Marneus Calgar (2021)

By Kieron Gillen, Jacen Burrows

115pp, Fiction

Notes

2021-05-22

’m getting quite into Warhammer again having given up the hobby around age 14/15 because a) too expensive an b) not “cool”. I have no big interest in playing the game but i’m really enjoying painting some models for a friend (Nighthaunts and Stormcast eternals if you must know) and diving back into the lore of it is interesting and a good deal of fun after 25 years away — I expect i’ll buy some more models to paint once i’ve done this lot unless i can find someone else who wants some painting done.

Further; I was glad to find on a visit to the store on Tottenham ct road that Kieron Gillen has done a 40k comic. Having had mixed responses to some of his other stuff (Loved Darth Vader, hated Three. Journey into Mystery was fine etc. ) i went in with no expectation and was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me a bit of the recent Dredd movie, rather than diving in and taking on one of the big stories (Necropolis, Cursed Earth etc) its a constrained and manageable introduction to the world, a kind of day in the life. The comic is focused around the leader of the Ultramarines (primarch?) — the most bog standard of all the space marine chapters — as he recounts how he became a Marine and does a bit of battling on the side. Its good, the strategy works and Gillen has a great handle on the material, not sure if it’ll bring anyone in to the folks who wasn’t already warhammer aware but that’s fine.