A New Crew Sets Forth In Marauders #23

With the Hellfire Gala over the Marauders set sail for more battles and action. However, maybe it is time to bring new blood ashore. Gerry Duggan, Ivan Fiorelli, Rain Beredo and Cory Petit dispatch Marauders #23.

Christina Eddleman: Ian, I’m really happy to be back to chat about our favorite group of mutants: Kate, Storm, Emma, Bobby…. Oh wait. This cover. Is it really Marauders? Was there an election or something? Looks like we’ve got a lot to discuss!

Ian Gregory: Well, Kate’s on there, but so is Banshee, Tempo, and Bishop, also known as Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Issue. This is a bit of a roster shake-up, complete with a warehouse dust-up, and while it caps off one story from last issue, it seems like it’s trying to set up a new status quo for the Marauders. Let’s get into it!

The War for Drugs

Christi: So with the Hellfire Gala having hung over a lot of our recent issues, one might have forgotten the whole purpose of the Marauders: to operate the black market of Krakoan drugs, oh and I guess save oppressed mutants when it’s convenient! This issue really zeros in on the black market for Krakoan drugs. It’s amazing to think there are life saving medicines that people and governments don’t trust, but it is the case with Krakoan drugs. While it’s strange to see the “good guys” operating what appears to be a drug cartel of sorts, it is under the job description for the Marauders. Ian, what are your thoughts on the groups we see here in conflict over Krakoan drugs?

Ian: Okay, so we’ve got the Irish Mafia on their home turf, the Russian Mob, and the Reavers, who have apparently gone fully international since we last saw them on Madripoor. The characterization of who wants these drugs is super thin (really, the best we’ve got is “Nationality + Name for Organized Crime”?) but at least we get some payoff on things happening in other parts of the line. The shortage of drugs means that real people are suffering, and the most we get to that effect is a couple of jokes about someone’s nana. 

I suppose what bothers me most  about the structure of this issue is that the Marauders are finally given what could be a long-term problem (production issues have plunged the black market into total chaos, complete with interference by Verendi) that is then immediately solved within the same issue (Arrako, with Tempo’s help, will quickly mass-produce drugs to make up for the shortage). Every time I think Duggan wants to start setting up a new long-term storyline, he nips it in the bud. Essentially, this entire issue amounted to a single fight in a warehouse (plus the Wilhelmina stuff, which we’ll address later). This is something of a return to form for the Marauder’s stated purpose, but it still doesn’t feel like the book is moving anywhere.

Christi: That’s a valid critique in terms of long term storytelling. Marauders has never been what you’d call a villain of the week (month?) book, and the early issues did give me a real sense of sowing seeds. The most developed long term storytelling we’ve seen is Kate’s murder, resurection, and vengence: the story has never really been about the Marauders purpose. We’ve had some nice character tableaus and a handful of team fights, but Marauders has never really functioned like a team book. The issue from this year that has felt most like the Marauders at their best was the King in Black tie-in issue, of all things: helping those in need, social justice, swift action against people clearly labeled as “bad guys.” The Marauders operating a drug cartel and fighting crime syndicates feels like the X-Men landed in the DCU. I’m not disappointed to see this plotline fizzle, but it does make me wonder why it’s here at all. As a reminder that the Reavers are still bad guys to worry about, perhaps?

Ian: I’m not so worried about the moral ambiguity of the Marauders, which I feel is actually one of the selling points of the series. I like to see Kate’s general optimism and desire to help people run up against Emma’s mercenary attitude – and the both of them against Shaw’s even more brutal approach. The developing relationship between Kate and Emma has been a consistent strength of this series. I think my biggest problem with this series is that it feels like we’ve been in a holding pattern since around issue 12. What does Emma want? What does Kate want? None of these characters seem to have an agenda or plan other than “maintain the status quo,” which means that none of them are particularly interesting to read about. Every time a new potential story or problem appears to give this book some focus (like the drug shortage here, or Lourdes in the last few issues) it just as quickly vanishes. The end result is that our characters have a nice little warehouse fight as if it’s New Mutants #93 or something – and that’s not a comparison you ever want your book to make.

Christi: The warehouse fight is a backdrop, and a poorly constructed one at that. An underground Krakoan facility with apparently no security has to be saved. For a people that just terraformed a planet, it seems incredibly unlikely and a very flimsy story. While joking about the common nature of Sean Cassidy’s name, having Krakoa alerted to a break in by a random local instead of any sort of security system doesn’t really hold up to a second thought in terms of the world building we’ve seen. If this is the fight that brings our new line-up together, it could’ve been much more impactful.

Our New Lineup

Ian: Let’s talk about our new team. Marauders has been pretty liquid these last few months, thanks to no small number of disruptions in events and series ending and launching and so on. Our line-up here is: Banshee, Emma Frost, Kate Pryde, Lockheed, Tempo, and Jumbo Carnation. Before we really get into these choices, I want to draw attention to Ivan Fiorelli’s art, which really makes this fight a lot more fun than it should be. Emma, Kate, and Lockheed are all holdovers, and Banshee we knew was coming to the cast. Here, he’s played mostly for laughs (him ducking from gunfire and yelling “I don’t want to give you the business!” is a solid gag), but the grim zombie-Banshee stuff in pre-Krakoa Astonishing X-Men never sat right with me, so I think casting him in a more comedic role works perfectly well. The two surprises are Tempo, who we last saw losing the X-Men vote, and… Jumbo. Before we get into that inclusion, what do you think about Tempo’s new place on the Marauders?

Christi: I am not incredibly familiar with Tempo. We saw her back in Marauders #10 working with Forge in the distillery. While I’m fairly familiar with her on our villainous teams like the MLF and Sinister’s Marauders (shameless plug for Chrises on Infinite Earths episodes covering X-Cutioner’s Song, Civil War and Messiah Complex), my knowledge of her is mostly as a background character. Is there much else to know about her at this point?

Ian: The fact is that Tempo has pretty much been a background character since her creation, which is what I think makes her appearance on this team so exciting. She has a ridiculously powerful and versatile mutant ability (way more useful than her bit-villain past would suggest), and she’s a black woman who isn’t Storm, another rarity for the X-Men. I hope she grows into a recurring character with a more defined personality and background, and I’m encouraged that Duggan is at least calling back to her days as a terrorist in this issue. There’s not a lot to analyze with Tempo so far, but there’s a lot to look forward to.

The other major addition to the team this week is Jumbo Carnation, who has previously appeared many times in Marauders, but always in his chosen profession: as a fashion designer. It was beyond bizarre to see him knock down a wall and knock heads with the rest of the team, and I kept expecting some kind of explanation: he was accidentally taken along, he happened to be in the area, or so on. Instead, one of the most prominent non-combat mutants, and one of the only mutants who actually provides a concrete example of mutant culture, just casually switches into superhero mode. This was disappointing to me because seeing Jumbo fight felt like it cheapened his character. It’s not helped that he has some really unfortunate lines: “The only thing you’ve hurt is my drip — but now you’ve really honked me off!” was painful to read (also, Tempo’s use of “sus” did not work for me). What’s your take on this ready-to-rumble Jumbo?

Christi: I like that mutants can happily exist doing things that aren’t super-heroing work. Sans explanation, Jumbo’s presence is jarring. Absent context, he is, as you said, cheapened. If he’s to remain as a member of the Marauders, (which I do hope he doesn’t) there needs to be a lot more groundwork laid before I could buy in. I agree that Tempo has a lot of space to develop as a character and I hope that she doesn’t wind up occupying the same space as Pyro, a reformed villain as a background character on a team that never feels like a team. I can get excited at the potential, but it’s Charlie-Brown-trying-to-kick-the-football excitement.

Under Wilhelmed

Ian: Well, there’s a B-Plot in this issue too, Christi. We’re returning to the Wilhelmina story that took up about half of the previous issue. Andrea and I had some not-so-kind words for this story then, and I don’t think it’s improved any. I can’t help but shake the feeling that this is meant to be a simple, “feel good” story about abuse, where a group of women empower another woman to take revenge on her abuser. That kind of – smugness is too harsh, but maybe self-satisfaction, makes this story hard to read and even harder to believe. It’s a very glib take on a complex story, and it’s not made any better by the fact that this is Wilhelmina’s pretty much only piece of character development since her introduction. I still don’t like it. What about you?

Christi: I was so unsettled by this storyline alongside that of Lorde’s abuse by Shaw that I declined to cover last issue. Sexual and relational trauma and abuse is a highly personal topic for me. It is a complex issue that it has taken years of medication and therapy to grapple with. Never once in all of that process did I ever wish to have memories restored or a confrontation with an abuser. The Cuckoos were out of line and intrusive. Whatever feminine camaraderie Duggan hoped us to find in this moment is clearly manufactured by someone entirely detached from the issue. I spent a lot of time stewing over all of the ways that issue bothered me. The lack of nuance and agency of the women who were victimized by men made me incredibly angry. Lourdes was essentially re-fridged. Wilhelmina was manipulated and forced through flashbacks. 

When we saw Kate, Emma, and Storm take vengeance against Shaw for Kate’s murder there was a level of satisfaction to it. It was payoff for a well-developed story central to the plot with characters we knew well. We could cheer and champion powerful women crushing an evil man under their heels. This was not that. Restoring memories of repeated childhood trauma to explain why an underdeveloped villain is bad and “solving” her badness by allowing her vengeance against her abuser treats abuse as a convenient plot device.

What I’ve seen recently in Duggan’s storytelling is reliant upon the readers filling in the gaps with common stereotypes. “You had a bad daddy” is enough to establish empathy for a narrative we’ve all heard before. It doesn’t tell us the story, just asks us to understand what isn’t said so the burden of saying it, of creating compelling characters and stories can be passed on. It’s not only lazy, it’s actively harmful to victims. Victims are not one-size fits all and no one should be expected to flesh out a character in their minds due to the abuse they suffered.

Ian: I don’t think there’s anything I can add to what you’ve said. I simply got a pit of dread when Wilhelmina leaves the Hellfire Club (and Kade) at the end of this issue: what if this is set-up for like, four more of these vignettes about the Hellfire Kids? If Wilhelmina represents the standard Duggan is setting, I’m not sure I want backstory on those characters. Or, if Wilhelmina’s story is a one-off, why her specifically? This story is so half-baked and offensive that I cannot imagine what Duggan thinks Marauders gains from it. I’m glad it’s over.

Christi: The best that I can say about this issue is that I can see ways for Marauders to progress as a book going forward. I’m not in love with how our new line up is introduced but I am interested to see where it goes. Marauders has been stagnant and directionless. I’m not certain if Duggan’s attention and efforts have been too divided, but what was one of my top X-Books has not lived up to the standard it set for itself.

Ian: I think your point about division is spot on – Duggan was responsible for three simultaneous books (Cable, X-Men, and Marauders), which is a lot for anyone to write monthly. With Cable having reached its conclusion, I’m hoping he’ll have some more time to spare on Marauders. In some ways, Marauders hasn’t really felt necessary since it’s first twelve issues – was it, like Cable, meant to end in twelve, but instead kept going? Marauders doesn’t work on its own, and even when it’s playing a part in a bigger event like X of Swords or the Gala it doesn’t shine. I’m hoping this issue is finally a new starting point for the series: the roster shifts are (hopefully) finally over, and Duggan can settle into writing a complex story with a set cast, rather than every week trying to figure out who’s available and what they’re allowed to do.

X-Traneous Thoughts 

• Pyro the Romance Novelist is a massively underexplored part of this book and I would like to see more of it.
• Kate’s hair seems to have lost it’s curl.
• Look I’m as happy to see Tempo as the next person but that gold-bodysuit-fin-head costume really needs an update.
• Krakoan Reads: SPACE PIRATES

Christi Eddleman

Christi Eddleman is the world’s first Captain Kate Pryde cosplayer and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.

Ian Gregory

Ian Gregory is a writer and co-host of giant robots podcast Mech Ado About Nothing.