Line #118 ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory2005


1	[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ssov2_5548.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:248:Their teamwork focuses less on the "team" and more on the "work" part.]]
3
4	''Seven Soldiers of Victory'' is a maxi-series, written by Creator/GrantMorrison, started in 2005 and ended in 2006. With two bookend issues, the bulk of the series comprises seven four issue miniseries, each one focusing on each one of the titular seven members. This series is notable in that '''none''' of the members of the team ever meet each other (with one or two exceptions). It is an update of DC's classic ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory'' series.
5
6	The series starts with the son of the original Spider, Thomas Dalt A.K.A. "I, Spyder", visiting Slaughter Swamp outside of Gotham City, and encountering the "Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp" who have chosen him for a certain task. Meanwhile, an about to retire Greg Saunders A.K.A. Vigilante (who was later revealed to be finally submitting to his werewolfism) creates a new Seven Soldiers of Victory team, made up of Spyder, a new Boy Blue, Merry the Gimmick Girl (called Gimmix), Dyno-Mite Dan, and the Whip to defeat a giant spider that was supposed to have been destroyed during Saunders' tenure in the old West. The team kill the spider, but in turn are decimated by the mysterious Sheeda, lead by the Neh-Buh-Loh Man, who have come to destroy the world in "The Harrowing".
7
8	Each of the miniseries focuses on each member:
9	* '''ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}''': After the events of ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004 came to light and an incident in which she was indirectly responsible for the deaths of several of her friends and the release of a mysterious shape-shifting demon, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} has lost all confidence in herself. But after meeting a mysterious young girl who asks to be her apprentice, Zatanna begins to travel down a path to learn the secrets of her father's legacy and regain her resolve. However, she soon discovers that her new apprentice is not entirely what she seems...
10	* '''Shining Knight''': In the age of King Arthur Dragonhead, young Sir Ystin (pronounced Justin) and the flying horse Vanguard invade the mysterious Castle Revolving belonging to the Sheeda to kill their queen and recover one of the Seven Imperishable Treasures, the [[MagicCauldron Cauldron of Rebirth]]. In order to ensure its safety, Ystin tosses the cauldron out of the castle and escapes, but ends up in modern times due to Castle Revolving's time traveling capabilities. After coming to terms with the loss of Camelot and all of its knights, Ystin goes forth to search for a way to end the Sheeda. Meanwhile, Vanguard, who was separated from his rider, is found by a mob boss, who is placed in a mysterious cauldron when ever he dies...
11	* '''[[ComicBook/KlarionTheWitchBoy Klarion]]''': In the underground Puritan village of Limbo Town, lives the young Witch-Boy Klarion. After the discovery of a Sheeda rider, the elders of the village announced the sealing of the only gate to the upper "High Market", much to the frustration of Klarion who dreamed of seeing the outside world. Upon seeing the elders turning into a vile monster, Klarion escapes and eventually makes his way to the surface world of New York City. Being approached by a mysterious man named Melmoth to join a gang of childish thugs to steal a giant drill, one Klarion eventually discovers is to be used to enslave Limbo Town...
12	* '''[[ComicBook/{{Guardian}} Manhattan Guardian]]''': Jake Jordan is going through a rough patch in his life: he's been fired from his job as a police officer after a nervous breakdown and his fiance, Carla, holds no respect for him. After his future father-in-law points him to a job for the mysterious "Manhattan Guardian" newspaper, the paper's founder, Ed Stargard, hires Jake as their "in-house superhero". While being the Manhattan Guardian has brought Jake out of his funk, multiple tragedies occur during the job, and Jake goes to confront Stargard. Upon meeting Stargard in person for the first time, Jake is told the story of the Newsboy Legion of Nowhere Street and their encounter with the Sheeda...
13	* '''[[FrankensteinsMonster Frankenstein]]''': The "Spawn of Frankenstein" himself. After fighting against the evil machinations of Dark Melmoth, Frankenstein (The Monster, who is shown to have taken his creator's name) goes into a deep slumber for many years. Upon an invasion of a high school by the Sheeda, Frankenstein revives to continue his work. After coming across his foe on Mars, Frankenstein discovers that Melmoth is the former Sheeda King trying to defeat his wife and that Frankenstein partially owes his existence to him. After defeating his foe in a particularly spectacular manner, Frankenstein is inducted into the mysterious agency, S.H.A.D.E. who send him on a mission to stop the Sheeda-affiliated Neh-Buh-Loh Man...
14	* '''Bulleteer''': Alix Harrower is an average woman, married to a MadScientist husband, Lance. Lance is attempting to create a new metallic superskin [[IJustWantToBeSpecial to become a superhero]] so he could live out his [[PerverseSexualLust fantasy life]] with his wife or hook up with a superchick he met online. Unfortunately he JumpedAtTheCall, covering himself with his superskin, accidentally does the same to his wife, and [[KarmicDeath dies in the process]]. Alix, who survives by a mere fluke, manages to stumble into the life of a C-list superhero while trying to deal with the husband's death and infidelity. All the while, she [[IJustWantToBeNormal only really wants to be normal]]...
15	* '''Mister Miracle''': Shilo Norman, one-time apprentice to the New God Scott Free, is doing pretty good for himself; he has achieved great fame as a master escape artist, just like his mentor. When attempting his greatest stunt yet, escaping a miniature black hole, he encounters the mysterious Metron in the event horizon, who desires to test him. Suddenly he finds himself in an alternate version of his own life, dealing with the problems of his fame while encountering people strangely similar to Kirby's ComicBook/NewGods... particularly one Mr. [[LouisCypher Dark Side]]... This series is frequently considered a Stealth Pilot for ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.
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17	For the Original Team, See the ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory.
18	----
19	!!Seven Soldiers provides examples of:
20	* AbusivePrecursors: Inverted. [[spoiler:The Sheeda are revealed to be abusive successors, as they belong to a race that replaced humanity in the far future. Since Earth has become a wasteland during their time period, they survive by traveling back in time and pillaging civilizations who reached their developmental zenith]].
21	* AccidentalChildKillerBackstory: Before becoming the Manhattan Guardian, Jake Jordan [[spoiler:was a police officer who quit the force after shooting an unarmed teenager whom he had mistaken for the man who murdered his partner.]]
22	* ADeadlyAffair: Lance's affair turns deadly, with he himself being the one to die. [[spoiler:In a twist this is not what he intended, though the woman he was cheating on his wife with finds it amusing and was the one who pushed him to try the experiment which killed him, as he was trying to make himself immortal for her.]]
23	* AbusiveParents: Bulleteer notes that Suli Stellamaris is excessivelly bossy towards her own son, whom she forces to work as her personal waiter at a superhero convention.
24	* AllThereInTheManual: Neither the original trade paperbacks, the deluxe hardcovers, or the omnibus reprint ''JLA Classified'' #1-3. While the maxi-series ''can'' stand on its own as a complete story, those issues nonetheless serve as the prelude. So, they are vital to providing context to in-story references (like to the Ultramarine Corps' mission into Qwewq) and setting up core plot points of the main narrative (Neh-Uh-Loh, the Sheeda, and the Prophecy of the Seven).
25	* AlliterativeName:
26	** A side character is the FBI agent '''Hel'''en "Sky-High" '''Hel'''ligan.
27	** The main antagonist of Bulleteer's story is [[spoiler:the superheroine-turned-supervillain '''S'''ally '''S'''mart, alias '''S'''ally '''S'''onic, alias '''S'''ara '''S'''mart.]]
28	* AnimalTesting: Lance tested his Smartskin on a mouse before he tried it for himself. The mouse survived and went on to become Alix's pet Mickey while Lance suffocated to death.
29	* ArcNumber: Issue #0 [[LampshadeHanging has a character note how important the number seven seems to be]]. [[SubvertedTrope The thing is, it's actually ]] ''[[SubvertedTrope eight]]'', because there were eight members in the original Seven Soldiers. Sevens-that-are-actually-eights recur throughout the story. The things you need to pay attention to are stuff like [[spoiler:Zatanna's "-Anonymous" meeting. Notice how there are ''eight'' people there. The eighth is Misty.]] [[spoiler:The "Eighth Seventh Soldier" in the finale is the Spyder, who helps deliver the finishing blow to Gloriana.]] Even the ''series itself'' is an example - ''Seven Soldiers'' is eight distinct miniseries, one for each character plus ''Seven Soldiers #0-1''.
30	* ArcVillain:
31	** In the Zatanna issues, the antagonist is [[spoiler:Zachary Zor, a renegade time tailor who tried to ruin the fabric of reality by [[ManBehindTheMan creating the Sheeda]]]].
32	** Klarion's nemesis is revealed to be [[spoiler:Melmoth, a former king of the Sheeda who is actually the progenitor of every inhabitant of Limbo City. He tries to invade the city, but is repelled by Klarion, before meeting his demise in Frankenstein's story. In accordance, Melmoth seems to consider Frankenstein his primary foe (and the feeling is mutual)]].
33	** Bulleteer's archenemy is [[spoiler:Sally Sonic, a deranged former superheroine who becomes obsessed with ruining her life]].
34	** The villain in Mister Miracle's issues is Mr. [[ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} Dark Side]], a mob boss who hosts the essence of an evil god. He turns out to be the GreaterScopeVillain of the meta-series, as [[spoiler:he had agreed to let the Sheeda ransack the present in exchange for Aurakles]].
35	* AuthorAvatar:
36	** Nobeard of the Subway Pirates who bedevil the Manhattan Guardian is unilaterally considered a rendition of Morrison themself. Nobeard's archrival Allbeard thus represents Morrison's hated enemy Creator/AlanMoore. Since Morrison is writing the story, Nobeard is the one who wins their fight... although at the cost of [[spoiler:being exposed to radioactive material that riddles his body with fatal cancers.]]
37	** According to WordOfGod, [[spoiler:The Seven Unknown Men are all the authors who wrote themselves into DC Comics - meaning, of course, Morrison is among them (though not for Nobeard; they literally appeared as themself in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'').]]
38	* BathtubMermaid: Suli Stellamaris attends publicity events in a large specially made tank since she cannot walk on land or spend much time out of the water.
39	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: It's noticeable everyone requires spacesuits and masks in Mars' atmosphere except Frankenstein and Melmoth.
40	* BigBad: The Sheeda, led by [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Gloriana Tenebrae]], are the central antagonists of the overarching narrative and the threat the Seven Soldiers have to stop in the final issue. They attack Camelot in the past, leaving Shining Knight as the sole surviving warrior, and intend to ravage North America in the present.
41	* {{Bifauxnen}}: [[spoiler:[[SweetPollyOliver The Shining Knight]]]] is an androgynous young woman whom others often mistake for a delicate boy.
42	* BishonenLine: The Nebula Man actually becomes ''smaller'' when he returns as the Neh-Buh-Loh Man; he's clearly seen towering over the Soldiers in ''Justice League of America #100''.
43	* BlessedWithSuck: Bulleteer. Alix didn't want to be a superhero, her husband did. She was perfectly happy with a normal life, and after she received her powers she had to quit her job as a special needs teacher, then discovered her husband's second life and in a fit of despair tried to commit suicide by running until she hit something strong enough to kill her.
44	* BodyguardingABadass: After losing her job as a teacher, Alix becomes the bodyguard to a mermaid actress. While merfolk have a number of impressive powers in the DCU they are rather vulnerable on land so it makes perfect sense for Suli Stellamaris to get a bodyguard.
45	* BookEnds: Issue #0 ends with [[spoiler:the deaths of Greg Saunders's team of Soldiers]]; the conclusion in issue #1 ends with [[spoiler:the resurrection of the one slain Soldier, Mister Miracle.]]
46	* BrainTheft: Neh-Buh-Loh was charged with killing Misty Kilgore and bringing her brain back to Queen Gloriana. Unable to do it, he instead brought stole the brain of a telepath and offered that to Gloriana instead.
47	* BreakoutCharacter: Frankenstein appeared in both ComicBook/FinalCrisis and ComicBook/BlackestNight, got his own Flashpoint mini-series and had his own title for a while after the reboot. A different version of Sir Ystin also appeared in Creator/PaulCornell's ''ComicBook/DemonKnights''.
48	* CanonDiscontinuity:
49	** Bulleteer made a number of [[TheCameo cameos]] in other stories after hers ended. The catch is [[WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain she quit superheroing in the last issue of her series.]] It's most egregious when she appears in an incarnation of the Justice League seen in the series ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''... a series co-written by Morrison themself!
50	** Morrison ignored the ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'' comic's take on Klarion when writing this series because they thought that version -- best known for introducing himself as "Klarion... bum, bum, bum... the Witch Boy!" -- was silly.
51	%%* CelestialBody: The Nebula[=/=]Neh-Buh-Loh Man [[spoiler:was originally a miniature universe named Qwewq]].
52	* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:I, Spyder]]'s revamp is apparently killed in the 0 issue, but Shining Knight's book reveals he has survived and been turned into one of the Sheeda's brainwashed servants. He becomes very important in the conclusion, in which [[spoiler:he manages to break free from the brainwashing and shoot an arrow through [[BigBad Gloriana]]'s mouth, which causes her to fall off from her ship and into the streets below, where she meets her demise after being run over by Bulleteer]].
53	* ChromeChampion: Alix's skin was bonded with a metallic Smartskin.
54	* ClosetPunishment: Sally Sonic was shut away in a cupboard during her stay in the OrphanageOfFear.
55	* ContinuityPorn: The series references an absurd number of minor characters throughout DC history, with the most prominent example being [[spoiler:Zachary Zor, who appeared in a story from ''More Fun Comics #55'' as a one-shot villain for ComicBook/TheSpectre.]]
56	* {{Cowboy}}: Greg Saunders was a singing cowboy in his SecretIdentity.
57	* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: The Guardian was sponsored by a newspaper.
58	* CorruptTheCutie: A recurring theme in the maxi-series is the corruption of innocents.
59	** In ''Zatanna'', a minor villain called the Tempter tries to convince Misty to give up part of her soul.
60	** In ''Klarion'', Melmoth plies Klarion with sweets in order to lure him into the Deviant Ones.
61	** In ''Guardian'', the Newsboy Legion were corrupted by the Time Tailor, who rewrote their futures into bad ones.
62	** In ''Shining Knight'', Gloriana tries repeatedly to break Ystin's will.
63	** In ''Mister Miracle'', Granny Goodness and her Female Furies seek to lead Shilo Norman to Dark Side.
64	** In ''Bulleteer'', Sally Sonic was tricked into imbibing an evil serum that turned her into a jaded antihero.
65	** In ''Frankenstein'', Uglyhead, aided by the Sheeda, drives one of his classmates into self-destruction.
66	* CursedWithAwesome: Alix gains invulnerability and agelessness due to her moronic husband's failed attempt to make himself immortal to be with his extramarital lover, but her shiny new appearance means that she's not longer suitable for her job as a teacher for autistic children and her invulnerability stymies her attempt to kill herself when she realizes her husband was having an affair with a "superteen" porn star.
67	* CrypticBackgroundReference: The series includes a ton of references to things that never are (and might never be) fully explained so as to allude to a greater universe outside of the story's events. The specific context of the downfall of the Newsboys of Nowhere Street for example is left unclear.
68	* DeathByDespair: Guilt is a Sheeda weapon that torments it victims with painful truths much like a [[Myth/GreekMythology Harpy]].
69	* DecoyProtagonist: The zeroth issue is narrated by Shelly Gaynor, aka the Whip. [[spoiler:She, along with the rest of the 2nd team of Seven Soldiers, are killed at the end of the issue.]]
70	* DepravedBisexual: Gloriana's retinue includes both male and female slaves.
71	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: For 22 pages. Seven Soldiers #0 follows a team of fairly unlikable Z-list heroes who [[spoiler:all die at the end, at the hands of the newly introduced main threat.]] The story of the real protagonists starts after this.
72	* DumbBlonde: One of the superheroes seen at a convention is Dumb Bunny, an attractive blond woman who claims to have a brain made entirely of solid muscle.
73	* EldritchAbomination: Nebula/Neh-Buh-Loh Man is a pitch-black creature who resembles a horned humanoid. ''Frankenstein'' reveals he is [[spoiler:a sentient miniature universe]].
74	* EvilIsSterile: The Sheeda are so incapable of creating things that they have to travel through time and pillage previous civilizations in order to get the resources to maintain their own. The series as a whole could be considered a meta-commentary on the comic-book industry's tendency to plunder its own continuity for ideas.
75	* {{Expy}}: The Newsboy Army are an InUniverse one for classic Creator/JackKirby characters the Newsboy Legion, where the Guardian character originated.
76	* FaerieCourt: Gloriana Tenebrae ruled over the fairy-like Sheeda for centuries. Following her death, [[ComicBook/KlarionTheWitchBoy one of her husband's bastard great-grandchildren]] took over before he got bored and left. It's unclear who currently rules.
77	* TheFairFolk: The Sheeda were stated to be based on, and In-Universe source of the stories about, the Unseelie Court.
78	* FairyTaleMotifs: Misty's backstory is based on Literature/SnowWhite. [[spoiler:Gloriana is the WickedStepmother [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Evil Queen]] who wants to kill her, and the Neh-Buh-Loh Man is [[TheWildHunt the hunter]] who is hired to assassinate her, but refuses to go through with the mission]].
79	* FallenHero: Originally Sara Smart was a teen hero called Sally Sonic, but since she didn't age after her parent's deaths the state declared her a minor, took her house and forced her into an abusive orphanage. After she escaped she was taken in by a WWII era "hero," who had never been really all that heroic to begin with, who talked her into doing superpowered porn to make him money, got her addicted to drugs, and loaned her out to villains. By the time she meets Alix it has been a long time since she was anything like a hero.
80	* {{Familiar}}: The citizens of Limbo Town are accompanied by draagas, which are animals they share a symbiotic relationship with. Klarion's is a cat named Teekl, whom he can communicate with via telepathy.
81	* {{Fanservice}}: Zatanna goes through a few of her old costumes in ''Victory'', ''all'' of which are sexy. She says she "likes to look good".
82	* FateWorseThanDeath: The Terrible Time Tailor, an alias of Zor, punishes the Newsboy Army by forcing them to decide between death and [[spoiler:having their futures rewritten so they have miserable lives. The heroes choose the second option]].
83	* FauxYay: Mind Grabber Man, who has just started his career as a superhero, pretends to be gay to stand out among other heroes and to avoid his agent's romantic advances.
84	* {{Fetish}}: Bulleteer's husband, in-canon, had a superhero fetish. [[FandomNod It turns out that he wasn't exactly unique...]]
85	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Sir Ystin is a knight from the Arthurian ages who is teleported to modern day New York. The absurdity of the circumstances and the language barriers make it a massive challenge for Ystin to adjust to the new reality, though the final issue [[spoiler:shows she has begun attending High School, and Ali Ka-Zoom suggests she will be able to return to her time period eventually]].
86	* GenreSavvy: The Sheeda Queen [[spoiler:knows her people are phophesied to be defeated by a team of seven soldiers, so she deliberately attempts to kill any superhero team with seven members. To counter her, the Time Tailors arrange for the soldiers to never actually meet and form a concrete team.]]
87	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Gloriana Tenebrae, The Queen of Terror, is the cruel queen of the Sheeda, who plots to devastate countless civilizations across the ages. She is implied to be a far more ruthless ruler than her former husband, whose throne she has usurped.
88	* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: A running theme across the series is how many heroics are forgotten and left untold. Prominent examples include the last stand of the Seven Knights of Camelot being forgotten by the passage of eons and the rise and fall of the kid hero team the Newsboy Army (Ed actually tells the Guardian that the tale of their fall is "the mother of all scoops"). In a way the main narrative itself is this, as the entire point is that the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp are deliberately assembling a super-team that never "assembles" and defeats the threat by fate driving them to work together without knowing.
89	* GrowingUpSucks: The Newsboy Army is cursed by Zor, who rewrites their fates to deprive them of their brilliant futures. [[spoiler:Lil' Hollywood becomes an alcoholic, Kid Scarface turns into a crime lord, Ali Ka-Zoom is debilitated by schizophrenia, Baby Brain becomes a recluse, and Chop Suzi is killed at age 14 after being raped by Captain]].
90	* HenshinHero: Sara Smart only has her powers when she's transformed into her Sally Sonic appearance, but she hasn't been a hero in a long time and is a henshin villain by the time of her appearance.
91	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: As revealed in an issue of ''Bulleteer'', Boy Blue [[spoiler:summoned the Sheeda on the Iron Hand's behalf in #0 by blowing his horn]]; thus he unwittingly ensures that he's one of [[spoiler:their first victims]].
92	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: One of the "heroes" Greg Saunders recruits for his team is [[spoiler:the "new" Little Boy Blue, who turns out to be the nephew of Saunders' archenemy, Ramon Solomano. The boy is the one who summons the Sheeda to decimate the team, unwittingly perishing alongside them]].
93	* ImmortalitySeeker: In ''Bulleteer'', the titular heroine gained her unbreakable skin as a result of her scientist husband trying to preserve his own body in a metallic compound. Ironically, the compound ended up killing him.
94	* IntentionalHeartbreaker: The former KidHero Sally Sonic was seduced by Vitaman, an older superhero who learned that she was the daughter of the judge who had put him and his brother away. In order to avenge himself, he got Sally hooked on drugs and turned her into a criminal. Later, after getting free of him, Sally got revenge on all men by seducing married men and utterly ruining their lives before dumping them, which is how she became the archnemesis of Bulleteer, whose husband was her final victim, who died when he tried to give himself superpowers in the deluded belief that it would get Sally back.
95	* {{Irony}}:
96	** Lance begins an affair with Sally Sonic, intending for the two to become a superhero couple. Since he lacks powers of his own, he decides to experiment on his own body with Smartskin, a substance that bonds with collagen to make the skin indestructible. It's implied that the reason he died after exposing himself to the Smartskin is because he had taken off his wedding ring, allowing the material to coat his entire body and keep constricting until he couldn't breathe. His wife, Alix, survived because she had her ring on, which left a small gap on her finger so the metal didn't totally cover her. Though she now had the powers her husband was so obsessed with, her one desire is to [[IJustWantToBeNormal be a normal woman]].
97	** [[spoiler:The Spider's betrayal]] of the 1940s team is matched and inverted by [[spoiler:I, Spyder betraying Gloriana and thus helping the newer Soldiers defeat her.]]
98	* JigsawPuzzlePlot: A standard aspect of Morrison's stories. In this particular case, there's essentially 8 different narratives going on that intersect and cross over in ways that aren't immediately noticeable and will likely require multiple reads to fully understand.
99	* KnightInShiningArmor: Sir Ystin is a knight of Camelot who valiantly defends the world from the Sheeda by wielding the legendary sword Excalibur.
100	* LegacyCharacter:
101	** Bulleteer is based on Bulletman and Bulletgirl, superheroes who acted during the 1940's. She gets to meet her predecessor, who disapproves of her costume.
102	** The Manhattan Guardian is based on the Guardian who protected the Newsboy Legion.
103	** The Mr. Miracle in this series is Shilo Norman, the former protégé of the eponymous [[ComicBook/NewGods New God]].
104	* LesCollaborateurs:
105	** In ''Klarion'', the Submissionaries were installed to keep the people of Limbo Town compliant for when Sheeda returned.
106	** In ''Frankenstein'', Uglyhead cheerfully aids the Sheeda in their attempts to spread throughout his hometown.
107	%%ZCE* LetsSplitUpGang: The series was simply the ''Leading Comics'' formula, but on a grander, more epic scale.
108	* LuckySeven: The superheroes who attend a convention in ''Bulleteer #3'' criticize Gimmick Girl's decision to go into battle in a team of six, since said number is considered to be unlucky. One of them adds that five is good, but seven is even better.
109	* MagicalHomelessPerson: Former GoldenAge KidHero Ali-Ka Zoom grew up to be a hobo wizard after developing schizophrenia in adulthood.
110	* {{Matricide}}: [[spoiler:Nepton tries to kill his mother, the mermaid Suli, by poisoning her water tank, but Bulleteer manages to save her. He makes another attempt on her life at the end of the comic, and it's implied he succeeded, as Bulleteer was distracted investigating an apparent assassination attempt on Big Thunder]].
111	* MeaningfulRename: The Nebula Man now calls himself the Neh-Buh-Loh Man while the Oracle's name [[spoiler:turns out to be a corruption of "Aurakles".]]
112	* MortalityPhobia: Alix Harrower got her powers from an accident brought on by her husband's extreme obsession with his own mortality. Unable to cope with the thought of going grey or developing wrinkles, Lance Harrower tried to infuse his skin with a metal coating, but instead suffocated when the coating completely enveloped him. Alix herself became coated in the stuff after he grabbed her for help, but survived because the metal couldn't spread under her wedding ring, which left a small portion of normal skin for her to receive an intradermal cure.
113	* MsFanservice: The first issue of ''Bulleteer'' shows Alix both in and out of lingerie.
114	%%ZCE* MultiArmedAndDangerous: The Bride
115	* {{Necromancer}}: All of the residents of Limbo Town use necromancy to create slaves. They control the undead with rods, which Klarion uses to [[spoiler:enslave Frankenstein]] in the final issue.
116	* OfCorsetsSexy: Zatanna wears a corset in some of her costumes. She acknowledges that they were all designed to enhance her sexual appeal.
117	* OlderThanTheyLook:
118	** Deconstructed with Sally Sonic. Despite being in her 20s when her parents died, her eternal youth meant the DepartmentOfChildDisservices forcibly put her into an orphanage as they refused to believe she was an adult.
119	** "Eternal Superteens" is a business that creates porn of superpowered women who have eternal youth. All of the heroines featured still look like teenagers despite many of them implied to be decades or centuries old.
120	* OneExtraMember: In the conclusion, [[spoiler:I Spyder]] acts as an unofficial "eighth soldier" and helps defeat the villain. Given that [[spoiler:he]] was remade by the Seven Unknown Men, this was the whole point of the character both in and out of universe.
121	* OrphanageOfFear: Madame Eva Martinette's Bleakdale Home for Bereaved Children was run by an abusive woman. Sally, who was physically a child but mentally a grown woman, was forcibly sent there by mistake and used her powers to run away.
122	* PaintingTheMedium:
123	** There's a sequence in ''Victory'' where Zatanna and a few friends go through another dimension, and the scenery shifts to compensate. The panels become ''cubes'', for starters, and--it's remarkably difficult to describe.
124	** [[spoiler:During Zatanna's fight with Zor, he eventually starts ''ripping apart other panels'', and Zatanna defeats him by falling through the empty space on the page so she can ''beat him to the future''.]] Immediately following that, [[spoiler:she tries to ''reach out of the comic itself'', through a window to the Seven Unknown Men bordered with gears, typewriter heads, and colored ink.]]
125	* APirate400YearsTooLate: The Subway Pirates look and act like sea thieves, but as their name suggests, they operate by ransacking trains in the subways of Manhattan.
126	* PoorCommunicationKills: The Iron Hand spends decades hating Greg Saunders, the original Vigilante, and even orchestrates the coming of the Sheeda and [[spoiler:the deaths of Saunders's new Seven Soldiers team]] in the mistaken belief that Saunders was a racist after hearing him refer to one of the Hand's henchmen as "your kind." In fact, Saunders had recognized that said henchmen was a werewolf because [[spoiler:Saunders was too]].
127	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot:
128	** The series had something of a prologue in ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA Classified #1-3]]'' (collected in the trade paperback ''JLA: Ultramarine Corps''), which introduced the Sheeda and the Neh-Buh-Loh Man (well, ''re''introduced in the latter's case).
129	** Mister Miracle's story sows the seeds for ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', establishing that Darkseid won a war in heaven and the New Gods are now inhabiting human bodies.
130	** WordOfGod is that each of the seven individual series was intended as this. As part of their pitch, Morrison specifically used characters with long publication histories or legacies, but little to no time in the spotlight. The intention was to leave the characters with a conceptual hook or setup that could be used to launch ongoing titles. In the end, only Frankenstein got a (short-lived) run whilst [[ComicBook/Zatanna2010 Zatanna got a run]] as a sequel to Vertigo one-shot ''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic''.
131	* ProphecyTwist:
132	** One of the treasures the New Gods left to Aurakles was "The spear that was never thrown". [[spoiler:It turns out to refer to Aurakles's descendants. One of them is Alix Harrower[=/=]Bulleteer, who delivers the final blow to Gloriana Tenebrae when she accidentally rams her with a car while struggling with Sally Sonic for control of the vehicle.]]
133	** There is a prophecy that the Sheeda will be defeated by a group of seven soldiers, so they pragmatically look out for groups of seven and either eliminate them or [[VillainExitStageLeft run away when they can't win]] (as they did when they fought the Justice League). [[spoiler:But no-one said the seven soldiers had to be part of a single group.]]
134	* RedIsHeroic:
135	** The association between the colour red and action is invoked by Shining Knight during the speech at the end of her mini-series, when she announces her determination to slay the BigBad by declaring "Red am I in battle. Red the ravens that follow me at my heels. Gloriana, I am your death."
136	** Aurakles is the world's first superhero. In his origin story, he is presented in front of monochromatic backgrounds and his body is dyed in dull colours, which work in tandem to direct the reader's attention to Aurakles' vibrant red hair. In a similar manner, [[spoiler:the end of the issue has a mostly black and white panel that draws attention to Bulleteer's red hair, symbolizing both her being Aurakles descendant and her fulfilling her role as a heroine]].
137	* RevengeThroughCorruption: Vitaman was a criminal who was put away by Judge Smart. Once he gets out of prison, he gets his revenge by going after Smart's daughter, Sally Sonic. He seduces her, making her believe they would become a superhero couple. However, he get her involved in sex work, her hooked on drugs, and turned her into a criminal.
138	* SerialHomewrecker: The former Golden Age heroine Sally Sonic has become a pathological homewrecker as a result of being stuck in a permanently teenaged body, deliberately seeking out married men and sleeping with them specifically to ruin their marriages. For added villainy, after she finds out that her latest target, Lance Harrower, died in an accident, forcing his widow Alix to rent out her house in order to pay the bills, she moves in under her civilian identity, ingratiating herself with the unsuspecting Alix so that she can eventually kill her.
139	* ShoutOut:
140	** Alix's pet mouse is named WesternAnimation/{{Mickey\|Mouse}}.
141	** Melmoth is named after ''Literature/MelmothTheWanderer''.
142	** Bulleteer mentions how some people grow so obsessed with developing superpowers they make stupid decisions, such as interacting with "venomous insects and dangerous animals in the expectation of receiving some totem power". This is a reference to the Ezekiel Sims arc from ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski'', where the protagonist wonders if the radioactive spider that bit him and granted him his powers may in fact have been the avatar of a supernatural totemic entity.
143	* SinisterSubway: In ''The Manhattan Guardian'', the New York subway system is home to a bizarre underworld in which bands of subway pirates raid stations to kidnap commuters off the platforms as slaves, and their mad captains race each other in search of a 'god machine' somewhere deep under NYC.
144	* SpinOffspring: The short lived incarnation of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in ''Seven Soldiers'' #0 included the Whip III, granddaughter of the Whip II (a NewOldWest Franchise/{{Zorro}} wannabe) and great-great-granddaughter of the Whip I (an [[{{Western}} Old West]] Zorro wannabe); I, Spyder, son of the original [=7SoV=] member (and traitor) Alias the Spider; and Gimmix, daughter of Merry the Gimmick Girl and, therefore, niece of the first Star-Spangled Kid, who was also an original [=7SoV=] member. In ''Seven Soldiers'' #1, the Bulleteer turns out to be directly descended from [[spoiler:Aurakles, the world's first superhero.]]
145	* SpiritualAntithesis: In JLA, Morrison took the biggest names in the biggest teams of DC and made a grand, cosmic epic. Here, Morrison takes a forgotten team of lesser characters and explores them stepping up to the plate of saving the world.
146	* SplashOfColor: In Aurakles' origin story, the panel where the narrator mentions the secret of the enchanted spear is coloured in black and white, except for the hero's bright red hair. This colour scheme is replicated later in the comic, in the panel immediately after Bulleteer runs over Gloriana, where everything is monochromatic except for the heroine's red hair. [[spoiler:This is meant to represent how she is Aurakles' distant descendant, as well as the personification of the enchanted spear of legend]].
147	* StableTimeLoop: In the final issue, Klarion distracts Misty by proposing a theory that the Sheeda may have originated from a temporal paradox. [[spoiler:When the Sheeda went back in time to ransack Camelot, Melmoth was left behind. He would go on to impregnate the women from Roanoke, who gave birth to the human-Sheeda hybrids from Limbo Town. These offsprings would carry the Sheeda genes for centuries, ensuring the species' survival into the far future]].
148	* StockUnsolvedMysteries: The ''Klarion'' miniseries has a rather unique solution to the famous 16th-century mystery of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony missing colony of Roanoke Island]]. Their inhabitants retreated to an underground city and isolated themselves from the rest of the world.
149	%%ZCE* StockingFiller: Zatanna
150	* SuperZeroes: Bulleteer's story particularly focus on the "z-list" superheroes. A larger theme of the story is exploring lesser superheroics outside of the "Big Leagues" (in a way making this a SpiritualAntithesis to Morrison's own JLA work).
151	* TakeThat: At one point, Frankenstein says that "madmen have said that the meek shall inherit the earth". He is referring to UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.
152	* TimeAbyss: The Nebula Man is three billion years old.
153	* TimeTravelingJerkass: The Sheeda are an entire race of fairy-like humanoids from the far future who travel through time and pillage human civilization for raw materials to maintain their crumbling civilization. And then there's Melmoth, their former king, who went back in time to the days of the Roanoke colony and impregnated all of its female inhabitants.
154	* TotalPartyKill: Issue #0 [[spoiler:sees Greg Saunder's team get completely wiped out. Although I, Spyder is later revealed to have survived and turned into Gloriana's servant]].
155	* TransformationTrinket: Sara Smart uses the magical Whistle of the Wind Kings to transform into her super powered Sally Sonic form.
156	* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople: Alix has a pet mouse named Mickey that survived her husband experimenting with Smartskin on it. Both of them have metallic skin.
157	* WarriorPoet: Frankenstein can lengthily quote [[Literature/ParadiseLost Milton]] or Literature/TheBible even - or especially - in the middle of combat.
158	* WeakToMagic: Gloriana Tenebrae is vulnerable to the magic of [[{{Excalibur}} Caliburn]].
159	* WhipOfDominance: Shelly Gaynor is the grandaughther of a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero called The Whip and she decides to [[LegacyCharacter resurrect the name and becomes a whip-wielding heroine]], but unlike her grandpa, she adopts a {{Dominatrix}} theme with a {{Stripperiffic}} leather costume. She actually lampshades this, calling herself a superhero fetishist.
160	* WholePlotReference: Misty Kilgore's backstory is a retelling of the "Literature/SnowWhite" tale.
161	* YouFightLikeACow: "You have a ''stupid'' hat!" says Zatanna to the murderous Zachary Zor. Amusingly, this and saying his beard is stupid seems to get under his skin more than her actual rhetorical takedowns of his philosophy.
162	* ZergRush: Frankenstein at one point has to fight off a huge horde of [[KillerRabbit vicious, chemically-maddened woodland critters.]] There are enough that their combined body masses add up to several tons, which mean that when they all pile on they don't so much hurt him as bury him.
163

Context ComicBook / SevenSoldiersOfVictory2005