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!