Rumor has it Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be at the forefront of the summer Marvel event, which means two things. One, this series is a good place to be reading right now if you want to know what the eff is going on. Two, Marvel sure wants you to know about this series before the movie hits in August 2014. The first issue set up Star-Lord’s new relationship with his king of a father J-Son…aside from the egregious use of hyphens, is it good?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 #2 (Marvel Comics)
The first issue ended with a cliffhanger as the Guardians witnessed London, England getting a full on assault from alien space craft. I can’t help but wonder if it’s a coincidence Thor: The Dark World trailer also took place in London. Eh, either way, this entire issue serves two purposes. The first is to showcase each Guardian and Iron Man, how they work, and basically their whole MO. The second is to show a secret meeting held by Star-Lord’s dad discussing the idea that Earth should be destroyed to save the universe.
London can’t catch a break!
The dialogue in J-Son’s sequence is all means heavyhanded. You’re getting an information dump and you’ll like it! It’s annoying to get information in this way and also surprising it takes this many words to explain why Earth is a danger. Honestly it didn’t need to run so long, but I suppose Bendis needed to fill the double page spread of a hologrammed Earth with something.
All you really need to know.
It doesn’t help that J-Son’s entire speech is conspiracy babble and not much more. Just because Galactus and other cosmic events happen at Earth doesn’t necessarily make it special. Don’t they know Marvel Comics is published in New York?!
What’s the deal with these hyphenated names? I know Superman doesn’t necessarily hold the copyright on said names, but it seems like a bit of a rip off when you’ve got a J-hyphated name similar to Jor-El.
Those are some badass angles.
The art is broken up between Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli which may be the greatest art team ever in comic books. It’s hard to say who drew what in this book, but my best guess is Pichelli was in charge of the J-Son scenes and McNiven was given the action sequence in London. Either way, both do an exceptional job. You know the art is good when, “I wonder if this would be good at all with a bad artist” pops into your head.
Murdering Raccoon fans rejoice!
- Sweet art
- If the action in the movie is paced like this we’re in for a treat
- Arduous dialogue
- Gone is the Guardians humor
Overall this is an okay issue. The action sequence is awesome, but the politics will bore you to death and could have been reduced. I also came away a little confused by what is going on, but maybe that’s their intention. Either way, this book serves as a blockbuster type series that won’t make you think too hard, but has plenty of cool characters to root for.
Is It Good?
Yes. Action film buffs: this is your comic.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!