variable-arity arg weirdness

gistfile1.clj

(def person1 {:fname "John" :mname "Q" :lname "Doe"})
(def person2 {:fname "Jane" :mname "P" :lname "Doe"})

(defn fname-compare [p1 p2] 
  (do 
    (println "Comparing fname")
    (compare (:fname p1) (:fname p2))))

(defn lname-compare [p1 p2] 
  (do 
    (println "Comparing lname")
    (compare (:lname p1) (:lname p2))))

(defn mname-compare [p1 p2] 
  (do 
    (println "Comparing mname")
    (compare (:mname p1) (:mname p2))))


(defn compose-comparators [& comparators]
  (println (type comparators)) ;; let's see what type comparators is
  (fn [x y]
    (let [result 
          (->> comparators
              (map #(% x y))
              (filter #(not (zero? %)))
              first)]
      (if (nil? result)
        0
        result))))

user=>  ((compose-comparators fname-compare lname-compare mname-compare)  person1 person2)
clojure.lang.ArraySeq
Comparing fname
14

user=> (def x ((compose-comparators fname-compare lname-compare mname-compare)  person1 person2))
clojure.lang.PersistentVector$ChunkedSeq
Comparing fname
Comparing lname
Comparing mname
#'user/x
user=> x
14