Nobody puts Emma Frost in a corner.  Eden Rixlo is about to find out why…  Your Major Spoilers review of Marauders #25 from Marvel Comics awaits!

MARAUDERS #25

Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Colorist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Jordan D. White
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 27, 2021

Previously in Marauders: You don’t cross Emma Frost…  even if she was the one who crossed you first.  The Marauders’ trip into space gets bloody… and in space, no one can hear you bleed.

OUT OF THE AIRLOCK, INTO THE FIRE

In the depths of space, the assembled Marauders (Iceman, Pyro, Sebastian Shaw, Lucas Bishop, Emma Frost, and Kate Pryde, with Lockheed the Dragon) are seconds from death in the frozen void.  Of course, “frozen” is Iceman’s middle name!  (Not really…  It’s Louis.)  Iceman assembles a shell of pure ice around them, capturing as much air as he can.  Pyro creates water with a little melting action, allowing Kate Pryde to use her frap gun to apply an electrical current and generate oxygen.  Bishop and Shaw (attorneys at law), who both redirect kinetic energy, start generating power to get them back to the ship, while The White Queen psionically gives them a target.  It’s amazing how quickly things turn all business, with Bishop blasting them back to their ship, Captain Pryde phasing back into the ship and confronting their would-be hijacker.

Did you know that she was trained by a ninja?

BISHOP AND SHAW PUNCHING EACH OTHER

Marauders #25 is a wonderful sketch of how well a seemingly random group of characters mesh, with everyone getting a cool moment to show off a bit, even if Kate “Red Queen” Pryde breaks her nose getting into the ship.  The art is bold and stylized, really showing off the storytelling chops of Noto and the character designs.  I’m especially impressed by the half-page splash of the artist formerly known as Kitty barreling through the void, holding her breath with pure murder in her eyes.  It’s an excellent page in an issue filled with them, with my biggest complaint being a certain limitation in the facial expressions due to Phil’s stark linework.  As for the story itself, it’s one of my favorites in recent X-memory, especially the ending, where Emma drops off Rixlo and promises that if he ever seeks them out again, she won’t stop Kitty from killing him again.  It’s a moment that would work with multiple characters, but somehow the decades of history between Frost and Pryde makes it even more satisfying.

BOTTOM LINE: YOU HAD ME AT THE PUNCHING

Marauders #25 is what Star Trek producers would call a bottle show, making the most of limited settings with a clever use of characters and their powers, some really nice art and a synthesis of personalities that absolutely shouldn’t work together, working together, for 4.5 out of 5 stars overall.  Honestly, any story that has two energy redirectors punching back and forth to build up enough charge to save the day is a story that I want to read.  Also: Iceman rules.  That is all.

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MARAUDERS #25

87%

87%

Clever And Well-Plotted

What should have been a fatal encounter turns into a show of the resourcefulness of the Marauders, with half a dozen moments of awesome for our heroes and art that impresses.

• Writing

  9
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  9
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
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