Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude Infinite Comic

Rejoice my friends and all hail the antithesis of Bendis!

Hey Bendis – you paying attention? Ignore all the Marvel hype about you and attend DnA’s master class about how to write a good cosmic comic book. Same to you, Brevoort and Alonso (hereinafter referred to as “Bonso“).

Mind you – this is not the Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume II. Nor is it any other Gamora comic book incarnation – especially (Blessedly! Thankfully!) not the Bendis-fied cardboard cut-out GotGINO version of Gamora wearing the trademark GotGINO cheap Japanese anime “costume.” This is the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Gamora, and for the first time since Bonso decided to fire DnA for DnA’s success in creating an innovative new property that defined itself by defying super-hero cliches, I feel like we have a Gamora that is finally back in recognizable character. If this book is any indication of the quality of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, we have a great deal to look forward to when the movie is released this fall.

DnA’s Guardians of the Galaxy was basically a science-fiction version of The Dirty Dozen. It was para-military science-fiction which respected the characters, gave each a defining role and voice, and took the subject matter seriously. The characters were not meta-humans, but were instead characters who possessed abilities greater than those of humans because of having evolved on planets other than Earth. In other words, it was respectable science-fiction, and while it represented a change for the characters/concept – it was a change for the better. In contrast, Bendis and Bonso deliberately decided to simultaneously super-hero up and dumb down the team. GotGINO abounds with super-hero team cliches, the characters have lost their defining roles/voices and have been reduced to generic and interchangeable roles/voices just like any Avengers or X team you care to name, and perhaps most egregiously – the entire concept has been reduced to the level of farce with Rocket and Groot just around to shout catch-phrases, make lame jokes, and perform “zany antics” which would be right at home in any Looney Tunes cartoon. DnA created a powerful team full of interesting characters who were capable of addressing universal threats. Bendis and Bonso reduced said team to a sad, 3rd-rate, Avengers-wanna-be team that is a shadow of its former self and deliberately portrayed as weaker than and subordinate to any of the (way too many) Avengers or X Teams you care to name. DnA talked up to their readers. Bendis and Bonso talk down to theirs. DnA’s version was a change for the better. Bendis‘ and Bonso’s version is a change for the worse.

I’m happy to say the the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Gamora draws her inspiration from DnA’s portrayal. In this prequel to the upcoming movie, we’re introduced to Gamora shortly after the events portrayed in the Thor: The Dark World teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy involving Sif and Volstagg delivering an Infinity Stone to The Collector. It seems The Collector has in mind collecting all the Infinity objects, and he manipulates Gamora into begrudgingly helping him. Along the way, Gamora, dressed (thankfully) in clothes reminiscent of her Volume II portrayal, proves exactly why she deserves the title of “The Most Dangerous Woman in the Galaxy.” At the end, we get a glimpse of Star-Lord, Yondu, Ronan, Rocket, Groot, and Thanos as portrayed in the upcoming movie to complete the whetting of our appetite for the movie.

Andrea DiVito returns to cosmic for this book, and his art is truly magnificent to behold. I’ve missed seeing his work, and his return is truly welcome. Villari turns in a great job on coloring.

If I had one criticism of this book it would be that it ended way too quickly. I was left really wanting more – and that’s a drastic and welcome departure from my reaction to each new issue of Bendis‘ GotGINO. Pick this book up and get your Bendis Antithesis today!