Rocket Raccoon 2, Legendary Star-Lord 2

Rocket Raccoon 2
Young (w and a) and Beaulieu (c) and Eckleberry (l)

After handing himself in, Rocket is put in and subsequently, with the help of the Groot shard he smuggled in, breaks out of one of the highest security prisons available. On the way out, he finds and takes with him fellow inmate Macho Gomez, a criminal he put in prison originally but who will actually have transport available once they get out. Though Macho does not like Rocket, he wants to get out of prison and he wants to see his own boss Funtzel, with whom Rocket wants a meeting, destroy the raccoon. As they escape and set out, to the chagrin of the other raccoon-like life form, they're accosted by the fleet of Rocket's ex-girlfriends.

This book is unrepentantly and unabashedly fun, something you rarely see in mainstream comics these days. I would say that something like SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN is the closest you'll get to this level of humor and excitement and weird plot turns and so on, but even that is a little more entrenched in the giant established Marvel Universe. There's only so much you can do with a group of characters who live in a continuity-based universe and are acting in the one major city on which that universe focuses. Rocket, on the other hand, has a whole unexplored galaxy to play in with completely different rules and freedoms. He's only tied to things insofar as he's a functioning part of this universe (now more than ever) but everything else Young is having him play with is fair game. It's exciting and lawless and fun and Young is taking full advantage.

Total Score: 5/5


Legendary Star-Lord 2
Humphries (w) and Medina (p) and Vlasco (i) and Curiel (c) and Caramagna (l)

Star-Lord has just found out he has a sister (well, half-sister) who works on behalf of the Spartax Empire. Though he's captured by her in an attempt to collect a giant bounty on his head from a Mr. Knife, they manage to come to a middle ground where each can understand where the other comes from. Star-Lord is, you know, Star-Lord, we pretty much know his deal, and half-sister Victoria wants to collect the bounty in order to help the destabilized innocents of the Spartax Empire since Star-Lord threw things into chaos by exposing J-Son's crimes. They work out a plan wherein Victoria turns Star-Lord over to one of Knife's lieutenants but the two end up duping him and cashing in even more credits from all of the accounts Knife holds. Though it paints a bigger target on Star-Lord and Victoria, it gives her the money to really help the Spartax and at least leaves her feeling amicable towards her half-brother. Meanwhile, though, Mr. Knife isn't so pleased.

Boy, it sure was clever of me to review ROCKET RACCOON first, though my typical alphabetical listings skewed the other way at first glance. I'm glad that I did that one first because I almost wish this book, already, was more like that one. This one is embroiling Peter in the same sort of anti-Spartax fight he seems to be constantly fighting in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Some of that is fine, sure, and he certainly has more personal vendettas than someone like Rocket in his established history already, but I'd love this series to come in with a bang as we see this wild card roguish chaotic good sort of dude tramping around the galaxy and pretty much Han Soloing or Mal Reynoldsing. Instead, we get right into the politics and the daddy issues we've been seeing so much of in GUARDIANS. This seems the perfect place to break away from that a little and, particularly on the coat-tails of Chris Pratt's charming portrayal of the character, give us that sort of character for this universe. That's not to say it's not coming, certainly, but to get so invested in a sort of standard story when you have such a galaxy of opportunity, like in ROCKET RACCOON, seems like a waste. This issue isn't awful by any stretch, I just feel it's a missed chance to really explode with fun and excitement but it ends up feeling a little boilerplate.

Total Score: 3/5

Rocket Raccoon 1, Legendary Star-Lord 1

Rocket Raccoon 1
S. Young (w and a) and Beaulieu (c) and Eckleberry (l)

Rocket Raccoon, gun-toting rogue and last of his species, takes a date to a wrestling match between his friend Groot and another powerful alien. However, things take a turn for the worse when Rocket and the girl are caught on the kiss-cam and the arena's jumbotrons immediately begin to out Rocket as a wanted criminal. He's forced to flee through the sewers with guards in hot pursuit, leaving his date behind and picking up a splinter of the nearly destroyed Groot from which the tree will once again grow. He tries to call for help to Star-Lord and his fellow Guardians but they're a little busy on their own, though Peter is able to discern why Rocket's a wanted raccoon. There are plenty of cases of murder open on him, which Rocket contests, believing any murders he's committed were done on the down low or with the rightful conviction of the law. It gives him pause, wondering if rumors he heard about another of his kind looking just like him might not be true. Thinking about it, he turns himself in to the authorities, hoping to bring out another like him. Meanwhile, the many ex-girlfriends of Rocket, who set up his new date in the first place, continue their own quest to stop the wiliest Guardian.

Skottie Young, who in recent days has been known for his Marvel babies variant covers (which are all fantastic), returns to Marvel for a full ongoing, one that he both writes and draws. This first issue, I'd say, is a phenomenal success for him, hitting its mark exactly where it wanted to hit. It's an incredibly fun and frantic book with plenty of genuine humor and action to match Young's art. It's very clearly a book that knows what it is right out of the gate and is more than happy to embrace that, even going so far as to include fun sound effects (like Rocket's dropping his gun when surrendering himself to the authorities with the apropos "mmmmmmmm DROP") and plenty of censored swearing. There are books where, as readers of this blog know, I'd be hesitant to accept things like that (or those oft-maligned and dreaded "funny introduction captions") but that's always because they don't work with the book they appear in. Here, Young very clearly establishes a fun/funny book that isn't trying to toe a line or keep its foot in the door for a dark or gritty series. The only falter of the book in my opinion is that the plot gets a little muddied in the first issue with tons of different settings and perhaps a little too much exposition to kick things off. Regardless, don't let that dissuade you from at least picking this book up and feeling out whether it's for you or not. I think you'll know in the first five pages or so if it's your kind of book. Also kind of nice, as much as I do love those baby variants, to see Young get to spread his wings again and draw people and aliens of all size and shape and age, not to mention backgrounds and settings.

Total Score: 5/5


Legendary Star-Lord 1
Humphries (w) and Medina (p) and Vlasco (i) and Curiel (c) and Caramagna (l)

Star-Lord finds himself face-to-face with the Badoon as he and the aliens both try to steal the Mandalay gem, an incredibly powerful artifact, from the walls of the orphanage in which it's been hidden. The woman in charge of the orphanage had previously though Star-Lord was there to help protect them from the Badoon but begins to realize he's maybe only there for the gem himself, putting him at odds with everyone in the room. The Badoon knock him out and take the gem themselves, but Quill has a few tricks up his sleeve, or rather in his boots. He calls home briefly to flirt with Kitty Pryde (seems to be no other reason for the call) and then uses his rocket boots to break his way out of his cell, recovering his element gun (tuned only to his DNA so only he and those related to him can use it), and breaking his way out of the ship with the gem. He returns to the orphanage with a bag of cash, telling the woman in charge that he fenced the gem, worried that it would continue to draw unwanted attention to the orphanage and giving the profits to her. He leaves, revealing that he actually just gave over his own savings and kept the gem. Unfortunately, he immediately runs into more trouble as a member of the royal Spartax guard shows up with a gaggle of other guards and claiming that she, as the daughter to J-Son, must apprehend him on behalf of the former emperor. Star-Lord is shocked to find he has a sister.

I KNOW, my summaries always seem to run long. However, in this one, there's kind of a reason for that. This issue kicks off with a bit too much exposition for my tastes (and maybe a bit too many exclamation points, truth told) as Humphries really wants to get the audience caught up with just about everything that's been happening with Star-Lord. There is a sense of the sort of movie-ization of Star-Lord here as he begins to take on a very distinct persona and look, one that seems to match Chris Pratt in the trailers for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy. It's one of those times where comic fans are reminded that this beloved entertainment is, in fact, a business and businesses set out to make money. Tying to a major motion picture release certainly is a key way to do that, especially in the wake of so many previous successes for Marvel going that route. I'll give Humphries credit for not going too overboard or getting too cynical in the attempt to tie to the movie and perhaps tying to the movie will work wonders for this book and for the GUARDIANS brand as a whole (bit early to tell) but right now it's a little too hard to tell. Still, the book didn't really blow me away and I couldn't help but be a little colored by the similarities (even insofar as Quill stealing a powerful artifact, losing said artifact to an enemy, and blasting his way with his boots and gun to freedom from said enemy) to just the trailers of the upcoming film. Okay, so maybe it was a little cynical.

Total Score: 3/5

Guardians of the Galaxy 15, Thunderbolts 26

Guardians of the Galaxy 15
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw and C. Stewart (p) and Bradshaw, Stewart, and Wong (i) and Ponsor (c) and Petit (l)

The Guardians have been separated and captured with Rocket landing with the Kree (to be experimented on), Gamora left with the Badoon brotherhood (to be questioned about Thanos), Drax left to the Shi'ar (to be punished), newly acquired Venom attacked on Knowhere by the Skrulls, Groot left with the Brood, and Star-Lord being held on Spartax. They all seem to be failing at escaping except, as the issue ends, potentially Star-Lord. Despite the cover, no sign of Captain Marvel.

Unless you're a completionist and you're looking to obtain this whole series, it's worth missing this one. There are tiny little glimpses of character in the way each Guardian reacts to his or her capture (Rocket shows fear for the slightest moment, Gamora refuses to stop fighting, Drax threatens calmly but sighs to his deceased wife, etc.) and obviously we see where everyone is but that's pretty much all that happens in twenty pages of book. There are as many double page spreads in this issue as I've ever seen and it ends up just meaning that we get less story in fewer meaningful pages. There's no doubt in my mind that this could have been done just as effectively in ten pages and we could have had another half issue to move to the next step, maybe featuring, oh, I don't know, star of the cover Captain Marvel. Seriously. Look at that cover. Is that the cover of a book that doesn't see nor hear about Captain Marvel in the slightest? It's a low score for this one, then, not because it's a particularly bad book but just because it slows things down at a time when things don't really need to be slowed down and it means you're paying full price for half a book's worth of content (not to belittle Nick Bradshaw and Cameron Stewart's work, which is fine but didn't blow me away to the point where I'll ignore a stagnant story).

Total Score: 2/5


Thunderbolts 26
Soule (w) and Diaz (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

Ghost Rider's been eaten by a swamp monster thanks to Leader's treachery and Elektra and Punisher have been crushed by a cliche. Deadpool saves Leader from Cordoba and his men, enraged by what they've been through, but it doesn't stop Leader from trying to kill Deadpool as they go into the temple. Deadpool sees through the ruse and stabs Leader but leaves him alive enough to still enact his plan and send Deadpool into a pool of lava. Leader moves forward to find the artifact their after, the head of a long dead Celestial left here by the ancient Deviants, a race the Celestials created then deemed imperfect and unfit to inherit the world. The Deviants killed the young Celestial and left the head here, hoping it could transform their people into something more capable but then lost it to time and struggle. Now Red Hulk's former men have found it and Mancuso, the one who reached out to Red Hulk, explains (after Red Hulk kills his one-time lover scientist lady who turns out to be a Deviant looking for this exact thing) what's happened since he found it. Leader arrives, drinks some Celestial blood, and has his head explode from the power. With his whole team dead, Mancuso tells Red Hulk that he has two options: for Mancuso to kill him and give him the death he seeks or to work for the light. After a moment's hesitation, Red Hulk chooses the light and we're transported back to the very start of this mission, where Red Hulk tells the team that they're actually going to do something else now.

It's Charles Soule's last issue on THUNDERBOLTS, which is rather a shame because he took this book that I found somewhat middling, even if it featured a team that really intrigued me, and he immediately made it something fun and fresh, completely worthy of my one-time excitement. Still, he leaves the book on an up-swing, with the team all alive and perhaps destined for bigger and better things. It's definitely entertaining to see how the final deaths play out (Deadpool has a particularly nice moment as he sees through Leader's attempt to kill him, though it still leads to Leader killing him) and it leaves the book in an interesting place where we know what these characters would have gone through and how they would have acted in this adventure but now this adventure never happened so they don't necessarily know how it would have played out. Ben Acker and Ben Blacker have a really interesting job to take on and I'm excited to see what they produce. But let's not forget to laud Charles Soule for his fantastic take on this book and for, as I see it, righting the ship as soon as he jumped on to it.

Total Score: 5/5

New STORM ongoing and STAR-LORD ongoing announced

For I believe the first time, Storm will be getting her own ongoing series. Written by Greg Pak, writer of such books as WORLD WAR HULK and, most recently at Marvel, X-TREME X-MEN, and drawn by Victor Ibañez, known more for his DC work, STORM is set to debut in July. Excited to see this one. Storm's a great character who deserves more recognition. I'm a little nervous that she may be someone who works better on a team but I like Pak's work and I think that he'll find ways to set her into the world. I've no really worries that she can handle it.

Along with that announcement (made at Chicago's C2E2 this past weekend), Marvel also announced that Sam Humphries (AVENGERS AI, UNCANNY X-FORCE) and Paco Medina (NOVA, ULTIMATE X-MEN) will head up a new solo series called THE LEGENDARY STAR-LORD. This is another one that makes me a little nervous, mostly because I don't love the newer, often borderline goofy look at Star-Lord and I think the announcement of Humphries means he'll stay more in that direction. Still, could be wrong and I think Humphries, for some of the problems I've had with his books in the past, has talent.

Iron Man 24, Captain Marvel 2

Iron Man 24
Gillen (w) and Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony's trip into Svartalfheim is not off to a great start as he has been quickly spotted. He's able to fight off the first wave of Dark Elves but his stealth suit isn't really made for combat and so he's forced to flee when Malekith attacks and before Shevaun can send the weapon he needs. He escapes into the woods and hides out, hoping that he left enough of a trail for his pursuers to track him. Malekith, who holds four rings (Spectral, Incandescence, Remaker, and Lightning), divvies up his rings among the search parties, giving the leader of each a different ring and keeping the Remaker for himself. Shevaun sends the gun, tailor made to defeat elves and rings alike, to Tony's new location and he's able to use it to put down the holder of the Incandescence ring, taking it back, but he's forced to cloak again when the others arrive. Malekith taunts him, knowing that he's around, and really cuts to the core of Tony. When he and the rest of the elves leave, preferring to wait for Tony's eventual emergence rather than searching him out. Shevaun suggests that Tony use the third and final available portal to come home with a partial mission success but he refuses, furious with Malekith. Instead, he has Shevaun send his big, dwarf-killing armor to him.

It's a real culture clash over here as Tony learns that the Dark Elves are maybe a little bit more than he bargained for and that maybe he's not entirely prepared to wage war against them. Just when those thoughts are settling though, Malekith, who used Tony's flesh to see into his heart, starts talking about Tony being an unwanted child and how the Dark Elves are no strangers to unwanted children; they just tend to eat them because, as Malekith puts it, what else are they good for? It calls back on some of the thoughts that Tony has had to put aside in order to deal with his city and the Mandarin rings but that are clearly still pretty powerful in his mind. That alone would make for an interesting story but putting Tony in Svartalfheim up against a vicious enemy powerful already wielding three rings that make him much more powerful seems like the recipe for success. We'll see next how the Dark Elves, with a notable hatred for iron, deal with one of Tony's offensive suits instead of his defensive one. Plenty of good stuff happening here and I think the adrenaline is really about to start pumping.

Captain Marvel 2
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c)

Captain Marvel is transporting the Nowlian girl Tic to the planet Torfa, where supposedly the rest of her people have been moved after the Builders destroyed their home planet. She and her ship, with an AI named Harrison, and her cat Chewie who, apparently every single person on Earth refused to watch (not that unbelievable), are intercepted by two smuggler ships guarded by a mercenary ship. She explains her mission but the mercenaries, on the order of their client, fire on her anyway. The ship takes damage quickly and Carol is forced into the fight herself, directing Harrison to protect the medical bay and get the thrusters up while she deals with and/or distracts the ships. Out in space she begins to tear apart the smuggler ships. The mercenary ship flees as the Guardians of the Galaxy show up to dispatch the ship on her tail. Carol's ship and the Guardians' ship link so that Rocket can help with the repairs but he pretty quickly starts attacking Chewie, swearing that it's a Flerken and not a cat. Carol and Star-Lord separate them and she finds out that Torfa seems to be a poisonous planet so perhaps bringing the girl there isn't the best plan. Meanwhile, the gunfire as Rocket attacked Chewie woke up Tic and she emerges as Star-Lord reveals to Carol that he's the son of J-Son, which isn't what Tic wanted to hear. She flees into Carol's ship, locking them all on the Guardians' ship in the hopes that she'll be able to steal it. Captain Marvel sets out after her by herself in the depths of space, anxious to get her ship back and to rescue her cat.

Good introduction of the Guardians here, with whom Carol is primed to spend a good amount of time. She's immediately accepted and the DeConnick does a pretty good job writing all of the Guardians, though we really only get extended dialogue and looks at Star-Lord and Rocket. In addition, any thought that the book might suffer unduly from the loss of Carol's supporting cast (Wendy, Spider-Woman, Tracy, Kit, Frank, etc) should be more or less assuaged here. We're only an issue removed from her leaving them all behind and going into space but it's clear that DeConnick's take on Carol and her character alone are certainly capable of carrying a book. Obviously the introduction of the Guardians and the hint from the first issue that Captain Marvel will form a team of her own don't hurt things but regardless, Carol has returned to this book as the same strong and confident character, totally able to drive a book, that she left the last series as. David Lopez's art is remarkably good and he draws a mean Carol as well as a mean suited-up Captain Marvel, all of which I was happy about and, admittedly, a little relieved about because I did not particularly care for Lopez's cover. Fans of the last series should absolutely be picking this one up. It has the same heart and the same enthusiasm as the first series, not to mention that there are already a couple of irons in the fire for story ideas and new characters. Even if you didn't read the first series, check this one out, see if the tone is for you. I find it hard to think it isn't.

Guardians of the Galaxy premiere trailer

So the full trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy just premiered and...it's a little weird. It's very set on explaining who the Guardians are, which makes sense given that they're such an unknown. They also have an interesting dilemma in that they're the first team movie that didn't have, you know, a handful of movies to set it up. The tone is also decidedly different from any other Marvel Cinematic Universe offering thus far, going for an extremely light feel. It wants you to think back to the fun of the Star Wars franchise and to the fun, particularly, of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Chris Pratt's Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord, shows up first with a pair of headphones and later he gets into a fight he can't win for those same headphones. There's definitely some character there but I'd worry that the character ends up being a bit cliche. More so I worry about the two shots of Gamora we get in the trailer, one where she's topless with her back to us and one where she's whipping her hair in some fight. Granted, Gamora does have some amount of exploitative personality in the comics but I wouldn't have complained if they left it out of the movie and the trailer is making me believe they're not about to.

It's honestly still too little to get a good sense of the movie, obviously, so I won't be posting a big review of this trailer like I did with the recent Super Bowl spots, but it's a pretty good read of the effects and the overall look of the movie, which is not unimpressive. It's hard not to be compared to Star Wars, as is the case whenever there's some sort of space caper movie, because Star Wars is, you know, Star Wars. Still, the look of this movie doesn't go too far off of that so we'll see how this one looks. Also, Karen Gillan looks surprisingly good blue and nearly unrecognizable so, you know, that's a plus.

Avengers Assemble 16, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Thor: God of Thunder 9

Avengers Assemble 16
DeConnick (w) and Buffagni (a) and Bellaire w/ Wilson (c)

The Enemy Within continues here as more of Carol's past begins to haunt her. A Brood attack, with suddenly appearing Brood riding a giant Acanti whale, launches over New York City as Carol is making coffee and/or tea (unimportant) with Tracy. Tracy says she shouldn't go and Carol admits to herself that she's probably right but they both know she's going to go anyway. Indeed, she leaves and joins up with several other Avengers to stop the Brood. There's a real sense of a hectic battle here as DeConnick jumps back and forth between the battle in New York and the agents of SWORD who were surprised by the sudden appearance of the Brood being questioned by Abigail Brand, all while Yon-Rogg tries to contact Hala, the Kree homeworld, for escort from Earth. Yon-Rogg offers Captain Marvel and the Earth as tidings to the Supreme Intelligence in exchange for his extraction but the Kree monitoring officer who handles Yon-Rogg's call declines, not interested in adding Earth, a troublesome planet forsaken by the galactic council, to the Kree Empire. Angry, Yon-Rogg disconnects and decides instead to make Earth more like Hala, with the powers now granted to him by the Psyche-Magnitron. He transforms himself into new villain The Magnitron. Meanwhile, the Avengers all suspect that this Brood attack has something to do with  Carol's mysterious adversary, as a Brood attack happened early on in her hero's journey. Still, they're unsure what to do with that information and Black Widow suspects that it's just another warning shot. The issue ends as what appears to be a Kree Sentry destroys the last remaining Brood that had escaped north of New York City.

The story is already delving pretty heavily into Carol's history as well as the history of the Kree Empire, which is always worrying with a book like this. Avengers Assemble kind of seemed like the sort of book that was meant to allow new readers to jump onboard an Avengers title while Hickman did whatever crazy things he wanted over in Avengers. I think this story will be a strong one and that everything will shape up nicely for DeConnick but I'd worry that anyone following this book because they wanted a jumping-on point might get shaken by this one, particularly if they neglected to pick up Avengers: The Enemy Within last month. There are confusing parts borne largely out of the chaotic nature of this attack but I don't think it weakens the story. There are a couple parts where I wasn't entirely sure what was happening because of the art (which is largely good but had some weird moments to it) or because of quippy sort of dialogue bouncing back and forth a bit too much. Still, a strong entry to this event that has clearly established drama and a villain for Carol and the Avengers. Should set us up for a nice and tight event.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Bendis (w) and McNiven, Pichelli, and Dell (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians have been taken prisoner by the Spartax and their king (and Peter Quill's father) J-Son. J-Son meets with the council he had previously to discuss the attack on Earth by the Badoon. He accuses Y-Gaaar, the leader of the Badoon (and, mysteriously, the only alien name that my spell-check isn't freaking out over), of being unable to keep his hands off of Earth for even a cycle after they agreed to. Y-Gaaar says it wasn't his Badoon; he is the leader of the brotherhood and it was the sisterhood that attacked. J-Son demands he get things in order before defending himself for the Guardians' interference in Earth's dealings. He explains that his son is merely a petulant child and he's going to be punished for what he did as an example to others. He storms off from the meeting and the other members of the council express their dismay and concern over the Spartax king. Meanwhile, of course, Groot was not captured by the Spartax and makes his first major appearance as he breaks the Guardians out of holding. They decide, instead of escaping, to use the weapons that have been confiscated and brought to the same room as they had been and take over the Spartax battleship. They do so with relative ease and Star-Lord issues a message to the rest of the Spartax: his father had his own son arrested for protecting Earth from the Badoon, imagine what he'd do to regular grunts.

There's definitely an interesting story developing here if it can stay away from too many tropes. There's always a worry when you're talking about son facing off against father and this team, made up of a couple different interesting child-father relationships, knows that better than most. Still, there's something sinister happening with J-Son and this council is an intriguing idea, bringing together the heads of several powerful races to make decisions. I have some issue with the back-and-forth here, as is usual and well-documented on this blog so I don't intend to get into it more, and I can envision Rocket's character getting unbearably annoying over time. For the record, I do think there is a way to do Rocket and make him not annoying, despite the fact he's a bit annoying by nature and the fact that plenty of people want him dead. I worry that his bloodthirsty nature is going to wear thin if it keeps up the way it is (mostly shouting about how he's killing everyone as he's killing them). I do appreciate that it's a sort of new take on him and a new take on the more violent heroes in the Marvel Universe (outright glee with killing isn't typically a Punisher trait, per se) but it might be worth toning down before it gets unbearable.

Thor: God of Thunder 9
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

The big fight we've been waiting months for finally happens in this, the third part of Godbomb. The Thors Three approach Gorr as the godbomb nears completion. The three of them fight valiantly, one after another or sometimes all at once. Gorr, seeing the full might of three Thors, decides he needs extra strength and orders his minions to kill all of the gods on the planet. This enrages the Thors more but adds to Gorr's power. Present and future Thor get caught by a serpent of Gorr who holds them while Gorr himself fights the past Thor. Future Thor holds the serpent's mouth open long enough for present Thor to escape and go after Gorr, just in time to see past Thor knocked away. Thor and Gorr battle heatedly and Gorr decides that present Thor is his favorite. Future Thor fights because of regret and past Thor fights because of shame, but present Thor, he suspects, fights because he knows that Gorr is right about how worthless gods are and he needs to prove to himself how wrong that is. Eventually the other two Thors convene on present Thor and help in the attack. Gorr brings them into the sun of the planet, where the fight finishes (for now). As the dust settles, god blood rains down, as do hammers, and finally Thors. Gorr demands the godbomb prepared.

Like I said at the start, we've been waiting for this fight for months and it doesn't disappoint. It's every bit as epic and grand as you'd expect it to be, with the Thors fighting as hard as Thors are known to fight and Gorr still managing to come out on top. The banter is pretty solid and the Thors themselves go through a bit of an arc in this issue not unlike Thor's arc. They come in brash and spewing bravado, eagerly attacking Gorr and getting the best of him to start before turning a little more solemn among the death of the other gods and the strength of Gorr. Finally they're defeated by Gorr and all hope seems lost. Still, there are two more issues in this arc so smart money is on them waking up and coming after Gorr again. Maybe not the same direct way, but in some manner. Still, good issue with all the action we've been waiting for and the standard great art and colors by Ribic and Svorcina. Should be a solid last couple of issues of this arc. It'll be interesting to see if the Thors are victorious and just how victorious they are. Gorr is a pretty good villain, it almost feels like it would be a shame to lose him.

Guardians of the Galaxy 1, Journey into Mystery 650

Guardians of the Galaxy 1
Bendis (w) and McNiven and Dell (a) and Ponsor (c)

I find it interesting that the conceit of this book, at least in the early stages, is that the Guardians of the Galaxy are going to be tasked with protecting Earth from galactic threats. I don't think it's a particularly bad idea and space still gives an awful lot of room to play around, but I find it interesting that the plan is to take an integral part of Marvel Cosmic and bring it right around Earth. Again, I feel like this is coming off as a criticism and I don't intend it to be. I have some criticisms but we'll get to those and longtime readers can probably already guess what they are, given the little (w) tag up above. I legitimately do find it interesting that this galactic team which is set to get a movie in 2014 and has been around since the late 1960s in on-and-off books, most recently in 2008, is going to be dealing with galactic threats that could expand the Universe while sticking pretty close to Earth. The 2008 series had no problem keeping off of Earth. Occasionally someone would make reference to it but, by and large, it was inconsequential because this was a team fighting for far more. I see this as a way to kind of ease into the series. It depends on how long this story will go; if it's the conceit for the entire series (at least for the foreseeable), I think it will wear a bit thin, but if it's the conceit for the beginning of this series to ease readers in and make them feel comfortable with the team without feeling like they're removed from the rest of the Marvel Universe (hence the inclusion of Iron Man), I think it'll serve a good purpose. I do hope that doesn't limit the storytelling to stories that don't challenge regular comic readers in the hopes that all new fans can easily dive in (which is simultaneously both a super nerdy and a kind of snooty thing to say). Another thing that I found pretty cool about the 2008 series was that, I think because of its existence on the outside of the Marvel Universe, it wasn't afraid to challenge readers and to make things confusing. Confusion is good sometimes in comics. It's worked for Gillen in Journey into Mystery and it's working for Hickman in Avengers and Spurrier in X-Men Legacy and in countless other places. It's about keeping readers' heads enough above water to make them keep reading and eventually feel REALLY good when things start coming together. But anyway, it's an interesting idea.

I've loved all of Skottie Young's baby-
variant covers for Marvel NOW!, but
maybe none more so than this one

FOR CRITICISMS, then, I'd like to again point to my usual complaint with Bendis. The dialogue is TV-show back-and-forth with way too much talking and it really pulls the reader out as you can kind of get a headache with so much. Also, and this is nitpicky and probably a personal issue, I tend to hate fake swear words. Like, made up ones because of a new and, ahem, alien language. That's not entirely accurate. I thought it worked really well in Firefly and Serenity (I know, that was Chinese and not an alien language, but my point applies as everyone speaks English except in little bits of Chinese here and there). I don't like it when it's used excessively, seemingly only used to show that they ARE swearing and that they ARE clever little not-swears. In Firefly (and probably in other places I haven't really seen), they used it as appropriate, when a character would actually swear. As I write this, YES I know how nitpicky it is but it really was pretty obnoxious whenever anyone said "krutack," just as it would be obnoxious (and is obnoxious when it happens) if someone swears every few words. Look, most of my regular complaints about Bendis stand, is what I'm saying. I think the story is interesting and the setting is very interesting. We'll see where it goes next time.

Journey Into Mystery 650
Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, they got me. Wasn't Heimdall. It was some weird sand golem in the place of Heimdall that Sif correctly identified at the end of last issue as not-Heimdall and decapitated. Phew. Heimdall was just in Young Avengers. That would have been weird. Anyway. Sif and her little band of berserkers are in Asgardia and they all find it different than they remembered. Svip, the most brutal of the berserkers, finds it worse, far softer than what he remembered, which is what Sif had been feeling to start this arc. She disappears to go find Aerndis, the witch who gave her the berserker power and who apparently was responsible for opening the Bifrost to let her and her three men into Asgardia again. She is withered, dying from the power needed to open the Bifrost. Sif asks her what mad spell Aerndis had placed on her. Aerdnis tells her that it was all an act and that the berserker rage was in her all along; Sif had only come looking for an excuse to use it. Sif doesn't believe her. Heimdall appears to tell her that Svip has gone into Broxton and has unleashed the darkest monster from the lake. Sif and the two others follow her and fight the monster as Svip tries to convince Sif that she's wanted this all along, to fight more monsters and to harden herself where ever that might be. She finally admits to herself that Aerdnis had been right and that she, instead of finding a strength, had found a weakness in herself. She's not thrilled about it. She sends Svip back to the island and restores peace to Broxton. She's learned a valuable lesson in this five part arc and the two berserkers seem better for the journey as well.
If the end of that review (and maybe the rest of it) sounds a little after-school special, it's because it kind of is. Whenever that "the power was inside you all along!" reveal comes around, it's only logical to connect it to that sort of thing, even if the "power" that was inside all along is a berserker warrior toughness and bloodlust. Still, it was a fun episode and it reads pretty well. I think it got bogged down a little with Aerdnis and with Svip at the end, but by and large it was enjoyable and the whole arc was definitely worth telling and a worthy story for Sif. I think she comes out pretty cleanly as the fiercest warrior of Asgardia, so that's a plus. With Sif a little more developed going forward, I'm excited about the second arc of this post-Loki series.

FF 4, Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1

FF 4
Fraction (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

Boy, really pulled it out at the end there. This was a fun issue all the way through with a couple of developments happening with in the whole FF organization but largely the focus was on the Moloids newfound obsession with She-Hulk. I kind of love the conceit, especially given the Moloids recent love for regular type Hulk (not these Moloids specifically, but the Moloids Hulk went underground with for a little bit). I also like the way Fraction has them speak and interact. It's not really different from what Hickman did but I didn't have this blog then so WHATEVER, I can say what I want. I also appreciate that they instantly fall in love with She-Hulk and, upon hearing of her date, approach Bentley about finding ways to ruin it. That works on just about every level for me.

So most of the issue is that, with Bentley concocting junior super-villain schemes to try to break up the date between Jen and Wyatt Wingfoot and, as you might imagine, these schemes all go wrong and end up making the night more romantic for the two. It's a fun little issue with nothing too serious aside from Scott snapping at older member of the FF Alex Power as Alex questions the whole idea of the FF and of Scott's plan to attack Doom. The end of the issue gets serious too, as Bentley complains about how poorly the night went to an unseen interrogator. The interrogator reassures Bentley and promises to help him live up to his destiny, seemingly as a super-villain, before being revealed as Medusa, Sue's stand-in on the team. Dark things are afoot, dear reader, dark things indeed. It also makes us glance back at a scene earlier when she provokes the future Johnny Storm and causes him to leave. What game is Medusa playing? We'll just have to find out. Pretty solid issue. If you're looking for dark and gritty, it's not here. The majority of this issue was structured for fun with plot seeping in around the corners. Not a bad thing, but certainly not for every reader.

Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1
Bendis (w) and McNiven and Dell (a) and Ponsor (c)

Promising start to the series. It at least gives a background look into Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I've read the most recent iteration of the series, featuring pretty much everyone on this new team (minus Iron Man), but I haven't read it for a couple years now so I don't remember as much as I'd like going in. Maybe that's good though, time to start fresh. I don't mind the backstory Bendis has crafted for Peter Quill, which seems to follow the story bits I like about Quill's history (there's no mention of a step-father or anything who tried to attack his mother, which Wikipedia claims there was at one point and I am FINE with that). I also like the addition of Iron Man to the team, though it already feels like Marvel time is getting pretty convoluted again, considering how prominent Iron Man is in Marvel books (and the fact that he's in deep space in two series and on Earth in any other). Whatever. Gotta just shake that one off. Anyway, I like that he's on the team because it fills the void left by Nova (in truth, I can't remember if Nova was officially ON the Guardians team in the recent run or if he just fought alongside them for a period or, FRANKLY, if he even did that. It's been a while since I read it, you guys). It's also a nice feature to have Iron Man be the guy who needs stuff explained to him, as opposed to the one doing the explaining. Could be interesting.

There's not a whole ton left to say because this issue was a 0.1, just giving us a little background before the full series starts. I like the art a lot and I don't expect that to change. I've been sold on McNiven for a couple years, since he popped up on my radar (particularly when he took over on Captain America). We don't really have a sense of how Bendis is going to write anyone aside from my Star-Lord and Iron Man for this book, nor a full sense of the dangers they'll face. The Badoon, the alien race that killed Star-Lord's mother, seems like fair game, as does Thanos, considering his history with the team and the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will likely tie Thanos and the Guardians together again to prepare for Avengers 2. I'll be interested to see how this book shapes up and how the team is represented before their major motion picture in 2014 (where it's recently been announced Chris Pratt, Andy from Parks and Recreation, will play Star-Lord. Pretty excited about that, interested to see how the character shapes out considering Pratt's normal style of character).