Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
Artist: Kev Walker
Color Artist: Matt Hollingsworth
Cover Artist: Marco Checchetto
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Guardians of the Galaxy are heroes, legends, protectors of the weak! And now they’re down on their last leg again. What happened?! We don’t have time for that right now, the Guardians are still busy trying to save lives. This time on a frontier world that’s in peril of a mysterious threat that’s all too familiar to the Guardians. See what becomes of the team of heroes in the new Guardians of the Galaxy #1!
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Review:
A fair warning to Guardians fans, there is no real recap or introduction to how the Guardians of the Galaxy got into this particular mess. You are dropped smack dab in the middle of this criss that the Guardians are trying to stop. There’s no explanation on why they have Nebula of all people on the team, or any information on anything. If you’re a fan of what either Donny Cates’ Guardians of the Galaxy run was doing, or what Al Ewing’s Guardians of the Galaxy series was doing, you will be disappointed here. This is nothing like any of them, at all. Everything those series did and built up has basically been abandoned to do something different. There will be slight SPOILERS in this review.
Essentially, this comic is a Guardians of the Galaxy space western story. As evidenced by the cover, the Guardians are going full on spaghetti western in terms of their attire, demeanors, weaponry, everything. The Guardians are on this “frontier” world trying to save and relocate an alien population in a town called “Solitude”, creative name I know, from an unknown threat simply called “the Fall”. Complications arise, some made by the Guardians others by the aliens, and acton ensues. And by the end, readers will have plenty of questions for the next issue.
I’ll say this, the comic looks good for what it is and the direction the creative team is going for. The character dialogue isn’t bad, there are cool character introductions, and the action and tension works to a degree. Again, not a bad comic. But it’s not a good Guardians of the Galaxy comic. The problem is, Lanzing and Kelly require that readers just forget everything that happened in the previous Guardians runs and just jump into this one, continuity be damned. For those who don’t know, here’s a bit of recap. The Guardians of the Galaxy had basically gone public and had some new additions, new uniforms, old friends like Richard Rider Nova join the team again, and they were officially backed by the Kree-Skrull Alliance. They were basically stepping up into the world, so to speak, and now they’re in the gutter with two very popular members missing. You know the two.
Let me be clear, this comic isn’t terrible. It’s totally out of whack with the continuity, and yes, it is part of the main continuity. I have no doubt that future issues will elaborate on just how things got to where they are with the Guardians and why they’re in this mess and just what the heck happened to Groot. Heck, one thing the comic doesn’t tell us or even hint at is where the heck Rocket Raccoon is at.
One thing is clear, the writers are trying to go for film synergy here as we got Nebula on team, acting like she’s ripped from the MCU films instead of acting like her usual ruthless space pirate self who wasn’t adopted by Thanos. The same goes for Mantis who looks more like her film counterpart instead of the green-skinned alien she was in previous series and even has the same lighthearted demeanor. And Star-Lord is acting like a Clint Eastwood character. For some these changes and others are good thing, but for the rest, the changes will likely feel weird.
Final Thoughts:
Guardians of the Galaxy #1 brings us a new journey with the Guardians. Here, the creative team really leans into the space spaghetti western direction as implied by the cover in various ways. For now, the comic all but ignores what came before in previous series, so fans of the previous Guardians of the Galaxy run by Al Ewing might feel some whiplash here. It’s also clear that the comic is trying to go for some synergy with the MCU with the depictions of Nebula and Mantis in particular, which might throw some fans off considering their recent history in the last two runs. The action and art from Kev Walker does work well for the space western story told here. Overall, not a bad comic but time will tell if it’s a good start to this new Guardians of the Galaxy run.