Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Marneus Calgar Issue #1 Review
Goatboy here. Marvel sent us a review copy of the Marneus Calgar, Issue #1 comic book. Let’s dive in.
This book was already in my pull list but I was excited to check it out before I had to chance to buy it from my local comic book store. If you haven’t figured out I really enjoy reading comic books. In fact it is my other “hobby” beyond the 40k nonsense that helps keep me trucking along during this time away from events and seeing a lot of my friends. So you can understand how excited I was that I could get a chance to experience the first Marvel Warhammer 40k comic.
To start things off – I enjoyed it a lot. It feels like a Warhammer 40k comic book – full of the grim darkness we are accustomed to as well as the we bit of Ultra Violence we all come to expect in a world where everyone fights everyone else. I am not the biggest fan of the Ultramarines. They are by far one of the Chapters I just don’t like. You could say it is due to liking the Word Bearers a lot but those boys in royal blue just seem like total tightwads. Between pushing their book on how to be the bestest Marine as well as just sounding kind of snooty they are the Chapter I just don’t have plans on ever really playing or investing myself in. So of course getting the first comic book from Marvel be about them I thought I’ll read it but not really enjoy it as it doesn’t showcase my favorite “heroes”.
After reading it I found that it was a lot more than just a bunch of snooty blue armored jerks running around. I found myself actually getting interested in who this Marneus is, why he is so dang calm, and getting interested in this beyond just being excited to see some 40k stories done by the House of Marvel. Marneus comes across as both a hero and a “good” guy in a way that I did not expect. The small bits of info from how he was as a boy and his overall demeanor when dealing with an Adeptus Mechanicus character shows that this isn’t just a mountain of muscle and murder – he is something entirely different. Somehow I feel like we think most Marines are just uncaring machines of order but bringing in a bit more thought to them does wonders in making them feel like something more than just an endless wave of bullet shooting primary colors.
Beyond the story the art is pretty dang fantastic. I am a big fan of the artist – Jacen Burrows – from his days working with Avatar Press and just doing a bang up job of drawing brutality in the Crossed Comics and his Alan Moore work. He is one of those artists I always recognize due to his particular way of drawing so much detail in each of his panels and making you squirm with some of the brutality. Everything feels like a powerful explosion whether it is a Heretic being consumed by a bolter shell or some weird Lovecraftian horror he worked up within the prose of Alan Moore – Jacen really does a great job. Beyond just the illustration the color feels great too as everything has that beaten feel of an armor worn for centuries.
Overall if you like Comics and like Warhammer 40k you should go out and grab this book. It is exciting, gory, and feels exactly like a Warhammer 40k comic should. Kieron Gillen is obviously a fan of this universe and it shows in this first foray into the Grim Darkness of bad guys, monsters, and even worse guys.
Thanks again to Marvel for sending me a preview copy and thank you to Kieron for answering questions last time and chatting with me about comics and 40k. If you want to read other neat stuff check out is RPG/Goth Jumanji book DIE, his upcoming Eternals comic from Marvel, and his plethora of Star Wars books. He obviously likes to write and he does a good job at creating interesting stories.
~Go pick up Issue #1, you’ll like it!
