After how issue #3 ended, I’ve been chomping at the bit for the next part of Kieron Gillen’s story. We know that everything Tacitan/Calgar has been through has been terrifying, to say the least, but we also know that his journey toward becoming an Ultramarine is FAR from over. Surely the Ultramarine picking him up from the moon is not the end of young Calgar’s story. And indeed, it was not. Also, did we mention how terrifying Marneus Calgar is in combat, because comic issue #4 makes this even more readily apparent.
I would never want to run into Marneus Calgar in a dark alley. Just saying.
Life of an Aspirant is cruel.
We always knew that the Space Marines were taken as children, subjected to horrible trials, and then subjected to more horrific surgery. It’s one thing to know that all happens, but it’s quite another to see it unfolding before you.
When the Space Marines say that they only want the best of the best, they aren’t kidding. I somehow seriously doubt that the best of the best in Top Gun ever went through anything like these young boys did. If you read Descending Angels, that’s child’s play compared to what the Ultramarines put kids through. What I found even more interesting about it was the lack of concern.
The beast that Crixus placed on the moon to chase his trainees nightly suddenly appears to snack on some aspirants. While you may think this is just part of the weeding out process, the beast was not supposed to be there. The trainers had other horrors planned instead, but this sudden addition to their gauntlet doesn’t cause them too great of alarm.
Then again, I suppose nothing daunts them. In the present day part of the story, nothing seems to faze Marneus Calgar either. I laughed out loud at his response to seeing a Chaos Marine casually tearing a chaplain in half.
Space Marine Anatomy 101
While seeing these surgeries made me squeamish—especially the black carapace, dear God—I greatly appreciated the break down of all of the new organs the Space Marines receive. You read in the books about the second heart, the third lung, the progenoids, and the Betcher’s Gland (gotta love acidic spit!), but not all of the new organs are always mentioned in the books. Unless an organ mentioned within context as to what it does, I do a lot of smiling and nodding.
But now, thanks to Gillen, I have a handy anatomy guide.
And now I have to wait a whole month before this story concludes at the same place Tacitan’s began: Thulium Minor. With as much fun this series has been so far, in Gillen I trust to bring the Marneus Calgar comic home.
