Morlocks Take Madripoor In Marauders #19

The gentrification of Lowtown stops here in Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Edgar Delgado and Cory Petit’s Marauders #19.

Christina Eddleman: Nineteen issues in, and I knew it had to happen sooner or later. The readers are going to be so disappointed. A fire and ice pun. Ian, at least you’re here to soften the blow. It feels like no time at all since we chatted about Magic #1. Welcome to the crew!

Ian Gregory: Evidently, I just can’t get enough of Gerry Duggan. First I’m on Cable, now I’m here on Marauders. Bobby and Pyro’s collective lameness aside, this was a pretty great issue to get started on.

UN Non-Intervention

CE: Last issue we found out that Donald Pierce (minus his sleeves) is the Madripoorian representative to the UN. Unluckily for the Marauders, his request to the UN to bar the team from Madripoor was granted. It’s amazing how easily the UN was able to produce a “peacekeeping naval force” to help protect the rich while they terrorize the poor. What’s your take on how this decision plays out in this issue, Ian?

IG: I know the X-Men are in no position to criticize villains getting second chances in the government, but Donald Pierce is a UN representative? That guy? You’d think his supervillain credentials would be well-established by now. Maybe that speaks to who the UN is really serving here. The infinitely rich and powerful Pierce can bend the UN to his will, having them babysit a grand total of five mutants while a score of Verendi reavers decimate the island. However, having the X-Men work in opposition to a cruel government bureaucracy easily subverted towards the whims of the rich and bigoted is a fruitful and resonant space for them.

CE: Duggan has not shied away from demonizing the rich in this run and it is always appreciated. Going to the UN in this case is somewhat like tattling to your parents when you’re a full grown adult. Does Madripoor not have the resources to protect themselves? Of course they do. This is a much more calculated move that requires The Marauders to think about their international appearance and standing within the world, the focus of their upcoming Hellfire Gala. I have enjoyed how nearly every villain the Marauders have encountered is not new to the X-Men: Donald Pierce, the awful children that make up Verendi, even the Reavers are a new spin on an existing group. While it feels like the Dawn and Reign of X are new territory in a lot of ways for mutants, Marauders has given us lots of elements that tie us to who the X-Men have historically been.

IG: Marauders has technically been a book about the underhanded aspects of Krakoan trading, but most of its encounters have been big and splashy fights, backed up by the obviously powerful members of the crew (Bobby, Pyro, and originally Storm). I like that this situation forces them to reconsider how they fight, and drags them into the international spotlight. It also reinforces one of the core messages of House of X: human governments cannot be trusted on the issue of mutants. The UN is entirely apathetic towards the people of Madripoor, and only interested in assisting and supporting Verendi; they are a human government, for the humans.

CE: For an organization that is supposed to protect human rights, apathetic is an understatement for their inaction. Systematic murder of the poor of Madripoor by the Reavers is beyond abhorrent and the UN’s course of action here is inexcusable. The Marauders response is truly the only course of action. To the sewers they must go!

Our Morlock Line Up

IG: With Callisto a main cast member, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Morlocks took center stage, but I was delighted to see this eclectic crew. Besides Masque, who we saw doing pro bono work at the hospital, and Marrow, a fan favorite, we get Hump, Brute, and Bliss who are D-list at best. Bliss in particular is such a bizarre character (does she look like Jean Grey? Yes, and you can blame Masque for that) and I’m glad that Duggan leaned into her unique powerset. I like that these minor Morlocks are getting not just major screentime in this issue but being set up in a place where they can belong.

CE: I have become entirely fascinated with Bliss after this issue, but I am somewhat skeptical to hear that at one point Masque shaped her to look like Storm instead of Jean – yikes [Ed. note: Uncanny X-Men #263 true believers!]. I enjoy the Jean look and Caselli’s take on her prehensile tongue is unsettling in an incredibly satisfying way. The brotherly duo of Hump and Brute is a perfect addition: they’re strong and look vaguely… aquatic? Amphibious? Green? They’re intimidating, which is the important part. It makes me wonder what other Morlocks have been hanging out in Arizona.

IG: Generally speaking the Morlocks are a chronically underused part of the X-Men universe, and when they do get used it’s often as generic bad guys (usually subordinated to the will of some other, greater villain). I love that we get to root for the Morlocks now, as they’ve always had some good points. Duggan has been consistently good about recognizing the deep bench of interesting characters available to the X-Men, and I hope that the Morlocks continue to recur, especially in this “protector of the people” role they’re given here.

CE: While Krakoa claims to welcome all mutants, the looks at which mutants haven’t settled there is always interesting. While the Hellfire Trading Company pays for these mutants to stay in the idyllic Rio Verde, Arizona retirement and golf community, they’re not living on Krakoa. Their choice to live separately from the Krakoan mutant paradise speaks either to their discomfort or distrust. I can’t say that I blame them either. A lifetime of trauma can do a whole lot to a person, but I’m not sure sending them on a covert mission to the Madripoorian sewers is exactly the best way to build that trust.

IG: I think that distrust is well-founded, too. Look at who exactly is on the Quiet Council, and you can see that the Morlocks don’t exactly have their interests represented. Krakoa has in many ways attempted to flatten the mutant identity, and the Morlocks are the mutant group with the most distinct culture and interests. I like that the Morlocks are actively involved in advancing the cause of mutants, not hidden away in Arizona, but I also like that they are doing so on their own terms, separate from Krakoa (though, I suppose you could argue that Kate, a member of the Quiet Council, is essentially deploying the monstrous Morlocks as her own paramilitary strikeforce while not actively advocating for them in the council).

Lowtown to Mutietown

CE: While the Morlocks may have made their home in Rio Verde, they receive quite the warm welcome in Lowtown – or Mutietown – after running off the Reavers. Beating up a few Reavers seemed a bit like putting a bandaid on an open wound, but coupled with Bishop’s explosive presence at Frankenstein’s lab, hopefully the celebration is well deserved.

IG: I think now is the time to bring up something bothering me about this issue. Madripoor has been essentially passed around from foreign corporate power to foreign corporate power ever since its inception. Even characters very closely tied to Madripoor, like Tyger Tiger and Viper, aren’t actually from Madripoor. As far as local characters, the best I could find was Scorpion (Carmilla Black), and even she was raised outside of Madripoor. It frustrates me that there is no local resistance to the Reavers depicted in this issue, just a one-sided slaughter only halted by the equally foreign intervention of the Marauders and Morlocks. Madripoor has never been developed as a real location, but it feels even more like a stock setting when there’s no attention paid to the interests and power of the local populace. Essentially, this is another in an endless series of proxy wars carried out within the streets of Madripoor, and it feels like a repetition of the Morlock problem I outlined above: this place exists only to service other, greater villains, and does not possess a local character and agency of its own.

CE: This is the most I’ve encountered Madripoor in comics, but it seems like this issue extends outside of Marauders. Creating a fictional nation to serve plot purposes is a dicey game. As we’ve seen with Krakoa, developing the cultural identity of a fictional nation can be complex. However, introducing characters with personality beyond the impoverished victim of colonialism is nowhere near as complex. While the problem of Madripoor being primarily an underdeveloped narrative tool can’t be fixed in one issue, I don’t find it impossible to believe that Duggan could bring us more in terms of the people who make up the nation. Ian, your insight here is incredibly important, and as Madripoor seems like it’s going to continue to be a fixture in Marauders going forward, I do truly hope it’s something that’s addressed.

IG: Not only is it important to give Madripoor more identity than “seedy South Asian port city” just as a moral endeavor, it would also give the story more weight and credibility. I’m hoping that Duggan naming Ai Tran (the girl who saved Lockheed, and is saved by the Morlocks) moves her more into the spotlight as some Madriporian representation. The scene in the bar between Marrow, Masque, and Ai does so much more to establish the X-Men as part of Madripoor than their opening of a hospital. It shows them interacting with and bonding with the people of Madripoor on an individual, human level, not as a kind of commerce to be bought and exploited. I think that the Morlocks are uniquely situated among the X-Men cast to do that.

CE: Duggan’s style of storytelling consistently plants seeds that are harvested much later. It’s a form of long term storytelling that looks beyond the trade, and I have enjoyed covering the title immensely. While we may not see the payoff immediately, I have no doubts we’ll see it down the line. There have been no insignificant characters in Marauders, and the cast has had a slow, intentional growth. I’m looking forward, as always, to the next issue.

IG: The longer that the Marauders spend in Madripoor, the more likely it is for the issues I’ve raised to improve. You’re right that Duggan is good at the long game, which gives me hope as to how this series will proceed. And, to be clear, I liked this issue overall. It made some big moves (mainly, giving Morlocks time to shine) that I really liked, and the beat-by-beat segments were a lot of fun. Duggan has totally nailed down the individual voices of these characters and has a great sense of action and comedic timing. We’re not done with Madripoor yet, and I hope that the trends set in this issue continue.

X-Traneous Thoughts

Kate’s necklace is very purposefully present in this issue, which I appreciate.
Bobby has probably given some variation of that “afraid to cut loose” speech no less than ten times. I’m glad this time it was in service of making a giant, flaming ice-phallus.
When will Zhao get some adult friends?
The fact that the Reavers were told to avoid the hospital seems significant beyond getting Masque ticked off that he’d been lied to.
Calisto can give one heck of a speech.
Bliss… call me.
Ending Krakoan: Farewell