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Marauders #1-5

Credits: Steve Orlando writes; Eleonora Carlini draws #1-4, Andrea Broccardo on issue #5; Matt Milla colors; Ariana Maher letters; covers by Kael Ngu

By turns poignant and silly, rousing and baffling, Steve Orlando’s Marauders is, regardless of your stance, chock-full of fascinating pulls from and allusions to Silver and Bronze Age X-Men comics—and of course, the greatest era of all, the x-treme ’90s. Steve is trying to do a lot with this title, cramming in all he can as if he might not get to keep it for more than a year; and these days, who knows. He’s in the big leagues now and making a name for himself at Marvel, the chance of a lifetime. So, he’s got to make his mark quick, and do it splashy, garish and even ghoulish—because that’s what we remember, plus his distinctive surname that keeps popping up on covers across the MU. Nowadays, even seasoned vets aren’t guaranteed more than half a year on any given title, so Steve’s frenetic penchant for everything and the kitchen sink makes sense—indeed, it’s strategic.

Really, who can say—We might be witnessing the stewing up of the primordial soup of the Orlando-verse, just as there was the Hickman-verse of the 2010s and now the Ewing-verse coming to fruition in the 2020s. Will the 2030s be Steve Orlando’s?

Again, who knows—but Steve is clearly having a lot of fun giving fans old and new endless Easter egg hunts, and all this mulching could one day become a lush wild garden from which to pick many a season’s harvest. And whether or not he is one of those future gardeners (Elder of the MU or not), he’s still bequeathing those creators much to chew on if time is taken to unpack his compressed ideas and oddball character beats.

That said, I’m betting that the Shi’ar elements, particularly Xandra, will be more fully folded into the story of Krakoa later this year with the “Fall of X.”

So, let’s look at some of what he’s been drawing from and see if we can suss out where it all might be going… starting with Marauders #1-4. At the very least, you’ll discover or rediscover some fun comics, however classic or pure rubbish or both, along the way.

The question for Orlando is what he might do with all this mulch, when a majority of these obscure pulls get more focus instead of feeling like tossed off moments that have the feel of gratuitous referentiality.

That said, the first arc does open with such a moment that is definitely saved by the poignancy of its pathos…

[Read more…] about Steve Orlando’s Marauders #1-5—Annotated!

“The Bond Age” (with the dad puns, Kieron?!)

Credits: Kieron Gillen; writes; Paco Medina draws; Walden Wong and Victor Olazaba ink; Jay David Ramos and Chris Sotomayor colors; Clayton Cowles letters; cover by Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho

Immoral X-Men #1 (of 3) is another excellent set-up chapter for “Sins of Sinister”—though to my surprise, it’s not as immediately strong, for me, as the previous two entries, Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1, the sublime follow-up, from Storm’s perspective, to the opening Sins of Sinister one-shot, and Nightcrawlers #1, which introduced the surprisingly affecting Nightkin and threaded in an intriguing occult magic element to a future dystopian venue that typically goes all in with the post-cyberpunk sensibility without the leavening that fantasy tropes lend to the everyday Marvel Universe; indeed, magic is a kind of x-factor for this sort of event, which we’ll see play out throughout the Nightcrawlers mini. In any case, this is Gillen’s second entry, and it really does read like Chapter 2, with Gillen settling into the groove of his new Sinister-ized Council, giving us a wicked character study of the Sinister-twisted Emma.

While every page doesn’t feel essential in the way that the opening oversized one-shot had, this issue does some fine character work, not just with Emma but the Sinister-ized Xavier and of course Sinister himself. This chapter opens with what seems to be the very last remnants of resistance, led by Nick Fury, Jr., preparing for a bold assault—that immediately turns out to be their death courtesy of Xavier’s telepathy, never used so dastardly as here: While the targets are desensitized, they’re sent plummeting to their deaths from the heights of a skyscraper. Obviously, the moment has nothing to do with them and everything to do with poor ol’ Chuck, still partially himself, holding to the dream, but unable to see another way but Sinister’s.

[Read more…] about “Sins of Sinister” Part 4: Immoral X-Men #1 in Review!

“Voices of Fire”

Credits: Si Spurrier writes; Paco Medina draws; Jay David Ramos colors; Clayton Cowles letters; cover by Leinil Francis Yu and Jesus Aburtov

Spurrier’s Nightcrawlers mini promises to bring the magic and mysticism to this semi-blockbuster X event (semi because not all the titles are involved)—which is both expected and unexpected, because while we’ve seen the sorcerous Mother Righteous in the pages of Legion of X, and everyone for at least a few months now has correctly assumed she’d unmask as the fourth “suit” of Sinister among the mainline Essex clones, we don’t really know what it means or how exactly it will play out as this mash-up of mad science and sorcery is explored in her full identity and origin. But the time has come… almost.

SPOILERS AHOY!

[Read more…] about “Sins of Sinister” Part 3: Nightcrawlers #1—in Review!