Marauders #9

By Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli and Edgar Delgado

Kitty Pryde is dead. The leader of the Marauders was killed and the team is attempting to move on without her. You can argue that the first story arc was very Kate centric, and it was, but with her out of the picture, other team members get the opportunity to shine. Pyro, Bishop and Emma take center stage in this issue, and the title doesn’t suffer. As we enter the 9th issue of this series, and we see how different it is from the other titles, Marauders truly does stand out.

Gerry Duggan is always a good read when his name is attached to his book. After 8 issues, I still can’t tell you what will happen next. Duggan uses Yellow Jacket as a villain, which is cool to see. I love that other marvel villains are targeting the X-Men now since all the X-Men foes are united. Duggan allows Yellow Jacket to react to the X-Men in a logical way. When Yellow Jacket is found out, he’s not afraid to do what is necessary to save himself. Bishop had a good issue under Duggan’s pen as well. Bishop is often a forgotten member of the team, but Duggan does him justice and shows him as the power house he is. Duggan also writes Magneto for a little in this issue. He writes him as in character as Hickman does. It’s those little continuity moments that make this new X-Men line great.

The pencils this issue are handled by Matteo Lolli with colors by Edgar Delgado. The pencils are clean and smooth, and very easy to make out. Lolli has a very good style that is easy on the eyes. As we read, we can drift panel to panels with ease. Death panels are done wonderfully, and while they’re bloody, they’re not necessarily overly graphic. Lolli also shines in his facial expressions. As Pyro finds out how they are going to get the sub out, the look on his face is priceless. The colors by Edgar Delgado really shine here too. As Emma and Pyro attempt to take on the small children from Verendi, there is a great panel where Emma and Pyro are half covered in shadows. It’s a superb job on the coloring front. There are also some nice oranges and reds used when Yellow Jacket is in his sub. This is the tip of the iceberg for this art duo. They do great work together and I’d love to see them on more X-books.

Marauders is a different book than the others in the X-Men line right now and that’s ok. Gerry Duggan always brings fun and emotion when he’s on a title. The pencils and colors complimented the writing wonderfully and set the tone for the story. Marauders is a fun book that is developing lesser known characters into stars.