Marauders #3 [Reclamation] - Review/Spoilers

[Triniking1234]

I know you all read this. Stop being lazy.

- After the scene with Sebastian in preview, it's revealed that he's meeting with Xavier and the Five to resurrect his son, Shinobi. There's a couple of Duggan comedy scenes with Pyro.

- Sebastian introduces Shinobi to the Black Keep and after having his son change into a red suit, they leave for Manhattan.

- At the Manhattan gate, Daddy Shaw uses his powers to chase away some flatscan cultists. Dad explains to Shinobi what happened when he died with the Krakoa scheme and his version of what Emma's deal with Xavier + Magneto was.

- They then travel to Tokyo on Shinobi's request so Son can meet one of his acquaintances.

- Data pages of Bishop and Shadowcat.

- Scene cut to the Shaws at Black Keep. Dad tells Son that he needs him to act as his Black Bishop. Shinobi says he'll do it but he needs to know how he died. An earlier page reveals Xavier removed the memory of death as shown in Rosenberg's UXM. Sebastian tells his son that it was Emma's and Kitty's doing. End.

Score: No action? Whack/10

[JB]

Thanks for starting it! I really liked it and I find the development of Shinobi already interesting. I'm glad these characters are being fleshed out and their relationship is quite complicated.

Sebastian is shady AF!

I cackled at his distorted, fake news account to Shinobi on how Emma came into power. Hilarious. But he clearly plans to cause problems as he wants Shinobi to keep his red clothes for now.

Very cool that Shinobi and Christian have their own ships, and I'm curious what debt Shinobi owes his oyassan.

Kate wants Bishop as her bishop, so let's see.

[Anchorsify]

As an alternative perspective to Emma and Kitty, I'm glad to see Shinobi is not being treated as an idiot and he clearly has an agenda of his own that he's working towards, he isn't just playing fiddle to Emma.

But as an issue, it's a lot of "yes, let's talk about all our schemes" and then they talk off-panel so you the reader learn next to nothing about what they're doing.. as they focus on the Shaws to try and show you, the reader, what they're doing. It's a bit counter intuitive.

Happy to see that Marauders has a good deal of intrigue that might be included in it, though.

[Glio]

If Shinobi has to keep his red clothes I suspect that with whom he has contacted in Japan is The Hand. They should not be happy that Krakoa has taken away their monopoly of resurrections.

[CoCoBandz]

If Shinobi has to keep his red clothes I suspect that with whom he has contacted in Japan is The Hand. They should not be happy that Krakoa has taken away their monopoly of resurrections.

Time to send Sabretooth their way?

[jwatson]

I'm not really a fan of either Shaw but this is by far my favorite issue of Marauders and my X-issue of the week. Really good. 10/10 from me. I enjoyed reading every page slowly and so much ground work has been laid. I feel this book could be a hit tv show. lol

[JB]

I'm not really a fan of either Shaw but this is by far my favorite issue of Marauders and my X-issue of the week. Really good. 10/10 from me. I enjoyed reading every page slowly and so much ground work has been laid. I feel this book could be a hit tv show. lol

Agreed. There's a lot to ingest here.

[jwatson]

If Shinobi has to keep his red clothes I suspect that with whom he has contacted in Japan is The Hand. They should not be happy that Krakoa has taken away their monopoly of resurrections.

I thought keeping his red clothes implied he was going to somehow strip Kitty of her Red Queen status and make his son Red King. Or at least that's part of his plans.

[Havok83]

I loved that we got a reprieve from annoying Kitty. This was probably my fave issue as well.

[staptik777]

[CoCoBandz]

Continues to be my favorite DOX book.

The book with Kate as the lead my favorite? Has to be Oz...

But I liked Shinobi and his father's interactions and Shaw is the greatest liar ever. The idea of a Krakoan Navy is amazing.

[People Of The Earth]

I know you all read this. Stop being lazy.

- After the scene with Sebastian in preview, it's revealed that he's meeting with Xavier and the Five to resurrect his son, Shinobi. There's a couple of Duggan comedy scenes with Pyro.

- Sebastian introduces Shinobi to the Black Keep and after having his son change into a red suit, they leave for Manhattan.

- At the Manhattan gate, Daddy Shaw uses his powers to chase away some flatscan cultists. Dad explains to Shinobi what happened when he died with the Krakoa scheme and his version of what Emma's deal with Xavier + Magneto was.

- They then travel to Tokyo on Shinobi's request so Son can meet one of his acquaintances.

- Data pages of Bishop and Shadowcat.

- Scene cut to the Shaws at Black Keep. Dad tells Son that he needs him to act as his Black Bishop. Shinobi says he'll do it but he needs to know how he died. An earlier page reveals Xavier removed the memory of death as shown in Rosenberg's UXM. Sebastian tells his son that it was Emma's and Kitty's doing. End.

Score: No action? Whack/10

It was a good read, probably the better one this Week for me.

Hellfire Bay is an interesting concept, though seeing Sebastian Shaw strut around it while the local populace defer to him had a strong lord meat his peasants vibe I didn't appreciate.
The power of Krakoa is immense if it can build such powerful fortresses whenever mutants ask for them, though I suspect the Bay is not a place where the other Kraked are very common.

Michele Bandini has a knack for conveying emotions and give believable expressions to the characters he draws.
His work is night and day compared to Leinil Yu work over in X-Men.
It suits to the strength of the story here, because we can see driplets of inner turmoil leaking from Sebastian constant facade in front of his son, masking his attachement to him.
Knowing the "rocky" history and constant backstabbing of these two, it was rather touching to see.
I also liked that the resurrection led to another bout of people publicly asking to Shinobi what is now a ritualistic (cultural?) question "how do we know it is you?"... It was nice to see this carried over from HoX/PoX.

Another thing I liked is the way the author is adressing some of the incohérences we discussed on this forum previously.

Case in point, the gates in-universe.

Yes.
Of course their access would be regulated by other countries.
The krakoan gates are, de facto, a new frontier to monitor for said countries, to leave them unchecked if they knew of their location would be counter-intuitive.
The way it was treated here, like going through some airport processing, was smart. Surprisingly, the author played fast and lose with that immediately afterward with (one of?) the japanese gate(s) being left completely unguarded, so I Wonder if there's a cultural element to it that he's toying with. That, or the yakuzas are the one monitoring the gate.
Who knows.
I actually wished someone told that to Howard over in Excalibur but I digress.

Other incoherence "adressed": the lack of security forces to protect the island and, specifically, its frontier and various assets.
Glad to see someone acknowledging that gaping hole in-universe…
Here on this forum, pointing that out is perceived as pushing for a fascist state and/or useless measures because "there's already security in place" (!!!) depending on who you are talking to…
Though Shaw Sr clearly intend to make some profit over the development and acquisition of security infrastructures for Krakoa.
The oily and purposeful gaslighting of events by Sebastian Shaw to his son was every bit what I expected from the character, though there is Truth in saying Frost played a role in Shinobi's death.

Last point: the existence of cultists around the world who either see mutants as gods (like in this issue) or as demons to be eradicated (like the Purifiers for example).
Makes sense that the unhinged part and extremist fringe of the population would latch onto this kind of rhetoric - but they are just that: unhinged and extremists. I pity the crowd who Doesn't understand that kind of nuance, either genuinely or for the sake of trolling.
They stand for themselves and not for the rest of humanity, both in-universe and on this forum.

3.5/5

The quality of the writing, worldbuilding snippets and respect shown to previous continuity made for an enjoyable read, serviced by excellent art and colours.
One could make the argument that this issue was filler-ish, with lots of talk and close to zero action (if we Don't count the Shaws beating around these unhinged zealots) but if all fillers could be of that quality, most people would actually be fine with them.
X-read of the Week imo.

[teapartyofthedead]

I really enjoyed this issue. Sure, it was Shaw heavy, but it does serve to flesh him and Shinobi out. I loved the Pyro bits. Makes you wonder how dank Wolverine’s **** was because boy was blazing. As always, my queen Emma was a delight. I have to agree with a poster that said her hair was too gold yellow than we’re used to seeing it, but her outfit was spot on.

[BroHomo]

though there is Truth in saying Frost played a role in Shinobi's death.

Errr in what way?

[Triniking1234]

Frost didn't send Cortez and Shinobi after Cyclops so no.