Warhammer 40,0000 (Marvel)

This seems like the best place to discuss the "Warhammer 40,000" series that Marvel is publishing.

The first three issues have been about what I expected.

Gillen's writing is competent, and he is probably the best writer in Marvel's stable (other than Dan Abnett) to write this series.

But, Marvel's approach to 40K plays too much in to Games Workshop's push to make 40K mainstream,sacrificing much of what made 40K unique.

It is not all bad. Gillen manages to write combat scenes with less talking than what clutters most main stream comics. But, the comics lack the focus on the backdrop that once defined 40K.

Having read the fourth issue of Marvel's "Warhammer 40,000", I will retract some of my above complaints.

Gillen used the first 3 issues as a light introduction for new readers. However, while the fourth issue does not specifically describe the Imperium as " the cruelest and bloodiest regime imaginable", the flashback's to Calgar's training strongly imply that the Empire is the nightmare hell of the old rule books.

Gillen has written some of the better 40K content that I have seen in recent years. Given time, he may even have been able to bring 40K to mainstream readers.

Unfortunately, it looks like issue 5 will be the end.

I have bought them but havent read them yet so dont know how good they are or not. I'll be honest, Marneus Calgar is not who I was particulary interested in reading about, but I wanted to support Warhammer 40K comics from Marvel in the hope that there would be future series that would be about characters/events I had more interest in, which is why I bought these.

The Ultramarines are the best introduction to 40K for a general audience. They are the most conventional Space Marines, sort of resemble super-heroes, and have a basically familiar narrative. (But, yes, that is not what you and I bought 40K for.)


The end of the 5th issue would have been a "to be concluded" in most cases. And, I suspect that there was a 6th issue planned. For most comics, the main character woul jumping in to battle would warrant a "continued". But, in 40K, that sort of ending is, if not routine, not unexpected. And, Games Workshop has been pretty ruthless about cutting ongoing series when sales were not right.

If 40K's foray in to mainstream comics was going to end, at least it ended on an appropriate note.

Damn, I find out about the existence and the cancellation of a 40k comic at the same time. Was it intended to be a miniseries from the start or did it just get axed prematurely??

[QUOTE=Xero Kaiser;5420088]Damn, I find out about the existence and the cancellation of a 40k comic at the same time. Was it intended to be a miniseries from the start or did it just get axed prematurely??[/QUOTE]

Im 99% certain this was a mini series from the get go. I have it down as x of 5 on my list I keep from issue 1.

[QUOTE=CentralPower;5405872]The Ultramarines are the best introduction to 40K for a general audience. They are the most conventional Space Marines, sort of resemble super-heroes, and have a basically familiar narrative. (But, yes, that is not what you and I bought 40K for.)


The end of the 5th issue would have been a "to be concluded" in most cases. And, I suspect that there was a 6th issue planned. For most comics, the main character woul jumping in to battle would warrant a "continued". But, in 40K, that sort of ending is, if not routine, not unexpected. And, Games Workshop has been pretty ruthless about cutting ongoing series when sales were not right.

If 40K's foray in to mainstream comics was going to end, at least it ended on an appropriate note.[/QUOTE]

I think IMHO WH40K too Heavy Metal (I'm talking the music genre AND the Magazine)and 2000AD for the american comic mainstream

I tend to agree.

The Empire in 40K makes the Empire from Star Wars look like Boy Scouts. And, the Empire is the closest thing to good guys in 40K. 40K has internal cliches (particularly with the short stories ~20 years ago.) But, it generally avoids the pop-cliches in mainline comics or cartoons, which is going to limit its appeal.

[QUOTE=LordLeviathan;5443218]I think IMHO WH40K too Heavy Metal (I'm talking the music genre AND the Magazine)and 2000AD for the american comic mainstream[/QUOTE]

2000Ad starting with a Judge Dredd story and finishing with a Warhammer 40k story each issue would be awesome.