Marauders #2 Spoilery Review and Discussion - The Red Coronation

[Veitha]

The issue opens up with a data page from the US Navy. They've been tracking the Marauders and the Hellfire Ships for a while now, even though Storm is making it hard for their satellites to track them. The US Navy theory is that the Marauders are just a big flashy show to draw eyes elsewhere while the true drugs shipping takes place elsewhere.

Cut to the preview scene with the Cuckoos first and the Hellfire meeting next, where we see Emma messing around with Shaw and making fun of his money problems and bad investments.
Essentially Shaw has been moving Krakoan drugs to rich countries, invading Emma's territory and breaking his part of the deal (he should only deal with the black market).

Because of this now Emma is going to punish him and show him that he shouldn't try to work behind her back. She sends the Marauders to catch a ship that was to reach an African country that couldn't get the drugs, but that was instead diverted by Shaw to a rich country house to profit from the drugs selling.

Badroc the Leaper is the mercenary that has been hired by Shaw to bring the drugs to the new location, and the team fight him and his crew.
Nice scene with Ororo being kicked by Batroc and being like "I should kill him now. But I swore not to kill goddammit". They fight, Pyro is overzealous and very fun to watch and in the end Batroc tries to work out a deal with Kitty. They'll split the money and then send the drugs to the original destination, but Kitty says they don't care about money now (Krakoa grows it on trees quite literally) so they're going to sink everything. They leave Batroc and his crew at sea while the Costal Guard heads there to arrest them.

After Bobby and Pyro try to sell the ship they head to Taipei to meet with Bishop. But first they go clubbing and they get drunk because why not.

When they meet with Bishop, he tells them about Xavier's assassination. Quite bummed about it, the Marauders go to a tatoo shop to drink and get a tatoo. Except no one wants one (for various, kinda hilarious reasons), except Pyro who is all in for this new heroic role and gets a freaking skull tattoo on his whole face. I love him.

Emma and Shaw are arguing in the meantime. Shaw says that stealing the ship and sinking the goods has hurt him economically and that he wants something in return for that excessive measure: he wants to choose who will sit on the Red Throne. Emma says to him that no way she'll let him choose, in fact she had already covered up, even before Shaw was brought back to the Hellfire Club. She's always had in mind who the Red King/Queen would be and, when she was the only one in charge, she elected him/her.

She then telepatically sends Gateway (nice to see him! And working for Ems. Gen X throwback) to get them in Taipei and go to London for Kate's coronation. They get there and see their new, shiny ship : the Marauder, that is as big and excessive as you'd expect from a ship commisioned by Emma Frost. Oh and there's guns.

The crew is left there, while Kitty heads for the Hellfire Club, where Shaw is losing his mind and he gets so angry that he even smashes Emma on a wall and she's like "what are you even going to do to stop us other than having to repay me for the broken wall?". Right at that moment Kitty shows up and announces that she is the new Red Queen.

There's a data page with the new Hellfire hierarchy. No more Queens and Kings, just monarchs with a bishop and a knight each. Christian Frost is the only one that has already been elected, as the White Bishop.

[AHRNIHAL]

Maybe not create one if you don't have nothing written.

[Maestroneto]

lol didn’t the mods tell you to stop doing this

[davetvs]

Deep sigh at this

[tuck frump]

Edit: well I guess im not going to beat a dead horse.

[useridgoeshere]

Damnit. Now I don't know whether to post my comment on Gateway being white and Pyro getting a blackface tattoo here, or hold onto it for a later thread after this one is deleted.

[Veitha]

Oh I'm very sorry I was correcting it up a bit, I hadn't seen I was told not to do this. Sorry again

[FIGHT]

Oh I'm very sorry I was correcting it up a bit, I hadn't seen I was told not to do this. Sorry again

I forgive you friend.

[ExodusCloak]

"Oh Emma" - Storm

Has the Rectangle become a pentagle. Only Emma czn make Storm go "Oh"

[Veitha]

I forgive you friend.

Thank you

[Knives]

Today is a good day.

I could read Marauders and Excalibur my two favorite titles of this new age.

Mutants may be united, but that doesn't mean everyone agrees on everything. Behind the curtains games for power are made and Kitty has become an important piece on the board.

It must be on purpose but I like the fact that Kitty and her crew act like pirates having fun whenever they reach mainland.

Does Storm have a problem with tattoos in his past or is it just personal opinion?

[davetvs]

Why is Gateway white

[ExodusCloak]

This was fun, Emma is such a troll lol

[People Of The Earth]

The issue opens up with a data page from the US Navy. They've been tracking the Marauders and the Hellfire Ships for a while now, even though Storm is making it hard for their satellites to track them. The US Navy theory is that the Marauders are just a big flashy show to draw eyes elsewhere while the true drugs shipping takes place elsewhere.

Cut to the preview scene with the Cuckoos first and the Hellfire meeting next, where we see Emma messing around with Shaw and making fun of his money problems and bad investments.
Essentially Shaw has been moving Krakoan drugs to rich countries, invading Emma's territory and breaking his part of the deal (he should only deal with the black market).

Because of this now Emma is going to punish him and show him that he shouldn't try to work behind her back. She sends the Marauders to catch a ship that was to reach an African country that couldn't get the drugs, but that was instead diverted by Shaw to a rich country house to profit from the drugs selling.

Badroc the Leaper is the mercenary that has been hired by Shaw to bring the drugs to the new location, and the team fight him and his crew.
Nice scene with Ororo being kicked by Batroc and being like "I should kill him now. But I swore not to kill goddammit". They fight, Pyro is overzealous and very fun to watch and in the end Batroc tries to work out a deal with Kitty. They'll split the money and then send the drugs to the original destination, but Kitty says they don't care about money now (Krakoa grows it on trees quite literally) so they're going to sink everything. They leave Batroc and his crew at sea while the Costal Guard heads there to arrest them.

After Bobby and Pyro try to sell the ship they head to Taipei to meet with Bishop. But first they go clubbing and they get drunk because why not.

When they meet with Bishop, he tells them about Xavier's assassination. Quite bummed about it, the Marauders go to a tatoo shop to drink and get a tatoo. Except no one wants one (for various, kinda hilarious reasons), except Pyro who is all in for this new heroic role and gets a freaking skull tattoo on his whole face. I love him.

Emma and Shaw are arguing in the meantime. Shaw says that stealing the ship and sinking the goods has hurt him economically and that he wants something in return for that excessive measure: he wants to choose who will sit on the Red Throne. Emma says to him that no way she'll let him choose, in fact she had already covered up, even before Shaw was brought back to the Hellfire Club. She's always had in mind who the Red King/Queen would be and, when she was the only one in charge, she elected him/her.

She then telepatically sends Gateway (nice to see him! And working for Ems. Gen X throwback) to get them in Taipei and go to London for Kate's coronation. They get there and see their new, shiny ship : the Marauder, that is as big and excessive as you'd expect from a ship commisioned by Emma Frost. Oh and there's guns.

The crew is left there, while Kitty heads for the Hellfire Club, where Shaw is losing his mind and he gets so angry that he even smashes Emma on a wall and she's like "what are you even going to do to stop us other than having to repay me for the broken wall?". Right at that moment Kitty shows up and announces that she is the new Red Queen.

There's a data page with the new Hellfire hierarchy. No more Queens and Kings, just monarchs with a bishop and a knight each. Christian Frost is the only one that has already been elected, as the White Bishop.

I have a hard time reconciling this version of Kitty Pryde to the one who was leading her team of X-Men on the Gold title. I never took her for a drunkard for example, but she seems quite adept with the bottle in this serie...
And randomly kissing that tattooer in Taipei? Hah. I'll remember fondly of her "agonizing" over abandonning Colossus at the altar a few months back…
Maybe a blessing in disguise for him after all.
Frankly, not impressed with that version of her, I thought she had outgrown the petulant childish persona a long time ago, for all the flak Gold has taken she actually felt like an adult in this serie… Here, she's acting like a sophomore. I should have thought better I guess...

That being said.

Krakoa is going at extensive length to make sure the drugs are being supplied on the black market, so that's a positive. Realistically, I'm not expecting the Hellfire Company to be able to maintain such a tight leash on everyone willing to do black market around the world, but that's a great effort from them. The Red Queen revelation fizzled out badly though. Such a non-stunner.

Also, fun note. For all the discourse about Storm being a "goddess" going on these forums, she's now been kicked around by Batroc of all people, after having been depowered by some russian mook, two issues in. Some godly feats really…

2.0/5

The issue was amiable to read, but the cartoonish characterization of some of the protagonists is boring me fast. It didn't help that the issue felt fillery from beginning to end.