The Seven Soldiers of Victory: Volume 2

Volume Two was actually a much easier read than volume one which I had to read through twice in order to understand the plot. The Shining Knight and Guardian storylines end in this volume with no real conclusions but that may be ok. The various storylines have started bleeding into each other and although the Shining Knight and Guardian have reached their final issues the overreaching tale is far from over. On the other hand it's perfectly possible that Morrison could fail to sufficiently tie up the story by the end of volume four making this whole exercise futile. My final score is based on the assumption that Morrison will be successful in creating a conclusion that is at least as compelling as the story thus far. I haven't always enjoyed everything Morrison has produced but so far I'm really impressed with the Seven Soldiers series. The Shining Knight had a twist in it that perhaps I should have seen coming but it really worked well and showed how bold Morrison is in experimenting with established characters. I would also like to give special nod to Simone Bianchi whose art in the Shining Knight is absolutely spectacular. This is some of the best artwork I have ever seen in my three decades of comic collecting and combined with Morrison's exemplary writing it creates quite a combo. The ending of the Guardian story really felt more like a beginning and I certainly hope it gets wrapped up in one of the other series or I'm going to be very disappointed. Morrison uses a very subtle hand in ever so slightly tying the disparate stories together. There is an occurrence that happens in the Klarion story that references back to something that happened in the Guardian story in volume one but wasn't then explained. Zantana's story collides with the Shining Knights but at no point do any of the seven soldiers actually physically meet and I assume this will continue to the conclusion of the Seven Soldiers series. We still have yet to see Mister Miracle, Bulleteer or *ahem* Frankenstein but I eagerly await their arrival. I was worried whether I might like this series. The reviews are mixed and I've been burned by Morrison in the past but this time Morrison scores big time. If I had known it was going to be this good I would have sprung for the hard cover versions rather than the paperback. That leaves me with a big dilemma. Do I pick up the second two books in paperback or wait until March 2011 to get book to in hardcover. These stories are worth reading multiple times and I think the more you read it the more you get out of it as you discover things that were previously overlooked. I'm going to give this volume five stars but it's all contingent on whether or not the conclusion successfully brings everything together.

This iteration of the Seven Soldiers, gathered together to fight the influence of the Sheeda, after the first batch of low rent heroes Vigilante gathered were butchered, are :- Shining Knight Guardian Bulleteer Klarion Frankenstein Zatanna Mister Miracle In this case, it is the 'other' Mister Miracle, not Scott Free. Further in to the story, they begin to understand a little of what is happening, but are still a bit freaked, in general.