Warhammer 40K - Marneus Calgar #1
- WRITER
- Kieron Gillen
- Artist
- Jacen Burrows
- Letterer
- VC's Clayton Cowles
- Cover Artist
- Max Dunbar, Games Workshop, Jacen Burrows, Dave Stewart, E.M. Gist
- Publisher
- Marvel Comics
- Price
- 4.99
- Release Date
- 2020-10-14
- Colorist
- Java Tartaglia
Marvel Comics continues to expand its publishing line beyond traditional caped and cowled superheroes as acquires more licenses to catalog of titles. Following the launch of last month's Ultraman miniseries, the publisher has veered into epic, horror-tinged science fiction with its adaptation of Games Workshop's enduring Warhammer 40K franchise. Helmed by Kieron Gillen and Jacen Burrows, the five-issue miniseries provides the previously untold origin story of fan-favorite Space Marine Marneus Calgar while he continues to fight in defense of the Imperium, no matter what the cost. And while those unaccustomed to the franchise may find the issue unrelentingly bleak, the creative team has crafted plenty of narrative hooks to grab the interest of the uninitiated.
Set in the world of Warhammer 40K, a futuristic science fiction world where an interplanetary war has been raging endlessly for over ten thousand years. As Space Marines battle against all those that would defy the holy will of the Imperium's regent atop the Golden Throne, the eponymous Ultramarine, leading his own elite chapter, is sent to his home planet of Nova Thulium to quell an armed uprising by heretics. Back on a world he long left in service to the Space Marines without looking back, Marneus Calgar recalls his past life and how he came to be as he continues to wage a war without end.
Writer Kieron Gillen has a particularly unenviable task: In addition to adapting Game Workshop's beloved franchise into the comic book medium, Gillen must balance the miniseries for both longtime fans looking for the world-building backstory of one of its most prolific characters but also readers that may have never potentially read any of the lore or even played a single tabletop game of Warhammer in the first place. It's a tricky endeavor and Gillen, for the most part, succeeds with this opening issue. The biggest drawback is the sheer amount of information this issue has to deliver to catch up those unfamiliar with the source; Gillen circumvents some of this with maps and information pages but there are sequences that still run noticeably heavy on exposition.
Jacen Burrows, with colorist Java Tartaglia, brings the world of 40K to life on the printed page, deliver on the grimdark expectations. This is not a sci-fi filled with grandeur but one with unflinching violence and a pervasive sense of despair. Burrows had previously worked with Garth Ennis earlier this year on Punisher: Soviet, which similarly contained brightly lit, open environments that displayed the resulting carnage in full and those sensibilities continue here; albeit nowhere near as gory as the Marvel MAX title. There is certainly epic action to be had but one gets the feeling that the art team is only warming up for even bigger, more sweeping sequences to unfold as the miniseries continues.
Marvel's Warhammer 40K comic miniseries is, appropriately, the bleakest, most grimdark title it's currently publishing, befitting the tone and scope of its original source material. This isn't a world where heroes swoop in and save the day, where its people are inspired by the caped marvels soaring above them. In the world of the Imperium, great power is never used towards great responsibility, there is only war. And while those who may not know who Marneus Calgar is just yet may not have anywhere near the same level of investment, there is enough sci-fi action on a grand scale to hold their interest as the miniseries continues to delve into Marneus' life and legacy.