Marauders #1 Review/Spoilers

[Rift]

We open to the Marauders saving Fever Pitch after he's gone berserk.

We cut to several days later. Kitty's moving through Krakoa's forest, guided by that mysterium puzzlebox from the Annual. Kitty talks out loud about how someone made an Archipelago from Krakoa's body, but made the island forget. She calls Xavier a jerk and that's Cassandra Nova's cue to turn up.

Cassandra's digging up Krakoa's organs from the ground with a serrated tool. She mentions that she feels "a tickle behind her ears" when she does so, suspecting it's guilt. (Likely this is from the empathy chip installed in her brain during the original X-Men Red run.) She's become enamored with the feeling and seems to have been spending her time pulling out Krakoa's organs.

Kitty's all "What's with the puzzlebox and why did it lead me to you?"
Cassandra is all "The first mutants of the second generation lived on Okkara, but the last of the first are fighting for their lives. I can guide you and help you save them lmao."
Kitty's like "Well, you have amnesty on Krakoa. But you bombed Genosha and killed my dad, so I don't trust you."
So then Cassandra is like "Read X-Men Red, Jean fixed me and now I won't hurt mutants lol."

Info page time! Bishop writes a letter to Kitty, talking about the crew. The tl;dr is that Psylocke is unsure of herself, but also one of their best. Tempo likes time. Daken enjoys the blood and Aurora's acceptance helps him. Aurora's time on X-Factor has made her want to focus on saving mutants BEFORE they die. Somnus could be the heart of the team. Cassandra is also part of the team, but Bishop will trust Kitty on this. Hellion gets no mention because they're probably saving him for later.

Back to now. Tempo and Psylocke are on Danger Island, exercising and hanging out by killing virtual enemies.

Jean shows up to check on Cassandra Nova. Nova thanks Jean for the compassion chip, because now Nova can appreciate the atrocities she commits a lot more now. Jean's shocked, but Cass is all "at least mutants won't need to fear me. Everybody else does though, lol. Now, please clean up these organs for me."

At the Boneyard, Bishop tells Aurora how the fire he absorbed from Fever Pitch went into power cells, which he donated to a homeless shelter. Aurora says that she's joining to help Daken get over the torture he endured under Brimstone Love. She's also kind of sick of all the death in X-Factor, so she wants to deal with life now.

Meanwhile, Somnus lets Daken live out his revenge fantasies in dreams, where he can torture Brimstone to his heart's content. Aurora shows up and says that she and Somnus conspired to do this for Daken.

Everyone gathers back on the new Marauders ship, which is some high-tech spaceship this time around. Kate introduces the Marauders to Cassandra, and Somnus has no idea who she is.

Info page: Sinister, Reyes and Nemesis debate on whether they should count Cassandra Nova as a mutant, since she has Charles' DNA. They conclude that she is.

Back to the boat. Cassandra reads Somnus' mind, then says that he'd have been able to block her out if he honed his powers. She goes on to say that Sinister and Apocalypse killed more people than she ever did, but they were on the Council while she's been under house arrest. Still, she wants to help and/or spill blood. Psylocke uses her powers to confirm that Cassandra does she knows where the first mutants are. They're being held by the Shi'ar.

While the Marauders fly their ship to Chandilar, Xandra and her attendants are able to detect Cassandra's presence among the pirates. Delphos the Red shoes up and dismisses the Imperial Guard. She says that she's a noble of the Kin Crimson, and a Shepherd of Shi'ar History. She outranks the Superguardians. She doesn't want to challenge Xandra's rule, though.

Delphos shows Xandra some Shi'ar history. We don't see what "The First Blood Spilled" is, but Xandra says that it could mean war with Arakko, with her friends, and with mutant kind. So she agrees with Delphos to stop the Marauders from finding out the truth.

Back on the ship, Tempo and Aurora sit on the floor and eat "boost fruits" to make the ship go faster. They're attacked the second they step into Shi'ar space, and Cassandra is all . Psylocke and Bishop go out to fight the enemy ship. The Marauders are stuck behind some energy field. Erik the Red shows up and tells them to go back.

It was a pretty long issue. Most of the characters got small moments to shine though, which was great.

[Tenebrae]

I cmd + f for hellion and I was not disappointed.

[JB]

Fun issue, I enjoyed it. I'm glad Pryde brought up her father and it's clear how reluctant everyone is to work with Nova.
It's nice to see Bishop taking on more of a leadership role, having data pages AND actual action. I liked his and Kwannon's spacesuits.
Erik the Red and his red leather fetish is always a good time. Ready for more!

[Glio]

The "Apocalypse and Sinister have killed more people than Cassandra" doesn't fit me too much, there just weren't that many people to kill when they were active.

Other than that, an interesting premise. We've known for a long time that Apocalypse was from the "Second Generation" but I assumed that Selene was from the first. Knowing that there are still active mutants from that generation is intriguing. Knowing the history of the Shi'ar with mutants *looks at Vulcan* it can't be anything good what they did to them.

[Anduinel]

I expect I'm not going to care much for Cassie Nova, even as a villain I'm supposed to love to hate. The blanket amnesty is one thing, but she spends her intro gleefully violating one of Krakoa's few laws and no one says boo about it. So I'm guessing there's gonna be an unpalatable amount of plot armor around the character.

The rest of the issue was fine. Liking the art less than in the previews, unfortunately. It looks less stylistic and more rushed.

[jwatson]

This was a great read too. I know some are fond of the art but i found i really enjoyed it and it sort of fit the book. Cassandra is confirmed to be a mutant and there is a data page with Cecilia and sInster discussing this and the difference between what she did instinctively and what sinister did with tampering and it's also mentioned it is known he kept Thunderbird resurrection off the table so another nod to Scarlet witch and lowkey confirmation they don't need dna now because of her, if thunderbird DNA was gone and he is now back because of wanda, we have our answer.

Xandra shows up here and a new character who apparantly has been cataloguing shiar history and shows xandra a image of what the shiar is hiding and Xandra does not want to go to war with Arrako and her friends there so basically she chooses arrako over krakoa and plans to keep the marauders from finding out the secrets of the ancient mutants.

I thought the scene of Cassandra cutting up all the organs she pulled out of Krakoa was creepily fun.

The data page of the doctors also goes deeply into if Sinister is allowed on the council and other mutants we have to believe in what krakoa stands for and give all mutants a second chance.

Bishop gets a data page in which he analyzes each member of the team. Bishop gets to use his powers in interesting ways. Bishop gets to mention his old X.S.E buddy Malcom and really act as a co lead on the team and a valuable player. He even has the scientist create a fruit that basically synthesizes cortez powers allowing mutants to temporarily get a boost from eating it. This was just a really great issue for him.

Overall very fun, really looking forward to the next one. Erik the Red shows up at the end and i will say his new design is interesting.

[cranger]

I think I enjoyed this but don't know if some of the problems are just going to become more prevalent. I do like that it kicks off with an adventure with some mystery to it. I do not care for the emphasis on past mutant generations or whatever, those stories never age well. However the cast was interesting so let's hope they get enough chances to feel part of the story because solicits seem to be showing this story might drag a little and I feel like the big players will dominate it.

This was a great read too. I know some are fond of the art but i found i really enjoyed it and it sort of fit the book. Cassandra is confirmed to be a mutant and there is a data page with Cecilia and sInster discussing this and the difference between what she did instinctively and what sinister did with tampering and it's also mentioned it is known he kept Thunderbird resurrection off the table so another nod to Scarlet witch and lowkey confirmation they don't need dna now because of her, if thunderbird DNA was gone and he is now back because of wanda, we have our answer.

Cassandra is not confirmed to be a mutant, some people just decided to accept her as one, which just shows that 'mutant' is always a fluid definition. Also, nothing is said about Thunderbird's DNA not being in Sinister's databanks and that they used Wandas fairyland to get it. It only says that someone who is alive now might not be happy to know that someone else used their DNA. At most this just shows that no one really seems to care to be clear about any of this stuff because Once Upon A Time we were told a different story about Thunderbird by editorial.

[NewMutant]

I need to reread this but I was underwhelmed. This cartoony art is fine but its just not what I want in my X-books. Marvel needs to step up on their X-Artist IMO. PL and RD seem to be carrying the Krakoa era.

I really enjoyed the annual and I like Steve Orlando so I'm not out yet.

Also how is Cassandra Nova ripping out "organs" of the the island "Respecting This Sacred Land"...

[Glio]

I need to reread this but I was underwhelmed. This cartoony art is fine but its just not what I want in my X-books. Marvel needs to step up on their X-Artist IMO. PL and RD seem to be carrying the Krakoa era.

I really enjoyed the annual and I like Steve Orlando so I'm not out yet.

Also how is Cassandra Nova ripping out "organs" of the the island "Respecting This Sacred Land"...

Krakoa is not even aware that this archipelago exists, according to Kate at the beginning. I guess that's the loophole, Cassandra wasn't in "True Krakoa". It must be another No-Place/tumor.

[cranger]

Krakoa is not even aware that this archipelago exists, according to Kate at the beginning. I guess that's the loophole, Cassandra wasn't in "True Krakoa". It must be another No-Place/tumor.

I think it is Cassandra that made Krakoa forget about this part of itself.

[danielsan52]

Smerdyakov Boost Fruits

[jwatson]

I think I enjoyed this but don't know if some of the problems are just going to become more prevalent. I do like that it kicks off with an adventure with some mystery to it. I do not care for the emphasis on past mutant generations or whatever, those stories never age well. However the cast was interesting so let's hope they get enough chances to feel part of the story because solicits seem to be showing this story might drag a little and I feel like the big players will dominate it.

Cassandra is not confirmed to be a mutant, some people just decided to accept her as one, which just shows that 'mutant' is always a fluid definition. Also, nothing is said about Thunderbird's DNA not being in Sinister's databanks and that they used Wandas fairyland to get it. It only says that someone who is alive now might not be happy to know that someone else used their DNA. At most this just shows that no one really seems to care to be clear about any of this stuff because Once Upon A Time we were told a different story about Thunderbird by editorial.

Please actually read the entire issue. It flat out says unlike sinister Cassandra was born a mutant. It also flat out says thunderbird DNA was destroyed but now he is back. It's right there in text.

It's the data page with the doctors talking.

[cranger]

Please actually read the entire issue. It flat out says unlike sinister Cassandra was born a mutant. It also flat out says thunderbird DNA was destroyed but now he is back. It's right there in text.

It's the data page with the doctors talking.

I know exactly where it is.

"where his DNA went" does not mean it was destroyed, it means it went into Sinister.

The status of Cassandra being a mutant or not is being debated in this page. Reyes and Nemesis disagree, which is enough for me to not take this as some definitive statement as the tie is broken by Sinister himself who many question that status of as it is.

[ChronoRogue]

The data page exchange between Sinister, Reyes and Nemesis was hilarious.

Enjoyed the issue, though certain parts did feel a bit rough. It feels like the team is getting too obviously lead around the nose by Nova which I don't like. Dislike when characters lose agency in such an obvious way and it was major problem I had with how Tini used Apocalypse in Excalibur. But I'll give the book a chance to see if it can surprise me with the character.

Also the interactions between Aurora, Sommus and Daken are very cute.

[jwatson]

I know exactly where it is.

"where his DNA went" does not mean it was destroyed, it means it went into Sinister.

The status of Cassandra being a mutant or not is being debated in this page. Reyes and Nemesis disagree, which is enough for me to not take this as some definitive statement as the tie is broken by Sinister himself who many question that status of as it is.

Cecilia agrees that Cassandra is a mutant which her and sinister agree on she also agrees she does not like sinister which nene esis then says he does agree then." Lol it's right there