X-Lapsed, Episode 14 – Marauders #1 (2019)
X-Lapsed, Episode 14
Marauders #1 (December, 2019)
“I’m on a Boat”
Writer – Gerry Duggan
Art – Matteo Lolli
Colors – Federico Blee
Letters – VC’s Cory Petit
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Jonathan Hickman
Edits – Robinson, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: October 23, 2019
We’re on a Boat!
Ahoy, Muties! Today we’re talking about sailing the high seas with Kitty… err, Kate… err, who am I kidding, I’m always going to call her “Kitty” Pryde and the Marauders! The Hellfire Corporation is running some miracle medicine… and they’re taking us along for the ride… err, sail. Had a blast talking about this one… I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Also: A wonderful piece of listener mail that discusses the finer points of HoX/PoX and some of the DoX roll-out!
—
@acecomics / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
chrisandreggie.podbean.com
chrisisoninfiniteearths.com
xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/
It's interesting to see you grapple with whether or not Kitty is in character. The real issue with Kitty is that she has been everything. From suburban teenage girl to ninja, from Headmistress to Sexy Bargirl, from Agent of SHIELD to Space Explorer. The problem that Gerry Duggan has is to reconcile these disparate character beats and move her into a new place. The decision to have her claim the name Kate is a clever way to signify that this is a new beginning but comprising the team of people who share history with her shows nothing is ignored. I'm pleased to see the characterisation stem from how Kitty would react to being locked out of the X-Men. For far too long she has been driven by writers who were trying to recreate their imaginary girlfriend from their adolescence. Whedon, Guggenheim and particularly Bendis seemed unable to write her without their personal connections getting in the way.
We have already established that I attended Catholic school and therefore my knowledge of Jewish customs is low. I have seen commentary that Kitty is a very Jewish name and Kate is much more gentile and this could be read as a rejection of all parts of her identity. Apparently it's not uncommon for people to change their name as a part of a rebellion against their parents. It's an interesting idea that is backed up by the absence of her Star of David necklace. I think it's unintentional as there are a couple more things that happen later that imply a lack of knowledge of Judaism rather than a deliberate rejection.
I have also seen people critical of Storm's presentation. One of the writers at Women Write About Comics did an article drawing attention to how pale Storm is coloured. Back in the Cockrum days she was established as a dark-skinned black woman and in Marauders she is being coloured as exceptionally light-skinned. This seems particularly sad when, as you said, her characterisation is do much better than in recent runs.
One of my favourite things about this issue is the echo of the Professor Xavier is a Jerk panel in the splash where she announces the team name.
My favourite thing about Marauders is the set up. In many ways it reminds me of the Australia era when the X-Men would travel around helping different people. The human vs mutant element makes it feel very X-Men-y.
The covers are pretty amazing as well. Russell Dauterman manages to create covers that are iconic pin-up pieces (as Marvel seems to like) but which tell part of the story (my preference).
Altogether this is by far my favourite DOX book. I can't wait for you to read what's coming up. It gets better and better.
I completely forgot to mention my theory for why Kitty can't go through the gates. Moira is trying to keep herself hidden, Kitty's power could find her hiding place so Moira has somehow got Krakoa to block her. The only problem with this theory is that Doug would have to be in on it which seems unlikely considering his friendship with Kitty.