The Aughts have been a reasonably busy time for Grant Morrison within the DC Universe. Even with an tour over to Marvel within the early a part of the last decade. They completed their epic run on JLA with Howard Porter, kicked off a prolonged tenure that modified the panorama of the Batman workplace, and helped construct a basis for numerous occasions and characters. The most bold of these latter efforts could nicely have been the patchwork crossover collection underneath the Seven Soldiers banner, that took the previous moniker and a handful of current characters from throughout totally different areas of the DCU, together with some Jack Kirby creations, and breathed new life into them in pretty attention-grabbing methods. Among them was Shilo Norman in Seven Soldiers – Mister Miracle from Morrison, Pasqual Ferry, Billy Dallas Patton, Michael Bair, Freddie Williams II, Dave McCaig, Pat Brosseau, Nick J. Napolitano, Phil Balsman, and Travis Lanham.
To me, Seven Soldiers of Victory looks like a bridge between Morrison’s JLA and what would are available Final Crisis. Nowhere is that extra on show than of their interpretation of Mister Miracle and the New Gods. While the Sheeda of the general occasion take a little bit of a backburner, the Fourth World is reinterpreted as what’s primarily the bottom work for a Fifth World. Evil gained. The gods of New Genesis primarily fell to Earth, hiding in mortal guises, whereas Darkseid and his minions are free to run wild as a legal component, Boss Dark Side and the Dark Side Club, dealing in thoughts management and intercourse. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of their divine nature and the extra mundane avenue degree parts. All whereas Shilo Norman tries to navigate fame, failure, and probably dropping every thing, together with probably his thoughts.
I’m not rightly certain what occurred with the paintings (interviews I’ve seen don’t appear to make clear what precisely occurred), but it surely nonetheless comes off nicely. The visible fashion is ready within the first problem by Pasqual Ferry. With his earlier work on Adam Strange he began growing a really open, clean-lined fashion stuffed with dynamic characters. It jogs my memory a little bit of Carlos Pacheco and Pete Woods, however a bit extra simplified. Billy Dallas Patton & Michael Bair and Freddie Williams II stick with it with work that’s related, on totally different sides of element or exaggerated cartooning. Patton delivers the previous within the second problem, whereas Williams the latter as he carries on from the second to the tip of the collection. I’ve actually grown to love Williams’ paintings, there’s a verve and uniqueness to it that looks like a mixture between western animation and anime like Dragonball Z, and it’s attention-grabbing to see a few of his early days.
A number of the heavy-lifting of sustaining visible consistency to this story is right down to the completely attractive work of Dave McCaig. McCaig makes use of a good quantity of vibrant colors and flare results that swimsuit the bombast and spectacle of Mister Miracle. It additionally serves as an attention-grabbing counterpoint to the extra impartial, nearly “drab” colors of the previous New Gods of New Genesis and a sure surreal feeling that makes among the story really feel like a hallucination. Also a credit score to the 4 letterers, it by no means looks like there are 4 letterers with one per problem.
Even by itself, Seven Soldiers – Mister Miracle from Morrison, Ferry, Patton, Williams, Bair, McCaig, Brosseau, Napolitano, Balsman, and Lanham is a compelling and intriguing have a look at methods to probably interpret the Fourth World in a brand new setting, whereas commenting of the pitfalls of fame, expectation, and freedom. It’s additionally a teaser for issues to come back.
Classic Comic Compendium: Seven Soldiers – Mister Miracle
Seven Soldiers – Mister Miracle
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Pasqual Ferry, Billy Dallas Patton & Michael Bair, and Freddie Williams II
Colourist: Dave McCaig
Letterers: Pat Brosseau, Nick J. Napolitano, Phil Balsman, & Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: June 19 2012 (present collected version)
Available collected in Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory – Book Two
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