Marauders #1 textless preview pages + interview

[Havok83]

The logic behind the gun was always DEEPLY stupid, because writers were like oh he channels his energy blasts through his signature weapon and they never stopped to be like.....why though. If he can shoot energy blasts from his hands as easily as he can channel them through a gun, why not just.....cut out a step?

But I would be in favor of them exploring more the idea that if he can channel energy to directly fuel things like an energy blaster, what other things could he power up by channeling energy into them.

He can only shoot energy if he had absorbed it. His powers would be useless in a fight vs a melee opponent. Even if he had some energy stored up, its finite and he could expel it all in one blast, effectively leaving him vulnerable. The guns were a safety precaution that always made sense.

To your second point, he was part of the mutant circuit in X-Corp that was tasked with generating power to activate the Ionoshphere Bandwidth Generator

[Grunty]

He can only shoot energy if he had absorbed it. His powers would be useless in a fight vs a melee opponent. Even if he had some energy stored up, its finite and he could expel it all in one blast, effectively leaving him vulnerable. The guns were a safety precaution that always made sense.

I remember a discussion a long time ago (not on this forum) about Bishop's powers, where one side argued that he wouldn't need a gun if he just carried a device which could constantly feed him energy. However when it came to the nature of such a device, it's size, it's function, it's placement, it's robustness and it's potential energy source, the problem arose that any such a device could potentialy just aswell power both him AND a gun.
Since wielding a purpose designed weapon which focuses energy into a beam or blast created by the pull of a trigger would ultimately be still much more convinient for general engagement than to have to focus and direct stored up energy of different magnitudes.
Basicly the difference between an attack which requires a second to perform vs. one that requires multiple seconds of concentration and calculation.

Which in turn highlighted a general problem with several types of super powers in the face of much more simple and efficient technological solutions, when the often self imposed limitations of being a super hero aren't at play.
Mainly: "Unless their powers make them better at ranged combat than any of them, why don't they just wield guns?"

A quickly used example was Wolverine who could just aswell start any fight at range and only go for melee when his enemy requires his adamantium claws specifically. It's not like he has a problem with leathal force. Yet he always needs to fight in melee primarily, unless specific circumstances require him to use a weapon. No honor code, no "no kill rule", no lack of training and experience, he just goes claws first at all times because "signature scene".

Which then devolved into a discussion about competitive balance of melee vs. ranged weapons in Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020, but i digress.

Infact there is actualy a somewhat awkward unwritten rule, that not only do characters need to constantly display their super powers (hence Wolverine and his kin always showing their claws and getting stupidly injured), but also that unless specific limitations are at play, they need to use their powers instead using weapons (melee or ranged).

Which ironicaly means that sometimes having no super powers is more beneficial for a character than having weak super powers, since the character without powers can obtain alternate sources of empowering, while the character with super powers is usualy settled with them as their primary way of handling combat situations.
If a character with super powers further requires magical or technological sources of empowering to become more competitive, it usualy highlights a problem with the lack of potential for their powers (unless that was an intentional part in their creation).

Bishop's limitations actualy give him the advantage that a ranged weapon makes sense for him, with his past as policemen even providing the necessary excuse to be excepted from the "super hero limitations", though if the writer had introduced him without it, chances are he would need to constantly find a convinient power source to get charged up.

[BobbysWorld]

Fair points. I stand corrected.

[Maestro 216]

when the artist goes into action mode, I love it. Everything else unfortunately not so much. Not my art style. the nose-less faces are too cartoony for me.

I want to know what Cassandra Nova's deal is here after Jean Grey restored her empathy. But won't buy the comic.

Bet the writer ignored this or says well she grew back into being evil.

[Havok83]

Bet the writer ignored this or says well she grew back into being evil.

As she should. Nova's personality changed was due to having nannites shoved in her. If those are removed or disabled, she should go back to how she was

[yogaflame]

Also...wait Charles is 40's something. But he and Magneto were shown to be friends before Magnus de aging...I mean He, Chuck, Legion's mother and kind for emeber Moira too were tight group of friend...Now...the age difference make that kind look, not bad no, but little bit weird.

You have to remember it was the late 70's when Claremont first wrote those stories, only 30ish years after the War ended. Even with no deaging, Magnus couldn't have been much older than 50 in the contemporary continuity fighting the new X-Men(and even younger against the '63 originals) on Muir Island circa '77. When Magnus was an orderly volunteering at the hospital, Gabrielle was in a coma, and Charles came to help her, that was about 20 years previous to #161's 1982 publication('62 or so, in real time), so it works out fine that they would have all been young adults then. It's only when you add decades of real time that the math gets weird, but the sliding timeline takes care of that. Remember, David Haller/Legion was introduced as a teenager in New Mutants, so comics Charles is more of a young dad, not the grandfatherly Patrick Stewart version.

[Marvell2100]

I remember a discussion a long time ago (not on this forum) about Bishop's powers, where one side argued that he wouldn't need a gun if he just carried a device which could constantly feed him energy. However when it came to the nature of such a device, it's size, it's function, it's placement, it's robustness and it's potential energy source, the problem arose that any such a device could potentialy just aswell power both him AND a gun.
Since wielding a purpose designed weapon which focuses energy into a beam or blast created by the pull of a trigger would ultimately be still much more convinient for general engagement than to have to focus and direct stored up energy of different magnitudes.
Basicly the difference between an attack which requires a second to perform vs. one that requires multiple seconds of concentration and calculation.

Which in turn highlighted a general problem with several types of super powers in the face of much more simple and efficient technological solutions, when the often self imposed limitations of being a super hero aren't at play.
Mainly: "Unless their powers make them better at ranged combat than any of them, why don't they just wield guns?"

A quickly used example was Wolverine who could just aswell start any fight at range and only go for melee when his enemy requires his adamantium claws specifically. It's not like he has a problem with leathal force. Yet he always needs to fight in melee primarily, unless specific circumstances require him to use a weapon. No honor code, no "no kill rule", no lack of training and experience, he just goes claws first at all times because "signature scene".

Which then devolved into a discussion about competitive balance of melee vs. ranged weapons in Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020, but i digress.

Infact there is actualy a somewhat awkward unwritten rule, that not only do characters need to constantly display their super powers (hence Wolverine and his kin always showing their claws and getting stupidly injured), but also that unless specific limitations are at play, they need to use their powers instead using weapons (melee or ranged).

Which ironicaly means that sometimes having no super powers is more beneficial for a character than having weak super powers, since the character without powers can obtain alternate sources of empowering, while the character with super powers is usualy settled with them as their primary way of handling combat situations.
If a character with super powers further requires magical or technological sources of empowering to become more competitive, it usualy highlights a problem with the lack of potential for their powers (unless that was an intentional part in their creation).

Bishop's limitations actualy give him the advantage that a ranged weapon makes sense for him, with his past as policemen even providing the necessary excuse to be excepted from the "super hero limitations", though if the writer had introduced him without it, chances are he would need to constantly find a convinient power source to get charged up.

To me, all this means is that they need to change the dynamic of Bishop's powers like they've done to every other mutant. If Scott, Havok, Storm, Gambit etc., can tap into internal/inter-dimensional power sources for their abilities, then that can be applied to Bishop as well. Judging by this images from the previews, I hope that is what they are doing.

[Anthony Shaw]

Even without energy, Bishop is a beast with a high pain threshold.

In his first appearances, he took direct hits from Collossus. One punch caused Bishop to be impaled on a pipe, and did not go down.

At one point, he thought he was losing his edge after needing Jubilation's help to beat Sabretooth, who he considered a lightweight.

Bishop also defeated Wolverine in mock combat. That was written by Claremont.

At a minimum, Bishop is on par with a super soldier, imo.

[Grunty]

To me, all this means is that they need to change the dynamic of Bishop's powers like they've done to every other mutant. If Scott, Havok, Storm, Gambit etc., can tap into internal/inter-dimensional power sources for their abilities, then that can be applied to Bishop as well. Judging by this images from the previews, I hope that is what they are doing.

He would still end up using primarily guns though, since that has been part of his "image" since his inception.
If something has stuck with a character long enough to become part of their standard depictions, especialy across media, it won't simply go away. Though that doesn't mean it can't be altered to suit different visuals.

So they would just change the explanation for why he uses them over going with his powers first, but in that case they might feel they can just skip and stick to his old powerset anyway.

[Marvell2100]

He would still end up using primarily guns though, since that has been part of his "image" since his inception.
If something has stuck with a character long enough to become part of their standard depictions, especialy across media, it won't simply go away. Though that doesn't mean it can't be altered to suit different visuals.

So they would just change the explanation for why he uses them over going with his powers first, but in that case they might feel they can just skip and stick to his old powerset anyway.

Why? They've done changes to other characters, why not Bishop?

They're changing the Punisher's logo. For decades, Prof X was bound to a wheelchair. We've seen other mutants undergo secondary mutations or have their abilities change so it shouldn't be any different with Bishop. The gun is pretty much a crutch now. Can he function without it?

A good question is Bishop using his own abilities to power his gun? If so, how? If he's powering his own weapon, why does the gun have to be the conduit?

[Bozack]

This art style ain't it.

[9th.]

I usually like cartoony art but that looks too cartoony.

[Sutekh]

So what are Aurora's powers this week? Originally it was super-speed flight, and able to generate light when touching her brother. Then it was modified to allow her to generate light without touching her brother, which instead cancelled out both of their powers! Post-resurrection, she's back to generating light when they touch (as shown in X-Factor, when she gets resurrected) and neither being cancelled.

And yet, both in the Annual and on this cover, she's generating light without Jean-Paul being around, and in the Annual, even does some weird thing where she grabs a dude's head, shouts 'lightspeed!', does something glowy and he drops out of the fight. (blinded? stunned? dazzled? who knows!)

I don't even know what that was, and it doesn't really fit anything she's done before. (She could have just lightly slapped him a couple hundred times in a second, and had the same effect, with her actual super-speed powers, so it doesn't even add anything new, really...)

[ericng]

Sorry, I hate the art, why can't they get a better artist?

[OBrianTallent]

Sorry, I hate the art, why can't they get a better artist?

It's really disappointing they couldn't have gotten a better artist. I realize art is very subjective, but for a core X title, I would think they would have gotten a bigger name or better artist at the least.