Guardians of the Galaxy 8, Cataclysm 0.1

Guardians of the Galaxy 8
Bendis (w) and Francavilla (a and c)

The Guardians of the Galaxy are approaching Earth and have discovered, then, that Thanos' army is pretty well in control of its airspace about now. Gamora insists that they charge in and show her dad (Thanos, you guys) who's boss but Quill prefers they make a plan, which they do after some amount of tension and Gamora setting out on her own to attack Thanos himself. They receive a distress call from Abigail Brand at the Peak and Quill decides it's not a trap and that they have to save her and the Peak before it's turned on the Earth. He and Rocket stealth their way in and bust her out before attempting to fight their way to the command center, counting on air support from Drax and Groot. Unfortunately, by the time they call those two in, they're rather busy and embroiled in their own fight. Plus side, though, when it looks as if all is lost, Angela shows up and busts her way into the space station to save them (probably).

Solid action here as the Guardians get involved in the universe-spanning events of Infinity, albeit in the part that doesn't span the universe but rather just Earth. There's some decent characterization though occasionally it swings hard on an emotion and it comes up just a little short. In this case, it's Gamora bursting with anger at Quill for wanting to plan their attack on Thanos. Of course, there's more to Gamora's emotions than simply the need for haste, adding on the turmoil she feels about her father and the imminent threat he poses, but it does seem more than a little sudden and rash for Gamora. Again, though, Bendis' strength comes out of dropping some of the back-and-forth dialogue here as we have a bit of a faster paced and more coherent book, one that doesn't lose its focus and its tone while those elements battle for control over snappy, out-of-place dialogue. There's a bit here but, as I've said in the past, a bit doesn't hurt. A bit establishes character and the like. It's when you have more than a bit that things go downhill. Instead, it's another solid Guardians issue that brings the Guardians themselves to the fight against Thanos, a place they're rather used to being.

Cataclysm 0.1
Fialkov (w) and Suayan, Pierfederici, and Kirk (a) and Woodard (c)

Galactus is in the Ultimate Universe and it could spell the end for that branch of Marvel. The Vision of that universe, a female android, if we're applying genders, was built to detect and protect the world from the Gah Lak Tus swarm and so is shocked to find that a piece of that swarm ended up beached in the Bahamas during the Hunger event without her notice. She and boyfriend Sam Wilson go to investigate and Vision interfaces with the swarm member, learning of Galactus' arrival in the Ultimate Universe and learning of his history in the 616. She immediately recognizes the threat and needs to go see for herself, understanding that it will likely mean her death. There's a scene where she weighs her Earth's chances against Galactus, given its history, that compares the Ultimate Universe to the 616 and boy does it highlight some things. She eventually arrives by Galactus and urges him to stand down. When he refuses, she attacks with her impressive weaponry. It backfires, though, as he absorbs her shots and turns them on her, ultimately destroying her and leaving her floating in space. Before her system shuts down, she sends a message back to Earth, primarily to Sam Wilson who she realized, in the end, that she truly loved and warning them that they'll need everybody's help to stave off Galactus, including and perhaps centered on the incarcerated and absolutely crazy Reed Richards.

Certainly a nice little book to set the stage for us and Fialkov again delivers on his mantra of showing characters on their absolute worst days. Despite the fact that this story is one mostly meant to illustrate the dangers posed to the Ultimate Universe with Galactus' arrival and, as an aside to that, to establish the differences between the universe Galactus came from and this one, Fialkov does a solid job in one regular-sized issue, creating a full character in Vision, who has a crisis of self (or as much of one as an android can have) and realizes who she really is in her dying moments. On top of that, as I mentioned above, there was a nice little summation of the differences between the two major universes under Marvel's umbrella, particularly highlighting the plight of the mutant in this world, the loss of Spider-Man, the craziness of Reed Richards, the decimation of the superhero community, and the flaws of the Ultimates vs. the Avengers. Really helps put things in perspective while giving off the distinct feeling of "aw man, it's going to be pretty tricky for them to fight off Galactus." Good book, nice way to build interest for the event.