Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (Marvel Comics 2013)

Guardians Of The Galaxy Issue #1

Published by Marvel Comics

Cover Price $3.99

21 story pages, full color

May, 2013

Brian Michael Bendis - Writer
Steve McNiven - Penciler
John Dell - Inker
Justin Ponser - Colors

Well this is where the story should have started. A much better introduction than the 0.1 issue for sure but still the book seems to be mainly focused on Star-Lord. It does take about half the book before we get the names of the entire team Gamora, Drax The Destroyer, Groot, Rocket Raccoon and of course Star-Lord and umm Iron Man maybe?


Interior pencils from Guardians Of The Galaxy #1



The issue starts off with Star-Lord (Peter Quill) being met by his father the King of Spartax Planetary System. They have a light hearted argument yet heated argument and basically it ends up that Star-Lord is to leave the Earth alone and it will be left alone by all others as well. Well Star-Lord see's flaws in this theory and heads to Earth anyway.

When approaching Earth Star-Lord and the Guardians Of The Galaxy meet up with Iron Man who has come into battle in space near the Earth with an alien race known as the Badoon. The battle rages on and a really good fight scene ends up taking the last eleven pages of the book. In the battle Groot the tree-like character who looks pretty awesome is blow up but I assume he can regenerate because Rocket Raccoon finds a little piece of him and it seems that that is all that is needed.



Interior spread art used as a Marvel Comics Wallpaper



So this issue to me is a lot better than the 0.1 issue and has taken that rub the wrong way and put it back to a neutral rub. I like the art, the inking is done by a local guy (for me) John Dell and you can't go wrong with big fight scenes. I still don't really know anything about these characters but I'll try a few more issues and see where it goes.

Rocket Raccoon Limited Series #1

The one thing I really don't like about this issue is that Rocket Raccoon doesn't look cool, he doesn't look awesome and he doesn't look funny, he looks like a crazed freak. Actually he almost looks like a cat and that helmet he's wearing has got to go. I prefer the Rocket Raccoon of old over this version any day.

So as I said before this series is at a draw for me now I'll need a lot more good than bad to become a permanent reader of Guardians Of The Galaxy but I think I should be ready for the movies by the time I figure out if this is a keeper title.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin P. Johnson 

Copyright © 2013 Kevin P. Johnson

Images are copyright © 1985, 2013 Marvel Comics and are used as Fair Use Review images only. Images will be removed upon the request of Marvel Comics.



Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1 (Marvel Comics 2013)

Guardians Of The Galaxy Issue #0.1

Published by Marvel Comics

Cover Price $3.99

36 pages, full color

April, 2013

Brian Michael Bendis - Writer
Steve McNiven - Penciler
John Dell - Inker
Justin Ponser - Colors

1990's Guardians Of The Galaxy

Well it's just as I predicted as soon as Marvel announced its movie for Guardians Of The Galaxy . . . they would release a new series about a year before the movie hit theatres and try to build an audience. I think everyone else predicted that as well. Now I don't have much knowledge of the team but I do remember the series from 1990 I think I read the first 12 issues of that before I fell out of reading comics for a while. The first thing that I thought when I heard about this movie was "who in the world is going to go see it? Nobody knows those characters who really isn't really into comic books. They are going to have to appear in Iron Man 3 or Thor 2 right?" Well I don't know what the plans are for that movie business but I do know that the characters in the current series are not the same characters that I remember from back in the early 1990's which is a bit of a disappointment and also seems that it will make it less likely that anyone will know them.

Enough of the movie and 90's let's talk about this issue. I picked it up because I was looking for a new title that I could review from start to finish and thought that this could be it . . . I don't know if that thought will be a lasting one. Marvel loves to do it's point one (0.1) issues which are usually used as a jumping on point for new readers that kind of give you some background of what is going on in the title and introduces you to a good bit of the cast. This issue did not deliver on that and what you end up getting is the basic origins of two characters and the death of another character. The issue isn't actually bad but it just felt like a money grab to me by Marvel and this issue could have been told in a few pages of issue #1.

The main point of this issue is actually to introduce you to Peter Quill who will become Star-Lord leader of the Guardians Of The Galaxy. (This next part will be as spoiler free as possible)You see his mother and fathers first meeting, you see Peter as a child and then an alien attack that Peter is able to stop when he finds a special weapon left behind by his father. The entire issue is really about one character in the group and that kind of turned me off on this book right away since this is a team book. You do not get introduced to anyone else on the team and only see them on the last two pages of the story where Iron Man also appears and apparently is on the team . . . oh yeah movie tie-in . . . uggghhhhh.

I like the art and the story isn't bad it just rubbed me the wrong way and I would have much rather had something else be the start of this title.

Stay tuned I have a review of Issue #1 of Guardians Of The Galaxy coming up and hopefully that will be a little more hopeful for the future of this title.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin P. Johnson

Copyright © 2013 Kevin P. Johnson
Images are copyright © 1990-2013 Marvel Comics are used as Fair Use Review images only. Images will be removed upon the request of Marvel Comics.

Secret Invasion #2

This image is copyright © 2008 Marvel Comics and is used as Fair Use Review images only. Image will be removed upon request of Marvel Comics.

Secret Invasion #2
Cover Price: $2.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Major Characters: SKRULLS, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hawkeye/Ronin, Wolverine, Mokingbird, Luke Cage, Vision, Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Ares, Captain America, many character doubles

WHO DO YOU TRUST!

Man I just don't know and I am giving warning that I am spoiling some of this so if you have not read it you better stop reading this!

SKRULLS! SKRULLS! SKRULLS!

So in issue #1 a bunch of old school 70s and 80s style heroes jumped off of a crashed SKRULL ship. In issue #2 all hell breaks lose and Avengers old and new break out into battle. Its unclear who is a Skrull and who isn't (thats what they wanted right) so the battle breaks out and Ares is telling the Avengers that we know in todays comics to leave because this isn't the right fight to be involved in but the fight happens anyway and some of the pieces start to fall into place.

Several of the characters from the Skrull ship are revealed as Skrulls when they are killed in the fight or by the giant T-Rex that rips through the middle of the fray (Savage Land Style). Spider-Man & Hawkeye + dead = skrulls. I think some of the 70s/80s characters are going to be who they say they are. Emma Frost is shot with an arrow and is bleeding red blood (do skrulls have red blood?) and I anm going on record saying that I believe Mockingbird is the real deal.

In the 80's I was a huge fan of the West Coast Avengers and I loved Hawkeye and Mockingbirds relationship and really wished that they had not killed her off. I want these two back together almost as much as I want Spider-Man and Mary Jane back. I always found it interesting to have married heroes no matter what Joe Quesada thinks. I think Clint Bartons little test of what "October 12th" is one of those things that always works in the movies and it has to work here please Mr. Bendis for me let ths be the real Mockingbird and Hawkeye, please, please, please.

Anyway it ends up with a load of Skrulls descending on Manhattan looking like skrulls but dressed as a load of Avengers and X-Men with what looks like armor instead of spandex.

Francis Lenil Yu again does a nice job on the art and I am ready to read some of the comics that I get that tie-in to this series.

- Kevin P. Johnson

Copyright © 2008 Kevin P. Johnson

Comic Book Conventions and The Lack Thereof

So its convention season and all the podcasts are reporting from the cons and although its cool to hear the interviews it kinda sucks for me because we don't get any cons in Louisiana...maybe some small local stuff but nothing major. We had 1 good one here that I know of (ever) it was called The Big Easy Comic Con (It was owned by Mid-Ohio Comic Con) and it was awesome. I just wish we could get something down here Big Easy never came back due to the hotel selling their space for the next year (which they had already paid for). I got to meet Brian Michael Bendis when he was doing Sam and Twitch and got to talk to him for at least 30 minutes with just me and my friend. There are some funny stories to go along with this show but that's another blog. Anyway I felt like there was a lot of support in New Orleans for a Convention and I have always wondered why there are never any shows around here??? So if you have conventions around you or can afford to travel to them enjoy them to the fullest.


-Kevin P. Johnson
Copyright © 2008 Kevin P. Johnson