Some creatures are large. Some creatures are small. And some don't even exist at all. But even if a creature IS entirely fictitious, that doesn't exactly make it any less real than any that might be curling up next to a person at any given moment. A group of magic-wielders are faced with creatures of many different sizes of mythical, non-mythical, and other assorted flavors in The Marked #8. Writer David Hine and writer/artist Brian Haberlin open the latest issue with a hydra and work their way on to other things in a weird action story that lurches around the page appealingly. 

Yeah: it's a hydra. And it's huge. And there are only three of them in a position to do anything about it. On the positive end of things, there IS one of them for each head. That's got to count for something. Elsewhere there are a couple of little creatures that have found their way into the school of magic, and there are a few more that are outside that are larger than Godzilla, Mothra, and King Kong. So why aren't they actually doing anything? And what's the deal with the leprechaun that's suddenly appeared?

Hine and Haberlin do a good job of throwing A LOT of action at the page. It's also a lot of weirdness. The action and the weirdness fuse in a way that works even if the dialogue doesn't always fit the visuals' mood, and the visuals don't always fit the urgency of the action that's being presented in the script. The script might be out of synch with the art at times, but it all comes together in a way that feels cleverly original. The Marked has story elements that are appearing on the page in an engaging variety of different forms. There's nothing here that's specifically new, but Hine and Haberlin never give it a chance to get boring.

Haberlin once again shows a breathtaking ability to deliver perspective to a page. The aforementioned hydra and other giant creatures have a ferocious sense of immensity about them. There's a multi-layered, multi-level feel about what's going on on the page that gives a powerful sense of perspective on what the heroes are up against. Drama is etched into the panels with startlingly vivid reality on the determined faces of the heroes. Some of the drama flows to the page with a very nuanced fluidity. If the energy of the more aggressive action was brought to the page with a bit more fluidity, the overall issue would feel much more graceful.

Hine and Haberlin direct traffic flow from scene to scene with enough of a change in mood to make this issue feel remarkably well-balanced. The mix of scenes and different kinds of drama and action are reminiscent of Claremont's best work on the X-Men. If future issues can borrow the momentum of The Marked #9, the series could really start to turn into something special.

Grade: B