{"id":6740,"date":"2021-06-02T23:15:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6740"},"modified":"2021-06-03T21:01:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T20:01:21","slug":"marauders-21-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6740","title":{"rendered":"Marauders #21 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MARAUDERS #21
\n“You are Cordially Invited to the Hellfire Gala”
\nby Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli & Edgar Delgado<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong>\u00a0Emma Frost welcomes you to the Gala. Though really, by the time you’ve got this close, it’s a bit late to be offering you an invitation.<\/p>\n

PAGE 2.<\/strong>\u00a0Data page: the invitation to the Gala, which also appears on the cover of this week’s\u00a0X-Force\u00a0<\/em>#20.<\/p>\n

“On the evening of the summer solstice.”<\/strong> That would be 21 June. Apparently in the Marvel Universe you can see a starry sky on Mykines “a few minutes after midnight”, and enjoy a fireworks display, all on the summer solstice. But the Faroe Islands are so far north that\u00a0it doesn’t actually get dark in midsummer.<\/a>\u00a0Let’s politely ignore that and move on.<\/p>\n

PAGES 3-4.<\/strong>\u00a0Kate, Sebastian and Emma await the arrival of the guests.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mykines<\/strong>, which is a real place in the Faroe Islands, was acquired by Emma in\u00a0Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto<\/em> #1. The Faroes are actually an autonomous territory within Denmark.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Remarkable to be at a Hellfire gala once again…”<\/strong> Shaw is referring to the “annual gala” from the back-up strip in\u00a0Classic X-Men<\/em> #7, which is reprinted at the end of this issue. In fact, when the Hellfire Gala was first mentioned back in Marauders<\/em> #7, Emma said that “Jumbo just said I should throw a Hellfire gala, and neither of us knows what it is yet”. Which rather suggests that the link to the\u00a0Classic X-Men<\/em> story is something that came along later.<\/p>\n

Shaw also referenced that story in the previous issue, when he brought up Lourdes Chantel – which is probably the main reason for reprinting it here.<\/p>\n

X-Force<\/strong> are serving as security for this diplomatic party, as seen in more detail over in\u00a0X-Force<\/em> #20.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong>\u00a0The Avengers arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s the current line-up of the Avengers: the Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Blade, the Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Captain Marvel, Thor and Captain America. Iron Man makes his own way to Krakoa. Oddly, former villain Tempo has been assigned as the greeter – but people are coming from a lot of places, and somebody needs to be on the other side of each gate to hand out to the flowers. The flowers presumably serve as the signal that allows guests through the gates without having a mutant right next to them.\u00a0Over in\u00a0X-Force<\/em> #20, Iron Man strongly implies that the flowers are tracking devices, which is why he refuses to wear them and avoids using the gates.<\/p>\n

Emma is in full-on, rather un-subtle diplomatic mode here.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.<\/strong>\u00a0The Fantastic Four arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Aside from the obvious four members of the Fantastic Four, that’s Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards in panel 3. Kitty and Franklin have a history from\u00a0X-Men \/ Fantastic Four<\/em> back in the 80s, and the more recent miniseries from the Krakoa era, hence their reaction here. Since we last saw Franklin in the X-books, he’s been retconned into a non-mutant in\u00a0Fantastic Four<\/em> vol 6 #26. Broadly, that story claims that Franklin was never a mutant, but that he used his powers to subconsciously make himself appear to be one.<\/p>\n

The woman with facepaint coming through the gate is Dazzler.<\/p>\n

The scene with Iron Man and Kid Omega is shown in more detail in\u00a0X-Force<\/em> #20; that version shows Iron Man being rather more rationally sceptical about using Krakoan technology when he can avoid it.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong>\u00a0More guests arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Doctor Doom<\/strong>‘s treatment of mutants came up in\u00a0the recent\u00a0X-Men \/ Fantastic Four<\/em> series. Basically, he sees them as a national resource (though more in the way that he sees everything in Latveria as a national resource).<\/p>\n

The ambassadors. <\/strong>The Russian ambassador is the same woman we saw in\u00a0House of X<\/em> #1 and #5. Her name is Natalia Vollock.\u00a0Reuben Brousseau is a villain from\u00a0Excalibur<\/em>, where he leads a right-wing mystical cult that for no terribly clear reason seems to have considerable influence within the UK government. The Madripoorian representative is Donald Pierce, who’s shown up as a Madripoor diplomatic in previous issues.<\/p>\n

The celebrity guests.<\/strong> J Jonah Jameson is fairly obvious. The two in the foreground of the panel appear to be Meredith Salenger and Patton Oswalt.<\/p>\n

The AIM agent<\/strong> is Ned, the defector who helped save Storm in\u00a0Giant-Size X-Men: Storm<\/em> #1. That’s where Marvel Girl recognises him from.<\/p>\n

PAGE 8.<\/strong>\u00a0Xavier greets Reed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reed is (understandably) still angry about\u00a0X-Men \/ Fantastic Four<\/em> #4, where Xavier messed with his mind to prevent him re-creating a device that had the potential to eliminate mutant powers.<\/p>\n

Franklin is referring to the revelation that he was never a mutant, and Kate is being typically supportive. I’m not sure if she’s referencing a specific Wolverine line.<\/p>\n

PAGES 9-11.<\/strong>\u00a0The telepathic concert.<\/em><\/p>\n

You’d think the less sympathetic guests would be a bit more freaked out by having their minds affected in this way, but \u00a0everyone does seem to enjoy it, even if Brousseau dismisses it as a cheap stunt. Doom evidently has his armour sealed against telepathic interference, and who can blame him?<\/p>\n

Rhapsody<\/strong> debuted in\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> vol 1 #79 in 1992 and has made very scattered appearances since. Her actual power is to use music as a focus to create mind-control and flight. While she’s also a talented musician, that’s not actually a power. She’s just good.<\/p>\n

The Stepford Cuckoos<\/strong> – going by the more formal “Five-in-One” – are in their usual colour scheme of one in black and four in white. The significance of this, if any, remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Delores Ramirez<\/strong> from the CIA’s X-desk is next to Reuben in the crowd, and as usual, she’s more sympathetic to mutants than he is.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-13.<\/strong> The Marauders gamble on the roof, and Sean and Emma speak<\/em><\/p>\n

Specifically, that’s Shinobi Shaw, Bishop, Pyro, Ned from AIM and Iceman.<\/p>\n

Sean Cassidy\u00a0<\/strong>was co-headmaster of the Massachusetts Academy alongside Emma back in\u00a0Generation X<\/em>, hence their rapport here. He seems to say that Emma also sent him another invitation which, for whatever reason, he’s not going to accept. We’ll doubtless hear more about that in due course.<\/p>\n

PAGES 14-16.<\/strong>\u00a0The Shi’ar show up.<\/em><\/p>\n

The celebrity cameos in the background are Run The Jewels.<\/p>\n

The mysterious uninvited gift from the Shi’ar is clearly a plot point. Over in\u00a0X-Force<\/em> #20, it turns out to be “a big, shiny pile of logic diamonds” – the memory storage that’s used to record Cerebro’s backup data. Hmm.<\/p>\n

PAGE 17.<\/strong>\u00a0The hostile states negotiate.<\/em><\/p>\n

Emma doesn’t seem to care; and fair enough, really. Any discussions they’re having here, they could just as easily have had somewhere else. Madripoor, the UK and Russia all seem to be on board. To be fair, the UK government right now would sign a trade deal with pretty much anyone if they thought it could be presented as evidence of the benefits of Brexit.<\/p>\n

Even though Donald Pierce was in the Madripoorian ambassador role earlier on, this time it’s Chen Zhao, the token adult in Homines Verendi.<\/p>\n

PAGE 18.\u00a0<\/strong>The Stepford Cuckoos and Wilhelmina Kensington.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a bit out of the blue. Wilhelmina Kensington is probably the least developed of the Homines Verendi kids; as originally presented, she was basically a joke character, even more than the rest of the group. The Five-in-One apparently believe that something unpleasant has either happened to her mind, or been done to it. They restore her memory of something not specified here. Her back story is pretty limited: she inherited her fortune when her mother supposedly committed suicide, according to X-Men: Schism<\/em> #3. While the obvious reading is that Wilhelmina murdered her, it’s certainly possible that she had nothing to do with it.<\/p>\n

PAGE 19.<\/strong>\u00a0Another page of the party.<\/em><\/p>\n

An opportunity to play Spot The American Celebrity, for those who like that sort of thing. Oh, and Prince Harry. I recognise Conan O’Brien, but really most of these people don’t mean a great deal outside North America.<\/p>\n

Emma’s dialogue here doesn’t quite fit the running order – they haven’t even had dinner yet, let alone reached the fireworks.<\/p>\n

PAGE 20.<\/strong>\u00a0Assorted vignettes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Panel 1 has Northstar and Kyle Jinadu catching up with Northstar’s former teammate Vindicator. Presumably Heather is off mingling.<\/p>\n

Panel 2 has Captain America and Henry Gyrich. Gyrich is associated with Orchis, as we’ve seen over in\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.<\/em>, but Captain America doesn’t know that. Gyrich essentially implies here that he sees no real difference between Krakoa and Doom’s Latveria.<\/p>\n

PAGE 21.<\/strong>\u00a0Emma gathers the Hellfire Trading Corp for a toast.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s Fenris behind her, in the quasi-Norse outfits. Emma seems convinced that this is a wonderful diplomatic outreach which will win over more countries, though it’s hard to see how her approach to Doom was really likely to achieve that. Shaw evidently believes that the anti-mutant forces are going to come out on top from all this, and that Emma is a naive diplomat.<\/p>\n

PAGE<\/strong>\u00a022.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits – interestingly, the Marauders themselves don’t feature in the cast list, except for Kate. This is a Hellfire Trading issue. The credits design is altered to look more like an invitation.<\/p>\n

PAGES 23-24.<\/strong>\u00a0Flash forward to the end of the evening.<\/em><\/p>\n

Self-explanatory, really – something shocking and amazing will be announced in one of the Hellfire Gala issues, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n

PAGES 25-36.<\/strong> The reprinted\u00a0Classic X-Men<\/em> story.<\/p>\n

PAGE 37.<\/strong> Trailers (reading “Next course” and “Dinner is served” in place of the usual tag lines).\u00a0Marauders<\/em> #21,\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #21,\u00a0Planet-Size X-Men<\/em> #1 and S.W.O.R.D.\u00a0<\/em>#6 are highlighted in red, which normally indicates key issues.<\/p>\n

The Krakoan reads NEXT: MANY HAPPY RETURNS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. MARAUDERS #21 “You are Cordially Invited to the Hellfire Gala” by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli & Edgar Delgado COVER \/ PAGE 1.\u00a0Emma Frost welcomes you to the Gala. Though really, by the time you’ve got this close, it’s a bit late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6740"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6743,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions\/6743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}