Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers (marvel Now)

by Brian Michael Bendis

[inlibrisveritas]

I’ll be the first admit that I didn’t know much about the Guardians of the Galaxy prior to the movie trailers. I had heard of Rocket Raccoon and Gomora, but other than making a somewhat snide comment on the fact that there was a raccoon running about I just ignore them. Then I picked up the new Captain Marvel series and the Guardians are in a few of the issues and I fell in love with them almost immediately. So naturally after I watched the movie, I grabbed the first volume of the new series and devoured it.

So obviously the movie is a departure from the current comics, but for the most part everything you love is the same. Rocket is a loud mouth with a technical (and a tad bizarre) mind…who is really fond of reminding you he’s not a raccoon and loves messing things up to make other usually lethal things. Star Lord is the most normal of the group, even if he is a bit arrogant in a semi pathetic way. Then of course there is Groot, who is just as awesome and selfless as you can expect. Unfortunately with such vibrant personalities Gamora and Drax sort of fade into the background a bit, though they are definitely badasses and can hold their own. Tony Stark makes an appearance in this as well, and I loved seeing him have to rely on ‘normal’ means to get by.

The story is pretty good as well, and I’m definitely pretty invested in finding out just why J’Son is so determined to alienate and put a focus on Earth. It’s no secret the guy is a first class jerk (he’s also in Captain Marvel)though. We do get a bit of a detour from the main story focus with the Badoon, but it’s definitely worth reading. We get to see the team work together, and we get to see Rocket make fun of Tony . One of the strongest things about this book is the banter. The characters are fun to read about, even in their serious moments and it’s surprising how rare that is.

I can’t wait to continue this series! I don’t love it enough to buy the individual issues, but I’m definitely grabbing the next full volume when it releases.