Dum, dum, dum, Seven Soldiers of Spring is in the mood for the kind of mischief that can only be caused by a meddling witch-boy and his cat!
In Limbo Town, the people live beneath the earth. They raise their dead (male) ancestors as Grundy-Men to labor at mining a glowing blue rock they take to the Market somewhere further up, past the Wicket Gate. They gather in their church to worship their unseen god Croatan.
Yes, as the great bard Yankovic the Weird warned, it's hard work and sacrifice, living in a Puritan paradise. And indeed, Klarion does think it bites, living in a Puritan paradise. He can't wait to be considered an adult, allowed to travel past the Wicket Gate to learn the truth of Croatan. And maybe, just maybe, he can follow his father's path to the mysterious Blue Rafters! They have cops, and traffic lights, quite unlike a Puritan paradise.
OK, enough of that. I considered leaving it as 'Amish Paradise,' since even though Klarion's not Pennsylvania Dutch, parts of this story are very much like a sheltered, curious child going on Rumspringa and plunging right into the deep end. Limbo Town is caught between the same two pulls that so often afflict human societies: the pull to change and the pull to stagnate. The village has formed a parliament, and Klarion's stepfather thinks they might someday be able to expand back to the Blue Rafters, while the Submissionaries, exemplified by the stern firebrand Judah, would have no change from how things have been for 400 years, especially when Teekl captures one of the little fairies that herald the coming of Sheeda.
Judah uses that as pretext to crush the expansionist faction, and Klarion ends up in the crosshairs because he couldn't resist the urge to snoop and spy on Judah. He flees to the surface, and finds Blue Rafters is more than he ever imagined, in ways good and bad. Croatan doesn't exist, the room he was once held is the one where No-Beard and Allbeard fought over the 'six-sided probability engine.' Which apparently neither of them took, because Klarion finds it on the floor. But one of his own people who he meets up there quickly tries to sell Klarion to men seeking others like him, all for porno mags and liquor. The world of plenty above too tempting after the deprivation and restraint down in Limbo Town.
(Klarion also escapes the terrible chimera the submissionaries become because No-Beard - with the Guardian aboard - runs the chimera over while pursuing All-Beard on a 'subsecret' rail line that can only be accessed by one who knows the language of the God who created the walls in the first place.
After finding what those subway pirates were fighting over, he also hitches a ride on a handcart from a kid whose first handcart was taken by Guardian in the 2nd issue of his mini-series. All she got in return was Jake Jordan's helmet, which doesn't even fit! Klarion points out it's in how you look at it, and turned upside-down, the helmet could make a fine pot. That would seem contingent on the eyeholes having some sort of protective covering, otherwise you could only fill the "pot" maybe halfway. Is that something we're not meant to consider, or a hint Klarion's helpful advice is not always on the up and up?
Also, given that Limbo Town is meant to be populated by the residents of the Roanoke colony, which was off the coast of the Carolinas, it's a little strange that their access to the world above is beneath New York City. Magic, amirite?)
Is the vice Gluttony or Greed? Klarion meets Mr. Melmoth, who encourages him to experience the world. And Klarion takes to it, gorging on sweets, gawking at the skyscrapers and people in wild-eyed wonder and excitement. Melmoth has a connection to Limbo Town, the Sheeda-Queen, and I think is the man the Newsboy Army met in their final adventure in Slaughter Swamp. If so, Irving doesn't present him as a shadowy figure the way Stewart did; his face is oddly narrow (his whole body seems almost laterally squished), forehead enormous, and the shading Irving uses on Melmoth's cheeks suggests concentric circles. Worlds within worlds, schemes within schemes.
Melmoth has his own squad of kids, the "Deviants" (seen above), who, with Klarion, add up to 7. Is Melmoth aware of the prophecies against the Sheeda, and trying to create his own team, under his control?
Well, probably not, because the Deviants are told they're just the "kid" team. Turn 16, they become an adult and can move up to "Red Team". One is about to turn 16, and the transition is marked by the ringing of a bell somewhere unseen, but always heard. In between panels, in between speech balloons, always inserting itself as time moves forward. In much the same way Klarion apparently marked the time until he would be considered a witch-man by the bells (he remarks it is 167 bells away in the first issue.) But Red Team is not what any of them suspect (we'll discuss the facts of it in a month), more similar to what Melmoth did to the Newsboy Army, showing them their future/trying to force them to grow up. Again, it's Klarion's desire to know everything that reveals the truth of many things.
So, back to the vice. Greed or Gluttony? My lean is to Greed, because (again, going off Wikipedia) its counter is Charity. When Klarion learns Melmoth's true goal and what it means for Limbo Town, his initial plan is to. . .ignore it. Not his problem. He's going to stay in Blue Rafters and enjoy himself. But when Teekl resists, Klarion agrees to return home and try to warn his family. Even when they plan to burn him at the stake for violating their rules, when it falls to him to protect them, he does.
He learns the true secret the submissionaries hide, though he's distinctly unimpressed, and undergoes a ritual to drive Melmoth out, for now. The ritual threatens to destroy him, but he's saved by his mother, and the knowledge the women of the village hold to themselves. For the first time in the series, Klarion doesn't try to pry. He returns to the surface, but now is intent, if not to lead, at least to fight. So it feels like Charity fits best (Gluttony's opposite is apparently Chastity.) Klarion wants to know all the secrets, but not let the knowing diminish his fun. But he also has to learn to use the knowledge to help others, not just himself. Does he succeed at that? Welllll. . .