One of The Emperor of Mankind’s greatest heroes has returned to his homeworld. He faces a full-scale assault by insidious forces, but his greatest test may lie in his past in the fourth issue of Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar. Writer Kieron Gillen continues a tale of the legendary space marine that cunningly alternates between the character’s past and present. Penciler Jacen Burrows and inker Guillermo Ortego. Color comes to the page courtesy of Java Tartaglia. The central conflict in the issue is minor decoration next to the intensity of what lies in Calgar’s past, making for an interesting dynamic for a chapter in the heroic story of a legendary sci-fi soldier.

The Calgar Estates in Nova Thulium are a tapestry of blood and explosions. The Ultramarines are defending the estate from an army of heretics. Ancient walls crumble. Death is everywhere. The outcome of the battle is a foregone conclusion with the godlike Marneus Calgar helming the defense, but this IS the place that made him what he was, and there are memories littering the place, some of which are still phantoms crawling around the edges of Nova Thulium. The initial defense might hold, but there are those in the shadows who threaten greater darkness. 

Gillen works a steady rhythm into the narrative as Marneus and company smash heretics at the palatial estates. Calgar’s memories of aspirant testing are a lot more interesting than anything happening in the present, so Gillen plunges the narrative largely into the past. A brutal testing period in Calgar’s youth finds him the lucky one of 298 aspirants. Only the elite will survive to become aspirants. The brutal troop training and development process is sharply laid-out as Calgar’s inner monologue is contrasted against the complex ten-year battery of biochemical/surgical protocols that turn a neophyte into a full-fledged space marine. 

The brutality of war continues to look suitably overwhelming under the influence of the art team. Burrows and Ortego make sharp use of the brutally assertive line work that tends to define the Warhammer 40K universe. Tartaglia’s color gives a rich sense of atmosphere to the story that makes static shots of the battlefield look impressively vivid. The script for this particular issue doesn’t offer a whole lot of opportunity for the art team to deliver the subtle nuances of drama that they’re capable of. Still, there are more than a few determined glances around the edges of the action that breathe a sense of humanity into the story.

The issue has progressed slowly and deliberately in the direction of action that looks like it might have a greater sense of insidious, horrific violence about it. There’s a crash at the issue’s end into a snowy hell inhabited by chaos warriors who worship Khorne. It’s an excellent progression that matches the feel of things on the other side of the page as winter coats the world on this side of the comics page.

Grade: A