I think it’s safe to say Guardians of the Galaxy is the most important Marvel Comic being published today. This is of course because they have so much riding on this property come August 2014. Any new fans and groundwork laid down now will potentially mean more ticket sales next year. Which is probably why Brian Michael Bendis is writing this comic. Let’s delve into whether issue #3 is worthy of your time and money.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 #3 (Marvel Comics)
If you missed our review of issue #2 you can read it here.
If you’re just joining us, the Guardians joined up with Iron Man because he wanted a vacation, but were captured last issue after defending London from an unprovoked attack. Oh, and Star-Lord’s dad is a king and directly involved in his capture. This series is a big blockbuster of a comic, but thankfully has some father/son elements to keep people turning the pages and care. So far it has looked great and been a lot of fun, and this issue continues that.
That’s pretty funny. Stupid humans.
Broken down into its component parts, this issue is one long escape sequence made complete with a middle finger from Star-Lord to his dad. If you’re expecting character development outside of one liners you’re definitely reading the wrong comic. The only issue I can take with this series is why Iron Man is included at all. I suspect it’s to give it something non Guardian readers to chomp on while they learn about the characters. He’s our segway into this new world.
What is Kano doing in this comic book?!
There’s some political intrigue across alien races that might bore some folks, but it’s not really about politics as much as Star-Lord’s dad biting off more than he can chew. Anyone familiar with comics or stories in general can see where this is going, but it helps add a larger scope to an otherwise simple action comic.
Groot: equal parts badass and sensitive creature.
Once again art is split up between Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli, and once again it appears Pichelli is doing the political stuff and McNiven the Guardians battle stuff. I said this in my last review, but they work really well together. You can tell them apart if you look closely, but at face value they both deliver art in great detail with impeccable facial expressions.
Zoe Saldana is going to own this character.
8.0
- Great art
- Just enough story to keep you interesting
- Fun action and one liners
- A bit weak when you consider how good this series was a few years ago
Generally speaking this is how big dumb action comics should be done. It’s not too complicated and it delivers everything you’d want. It’s true previous Guardians comics, I’m thinking of the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning 2008 run, were more robust on the science fiction and story, but that’s not what this comic is trying to be. You can’t fault a thing for what it isn’t, and it’s good action comics.
Is It Good?
Yes. Fun action comics. Get some!
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