Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #5 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR No. 5, April 2021

Firmly fixated upon the titular character’s final battle against two of the traitorous trainees he once fought when he was universally known as just lowly Tacitan, this twenty-one page periodical’s plot certainly can’t be described as being unexciting or actionless. But whilst Kieron Gillen’s storyline for Issue Five of “Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar” contains plenty of pulse-pounding power fist-based pugilism and several bucket loads of gory blood, its opening scene depicts the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines in such a dire predicament that arguably any plausibility that he could single-handedly survive the Khorne threat on Thulium Minor is immediately lost.

For starters, having endured his Thunderhawk’s horrific crash the Lord of Macragge finds himself stood facing both the double-headed, physically-fused incarnation of his former acquaintances, as well as a good half a dozen able-bodied Chaos Space Marines. These formidable enemies are all within spitting distance of Calgar, yet seem to make no effort at all to close the gap between them, preferring instead to ineffectively fire at the retreating Adeptus Astartes as he withdraws deep inside a nearby mining facility. 

True, as Marneus points out to his accompanying tech priest, the Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar is “a small army” in his own right. But considering that he is literally also just a stone’s throw away from the incredible firepower of a gigantic, super-heavy Daemon Engine of Chaos, it is difficult to believe even he could survive such close proximity to a great cleaver of Khorne, or a Skullhurler, or even a Daemongore cannon, if the “grotesque battle construct” had attacked him from this comic’s start; “Unleashing a torrent of burning filth at all that lies before the Lord of Skulls. It is capable of reducing whole armoured divisions to molten slag.”

Instead, the British writer pens a bizarrely unambitious conclusion which sees Jacen Burrows proficiently pencilling the Primaris Space Marine besting a mere handful of the Blood God’s most loyal acolytes within the ruins of a long-downed World Bearers vessel, before apparently being both outmanoeuvred and subsequently outfought by his heavily mutated main adversary. This climax is debatably made all the worse by having the Ultramarine willingly have one of his hearts pierced by the semi-naked Chaos Champion’s sword in a clichéd effort to get his hands on his opponent after deciding his Power Fists alone didn’t give him the reach needed to do the job.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR" #5 by James Stokoe

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

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #3 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR No. 3, February 2021

Dynamically split between the titular character’s current crusade against the Forces of Chaos infesting his former family’s estates on Nova Thulium, and the Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar’s earlier exploits as a wannabe Space Marine aspirant on the Agri-world’s savage moon, Kieron Gillen’s script for Issue Three of “Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar” must surely have pleased many within the mini-series’ audience with the central protagonist’s contrasting fighting abilities. Indeed, in many ways it is hard to imagine that the thin, scruffily-clothed adolescent desperately trying to stay alive amidst a slavering cabal of Khorne worshippers, would ultimately survive to become the formidable Chapter Master who single-handedly storms a hapless Blood God death machine and causes untold carnage wearing just the Gauntlets of Ultramar.

Enjoyably however, this well-defined distinction is definitely what the British author’s narrative needs in order to remain at least slightly ‘believable’. Armed with little more than a knife and a belly full of revenge for his fallen friend, it would arguably have been all too easy to have penned Tacitan waging a war upon the perfidious Crixus like some sort of super-fighting machine. But rather fall into that particular trap, the former video game journalist instead shows the outnumbered loyalist desperately trying to use his brains to overcome his opponents’ brawn, and ultimately actually failing in his mission to destroy the traitors’ foul underground altar.

Likewise Gillen appears rather good at depicting the sheer might of a lone Space Marine sergeant when faced with a cybernetically-enhanced, axe-wielding maniac and his fanatical brethren. Power sword in one hand and bolter in the other, Arta readily overcomes all of the physical hurdles which stood in Tacitan's way, and still has time to rescue the awestruck youth from a self-imploding demonic dais before he’s done dispensing the Emperor’s justice; “I saw the monster that was Crixus advance. Full of dark power and darker madness. Any man would have run. But the marine? He knew no fear.”

Just as important to the telling of this twenty-page periodical’s pulse-pounding plot is Jacen Burrows’ awesome artwork, which genuinely seems to add an awful lot to the mythos behind Calgar’s rise to become the Lord of Macragge. The sheer weight behind Marneus’ power-fists can almost be felt whenever he swings the gigantic close-combat weapons in anger, and such well-pencilled scenes diverge marvellously with those of the light-footed serf, who is forced to rely upon sheer speed and cunning rather than the overwhelming weaponry of the Adeptus Astartes.

Writer: Kieron Gillen, Artist: Jacen Burrows, and Colorist: Java Tartaglia

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #2 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR No. 2, January 2021

Focusing far more upon just how an adolescent Marneus Calgar prepared himself for the Astartes tests under the instructor Crixus than the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines’ current battle against the Forces of Chaos on Nova Thulium, Kieron Gillen’s narrative for this twenty-page periodical caused quite a bit of controversy amongst fans of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game when it originally hit the spinner racks in November 2020. For whilst the British author arguably does an excellent job of providing this comic’s audience with a thoroughly riveting read, courtesy of some surprisingly dark treachery on the Agri-world’s moon, the writer also takes “one of the franchise’s most beloved characters” in an entirely new direction by having the twelve year-old shockingly die in the arms of his best friend at the very end of the book; “No, Tacitan. It is over. I am over. I… Marneus Calgar will never be a space marine.”

This act of ultimate betrayal by the adolescent’s bitterly twisted trainer is admittedly a little disconcerting at first, with this twenty-page periodical seemingly therefore depicting the beloved Lord of Macragge as being an ignoble imposter rather than the high-born heir to “the richest house on the planet”. However, such a potential mass cover-up is quickly shown to be nothing of the sort as the Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar quite openly talks about how he took on the name of his closest companion to “little Quintus” Heximar following the true Calgar’s demise, and even goes as far as to show the Adept the impressive family statue dedicated to the deceased youth who “died… in service of the Emperor.”

In addition, the shocking casualty certainly makes some sense story-wise considering the would-be marine Marneus and his ferociously-loyal serf Tacitan are superbly pencilled by American artist Jacen Burrows haplessly stumbling upon their treasonous team-mates’ nightmarish temple to the Blood God Khorne with no weapons apart from a small knife and a couple of lanterns. Surrounded by a sizeable number of ‘brain-washed’ trainees, their barking mad mentor and over half a dozen cybernetically-enhanced Chaos acolytes, this comic’s narrative would debatably appear far too contrived if the two unarmed boys managed to escape the turncoats’ deadly underground trap with nothing but a couple of bruises and cuts.

Writer: Kieron Gillen, Artist: Jacen Burrows, and Colorist Java Tartaglia

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #1 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR No. 1, December 2020

Shifting between 22,500 to 25,000 copies in October 2020, at least according to “Diamond Comic Distributors”, it is arguably quite clear from the depth of its narrative that Issue One of “Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar” was penned by someone “venerable enough to have bought Rogue Trader in 1987.” For whilst this opening instalment to a five-part mini-series somewhat skirts around the detail of the titular character’s involvement in the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Kieron Gillen’s fascinating depiction as to just how a Space Marine aspirant becomes a neophyte contains plenty of scripture and verse, as well as a thrilling confrontation between young Tacitan and a deadly Ambull.

Indeed, the never-before-told origin story of the Ultramarines’ legendary Chapter Master is debatably far more enthralling than the elite warrior’s battle on Nova Thulium against the forces of Chaos. True, the horde of red and black clothed heretical fanatics who hurl themselves against humanity’s greatest warriors certainly provides the former computer games journalist with plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the superior firepower on hand in the distant future. Yet it is arguably Calgar’s noble actions as an adolescent which proves the most intriguing element of this twenty-four page periodical’s plot, once the boy’s personal trainer appears to make it abundantly clear that the man-child “will either become a neophyte or you will be dead.”

Likewise, the British author also manages to start weaving an intriguing scenario surrounding “the smallest habitable moon of the agri-world of Nova Thulium” which makes it clear that Marneus won’t just be facing poorly lead cultists on his former home planet. Initially, the Ultramarines’ dynamically-paced victories over the gun-toting rabble would simply seem to have been included in this comic as something to sharply contrast with the more sedentary storyline of the Chapter Master’s past. However, by the end of this book the sudden appearance of hulking Chaos Space Marines strongly suggests that something far more sinister is about to take place.

Quite wonderfully drawing all this action and scheming together into a veritable feast for the eyes is Jacen Burrows’ artwork, which does a magnificent job of portraying Calgar in all his formidable glory. The American illustrator evidently has a great flair for pencilling bolter-infested battles, with his double-splash of the Ultramarines emerging from a swooping Thunderhawk gunship to tear bloody chunks out of a heretical mob being one of this publication’s biggest highlights.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR" #1 by Jacen Burrows