Cosmic Book News

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Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Artist: Brad Walker

Colorist: Jay David Ramos

Cover Artist: Daniel Acuna

Warning: Contains Spoilers

It’s like a Christmas morning experience once per month on the day Marvel releases each new issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. I can’t wait to open each issue and savor the surprises contained within. No character is safe and anything can happen in this book – as was proved over and over again in Issue #17.

To recap, Warlock receives Starlord’s message from the future; but before he can act, the T-Bomb is detonated, tearing a hole in space-time which is quickly dubbed “The Fault.” Gamora and Warlock depart to try to repair The Fault; while Rocket, Groot, and the rest of the team transport to Attitlan to make sure the Inhumans don’t detonate any more T-Bombs. The Guardians arrive on Attitlan and the recriminations fly, leading to a scuffle; but the argument/scuffle are cut short when Attitlan is attacked by a large creature emerging from The Fault. The Inhumans and the Guardians join forces to stop the creature; but the Inhumans are also in a race against time to stop Attitlan from falling into The Fault. Maximus and Groot devise a plan to save the city. Their plan works and Martyr departs to aid Warlock and Gamora in their efforts to repair The Fault. Warlock succeeds in freezing the advance of The Fault. In a surprise move, Martyr then stabs him through the chest to fulfill her pact with Oblivion. Gamora kills Martyr in reprisal and rushes to assist Warlock. Warlock regains consciousness; but immediately transforms into The Magus! The Magus snaps Gamora’s neck and throws her into The Fault.

This is going to be a tough review because there’s nothing wrong with this issue of the series. I do want to mention several things I really liked. To begin with, the team has really come together as a powerful, effective, and well functioning strike force. Unfortunately, this occurs just in time for the team to be fractured into several units and for two founding members to be (apparently) killed. I do hope that the deaths of Martyr and Gamora will somehow be reversed by the conditions of The Fault; as Gamora is a favorite character (especially now that she is fully healed and has her hair back); and Martyr was just beginning to become interesting.

As usual, Rocket and Groot steal the show. Smart-assy hilarity spews from Rocket nearly every time he opens his mouth. The great thing about Rocket is that he is able to get away with all the humor without becoming a buffoonish character that nobody takes seriously. Rocket may be small in stature; but he is great in leadership – and a fighter I’d be happy to have at my side in a serious scrape. DnA finally explain why Groot went from haughtily loquacious in past characterizations to the rapidly losing its humorous appeal single-phrased “I am Groot.” It turns out that Groot is not only still loquacious – but also a towering genius at physics; and Maximus can understand all the nuances of meaning in what others hear as Groot merely repeating his name. It was nice to see Groot broken out of his role as the dumb lumbering powerhouse of the team – and using his until now hidden great intellect to save the day rather than just smashing everything that crosses his path. I hope a method is found to better communicate with Groot as it would be fun to see this aspect of the character further developed.

That final sequence with Warlock transforming into The Magus was not entirely unexpected. Nevertheless, it adds a fine new twist to The Guardians’ storyline and I look forward to seeing where DnA take us next.

I heartily welcome Walker’s return to the fold as artist this month. He’s really made this book his own; and I hope he stays on as artist for a good long time. Ramos’ colors are commendable as well. Acuna’s cover art for Guardians of the Galaxy is quite good, but he’s spoiled me with his more exciting cover art on the last three issues of Nova. Specifically, the action portrait shot of Warlock, Black Bolt, Gamora, and Medusa is technically well executed; but not particularly interesting, exciting, or an attention grabber. I just don’t think it’s going to motivate any first time reader to pick this book off the shelf to check it out.

In short, DnA deliver to us once again a nice hot cup of outstanding cosmic para-military action-adventure. The Guardians of the Galaxy are truly the “Cosmic Avengers” that many have been asking for over the past several years; and I don’t understand why Avengers fans aren’t flocking to this book. Add this one to your pull list folks. It deserves a prominent place there for the foreseeable future.

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Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Artist: Wesley Craig

Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn

Cover Artist: Pasqual Ferry

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Original Guardians of the Galaxy, contemporary Guardians of the Galaxy, Badoon, Celestials, Avenger’s Mansion, Dr. Doom’s Time Machine, and fan favorite Cosmo saving the day! Man – I’m telling you – this issue has it all in terms of story! DnA manage to once again amaze readers by deftly delivering an engaging and exciting tale built around an enormous and disparate cast of characters.

Picking up where last issue left off, Starhawk uses Dr. Doom’s Time Machine to abduct Starlord, Cosmo, Mantis, Bug, and Jack Flag; spiriting them away to a time 1000 years into the future where the Badoon rule what is left of space-time – an area the size of the solar system kept intact by an enormous engine composed of Celestials and built around the sun. Upon arrival, the original Guardians attack the contemporary Guardians for an interesting and fun throw down. When both teams call a time out, it is learned that the universe has collapsed due to Black Bolt’s detonation of a doomsday bomb during the WOK conflict. To save themselves, the Badoon used a Cosmic Cube to enslave the Celestials and keep the collapse of the universe at bay with the Celestials’ powers. The Guardians fight their way through Badoon resistance and destroy the Celestial engine, causing the last of space-time to collapse; but not before Cosmo gets a message through to Adam Warlock. The message is simple: Stop Black Bolt.

I want to compliment Pasqual Ferry. I really enjoyed his cover art featuring the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Unfortunately, the interior art leaves much to be desired. Craig is a good artist and his style was tolerable for issues #11 and #12 as they took place in an abstract realm of the universe. However, his style is just not right for this book at this time. It looks rushed and Saturday morning cartoon-ish. This style would be fine for some books; but frankly it detracts from GoTG and makes the action sequences and the overall reading experience less enjoyable. If I have one overall criticism of GoTG it’s that the art has been inconsistent across the entire run of the series to date. This book needs a regular artist like Walker, Alves, or Devito. Here’s hoping that Walker is back soon and is hired to be the regular artist for this title.

DnA weave a fine tale for the first meeting of the entire original GoTG team with the contemporary team. They also up the stakes for the Guardian’s involvement in WOK, making it critical that they intervene to stop the war before the war results in the collapse of space-time that Warlock has been warning about since issue #1. I was happy to see Cosmo playing a critical role in events for the first time in this series. He is one of the stand-out characters and really hasn’t gotten enough face time in the series until this issue. The other little moments in the issue where the original characters get to know the contemporary characters were also nicely done.

GoTG is one of Marvel’s best titles month after month. I really hope WOK gives it a much needed boost in sales so that it stays around a good long time.

Fourteen issues down and not a bad one in the lot!