Marauders #5 spoilers Review - end of the first arc

[Devaishwarya]

I personally hate when readers try to "rewrite" a story to make it "better" and far be it for me to even try but...
If I was Orlando and I was introducing the FG mutants for the first time in this story it would have helped if, in between the extraneous Crimson shenanigans and foolery, we got at least one page per issue filling out their backstory and why they should be important (other than being FG), so at least by the time we got to this 5th issue we would intellectually feel connected to something...other than a test-tube.

[Anduinel]

More time travel? Oof. Yeah, I think I'm off this one until at least arc three (assuming it gets one). I've really enjoyed Orlando's DC and indy work, but the character I'm most interested in seems to be the one Orlando is least interested in (save as Daken's cheerleader), and these storytelling beats just aren't grabbing me.

[Master of Sound]

Can I ask which Acolytes were present besides Voght, Rem-Ram and Senyaka?

[Nyssane]

Can I ask which Acolytes were present besides Voght, Rem-Ram and Senyaka?

Cargill and Barnacle (WTF?) were also in it. I wanna know where Scanner, Unuscione, and the Kleinstocks were because they and Cargill are the only ones I remember having any sort of role in that storyline.

[Master of Sound]

Cargill and Barnacle (WTF?) were also in it. I wanna know where Scanner, Unuscione, and the Kleinstocks were because they and Cargill are the only ones I remember having any sort of role in that storyline.

In the original storey they were indeed the ones who escaped with Cyclops. Others like Javitz, Rusty and Milan died.

[Huntsman Spider]

Warbird got it, not Deathbird.

Not all birds look alike, yo.

Thanks for the correction. Not even being sarcastic.

[ChronoRogue]

I get this is probably a petty complaint, but the first arc would've fit better a Starjammers title not a book called The Marauders.

As for the actual contents, it's alright. I appreciate Orlando for bringing Holocaust as I think that's a really underused villain, though not a fan of time-traveling shenanigans (as contradictory as that is being an X-Fan).

Overall I just feel it's a bit lacking in thematics, I did enjoy some of the character moments though. I hope we get a clearer picture of where the story is headed soon.

[Hulkout42]

So now that this arc over can someone go over the main points of this arc?

ANOTHER breed of ancient mutants is found, because why not? I mean they killed of a bunch of Arrako mutants later on.

Kitty learns this because of a future cube.

Cassandra Nova is on the team...because somehow having her on it makes sense.

New Marauders team goes into space in a ship that pretty much like a rip off of Captain Harlock's.

Shi'ar are involved in the mystery of the new mutants.

ANOTHER secret sect within the Shi'ar is present because why not as if that wasn't already a thing with the whole War of Kings.

Turns out new Secret Sect did not want to share that info and kill Xavier's Shi'ar kid who sends out a psychic cry that daddy Xavier picks up and uses to ressurect her which announces to the universe our Empress can live forever and it is nobody's business who can say she is or isn't to be resurrected since mutants will do it anyway... yeah like that won't be an issue already with the other empires.

Marauders get into a fight with new secret sect whose name a care so little about i won't bother with looking it up.

Turns out new breed of mutants are dead ish so a this now becomes a time caper and in the interim Kitty is killed...again.

Nemesis from the Age of Apocalypse is here, for some reason.

Time caper goes array as it usually does.

Time caper is pulled off and the save the ancient breed of mutants...sort of since the mutant is in a funky looking coffee thermos that they can't open.

This all happens before the stupid and unnecessary Hellfire Gala, so they do not know yet that Cyclops spilled the beans on resurrection to the rest of the Earth.

Turns out we now have a mutant from 2099 in the mix...and since i have not read that i can't what is her deal so i won't bother.

And that is pretty much it i think.

[NewMutant]

ANOTHER breed of ancient mutants is found, because why not? I mean they killed of a bunch of Arrako mutants later on.

Kitty learns this because of a future cube.

Cassandra Nova is on the team...because somehow having her on it makes sense.

New Marauders team goes into space in a ship that pretty much like a rip off of Captain Harlock's.

Shi'ar are involved in the mystery of the new mutants.

ANOTHER secret sect within the Shi'ar is present because why not as if that wasn't already a thing with the whole War of Kings.

Turns out new Secret Sect did not want to share that info and kill Xavier's Shi'ar kid who sends out a psychic cry that daddy Xavier picks up and uses to ressurect her which announces to the universe our Empress can live forever and it is nobody's business who can say she is or isn't to be resurrected since mutants will do it anyway... yeah like that won't be an issue already with the other empires.

Marauders get into a fight with new secret sect whose name a care so little about i won't bother with looking it up.

Turns out new breed of mutants are dead ish so a this now becomes a time caper and in the interim Kitty is killed...again.

Nemesis from the Age of Apocalypse is here, for some reason.

Time caper goes array as it usually does.

Time caper is pulled off and the save the ancient breed of mutants...sort of since the mutant is in a funky looking coffee thermos that they can't open.

This all happens before the stupid and unnecessary Hellfire Gala, so they do not know yet that Cyclops spilled the beans on resurrection to the rest of the Earth.

Turns out we now have a mutant from 2099 in the mix...and since i have not read that i can't what is her deal so i won't bother.

And that is pretty much it i think.

How does all this tie into the box from Hellfire Gala vol1, that Mystique uses to get Emma's vote in Inferno, which leads to the Marauders Annual?

[danielsan52]

I wish Black Light and White Noise would be acknowledged as Deathbird's chicks.

[Reiko]

Wish Cass had kept the mutant symbiote.

[Master of Sound]

Wish Lifeguard was included in a Shi'ar story

[DAHX]

Wish they kept the current artist.

[BobbysWorld]

Ugh, sometimes I am a truly ridiculous person. I took my Adderall right before sitting down to do a work project that got pulled at the last second leaving me with gas in the tank and nothing to spend it on, so I hyper-fixated like a boss and pounded out a literal 13K in six hours expounding on my theories for where I think Hickman was actually going. And what his intended Third Act was all along. And what the entire line is building towards if in fact they are keeping to his outline as they insist. And like. Other stuff. It was LONG, yo.

And then I fell into a rabbit hole of examining what the actual themes and underlying messages of all his major story beats suggest IMO and how its totally the exact OPPOSITE of what most of the people who wish he stayed so he could write 'and it all falls down' usually assume was his actual intention....and to be completely honest its also pretty opposite from what I was thinking until I literally just changed my mind too - but like I think the usual interpretation of what he was doing with Krakoa and Moira and Inferno might actually have everything totally backwards? Which could be just me projecting as much as anyone else does, but also if I'm right could end up being fucking HILARIOUS instead. Anyway, the really funny part to me is all of that came out of me posting an initial reaction to this thread, cocking my head and going huh as something I hadn't considered before occurred to me....and then the train left the station and 13K later here we are.

So like, the specific source of the LULZ, especially considering how much (and which posters in particular) hate this fucking arc with a vengeance and are like 'wtf Orlando' for even coming up with it let alone devoting his first year to this whole storyline....

Is I feel pretty confident that none of it is actually even Orlando's idea? Like, the 2099 elements are his own preferences and flavoring, I suspect. But I'd bet anything right now that Threshold was Hickman's idea and a key part of his outline and integral to his proposed Act Three. Its not like, the actual END goal of what he was building towards, I don't think, that was a specific climax I've got a hunch about too, but Threshold's entire story and concept is IMO actually entirely born of his Third Act and crucial to it, and Orlando's literally just writing the part of Hickman's outline that the X-Offices wanted his book to tackle.

But like I said, ridiculous essay is truly absurd even by my standards and it'd like, probably take a literal seven posts because I was working it out in my head as I was writing so I got a bit....flowy with my musing lol and of course I'm not going to post it here and I'm just debating whether or not its worth making a whole thread just to dump it in and also the inevitable 'I'm not reading all that' stuff. And by debating I mean of course I'm going to DO it, like I literally have no self-control and I already wrote it and also I do not take constructive criticism so I have immunity, duh. Soooo...yeah. I'm probably gonna go do that unless I don't and it only just occurred to me that I probably should at least say something relevant to this thread because I did enjoy this a lot, actually, and not just because I'm a slut for Cerebra. (The biological/organic but still fictional version, not the robot version of course. I'm no Madison Jeffries. I don't say 'microplastics' nearly often enough, for starters).

Anyway, I unabashedly love the 2099 universe and characters and so am beyond hyped to see Cerebra used in the present day. I hope she sticks around for a good long while. And given how much time-traveling this team is doing and the fact that the comics have ALWAYS made a point to stress how Shakti is basically an organic version of Cerebro...I'm betting Orlando intends to extend that similarity to her discovering she can back-up the consciousnesses of other mutants the Marauders meet while time-traveling...as long as they grab a strand of hair or something to take with them on their way back to the present, they can thus resurrect any mutant from an alternate timeline. Thus by introducing Cerebra (most likely to serve a specific plot function in wrapping up the Threshold storyline, or to resurrect key Threshold mutants in the present day), I think Orlando's also backdoored his way into being able to bring back any XSE characters he might want to, like Shard. I'd bet anything that at the very least Shard does come back in his run, with him using Shakti to do it. If I'm wrong and he doesn't actually have any plans to use Shakti to bring back Shard, then like....whoops, but also I think he should still do it anyway.

[Micabe]

I wish Black Light and White Noise would be acknowledged as Deathbird's chicks.

But, Black Light and White Noise are acknowledged as Deathbird's children.

whitenoiseshiar
blacklightshiar