What’s up everyone! Welcome to Beyond The Panel. Coming at you today with talk about Marauders #7! New world, same mutants who are on their best bull****. Who would have guessed that Sebastian Shaw would be so desperate for power that he would be willing to kill one of his own just to maintain some sort of authority as the Black King? I think we all saw it coming, but there was no preparing yourself when that moment would come and that target being Kate! Never have we been more anxious to see hat comes next when the one mutant who can’t be resurrected is now at the bottom of the sea.

Now what caught me off guard, and what surely will catch many readers off guard is the fact that this is not the issue where we will be finding out what happens when a mutant like Kate dies. Instantly what comes to mind is what kind of issue are we getting into, and if we should care if it is not addressing the immediate problem involving our main character. The answer to that is that we should still find ourselves invested in what happens in this chapter. What you must always appreciate about this early period of the Dawn of X is that there is never enough exploration to take in. Never enough explanation either of cogs in this wheel which have yet to be revealed. Mutants now stepping out of the shadows to work with the mutant community with a new lease on life. These are the times where it is more than acceptable to take a step back and explore, instead of getting too swept up in the problems and obstacles.

This brings us to the star of this issue, that mutant just so happens to be Callisto. A name we haven’t seen in quite some time, but welcomed all the same since this is a time where no mutant should be left behind benefiting from the economic success and sovereignty of the Krakoan nation. The minute you see her on the cover wearing a white coat, its impossible not to wonder where she fits into this. The answer to that was clever for the fact that it is easy to forget that there are more than just two positions aside from the King/Queen and Bishop. It was interesting to see how Emma convinced her to join, and what Callisto got out of this.

Aside from this, it was still almost impossible for them to get this far in the story without some questions being raised about the location of Kate. This didn’t get anywhere yet, but something is always better than nothing knowing that the next issue will fully jump into the stir that will be her disappearance.

After the events of Marauders #6, we now find ourselves seeing more of the Verendi. This I liked to see since as I said last month, this is the best time to start pulling back on the things we do not know about the Verendi and what they have to offer this war in the new economy. Everyone is looking for their slice of the cake, and by the end of this issue we get a better confirmation of what they are trying to gain from their current actions.

One of the bigger draw-ins to this issue in particular is the fact that already we have changed up to a different artist. Something which I always find bold for any creative team when barely getting past the first arc. However, in the case of Marauders? It’s hard to argue with a change when the artist who steps in is Stefano Caselli. This is an artist who quite rarely lets you down because he is so detailed in his work and knows how to engage you in the story visually. It truly helped as well that in spite of him being a different artist, the change in style isn’t too drastic. Unless someone told you there was a change, you probably would not notice or care too much. The same atmosphere existed, and credit also goes to Edgar Delgado as colorist for that. His colors brought us the same sense of liveliness that we have gotten from this book up to this point. A strong sense of boldness, great depth, not to mention range which makes many objects pop.

We may not have gotten our answers to the fate of Kate Pryde, but we still got answers that were hard to ignore. Callisto is a welcomed addition, and it didn’t hurt to know where the Morlocks now fit into this new world. Marauders #7 took advantage of world-building which should be something we get from all Dawn of X books right now.