Those of you who read Seven Soldiers of Victory will know that there wasn’t any real victory had by any of the soldiers. Shining Knight is, perhaps, one of the new Seven Soldiers that was mentioned in the aforementioned comic, but I don’t know for sure. I’m not really sure how he ties into the story just yet, but I do know that his was an awesome comic.

Grant Morrison (writer) tells a very different version of Camelot from the one we know. His plot is very compelling and well done. I was deeply enthralled and excited throughout the comic. It is hard to pinpoint what makes a superbly-written comic, but this was one if ever there was. The commentary during the battle that opened the comic was great, but it had a lot of help from Simone Bianchi, the artist. Bianchi’s art is unusual, it combines heavy wavy lines with intense shadowing which is excellent throughout the comic, but comes together to form some truly amazing cells here and there. (Notice the close-up cells of both Justin and Gloriana, as well as Olwen and her wings.) I also really liked the darker-themed Knights of the Round Table and their ominous, spiky armor.

Like I mentioned before, Shining Knight #1 begins with a battle between Camelot and the Sheeda, a darkelf-looking race that rides worms and shoots lasers. They are from “The Land of the Vampire Sun,” a place called “Summer’s End.” While most of their purpose and society remain shrouded in mystery, we do know that their aim is to destroy civilization and return in 1000 years to do so again when the world has rebuilt. There is a very cool part where a wicked Sheeda, who looks like a void with stars in it, fights Lancelot, but you’ll have to check that out on your own.

Sometime later, or perhaps during the battle, a young knight named Justin and the Pegasus, Vanguard, sneak into the Castle Revolving catacombs. The Castle Revolving is a floating, alien vessel of the Sheeda, which looks almost like it is alive. In the catacombs, he finds that the Sheeda have used the bodies of his people to form an army of undead guards against intrusion. He even has to cut down the corpse of Arthur, who is now “the King of Worms.” They fight their way to the Inexhaustible Cauldron, or the Undry, which is a cauldron full of magic stuff which can bend time and bring the dead back to life. Justin was hoping to use it to revive Camelot’s heroes. Inside it he finds Olwen, a girl with butterfly wings. His relationship with her is unknown at this point. Suddenly Gloriana Tenebrae appears with Arthur’s sword, Caliburn. Gloriana is the green, tentacle headed leader of the Sheena, or at least she seems like the leader. Justin takes the sword and strikes her down, but she just melts. Seeing he has no other choice, he lifts the cauldron and heaves it into a pool of its own time-warping goo. Justin tries to grab Olwen, but she stabs him and reveals herself as a changeling in disguise. With no way out, Justin and Vanguard jump into the goo and appear in the night sky above a modern day Los Angeles. Vanguard is not able to get his bearings before he hits the ground. Justin is okay, but it seems that Vanguard is dead, and Justin is naturally arrested.

Let me warn you now that all of the Seven Soldiers series are going to be good, really good. Don’t wait until they are all back issues to buy them, because I have the feeling that these are going to be hard to find. Why? Because I said so, that should be good enough for you.

-Fumanchu