Marauders #24 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Phil Noto art is always a win, and automatically elevates any comic it graces the pages of, and it’s no different here.

The actual story is an odd one, as an alien comes to Arrako/Mars, seeking vengeance on Emma Frost because she stole his spaceship. Ultimately, she offers to pay him off, but just when everyone thinks he’s happy to go on his way, there’s a twist in the tale…

It’s fun but relatively thin stuff, with the ultimate ramifications of the story likely to be more interesting than the story itself. But that art is really lovely.

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Marauders #23 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, it’s good to see Banshee again and that someone remembered how close he and Emma are! It’s also good to see Jumbo Carnation in action and Tempo makes a very welcome return too.

Marauders has definitely had its ups and downs, however, and this issue definitely ranks among the downs. This is mainly due to the art, which isn’t awful, but definitely isn’t up to the standard set by the rest of the X-line. Fiorelli seems to be an inexperienced artist from Italy with a very cartoony style which doesn’t really fit the tone of this book…particularly the part where the Cuckoos take Wilhelmina Kensington t confront her abusive father. What could have been a very powerful scene if illustrated by an artist with a very different style, just felt very off here. It’s not Fiorelli’s fault. On a different book he’d be great, but his style just doesn’t work here. Phil Noto is taking over for the next two issues and then Matteo Lolli’s back, so at least we know this is just a temporary blip. Fiorelli will be drawing the Star wars: Life Day comic which is out in November, and I expect his art will be a much better fit there.

There’s also an extract from a romance novel written by Pyro, which is…odd.

All in all this is okay, but it’s not up to the level of quality we’ve come to expect from the current X-books.

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Marauders #22 (Marauders by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this issue, although it’s somewhat darker than we’ve come to expect from Gerry Duggan, or from this series in general.

The plotline involving the Cuckoos helping a girl who’s been the victim of an abusive father was handled well, and the Cuckoos as a group are characters that I always enjoy.

The revelation that Emma Frost had deceived Sebastian Shaw about the woman he loved, because she wanted to escape from him because he was abusive was also good, and of course the two parts are clearly thematically linked. Emma’s desire to protect women from the men who abuse them runs throughout this issue and is clearly a defining characteristic of the White Queen for Duggan. I think it works effectively as a method to humanise a character who was initially introduced to us as a villain.

The artwork is superb throughout, with Matteo Lolli ably handling the present day and Klaus Janson handling the flashback in his own inimitable style.

Overall a very solid comic book that takes on some heavy subject matter and, on the whole, succeeds.

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Marauders #21 (Marauders by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, well, well…it’s finally here, the event of the year…no…the event of the decade…no…the event of the century…

“Get on with it!”

The Hellfire Gala!

Oh my gosh, can you believe she said/did that thing she said or did? Mind blowing… Or, you know, it probably will be when we actually find out what it was.

This was just pure, unadulterated fun! well, I’m sure Emma would have liked some adulterating with Steve, but that’s never gonna happen.

Loved the art, loved the writing, and that bonus Classic X-Men strip by Claremont and Bolton was a nice addition.

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Marauders (2019-) #20 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, this issue was kinda awesome, as the Marauders held a leaving dinner for Storm and they all shared stories about her…and tried to guess how many knives she keeps on her at any one time.

I felt it effectively explored all the diverse aspect of Storm’s characters, from touch hand to hand fighter to literal force of nature.

There’s not a lot else to say about it other than that Casseli’s art is excellent.

Good comic is good.

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Marauders (2019-) #19 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit that stories set in Madripoor don’t usually do anything for me, and this one is no different.

It’s well drawn, it’s solidly written, but it didn’t really engage me. There’s still some fun stuff here, particularly the Iceman and Pyro stuff, and Bishop’s scene is enjoyable. But, ultimately, this fell a little flat for me. Not bad, but not good either. It just…is.

Which is something that’s gonna happen sometimes with eight million X-books every month.

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Marauders (2019-) #18 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I get frustrated with stories that have everything going really well and according to plan and then, suddenly, oh no, everything’s gone wrong! Also, I just don’t like these new Reavers…or maybe I don’t like Iceman’s complete indifference to maiming people. Seriously, leaving your opponent maimed rather than dead doesn’t really give you the moral high ground. I’m pretty sure that using weapons that maim your enemies is a war crime, Bobby.

It also feels naïve of the Krakoans to think they could wage an economic war with the Verendi and not have the Verendi escalate that war…and that the poor people of Low Town wouldn’t be the ones to pay a heavy price for that.

Still, there are some nice moments in this issue, particularly the moment when Masque realises that they can use their powers to help babies born with disfigurements, and also Charles and Erik’s reaction to the hospital being named after one of the foremost human allies of mutants…Moira McTaggert. So, it’s not common knowledge on Karkoa that Moira’s a mutant then…

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Marauders (2019-) #17 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This issue was very much one of moving several plot points along and not much more, and as such it’s kinda’ hard to get overly excited about it. That’s one of the downsides to most comics being written for their trade paperback collections. Issues like this one work perfectly when collected, but when they have to stand alone…not so much.

It’s certainly not bad though! And the fight between Storm and Callisto, which is this issue’s “big event” is well done, calling back to their previous fight for the leadership of the Morlocks.

I find myself more interested in the political machinations of Emma Frost, though, and would have preferred more of that here. We see the preparations for the upcoming Hellfire Gala proceed, and I’m left wondering if that event will take place in the pages of Marauders or X-men, considering that it will include the revelation of the new X-Men team. Perhaps it’ll be both.

So, yeah, a perfectly good comic, but one that really just leaves me wanting them to get on with it…

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Marauders (2019-) #16 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, this was rather wonderful…Emma and Kate team up, along with Storm and Lockheed, to wreak vengeance upon Sebastian Shaw for the crime of…well…killing Kate Pryde and attempting to kill Lockheed. Things which make him a very bad man. I mean, we already knew he was a very bad man, but still…

And what a twisted and entirely appropriate vengeance it is. Because, after all, on Krokoa, death holds no stings…but humiliating a man in his own home? And reducing himself to a wheelchair bound shell of himself? For a man like Shaw that’s gotta hurt. I also fully expect this to come back to bite Kate and Emma at some point.

The art is superb, and the cover, by Russel Daughterman is particularly good. My only real question here is: Where did Kate’s knuckle tats go? Although, I didn’t like them, so… Maybe she phased them off?

Anyway, this was good, and builds my excited for post-X Of Swords X-books.

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