''Sovereign Seven'' is a

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-publishing, self-published or published by a corporate publisher. I ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

, created by

Chris Claremont Christopher S. Claremont (; born November 25, 1950) is an English-born American comic book writer and novelist. Claremont is best known for his 16-year stint on ''Uncanny X-Men'' from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer,Clarem ...

and

Dwayne Turner Dwayne Turner is an American comic book artist and illustrator in the film and video game industry. Biography Turner began his professional career in the late 1980s while still in college DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Publication history

Launched in April 1995, ''Sovereign Seven'' was created by writer

and artist

Dwayne Turner Dwayne Turner is an American comic book artist and illustrator in the film and video game industry. Biography Turner began his professional career in the late 1980s while still in college Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

and the ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'' franchise in 1991. It was the first creator-owned title set in the DC Universe. The title met with middling success and was cancelled after 36 issues (three years), in June 1998, after which Claremont returned to Marvel.

Fictional team history

The Sovereign Seven are a group of seven members of royal families from planets that were destroyed by a Rapture. Each was saved by the leader of the team - Cascade. The original group consists of Cascade, Finale, Rampart, Reflex, Indigo, Network and Cruiser. Rampart is killed and replaced by the DC character

Power Girl Power Girl, also known as Kara Zor-L, Karen Starr, and Paige Stetler, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books by DC Comics, making her first appearance in ''All Star Comics'' #58 (January/February 1976).''Who's Who in the DC Unive ...

in #31. For a time, the group operates out of a mysterious coffee house (the "Crossroads Coffee Bar") which is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Time portals open inside doorways to areas unfamiliar or well-known to the Sovereigns, who work as employees to earn their keep. The coffee house is run by supporting characters Violet Smith and Pansy Jones, comic-book counterparts of the musical alter-egos of

Emma Bull Emma Bull (born December 13, 1954) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her novels include the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo- and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula-nominated ''Bone Dance'' and the urban fantasy ''War for the Oa ...

and

Lorraine Garland Lorraine Garland (born 15 February 1963) is a folk musician from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She sang and played fiddle with science fiction author Emma Bull in folk duo The Flash Girls, with the band Folk UnderGround, and in the goth / folk / rock / ...

—

The Flash Girls The Flash Girls are a now defunct folk music duo based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The duo consisted of Emma Bull, a noted science fiction author, and Lorraine Garland, also known as "The Fabulous Lorraine". Garland is also notable as Neil Gai ...

—of whom Claremont is a fan.Review of The Flash Girls' debut CD ''The Return of Pansy Smith and Violet Jones'' (SteelDragon Press/Spin Art, 1993)
. Accessed May 25, 2008 The Sovereign Seven battle villains including Darkseid, Maitresse, and the Female Furies.

Membership

* Cascade (Rhian Douglas) is the leader of the Sovereign Seven and has the ability to cascade, or teleport, both herself and others. Her ability generally requires some knowledge of the destination or that she be provided with a "waypoint" by Network. Cascade fled her mother, Maitresse, who ruled Cascade's homeworld with unyielding

omnipotence Omnipotence is the property of possessing maximal power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as ...

. * Network (Taryn Haldane) is the first of the Sovereigns to meet Cascade, and is the motivating force behind gathering them. Network's homeworld is never detailed. She is a

telepath Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

, and never hesitates to draw the information she needs from the minds of those around her. It has been shown that when no other people are within range of her powers, or when her powers are suppressed, she is fully

illiterate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and

aphasic Aphasia, also known as dysphasia, is an impairment in a person's ability to comprehend or formulate language because of dysfunction in specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine, but aph ...

, unable to read, speak, or understand any language. It is hinted in several storylines that Network would eventually become a terrorist for captured or controlled telepaths. * Finale (Pahe Leilani Favaela) is a warrior from a society reminiscent of pre-American

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. She is said to have come from a water world. She makes several references to Mother Ocean and The Great Orca. To defend her world from the Rapture, Finale was forced to kill her world and its inhabitants. As a result, Finale fears water since joining the Sovereigns. She fears what will happen if the Mother Ocean of Earth finds out who she is. Finale wears full body armor throughout the series, and we never truly see her face. * Rampart (Jaffar Ibn Haroun Al Raschid) is a prince of a Muslim-like society. He has the ability to manifest force fields. He is generally considered to be attractive, as the local girls tend to swoon in his presence. * Reflex (Walter Thorsson) is a speedster from a seemingly Nordic/Christian heritage. Unlike most characters with super-speed, both in DC and Marvel comics, Reflex is a large person. This causes some problems for him when dealing with normal, everyday things like typing. He does have, as his name suggests, well-honed reflexes. * Cruiser (Nicholas Helicon) is a telekinetic who fuels his powers with his body mass. As a result, he's always hungry. Throughout the series, Cruiser goes from incredibly skinny and 'running on empty', to quite fat, but with plenty of power in reserve. * Indigo is one of the most mysterious of the Sovereign Seven. 'He' is an enigma, without a true identity; even the pronoun "he" is arbitrary. When he desires it, Indigo can go completely unnoticed. His presence simply is not registered, whether it's in a dark hallway or a crowded street. He is also the consummate persuader. He can convince almost anyone (or anything) to do what he wants. He is a master infiltrator, able to get into and out of secure areas. He is also the Sovereigns' tactician, carrying out Cascade's orders no matter how difficult.

References

External links

DCU Guide: Sovereign 7

DCU Guide: Sovereign 7 Title Index

* * {{comicbookdb, type=title, id=1855, title=''Sovereign Seven'' 1995 comics debuts Comics by Chris Claremont DC Comics titles