In Gerry Duggan and Lucas Wernek’s Marauders #4, the team splits up to handle the core tenets of their mandate. Storm leads a group to rescue mutants while Kate and Bishop go on a heist while expanding the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Company. Meanwhile, the humans recuit pre-teen terrorists to combat the Marauders.
Christi Eddleman: I couldn’t be more delighted by this issue. It feels like we’re back on course after a brief detour. Duggan and Wernek’s comedic timing had me in stitches. This is 100% my kind of comic. I missed our Marauders and this issue gives us plenty of them (except for poor Bobby) and the return of some beloved and not-so-beloved characters.
Vishal Gullapalli: There’s a lot to love about this issue, and it feels like a welcome return to the content I’ve been craving for the one-issue hiatus we’ve had. The book’s still in setup mode, but setup is always far better when served as a side dish to our main course – Captain Kate Pryde and her absolutely wonderful crew.
Yo Ho Ho
CE: The Marauders in action seem like a well-oiled machine. Even without Kate and Bishop, the crew manages a flawless rescue of several Brazilian mutants. They seem unstoppable and all perfectly in their element. Kate’s absence gives Storm a perfect opportunity to take her natural role as leader and she unsurprisingly is rocking it.
VG: Storm’s been the Marauder with the most qualms about what the team does, but now that she’s stepped into a leadership role she’s really letting them do their thing. I love that she doesn’t rein Pyro in during all his mayhem until he offers beer to a bunch of kids. She’s the team mom, but she’s a really fun and competent mom. As is consistent with this book, though, Pyro continues to be my favorite part. He’s clearly having so much fun and it’s infectious.
CE: Pyro makes Bobby seem downright responsible. I cannot express enough how good it feels to see the Marauders being so competent and unhindered by human interference. This new status quo for mutants feels so good. I do wonder who they’ve got manning their massive ship though. The Marauder seems like it would take quite a bit more than a crew of three plus Lockheed. Regardless, they’re unstoppable, and I am here for it. [Ed. note: We don’t need to think about how boats actually work]
VG: I gotta say, I really love how the mission of the Marauders is really focused, and we get to see them doing what they’re supposed to do. While this is definitely a team of misfits, it’s a team of competent misfits with a clear purpose. That being said, it looks like their most competent member has gone off with their captain on a different mission.
Do You Wanna Be My Bishop?
CE: Bishop and Kate’s covert operation in Taipei is yet another example of the X-Men at their best. I was glad to see this plot point returned to so quickly. Kate’s lack of fluency in Krakoan is an important reminder that she is still very othered by Krakoa – well that and the fact that she’s still sporting a broken nose. She seems to have recovered from much of the initial bitterness surrounding her lack of access to Krakoa as evidenced by the fact that she is sober in this issue. I was a little sad she was no longer sporting her pirate coat in this issue, but am so excited for a Jumbo Carnation outfit.
VG: That throwaway Jumbo Carnation bit from HOX/POX has come to fruition, and I cannot wait to see how mutant fashion gets revitalized. Kate’s also showing that she’s really good at her job when she’s not wasted, although I can’t say for sure that she’s better at it sober than she is drunk. She’s also still got her righteous mean streak – in the first issue, she stuck a gun between two guys’ legs, in the second she phased a man off of a ship, in this one she’s phased a pillow into someone’s arm and justifiably stuck an ivory statue into a wall. Sadly, she also got her nose broke again.
CE: Kate is a woman who lets nothing get in her way [Ed. note: except apparently for things aiming for her nose]. While we gleaned from the data pages of the last issue that she wanted Bishop as her Red Bishop, this conversation is far from done. While Bishop cringes at the thought of being a part of The Hellfire Club, I think that he’ll ultimately accept, especially since Beast encourages him to go for it.
VG: I expect him to take the offer too, which I’m expecting to lead to some really delightful interactions between this no-nonsense future man and the absurd conniving of the Hellfire Corporation. Bishop played as the straight man to Kate’s shenanigans has already been great, I can’t wait to see him have to regularly interact with Emma and the Shaws and whoever they add to their ranks.
Humans Suck
CE: While the Hellfire Corporation works on filling their ranks, the even less savory Homines Verendi are expanding theirs. I was NOT expecting to see Kade Kilgore, Wilhelmina Kensington (and deceased pet, Mr. Farnesworthe), Manuel Enduque, and Baron Maximilian von Katzenelnbogen – my favorite kids to hate. The children of The Hellfire Club have rebranded themselves with the latin for “people feared.”
VG: I had an intense reaction to seeing those kids again – while I really enjoyed Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men, those children were easily my least favorite part of the run, and I was definitely not expecting them to show up again. Upon stepping back though, I can see all the really fun directions for Duggan to take these kids. There’s something really interesting with the idea of mutants at odds with machines, the children of humanity – just like how the mutant Hellfire Corporation is going to be at odds with the children of the Hellfire Club.
CE: I, on the other hand, didn’t hate the Hellfire children as antagonists. Spoiled, disturbed, exploitative children of billionaires? What fun villains. I think Duggan will definitely use them well. [Ed. note: Our writers Slack is split 50/50 on hating or loving these horrible children.]
We also saw some augmented bodyguards giving a very Lady Deathstrike feeling. Our antagonist possibilities are piling up. My favorite new antagonist, however, is Mrs. Zhao. I did not foresee her imprisoning her mutant-infatuated husband. Who’d have thought simply hearing the power of the raw erroticism of Charles Xavier’s voice in their heads turned humans across the globe into mutant worshipers? I imagined a much more complicated answer to the trouble in Taipei, but this gives us a lot more insight into the effect Krakoa as a nation state has had upon humans.
VG: Mrs. Zhao has quickly become a very scary person – with her influence and apparent hatred of mutants, she’s a modern threat for mutantkind. Alongside her, the Hellfire kids, and the Deathstrike copycats, there’s also the looming… “threat” of the US Navy’s X-Desk. The person working there seems so, so tired, and while I don’t necessarily want their job to be easier, I really do sympathize with their total exhaustion. The entire world is apparently paralyzed because of Krakoa’s instant appearance and dominance, and it’s honestly been a really enjoyable and funny experience to see the progression of the X-Desk’s approach to mutant surveillance. Just give that person a coworker, please! They need the help.
CE: THE X-DESK IS ONE PERSON!! I was blown away by this revelation. Previous data pages definitely made me feel like this was a much more powerful threat, and it seems that the US has decided that Krakoa is not worth the time of more than one person. We still don’t know where the X-Desk is reporting to, but the thought of one completely overworked individual adding more and more snark to their memos is perfection.
This issue has continued laying groundwork for not only the new status quo of mutants but also given us a new batch of antagonists. I’m excited to follow the adventures of the Marauders and see the web of intrigue surrounding both the Hellfire Corporation and re-branded Hellfire Club become more tangled. Duggan has set up for what I hope is a sizeable run.
VG: Just like ogres and onions, this book has layers. There’s all the fun mutant-rescuing that the crew of the Marauder does, there’s the intrigue within the Hellfire Corporation, and there’s all these various antagonists that are setting up quite the sizable opposition to Krakoa. I’m thoroughly enjoying this book and I also really hope Duggan’s on this book for quite some time.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- “They are Krakoan, and if they so choose — they’re coming with me.” -Storm
- Pyro sings “Any Way You Want It” this issue, continuing to be just the best.
- “If you’re still reading, send money and bodies.” Poor X-Desk
- “Is this real ivory? Oops! I dropped it into the wall.” – Kate
- Ending Krakoan reads: “Battleship”
- Make sure to check out this week’s coverage of Fallen Angels #4, New Mutants #3 and #4, X-Force #4, and Excalibur #4
Christi Eddleman is the world’s first Captain Kate Pryde cosplayer and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
