Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #4 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR No. 4, April 2021

Marvellously mixing the titular character’s rise to becoming a Space Marine “hundreds of years earlier” with the ‘present-day’ events on Nova Thulium, Kieron Gillen’s narrative for Issue Four of “Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar” arguably doesn’t give its audience time to breathe until towards its very end when the humble Neophyte faces a final test at the hands of a ruthless Inquisitor. And even then, the tense atmosphere generated by the deeply disconcerting agent’s conversation concerning Tacitan’s previous contact with Crixus’ Khorne Cult, is so palpable that the vast majority of this comic’s readers were probably too busy holding their breath to inhale any air anyway.

Indeed, the Inkpot Award-winner does an excellent job within this twenty-two page periodical’s plot of perpetually hurling any perusing bibliophile straight into the very heart of the action, whether that be Marneus’ retaking of the Calgar Estates from an army of Chaos Heretics or the detailed depiction of the adolescent aspirant desperately defying all the odds to overcome the xenos threat of an Ambull, the slaughter of servitors, and an attack by Orks; “The University of Death. I learned many things from many teachers. I survived when men died. I realised that is what makes a Space Marine.”

Happily however, all this bloodshed and carnage hasn’t simply been assembled just to pad out the publication, but actually strives to show how violent an upbringing the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines had, and how those gore-soaked experiences helped shape him into the killing machine he eventually becomes. This character-building is perhaps best seen when the Lord of Macragge is shown to willingly face down an enormous Helbrute who had literally just torn asunder one of his battle-brothers, without either of his hearts skipping a beat.

Jacen Burrows pencils Calgar as actually seeming to relish the opportunity to confront such a truly terrifying Chaos Dreadnought, so the San Diego-born artist’s subsequent illustrations of the legendary Space Marine’s rise from a gaunt-looking boy into such an icon of the Emperor makes for a truly mesmerising experience, especially as his ascension is documented alongside all the surgical enhancements his initially feeble physical body withstands. In fact, for those Warhammer 40,000 fan-boys fascinated by the numerous organ enhancements and adaptions which take place upon an Adeptus Astartes Neophyte, this comic book is the ideal place to ponder them.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR" #4 by James Stokoe