
Marauders #10
Since the reintroduction of The X-Men by Jonathan Hickman, Marauders has stood out amongst the plethora of X-Men titles available. The book has been highlighted by an outsider type storyline, political intrigue, and great art.
This new issue is another good entry dealing with the aftermath of Kitty Pryde’s death engineered by Black King Shaw. It ties back into Forge’s history of making mutant depowering weapons and it being used by anti Krakoa nations like Russia.
The efficiency of Emma Frost and the Marauders in taking revenge and neutralizing the Russians was fantastic. The whole affair was suggested by Shaw to be referred to X-Force but if you are reading both books it’s clear that X-Force would have failed miserably. Instead we are shown the savvy of Emma and the resources she commands plus the plans in place to clean up any messes without breaking the laws of Krakoa.
The ending calls into question the very core of the new mutant strength with the difficulties in the resurrection protocols and has you looking forward to the next issue.
Avengers #33
This run of Avengers by Jason Aaron has been a very entertaining one with connected and yet self contained stories. After an issue showing Mephisto being behind most of the problems the Avengers have been facing since early on the focus turns to Moon Knight. Unexpectedly he is the antagonist here, taking down powerhouses like Thor(!), Iron Fist, and Dr. Strange for reasons left unexplained for the most part.
The art is great here showing action and attitude in the new formidable Moon Knight. This story promises to expand on his mythos that his series shows. Using a lot of visual imagery from Warren Ellis’s series it’s setting the table for a very fun arc. I’m hoping that now that comics are back in rotation that these stories are in the can and maybe an accelerated release schedule will be in effect as it’s an arc to be excited about.