Batman (Public Enemies, Supergirl and New World Order). That would add like 440 some pages. Would be awesome!.

Can't wait for Volume two of Seven Soldiers.

UPDATE: 30/July/2010
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I agree with the other review. The book is a pretty one, and the story is awesome, but the reason of why the book looks so thin with 400 pages is because the paper used for printing is so damn thin. I did had to be extra careful when reading. I was so afraid of tearing a page with a sneeze. This haven't happen to me since Dark Victory. For that reason alone I took 1 star from my review.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seven that Never Meet, part 1, November 1, 2010

By 

Abel Nicolo L. Yu "olokin prime" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seven Soldiers of Victory, Book 1 (Hardcover)

Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison

The Seven Soldiers of Victory 30-issue epic by Grant Morrison is an ambitious reimagining of 7 third tier characters by introducing new concepts and settings into their back-stories. These are basically new characters as re-imagined by Morrison. The rejuvenated mythology was intended to provide fuel for new ongoing series.
Whether these lofty targets were achieved, I cannot say because I have only read the first part of the saga. Such, my thoughts on the entire story is reserved until I can get my paws on the second volume.
The entire 30 issues of Seven Soldiers are collected in two deluxe hard covers. It presents the seven miniseries and the two bookends in the order of release. This is the best way to enjoy the story. Although the Seven never meet, but they face a common foe and their stories intertwine.
The first volume contains the first bookend, the complete four issues of The Shining Knight, The Manhattan Guardian and Zatanna. The first three issues of Klarion, the Witch Boy round out the collection. This also includes concept art by both J. H. Williams, the artist on the bookend and Morrison on the characters. Morrison's initia; designs are almost the final look for all these characters.
Seven Soldiers features strong writing from Morrison. New concepts and milieus like post-Arthur Camelot and Knights of the Broken Table;, an underground Puritan colony; and the subterranean societies that surround it like the Pirate Kings of the hidden subway are introduced in the first volume and there are probably more in the next.
The artistic line up too is a veritable dream team. J. H. Williams, Ryan Sook, Simone Bianchi, Cameron Stewart and Frazier Irving could headline their own books now, and these Seven Soldiers issues are what started their rise as comic book stars.
I really enjoyed this volume and two of the miniseries stand out for me. The Shining Knight and Klarion, The Witch Boy is two of the titles that I would have been interested to follow should they get their own ongoing series. Morrison's new takes on Arthurian legend and the Croatoan mystery, is refreshing. The art complements Morrison's strong storytelling, Bianchi and Irving are indeed rising stars in the comics business. These two would prosper if they have monthly books to showcase their art on a regular basis.
I cannot recommend this book enough and I suggest getting the second volume to fully enjoy this wonderful story.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best comics of all time, October 2, 2011

By 

Arash Emami - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Seven Soldiers of Victory, Book 1 (Hardcover)

Anyone who is a fan of comics owes it to themselves to read both volumes of this incredible series. Fun, brimming with energy, great artwork, complete joy to read. 5 stars