Warhammer 40,000: Sisters Of Battle #4 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: SISTERS OF BATTLE No. 4, January 2022

Having spent the best part of three instalments showing Canoness Veridyan slowly leading her squad of Adepta Sororitas through the corruption-filled corridors of the planet Siscia, Torunn Grønbekk’s narrative for Issue Four of “Warhammer: Sisters Of Battle” probably provided many of its readers with some sense of satisfaction by finally having the all-female infiltration team encounter their target, Inquisitor Acolyte. Yet whilst this meeting does a good job of illustrating just how much of a cursed heretic Origen has become during his time on the “minor Imperial Mining World”, it arguably does so in such a heavy-handed manner that it raises several questions as to why the ‘Daughters of the Emperor’ didn’t just try to extricate the treacherous Inquisitorial henchman en mass from this mini-series’ start..?

To begin with, having finally learnt of his agent’s betrayal, Inquisitor Ander immediately dismisses any need for the urgent secrecy upon which this entire storyline’s premise has debatably been based, and instead informs Canoness Preceptor Oris that she may now crush the Chaos-led rebellion with maximum effort. This complete U-turn is genuinely infuriating and whilst it supposedly makes the Orders Militant’s commander-in-chief “grateful for this moment when the politics and uncertainty fade into irrelevance”, it also means that Veridyan never needed to attempt so doomed a mission to begin with just a handful of warriors.

Likewise, it appears abundantly clear that Novitiate Ghita’s team had absolutely no hope of ever making it through their assignment undiscovered, when both the planet’s Governor and Origen were neck deep in the mysterious Crea’s perfidies straight from this story’s start. Disconcertingly however, the removal of such clandestineness isn’t seemingly communicated to the Sisters prowling underground, but that doesn’t stop them literally blowing up the chaos force’s headquarters in a highly visible effort to extract the acolyte from his mistress’ demonic side; “Milady. The Sisters of Battle are on the ground. Our forces are ready. We only need your order.”

Perhaps therefore, this twenty-page periodical’s most notable highlight is to be found within the layouts of Edgar Salazar. The freelance artist does an excellent job of drawing the mindless violence surround the Sisterhood during its skirmishes with Origen’s numerous minions, and surely must have raised a smile upon the lips of many a “Warhammer 40,000” fan with his sketch of Veridyan double knee-capping her ungrateful ‘charge’ after he foolishly attempts to escape by unsuccessfully strangling Tedra.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: SISTERS OF BATTLE" #4 by Dave Wilkins