Marvel Reviews

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!

Storm & the Brotherhood #1 is an exciting start to the trio of three-issue miniseries that will form the core of the “Sins of Sinister” event. Of course, overall the story here isn’t a radical departure from the prologue, Sins of Sinister #1, which covered a lot of groundwork in its double-size format. Still, it’s beautifully told, and there are surprise twists by the end. Judging from this issue, we can expect the other #1’s will also establish the Year 10+ status quo for this Sinister-dominated future before giving us a twisty cliffhanger leading us to a ninety-year jump—and then skipping on 900 years for the final issues. This is going to be heady stuff.

“Storm’s Seven” (echoes of Ocean’s Eleven)

Credits: Al Ewing writes; Paco Medina draws; Jay David Ramos colors; Ariana Maher letters; design by Tom Muller with Jay Bowen; cover by Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho

Impressively, the amazingly talented Paco Medina (regular artist on Al Ewing’s New Avengers, 2014) has drawn each of the mini’s #1’s—so the visuals for Year 10+ will be consistent. This is unique for an event, but already the event’s very structure is highly original, mirroring the timeline format of Hickman’s Powers of X but with a fun-house-mirror twist, for this is a radically different but instantly recognizable future timeline.

One element of instant recognition for you “Age of Apocalypse” fans out there is Sugar Man, whom we already saw in Sins of Sinister #1; Storm  & the Brotherhood starts with the same scene, the destruction of Arakko/Mars (by Sinister’s forces), now drawn in Paco Medina’s chic dynamic style, rather than Caselli’s. Recall that this atrocity was five years into the Sinister-dominated future…

Another five years on, so +10 Years from the present Earth-616, Storm and her Brotherhood are off to break into Sinister’s lab beneath Moira’s Muir Island complex, with the aid of Destiny and Mystique… SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW.

[Read more…] about Sins of Sinister, Part 2: Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1—in Review!

Credits: Si Spurrier writes; Netho Diaz draws; Sean Parsons and Álvaro López ink; Federico Blee, Java Tartaglia and Ruth Redmond color; Clayton Cowles letters; covers by Ben Harvey

Catching up late with the first arc of Legion of X (#1-5) after not making it past the first issue, I was surprised with how enjoyable the reading experience was—certainly benefiting from reading it all in one go. And now, I’ve found the second mini-epic, a mere four issues (#7-10), a much greater accomplishment, making this title one of the best Big 2 titles of 2022—bearing in mind that it threads deeply into the ongoing Krakoa narrative. That said, what Si Spurrier has done with the Krakoan material, going all the way back to Powers of X (2019) in swiftly but thoroughly developing further the Warlock and Phalanx threads that Hickman left and mining Spurrier’s own more recent material on Legion and his father Xavier’s fraught (non)relationship (and the general vibe of Xavier being the worst kind of jerk), comes together beautifully, effectively and dramatically. I’m not sure of Legion of X’s future, since the only Spurrier/Legion solicit we have post-“Sins of Sinister” is May 3’s X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X one-shot, which looks to be the full conclusion of this storyline, with art by Phil Noto.

In fact, it’s unclear when exactly Legion of X #7-10 takes place. Kurt has horns but no further mutations in the “Sins of Sinister” lead-up, Immortal X-Men #9-10 by event architect Kieron Gillen—whose Sins of Sinister #1 features, five years into the Sinister-dominated future, a Nightcrawler fully mutated into animal-like monstrosity. But if this Legion of X arc takes place between the reveal of Sinister’s post-Hope-resurrection possession of the psychics of the Quiet Council and that alt-future dystopia, then how do we get such pathos between Xavier and David in issue #10 here? My guess is, as we saw even at the +10 Year point in the event’s opening one-shot, those who were possessed so early on still mostly exhibit their normal agency and apparent autonomy.

In other words, Sinister probably didn’t see a reason to show his hand on Xavier’s strings too soon and interfere with the father’s interactions with his son, from initial egregious betrayal to joining together in a mutant circuit to save David’s mind and thus the Altar and everyone still in it from the Technarch shark from the Astral Plane.

However, we can assume, unfortunately (given the fact that only three X titles are on pause for this event and just the nature of solicits), that the future of Sinister dominion will reset to a point somewhere in the midst of Kurt’s current travails, as he continues to mutate in a fit of terrifying mythomancy… We know Gillen and Ewing’s titles will continue but what about Spurrier? The Before the Fall – Sons of X one-shot looks like a potential conclusion.

So, irony of ironies, Legion of X, a title I once dismissed may be over just as I realized what I was missing. Then again, it’s best to go out on a high note than stretch a story out just because that’s what fans want. Regardless, what Si Spurrier does next will undoubtedly be very much worth following (he’s grown by leaps and bounds as a writer and storyteller since his Legion-centric X-Men Legacy (volume 2) a decade back)—and this hard to please reader will be happy to follow.

(There could also be some timey-wimey knottedness between Legion of X #10, the Nightcrawlers mini and the Sons of X one-shot; we just don’t know yet. We should expect Mother Righteous to be a throughline, regardless.)

FULL REVIEW: SPOILERS ABOUND

[Read more…] about Legion of X #7-10 in Review—Sins of their Parents!