Guardians of the Galaxy 14, Thunderbolts 25

Guardians of the Galaxy 14
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw w/Masters, Nauck, and Wong (a) and Ponsor w/Keith (c) and Petit (l)

The Guardians are being picked off one-by-one and separated. Rocket, Groot, and Starlord are attacked in the ship by Spartax warships while Gamora is chased down elsewhere by the assassin who had previously tried to capture her and while Drax and Venom (??) shop for new weapons on Knowhere. All Guardians are captured, leaving Venom behind on Knowhere and leaving Starlord to have an uncomfortable talk with his dad, who promises that they'll all be dealt with and that no one is coming to save them just as Captain Marvel takes to space. Also featured in this double-sized anniversary issue are stories from legendary GUARDIANS scribes Andy Lanning (who "writes" a story about Groot's origin. Hint: he is Groot) and Dan Abnett, who tells a tale set a thousand years in the future about the future Guardians of the Galaxy needing to go back in time to stop some stuff happening that would ruin their future.

Story
The best way to describe this story is abrupt. For thirteen issues, the Guardians have been wreaking havoc and staying a step ahead of the Spartax Empire and fighting the good fight through the galaxy. Until they weren't. Just today. No hand wrapping around them, no strategy employed to cut their engines and leave them defenseless. Just...caught. I legitimately had to wonder if I had missed an issue where something happened that allowed them to be caught or that explained why Venom was there. Turns out: NOPE, the last issue was still in the midst of that crappy TRIAL OF JEAN GREY crossover and so everything happening here IS still as abrupt as it seems. It feels like we're missing an issue and it's KIND OF an important issue we've missed? Like, we can still catch up, I suppose, but there's a lot of "I guess this is happening now?" feeling to the book. 3/5

Character
Peter Quill has some insomnia and thinks about why and thinks about what women he has crushes on and what ones he doesn't and ugggggh. Then Drax and Venom go and banter at a weapons seller showing that Drax doesn't know the word "cool" and uggggggh. Look, I have some problems here as ever. Also, Venom acts very nearly goofy out in space which, you know, granted it's a pretty big deal to him but Flash is a decorated vet and one who has to maintain control over his symbiote all the time. Maybe he wouldn't be so goofy all the time? 2/5

Writing
A bit of back-and-forth here but everyone's separated and there's too much abrupt story happening for it to really hurt anything. The opening ongoing narration from Quill is as close to that as it gets and it it GRATING though the case can be made that it's just a mind drifting while it does anything but sleep. Putting aside the strange character problems and the abrupt story, there's nothing particularly wrong with the writing, though it's kind of like grading a student's paper with a bad or non-existent thesis: it doesn't matter if the support is great or in-depth or whatever, there's no way it can be proving what it sets out to prove because a bad thesis means there's nothing there to prove (yeah, I've graded some PAPERS, yo). 3/5

Art
I was a little nervous about Bradshaw on this issue. He's clearly a pretty good artist but I've seen him most recently on one of the INHUMAN titles that Fraction wrote prior to Soule's entrance on INHUMANS and it upset me in the way that Medusa looked so feminized in that kind of "big eyes, soft features, bursting breasts (horrifying, that wording) etc." way. No such issues here though the armored Gamora is the only female until the last page reveal of Captain Marvel. Still, good work across the board this time out. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Seriously, were we missing an issue?

Total score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 25
Soule (w) and Diaz (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

The woman who arrived on the boat at the end of the last issue, Helen, was part of the team Ross sent out but only insofar as she was the researcher who told them about the artifact and was then left behind. They have a thing. Anyway, the sea monsters aren't quite done attacking and they start to pull apart the ship. Ghost Rider manages to get them to shore by using his chain to pull the ship away. However, Leader whispers an incantation that makes his demonic fire go out before he himself can get off the ship and he's ripped apart by the monsters while everyone else looks on. The other T-Bolts push on but their guide Cordoba reveals to Leader that he knows he's responsible for Ghost Rider's death. Leader admits it but also reveals that he knows Cordoba's men are in the woods following them. They form an alliance for all of two minutes before Leader outs him to his team, causing them all to flee. The rest continue to the temple, where Red Hulk demands Leader wait outside (with guard Deadpool) and guide them over the walkie. He quickly betrays them and Elektra and Punisher end up in a death trap themselves.

Story
Tons going on here, enough that I kept wanting to shorten the summary and couldn't figure out where to do it. In fact, I should have PROBABLY gone deeper than I did but GUYS, read the book instead. There's so much happening and it's largely really interesting. The Ghost Rider twist was something unexpected and sharp, brutal and efficient enough to be jarring without feeling like a hook. The Leader has some great moments as his long con continues to play out at the expense of the team. Plenty happening but without ever getting too absurd or too abrupt. 5/5

Character
Everyone has a couple of good looks here but the main focus is on Leader and his sudden but inevitable betrayals. It's crafty and it's clever and it's hard, thanks to his movements with Cordoba, to figure out what his angles are, which is exactly how we should be seeing Leader since he's smarter than all people ever, more or less, so we should never know his true motives. It's the kind of sharp characterization that drove Hickman's SECRET WARRIORS series and others like it. 5/5

Writing
Thanks in large part to the characterization of Leader and the way that he drives the plot here, the tone is always a little bit uncomfortable, which is perfect. You're never supposed to know exactly how to feel about what's happening. The abruptness of Ghost Rider's death, the turn on Leader by Cordoba and the turn on Cordoba by Leader, all of it keeps the reader off-guard and it keeps the tone from settling in to something either too fun or too serious and it instead sticks into this strange "how should I feel?" place that fits everything Soule wants to do. 5/5

Art
The art looks maybe a little more cartoony than it has been but it steps it up to make sure things are tense as the big moments occur, like Ghost Rider being ripped apart or the fall of Punisher and Elektra and their caress as the walls close in on them (slower than haunted house spiked walls but not as slow as evil scientist spiked walls). Overall it fits the tone and feel of the book pretty nicely. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I like the cover on this one but it's the first time in quite some time that I haven't absolutely loved the cover on a THUNDERBOLTS issue. Sigh. All good things, I suppose. Strange that the 25th issue of THUNDERBOLTS, a far riskier book than something with X-MEN in the name written by one of the biggest names in comics over the past decade doesn't get a celebration.

Total score: 5/5

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.

Superior Spider-Man 19, Fantastic Four 13, Guardians of the Galaxy 7

Superior Spider-Man 19
Slott (w) and Stegman and Livesay (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man knocked out Spider-Man 2099 for some perceived slight and now finds himself at the center of an imploding space-time portal at Horizon Labs. He and Max Modell set the other scientists to work building a device that they hope can defeat the portal but it requires a formula Peter came up with his very first meeting with Max. Doc Ock can't remember it and zones out for a while trying, significantly reducing the amount of time he has to figure out how to stop things. Max evacuates the building, though Spider-Man stays in, as does the recovering Spider-Man 2099, who is holding Tiberius Stone. He's had a bit of a change of heart and seems ready to destroy Stone to destroy the future that revolves around Alchemax, even if it means destroying himself. At the last second, he recants and the two flee from the explosion. Spider-Man is able to contain it to just that area, saving the future and the present, but he disappears in the blast. Tyler Stone strands Spider-Man 2099 in the present, where he gets a job as Tiberius' personal assistant at the newly formed Alchemax. Modell and company manage to rig up a device to pull Spider-Man out of the time flux and save him, though Max sees it as the two of them evening up and leaves him behind as they set off to sea to do science in open waters. Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper and Wraith have tracked the money that Spider-Man used to hire his private army back to Otto Octavius.

Plenty of things changing for the Spider-Man universe as Spider-Man 2099 finds himself stuck in the present and guarding his own great-grandfather while ultimately trying to bring down his company. Doc, meanwhile, finds himself removed from Horizon Labs, though he's trying to recruit at least former co-worker Sajani, who was also left behind by Max. Last but not least (well not quite last either, MJ also distanced herself from Spider-Man), Carlie seems to recognize the link between the stranger and stranger actions of Spider-Man and Doc Ock's money. Still, the writing of this one is a little bogged down by the plot and the changes it needs to facilitate, making this one of the weaker issues for character and writing even though it's a significant event in this Spider-Man's run. This arc, seemingly coming to a close though the events it kicked off certainly are just starting, was not my favorite arc of the new run (far from it) but it seems to have done its job in changing the status quo a bit. I'll be interested to see where the book goes from here.

Fantastic Four 13
Fraction and Kesel (w) and Bagley and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

Slightly confusing issue as we see what exactly happened in Old John Storm's universe before he found himself in the 616. Like his 616 counterparts, the Fantastic Four of his universe left to explore the cosmos, with John accompanying his brother Stevenson Storm and Stevenson's wife Sue, as well as their friend Ben Grimm as the Fantastic Four (their powers are essentially the same). In their universe, Doom, Kang, and Annihilus have teamed up to take over the world but find themselves blocked by the F4. They've considered jumping universes but prefer, for now, to end the F4 and do what they need to rule this universe. Despite a solid plan by Stevenson and the FF, someone in the F4 seems to have betrayed them and forewarned Doom about an attack, which ended up making their powers useless against Doom and leaving them without any sort of way to protect themselves (which is how John lost his eye). It's at this point that John wakes up in the 616 again and finds our F4's powers rapidly deteriorating. However, the dream seems to have jarred something loose as suddenly he knows a way to fix their powers, though it will leave them, as he says, "doomed."

Alternate universe are and always will be tricky things to handle. When they're done well (like so much Jeff Parker's Dark Avengers run), they're entertaining and challenging, typically twisting characters we already know into something we don't know them as but which we can understand. In this case, we get a few changes that seem more than a little strange and a few non-changes that seem altogether entirely too coincidental to be ignored. They still choose the same successors to lead the FF in their absence, Doom has still killed Scott Lang's daughter, the same kids (majority) are still involved in the FF, the original X-Men are in the present again (though Jean Grey seems less obsessed with staying there), and so on. The conceit of a lot of these other universes is that tiny changes all over the universe have resulted in massive, sweeping changes as time went on. It's essentially the butterfly effect but in a parallel universe, or the idea of timeline-splitting. Here, it seems like little changes here and there have resulted in just very little change at all in the superhero community. Granted, this is a small window into that community so it's maybe best not to judge, but it's a strange decision, just as it's a strange decision to reveal this much to us. Sure we needed at some point to explain Old John Storm away but this seems like a lot we didn't necessarily need to see. I guess we'll see if that's the case moving forward.

Guardians of the Galaxy 7
Bendis (w) and Pichelli and Schiti (a) and Ponsor (c)

Angela's past is explained as she gives a brief history of her home, in her dimension. Her home is called Heven and it sounds more or less like the stories we know of Heaven, though with a darker and grittier twist of everyone there being hunters, essentially. As I've said before, I don't know Angela prior to this so all of this information is rather new to me. Like us hearing of Heaven, she's heard about Earth and she wants to see it for herself. She describes seeing what Starlord saw when the time-space continuum ruptured and he decides that she's telling the truth and that they should let her go. She moves to Earth with the understanding that Earth is full of super-people and that she shouldn't pick any fights there. She goes, with them following to make sure they didn't screw up in letting her go, and she's blown away by how much it matches the description she had. She's still lost and a bit confused in this universe and so Starlord gives her a comm so she can call to them if she needs help while she finds her way and she departs into the stars again while the Guardians discuss what else might have come through.

Not a bad issue as this continues to be, for my money, the best book Bendis is writing. I think the characters do tend to stray a little far into his generic personalities but he manages to reel them in well enough to keep them distinct. I heard an interview on the Nerdist Writer's Panel: Comic Edition podcast with one of the writers for the first Thor movie and, when asked what he's liking right now in comics he cited Bendis and said that he recognizes complaints that say Bendis loads books with a disproportionate text to story ratio but he thinks the dialogue is wonderful in building character. I still disagree on the whole as I think Bendis mostly writes the same personality or the same couple of personalities for every character. I've talked about this more than enough on here but I do think it diminishes character when you could read just about any dialogue block without looking at who it's attached to you would have about five guesses at who it could be. The best written characters are one where you can read the dialogue and you know who's talking, even if you don't see them. I think Guardians is Bendis' best book to try to do that with but, even in that, there are a couple of personalities; there's the Tony/Quill/kind of Rocket personality and there's the Gamora/Drax personality. Take out the names and pictures in this issue and it's a little hard to discern who's who but it definitely keeps itself closer here. Next issue claims to be about Infinity, which should kick off a tie-in just as Infinity begins wrapping up. Strange choice but a choice, I suppose, nonetheless.