"...There's No Point In Asking, You'll Get No Reply..."

JLA: Classified #1-3: "Island Of The Mighty"/"Master Of Light"/"Seconds To Go"

While not officially part of the Seven Soliders project, Morrison's three issue inauguration of this new JLA spotlight series actually has a lot more raw data about the evil nemesis that's behind, you know, whatever it is that Seven Soldiers will eventually have to fight.  It introduces the Sheeda, which we'll be seeing a lot more of, and Neh-Buh-Loh, who shows up here and there. 

It also, by default, introduces the nemesis we first see in Shining Knight #1, when Neh-Buh-Loh drops this on us, as per his origin: "My original country is in the cold region of The Vampire Sun.  I was born of the eternal fogs, there in Last Country.  Neh-Buh-Loh, The Huntsman, am I, Master of the Wild Ride.  I prepare the way for my Queen Of Terror, who will come soon.  I will spread at her feet a carpet of skulls."  We see pretty much all of this in the opening sequence of Shining Knight #1, so it kind of makes sense that Justin's book is pretty much where the main SS story gets started.

This story also serves as a kind of antithesis to what Seven Soldiers is really all about.  This is a widescreen, big action story with Sci-Fi Closets, Gorilla Terrorists, and Hijacked Superheroes.  So, pretty much your typical Morrison JLA story.  What we'll see in Seven Soldiers is much more about the mundane aspects of superheroics, and the battles the protagonists engage in are on a much smaller and personal scale.  You'll notice that the threat in this story is global and that the only thing personalizing the conflict for, say, Batman, is the potential for destruction of everything, and by default, potentially something he has a personal investment in.  Everything that the Soldiers end up facing, threatens either themselves or someone they love directly.  An intersting and potentially important distinction.  And possibly the reason why a reader is automatically invested in a character that they have had no previous exposure to.

Also, just to note, Ed McGuiness is completely insane on this book.