The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 389: 7 Guys of Justice #13, February 2002

A sad issue - not for the subject matter, but for what it promises that is never to be. A new logo, the promise of a Moray Earl solo story, and one of the best critiques on the Todd McFarlane/Neil Gaiman Miracleman hullaballo that was going on at the time this issue came out.

I have friends in our department who are studying fictocriticism - that is, critical texts that are written as fictions, or vice versa. This issue of 7 Guys has a certain hint of fictocriticism about it. The main villain, aside from Todd McToddtodd, is a very familiar-looking creature called "Sprawn" (those are his claws you can see on the cover). There's also an appearance by Sarabis the Anteater, and Gail Neiman, who used to be Angel Lady in the 80s. As I've noted about this comic numerous times, its place outside of the mainstream allows it a large leeway when it comes to dealing with the industry itself - one doesn't have to reign in the parody when the universe you're playing in is self-contained.

Our last issue is a solo Johnny Explode issue, which is nice, as he's one of the members who gets very little time in the spotlight. Along with Moray Earl, he kind of fades into the background. It's cool in this issue to see him dealing with his public superheroic identity while at school, and with assuring people that, despite Lord Talon, the 7 Guys are actually a serious team of superheroes.

It's a waste of time to wonder what might have been, but in the case of a series I have loved so much, it's hard not to. Who was the hero-killer? Who were the members of Hunter-Gatherer's internal dialogues? Who would be, in the end, the 7 Guys of Justice? Unfortunately, Lord Talon's pronouncement from the cover of the first issue is the only answer we're likely to get.

Tomorrow.....? Something.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 388: 7 Guys of Justice #12, December 2001

This comic makes me sad for a couple of reasons.

First, it's the second last issue of The 7 Guys of Justice. It's their third-last appearance (don't worry, we'll get there), but the next issue is the last one that was ever produced.

Second, the letters page reveals some tantalizing hints of what might have been. We'd have finished off the hero-killer story, some cool details of which were revealed in this issue. Hunter-Gatherer's story would have been told, which would have been great. And that I'll never see The 7 Guys of Justice Big, Dumb Holiday Special is a great regret.

Mussolini falls again in this issue. Talon is attacked by a person in a panda costume. And Scott McCloud makes a guest appearance. It's not just hyperbole, you know. This really is a great comic.

Onward!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 387: 7 Guys of Justice #11, December 2001

Okay, I've been pretty laudatory of this series right from the get go, and what I'm about to say takes nothing away from that, but, holy God, there's a lot of German dialogue in this issue. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm missing a full half of what's going on. The 7 Guys, sans Talon, have been exposed to Mussolini's fascist gas and have become goose-stepping followers of the 10th Reich.

(Only in comics, folks!)

I appreciate the way that the language is being used here. I was talking to my class today about representations of sound in comics, and how it helps us focalize our perspectives. When Talon, and his allies Dung Beetle and the Human Poop, are interacting with the brainwashed 7 Guys, all of the 7 Guys dialogue is in German. Because we're meant to be seeing things through the lens of Talon (a terrifying prospect if ever there was one). But when it's just the 7 Guys talking to each other, the dialogue is in English, albeit with those little pointy brackets that stand universally, in comics at least, for a translation from another language. Hence we focalize through the 7 Guys, even though they're kind of evil right now. So, as I say, I appreciate the way the language is being used, I just wish I knew what was being said.

Well over 20 years living with someone who speaks German, you'd think I'd have picked a thing or two up. Back tomorrow with perhaps one of the greatest story titles of all time - "The Fascist Man Alive."

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 386: 7 Guys of Justice #10, October 2001

Read. Will blog tomorrow.

The 7 Guys of Justice versus Benito Mussolini.

I'm not really sure how much more I can say about this comic that will say even remotely as much as that sentence.

In the letter's column of a recent issue, Brian Joines talks about September 11th (the comic was in publication throughout that time), and refers to his series as simply a comic making fun of superheroes. I think he sells his creation short here. The fight against fascism is an integral part of the history of the costumed superhero. Aside from Superman and Batman, the majority of the legacy characters we know and love now had their origins in the midst of the Second World War. So for 7 Guys to pay some attention to that aspect of the genre's history automatically paints it as something far more than simply a comic that makes fun of superheroes.

Loving something means questioning it, exploring it. 7 Guys asks numerous questions about the genre, but also offers insights into it, into it's history, and looks to its future.

More tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 382: 7 Guys of Justice #9, September 2001

The final chapter of the 7 Guys' cross-dimensional adventure is as silly as you might expect, though Lord Talon manages to pull off a fairly dramatic last-minute rescue and smack-down with Baron Brilliance. The 7Gs find their way back to Big City, where things appear to be getting very grim. More hero-murders, and now some shadowy scientists cooking up a virus of some sort. Both plots hardly seem to be fodder for a parody comic, but 7 Guys is very good at being something it's not occasionally.

That's it for today. I was talking to some friends and explaining to them that I can only read about 4 issues of a series and blog them at a go before I start getting annoyed with the comic and become cruel. So we'll take a break from 7 Guys tomorrow, and have a look into the depths of the collection again. Onward!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 381: 7 Guys of Justice #8, July 2001

I know I made the claim a few days back that one of the failings of this series was its lack of focussed story after the first three issues. I was wrong, which just goes to show that it's been far too long since I've read 7 Guys. Issues 1 -3 were "The Jerque Imperative," issues 4 and 5 the Bad Art storyline, issue 6 a standalone, and issues 7 and 8 (so far) the Baron Brilliance story. I'm not sure why my recollection of the series was so wrong. I'll blame it on the stress of running my store that was overshadowing everything at the time I originally collected this series.

So, that said, what we're seeing is not only a comic that is trading on superheroic characteristics as far as the members of the team, but also drawing on "traditional" narratives in superhero stories. Dr. Jerque seeks to destroy Big City, teaming up with an alien collective (THE BEAVER COLLECTIVE!!!). Bad Art is released from prison, and seeks revenge on the hero who caught him all those years ago. And now we're in the midst of a tale of an alternate world ruled over by a megalomaniacal dictator. All familiar stories from so many superhero comics.

Though, interestingly, I think I'd associate the series more with riffing on Marvel than on DC. It could be that ground level feel of the early Marvel comics, telling stories of "regular" people with superpowers, rather than the god-like figures of the DCU. I will say, however, that the only team I've ever read that bickers more than the 7 Guys is DC's Doom Patrol, so it's actually a nice mix of both of the big two.

One last thing to note: this issue's title is "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Brilliance," trading on the title of Dave Eggers' well-known novel. Yesterday in class I was talking to my students about the importance in literary studies of recognizing the conversations works have with one another. I'm not sure what 7 Guys and Dave Eggers are talking to each other about, but I'm sure it's amazing. We'll finish up with Baron Baran Von Brilliance tomorrow. See you then.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 380: 7 Guys of Justice #7, June 2001

A bit of a busy morning, I'm afraid, so this'll be even shorter than yesterday. Our heroes get sucked into an alternate dimension through the powers of Pie Master, who travels the multiverse through the vibrational frequency of pie.

Every now and again I re-read what I've just said about particular comics. I know I've been going on about just how good this series is, and then I write something like the above paragraph and think, "No one's ever going to believe a word I say again." But trust me, this is a really good comic.

I think what really strikes me is that the series does a lovely job of not doing what one expects of this kind of a title. It's superhero parody, but it subverts that subversion by telling not only parodic stories but also compelling ones. Rather than simply parodying the genre, it recognizes that the genre is in many ways a self-parodic genre inherently, and thus incorporates that into all of the other elements that make up the superhero narrative.

Tomorrow, we'll meet Baron Brilliance, and find out why he wants Nightie Knight so much. Onward!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 379: 7 Guys of Justice #6, April 2001

(Ick. I really do have to scan all of these covers and upload them to Comics.org.)

The menace of Mr. Happy Jetpack. A surprisingly intelligent comic, this one, considering the main protagonist is a drunk in a happy face helmet. Nightie Knight continues to try to be a serious hero, there's a costume-killer prowling the streets, and Hunter-Gatherer is on the case. The rest of the 7 Guys are trying to find a replacement for H-G, who quit last issue.

I read this series with a mounting sense of dread. I can't remember which stories are wrapped up and which are left hanging. This issue ends with a man exploding our of Lord Talon's blueberry pie, warning of a crisis of world-ending proportions.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 378: 7 Guys of Justice #5, February 2001

I spent this evening drinking with a dear friend at the Last Defense Lounge, a bar run by the Graduate Students Association at U of C. It was a lovely evening, full of laughter, literature, and libations.

When we called it a night, I went back to my office and read today's comic. I know I've waxed lyrical about this series pretty much every time I've included an issue in the Project, but it really is that good. One of the great tragedies of comics in the early 2000s is that this comic vanished. Do yourself a favour and, if you can, find it and read it.

Today, the 7 Guys, plus Matt Mason, Dogsitter, take on Bad Art, mob boss and poorly drawn character, to save the mother of Johnny Explode.

It really doesn't get much better.

More 7 Guys tomorrow!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 377: 7 Guys of Justice #4, December 2000

Back into the collection, and we're onto the next storyline in 7 Guys. Well, as much as there are storylines. I'll admit that, though I do love this comic, it took a while to get any coherency going after the first three issue arc. This particular issue does a nice job of setting up a number of plots, both short and long-term, from the looks of things, though I'm not sure all of them have a chance to play out. There's also a nice page of Nightie Knight being the badass she has so very much potential to be, while at the same time offering a pretty great commentary on the (currently receding) state of the female body in superhero comics.

7 Guys is another of those comics like yesterday's that came about in the early 2000s and was offering a very interesting reading of the state of the superhero. And again, done in an independent comic. There's something interesting going on here that needs thinking about.

As I read through this issue, I was struck by an odd thought: I'd really like to write the 7 Guys of Justice. I think they'd be an amazing team to tell stories with. Perhaps I need to go track down Mssrs. Joines and Rowe, and see if they want to revive the title.

Onward!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 344: 7 Guys of Justice #3, April 2000

Ah, yes. Our heroes pose before the flag of these United States of America, standing tall and proud and fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of...beavers?

The final showdown between Dr. Jerque, the Beaver Collective, and the (finally) 7 Guys of Justice is by turns hilarious and action-packed, and often both at the same time. The Surprise finally joins the team (after having been featured in Hostess-style single page comics in the previous two issues), even though he's actually just an actor and has no super powers to speak of. Numerous foreshadowings are foreshadowed, the team's name, which should have been the Seven Knights of Justice, is Taloned (yes, that's going to be a verb from now on), and everything ends on an auspicious note, promising ridiculous and awesome things to come.

I'll drop a spoiler here. The series only lasts 13 issues. I don't remember for sure, but I think it ends on a cliffhanger, and my research on these InterWebs reveals absolutely no plans for a continuation of the series.

But those 13 issues, while we've got them, oh my.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 343: 7 Guys of Justice #2, March 2000

My feelings about this comic can be summed up in the final page of the story:

"The Jerque Imperative" chapter three tomorrow. Onward!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 342: 7 Guys of Justice #1, February 2000

Many years ago I worked at a used book shop in Hanover, Ontario. There was no comic shop to speak of, and the owner of the shop used to order in small shipments from Diamond Comics Distributors every month. When I started working for him, he asked me to take over the ordering, since I was a little more versed in comics than he was. 7 Guys was a comic I came across and ordered almost purely based on the cover. I'm so glad I did.

I don't know why, but I've always considered this series to be a comedic take on Watchmen. Don't ask me to explain. I think I was reading Watchmen at the same time I started reading this, and there seemed to me to be parallels. Upon re-reading it, I'm not entirely certain what those parallels were. But that aside, it's a funny comic. The art is jarring to begin with. It almost seems too amateur, but then there are panels where Josh Rowe manages to capture exactly the sort of crazed motion superhero comics ought to have. His depictions of Ugly Monkey are just brilliant.

This issue, being the first, follows the inept, unintelligible, amazingly super powered Lord Talon as he assembles his team, which, by the end of the issue, is composed of Hunter-Gatherer, Nightie Knight, Ugly Monkey, and LT. 4 guys of justice, not seven. Things just get sillier, but somehow more sinister, as the series goes on.

7 Guys is one of my favourite superhero comics, and it has a place of prominence in my Active Collection, as it's the first comic series in the first box. I'll be reading a few more issues, perhaps through the first story arc, over the next few days. Onward!