Marauders #2 Review/Spoilers

[Rift]

Time for another book without Hellion. But let's endure these trying times and wait patiently for his return.

Lockheed goes to some dilapidated, X-themed church in Newark, where he discovers a monstrous, giant, dead mass of flesh and body parts. Lockheed sniffs them and is disgusted.

Back in space, Xandra is not happy that they're greeting the Marauders with an armada. She's also missing her aunt Deathbird, and she's determined not to repeat her ancestors mistakes.

Back with the Marauders, they're confronted by Eric the Red. He mentions that he's from Kin Crimson and that the Shi'ar are keeping a secret from mutants. Which probably isn't the best thing to say when people are suspicious of you, but he also calls Cassandra Nova filth, so that's good. Then he summons red doppelgangers of the crew (minus Kitty) and has them fight the Marauders, while he fights Kitty himself.

Aurora determines that the the doppelgangers are holograms that run on thought. They don't have the originals' weaknesses, but they don't have all of their powers, either. Everyone but Tempo and Somnus beats the constructs, though Tempo's doing much better at fighting than Somnus. Since they're made of energy, Bishop absorbs some of them.

Back with Xandra, she's annoyed at Gladiator for siding with the Kin Crimson. He explains that the Superguardians were indoctrinated to defer to them. This was kept secret from the royals so they don't have to worry about it, man. Xandra once again says that she's against hurting the Marauders, but she also understands how serious things are.

A transmission between Delphos and another member of Kin Crimson reveals that there are Ten Shames. Among them are:
1. The First Blood Spilled, which is what Cassandra Nova has been talking about, and what Delphos showed to Xandra
2. The Theft of the Hard Skin
3. The Birth of the Wet Skin
4. Shapeless Ridge
5. The Fall of Emperiax the Red
6. The Gelding of Birj
7. The Asher Gambit
8. The Goblin Extraction
9. The Alternity Kill
10. The Tenth Shame
11. Hellion

They also compare letting the secrets out to opening Pandora's Box. They intend to retrieve that cursed box and ensure that its toxic truths stay locked inside. I don't know if this is still part of the Pandora's Box or if they're also talking about Kitty's old box. But they describe it as a Vessel (capitalized), and Eric mentions the Vessel to Cassandra Nova later, so they must be talking about Kitty's box.

Anyway, Gladiator feels bad for keeping secrets from Xandra. She's not mad at him and agrees that the truth should stay buried. Then she puts on a triangle-shaped helmet and they fly away on a ship.

Back to the mutants. Bishop's kind of messed up from the energy he absorbed and needs a minute to compose himself. Eric chokes out Cassandra and she's like "I barely feel it. Squeeze harder, dear. " Pryde tries to rescue her, but Eric reveals that many more members of Kin Crimson are already on their way. They blow up the ship, but the Marauders use their powers to create a little safe environment for themselves. But in the explosion, Kitty's box falls out and Eric grabs it.

They have about seven minutes' worth of oxygen before they're doomed. Cassandra Nova's not with them, instead doing battle with Eric.

Somnus has Psylocke bring everyone into his dream - a spaceship based on a show he likes- so they can have an emergency meeting. Somnus can stretch out time while they're in here; in the dreamscape, seven IRL minutes could last seven days. So while their bodies are unconscious and drifting in space, they have enough time to come up with a plan of action.

Xandra and her forces show up, and now she must choose what to do with them.

• Note about the doppelgangers: they have smiley faces projected over their real faces. They're usually faces, but each of the men have an X for one of their eyes.
• They were created with something called Hard Skin, which lets Kin Crimson create things with red lightforce via thought. There's something called the Wet Skin, which is a backup. But according to a data page, it hadn't been perfecting it, and the methods for creating it are "aggressive and cruel."
• Psylocke II confirmed to have telekinesis. She's also confirmed to have a really big butt in one shot.
• Remember the show Somnus likes? Not only did he dream up the ship, but also the crew. Aurora and Somnus both crush on a bald guy, though Daken thinks he's too soft. I agree with Daken on this one.

[Havok83]

I have a Love/Hate relationship with this art. First off it's too cartoony. I do not like how she draws the characters as caricatures and dont feel its fitting for this book. BUT the layouts are beautiful. I usually dont appreciate that but Carlini is an amazing storyteller. The fight sequences were so frenetic and full of life and felt like stills from a high quality animated film. Despite hating how she draws character, I think she might be winning me over as the layouts and action sequences are arguably the best in any current book

[davetvs]

The art wasn't working for me in the first issue but I was in because of the cast. This issue looked 100x better and I liked how creative the team was with the Marauders' powers. Nice to see Kwannon confirmed to be TP+TK too; I like that she and Betsy have the same powers.

[MakubeX]

The art has vastly improved since the 1st issue. I always liked the art, me being a manga fan, but the art here was great. This is my favorite X-book so far, I'm loving it. The cast and writing.

[norj]

The actor Aurora and Somnus are crushing on is Kingo, he is an Eternal.

[Havok83]

The art wasn't working for me in the first issue but I was in because of the cast. This issue looked 100x better and I liked how creative the team was with the Marauders' powers. Nice to see Kwannon confirmed to be TP+TK too; I like that she and Betsy have the same powers.

I dont. I was hoping they'd ignore the TK here and act like she doesnt have it

[davetvs]

I dont. I was hoping they'd ignore the TK here and act like she doesnt have it

Considering Jamie Braddock's and Sapphire Styx's roles in their resurrections, Betsy and Kwannon should be soul mirrors of each other imo. Same powers, uncontrollable psychic rapport, etc.

[Uncanny X-Man]

After what I thought was an OK but not exceptional first issue, I thought this was a very strong showing this month, with the plot taking a very interesting shape, great dialogues and character moments from Orlando and very pretty art and colours. I was saying just the other day in a separate thread that I liked Carlini's art but didn't think it was a good fit for this book, and yet it all came together for me on this issue. I wouldn't change a thing and just keep going, I'm along for the ride.

[Wolverine12]

Another good issue, art was improved but the story dropped. Every time the characters started talking about how "hot" someone was during the middle of the high stakes fight it really took me out of the moment. That stuff is all well and good but the placement in the story was very poor, it wasn't good fight banter at all. The action scenes continue to be good and the more static scenes were mostly improved minus a few really weird faces.

I will say I'm am 100% invested in learning about these 10 shames, 11 if we ask Rift . Also I wanted to see Nova clowning these fools. Hopefully next issue we get more of both.

[loke13]

Ok that Nova Vs Kin panel where she grabs his energy sword was like something of a Manga and I loved it. Agree that the art was better this issue I love the Shi'ar focus these past two issues has been amazing really curious to see what these 10 Shames are about and how they tie into these 1st Gen mutants.

[BobbysWorld]

Yeah, I didn't mind the art in the first issue as much as most people did, but it definitely felt like there was a marked improvement to it in this issue. Maybe Carlini just needed an issue to find her stride? Here's hoping the later issues are more like this. I agree with the sentiment that her figures and particularly the faces/expressions don't always work for me and tend to be a little unrefined in places.....but she really does have an amazing gift for giving the overall art a sense of storytelling, with so much energy and dynamism packed into the action scenes, the art really pops off the page. I'm used to the art in comic books giving me a sense of 'oh, that's pretty,' but this is one of the first artists where the art's more like 'oh, I felt that.'

I like the exploration of Somnus' powers and this particular application of them has some really interesting possibilities. I also like how he kinda waffles between being very obviously out of his element one second and the next second he's like nah I got this, this is fine, I'm practically a pro. It probably shouldn't work as well as it does, but it gives him a kind of charm....like, you can almost FEEL him trying so hard to act like he's totally on top of all of this and impress his more experienced teammates with how much he's not freaking out when he really really wants to.

And then the almost 180 he did the second they entered his dreamscape and all of a sudden he was all cool and collected sitting there confidently chatting with Kate with no sign of his earlier nerves....its kinda like he was all "Okay, THIS I know how to handle. I at least know my own powers well enough to know what to do here and we're on my turf now and THAT'S something I can work with." Almost felt like a quick preview of what he'll be like in the longterm, once he's got enough experience with the superhero stuff to feel more confident with all the chaos in general.

Tempo continues to be a treat who steals every scene for me, she's literally the first character I look for on the page (and I definitely have to give kudos to Carlini for how she draws Heather....she might not be the best with figures/faces overall, but at the same time she somehow manages to make Heather and her costume work for me when most artists' depiction has me thinking 'Heather, babes, I would love you so much harder if you would just for the love of god PLEASE change your clothes).

I really like that Bishop feels more....seasoned and in the thick of things here, compared to his tenure on Duggan's Marauders. Kate feels a little more grounded here too....seasoned is probably a good way to describe her here as well. A lot of the time the first Marauders volume had her coming across as though she was constantly just trying to play the part of what she thought 'captain of the Marauders' SHOULD act like. She feels more settled here, like she's found her groove and the leadership thing is coming a little more naturally now.

Cassandra Nova's presence on the cast isn't as polarizing for me as it is for a lot of people.....its kinda one of those things where I'm like 'well, as long as you keep me interested, I'm down to see where you're taking her character'. I really don't get the sense Orlando's trying for any kind of redemption arc with her so I'm honestly not too wary there and its kinda refreshing to have a villain present where I'm like, "Oh I totally have the writer's permission to hate her, nobody's trying to trick me into liking her or feeling bad for her. She's literally just here to be The Worst and blow up other bad guys with her brain whenever she feels like eh I suppose I can take a quick two seconds out of my day to be tangentially helpful in a homicidal kind way."

Plus, now that I've actually connected the dots to that time she empire-jacked the entire Shi'ar Imperium with her nothing but her mind and a deep, burning desire to wreck the **** out of everything her brother's ever so much as touched, like....light bulb moment, I was like ohhhhhh okay now her presence makes a lot more fucking sense. Of course if anyone knew top secret dirt the Shi'ar had that involves mutants, it'd be Cassandra Nova and of course she was always gonna milk the hell out of being the only real source of intel they had for all that.

And ngl, I definitely did cackle a bit at the scene where she was like 'please, my twin brother hit harder than that when we were in the womb, and he's the weakest bitch I know.'

I don't have a ton of thoughts on Akihiro and Aurora yet, its not that I dislike them or their dynamic, its more just like....eh, they're fine. They're weirdos who think date night should ideally involve explosions and lots of gratuitous stabbing. Its whatever. I've seen weirder. They're like that we-just-started-dating-and-we're-here-to-make-it-your-fucking-problem couple that's annoying as hell to be around because they literally just WILL NOT chill with the PDA and nonstop flirting but also they're juuuuuust cute enough that somehow you end up just rolling your eyes and smiling about it at least as often as you kinda wanna murder them just a little bit instead. And sure, their version of PDA is a little less 'sloppy make out sessions' and a little more 'cooing about how their partner's so good at beating the **** out of people while looking super cute,' but eh, whatever. Tomato tohmahto.

Kwannon's another one I don't totally have much opinion on yet, mostly because so far all her dialogue and character choices have pretty much just been action-oriented. Like, yes, we can see that clearly she is also very good at beating the **** out of the bad guys, but like, she's a professional about it, okay. She's just here to be part of the team, that's it, this is a JOB and there's not gonna be any of that 'making friends that she would absolutely commit treason for' nonsense this time around. Which I totally get and support. Kwannon probably just wants to show up, clock in, beat up bad guys and maybe blow up a spaceship or two for The Aesthetic, and then clock out and go home to her formerly-villainous/only-technically-a-serial-killer-shh-its-fine-no-shh-its-so-normal-dont-even-worry-about-it boyfriend.

She probably went into this team thinking "Okay self, there's not gonna be any fucking bonding, okay, no friendships will be had here, none of that." The last time she did the 'teammates who are also friends that I would totally kill for' thing half of them ended up in jail for, y'know, killing people, and obviously it wasn't a super great experience all around. Like okay she did also sorta get a boyfriend who only used to be a serial killer but now is thinking of opening a restaurant maybe, but other than that, it pretty much sucked, 10/10 would not recommend. So like, it totally makes sense if she's not exactly looking to 'do' friendships right now. She's here for the paycheck, nothing more. Also not even for that because they don't do paychecks on Krakoa. Or money. Wait I'm lost. Where am I going with this.

RIGHT. Anyway, I'm just saying, I totally get it if Kwannon's really just here for the action poses at the moment. Makes sense. I'm kinda expecting her to be the last cast member to get fully delved into and fleshed out, not because she's extraneous or any less a character Orlando genuinely wants to be here, its just....pretty much all the others feel more likely for Orlando to tackle and unpack first. Idk how else to put it, just sorta the vibe I get. Point being, so far she's the least......'there' for me, out of the cast, the one who is kinda just present but not really....anchored as part of the book/cast in the way some of the others already feel settled. But for whatever reason, she's also the character I feel I'm most prepared to be patient about Orlando getting to? Like, its a big cast, there's only so much room per issue and a lot of people have a lot of **** going on already, and if someone's gotta go last in terms of how long til each character gets some singular spotlight or focus, like, even just cuz logistically that's how that works.....I'm kinda both expecting that to be Kwannon, and okay with it being her. I can wait.

Anyway, great issue, sparked a lot of thoughts for me, lot to chew on. Me likie.

[Dante Milton]

I still really dislike the art, especially towards the end of the issue it just got so loose it looked sloppy. I don't mind it as much when the artist is drawing new characters, but when drawing the main cast I feel like that's not what these characters look like and it takes me out of the story.

About the story, I can see why people would like this, but I don't find any of it very interesting. The Marauders feel like guest stars in a book about the Shiar, and I don't care about the Shiar. The banter isn't working for me, and a lot of the dialogue feels clunky. I'm still not at all invested in whatever happened to this "first generation" of mutants because the narrative hasn't really given me a reason to be. There is no real connection there to anything currently happening or any existing character to make me care, and there isn't any established history for me to grasp onto to start to form any kind of attachment or opinion on these ancient mutants.

[H-E-D]

This was a fun issue. Good popcorn entertainment. Between this and Thunderbird, good week for Orlando and collaborators.

[victor borkowski]

The art is not working for me. just can’t get past how bad it it is. it’s like some Saturday morning cartoon art and in a bad way.

[captain Qball]

This art was not for me. I found it confusing to tell what was happening in the fight. I like the idea of the story, but this issue seemed to go nowhere. "We have a secret we can't tell them", continue for 15 pages.