Random Back Issues #165 - Guardians of the Galaxy #10

That's King Monkey-Face, to you, beardo. 

Last year, we looked at 3 issues of this series from around and after War of Kings. Here, the cast is still picking its way out of the mess Secret Invasion tie-ins caused, where it was revealed Star-Lord had Mantis telepathically nudge several members of the team into joining.

Given the roster, it's a miracle no one got stabbed, but Drax left to search for Cammi, Phylla-Vell in tow (they're not in this issue.) Earlier, the team fought the Universal Church of Truth, so Adam Warlock's decided to confront them, with Gamora. Warlock tells the "Matriarch" he's the messiah their religion foretells, and while she allows there is prophecy of a Warlock, how do they know it's him? Adam vows to prove himself by saving the universe from the "war of kings" his visions warn of, and departs.

This leaves the Matriarch with a conundrum: if Adam Warlock's out and about, who's in the cocoon the Church already has? Whoever it is, they don't appreciate the Matriarch touching the cocoon, but she still seems determined to have it opened as soon as possible. ('As soon as possible' won't be for over 10 issues, and it won't be her doing when it happens.)

Feeling guilty, Star-Lord went solo to investigate reports from Kree space and found them building a Babel Spire like the Phalanx had, as a potential defense. He objected, Ronan overruled, and Quill wound up dumped in the Negative Zone, into Blastaar's hands. Sorry, King Blastaar, busy trying to break into the prison Tony Stark and Reed Richards built, so he can invade their universe.

Quill agreed to negotiate with the prisoners (the guards fled through the portal and sealed it behind them.) He instead teamed up with former Captain America sidekick Jack Flag (in a wheelchair after Bullseye knifed him in the spine in Ellis' Thunderbolts) to try and get some help and keep Blastaar out. Unfortunately, one of the prisoners, Skeleton Ki, opened the prison gates, so Blastaar's inside and pissed at Quill. The Guardians - Rocket, Mantis, Major Victory, Groot, and Bug - tried to teleport to Quill's location, but the locator was in his helmet, which was he wasn't wearing. So they landed in the middle of Blastaar's army.

Quill and Flag are in the middle of fighting off three inmates they got into it with last issue when Mantis telepathically locates Quill and sends the coordinates to Cosmo, who beams them to Quill to make the save. Especially as King Blastaar Kool-Aid Mans through the wall just in time to watch the Guardians and Jack Flag teleport away. Still, Blastaar soon controls the prison, everyone either joining him or dying. On the joining side? Skeleton Ki, who is ordered to find a way to open that portal, or else.

(Abnett and Lanning never pay off Blastaar's anger at Quill saying he'll act as negotiator then immediately switching sides, but they also never did anything with any hard feelings about Mantis' continued presence on the team after her part in Star-Lord's manipulations.)

Later, the Guardians visit Earth to tell Reed Richards and a couple of those dickheads from the Initiative comic (the soldier with the bionic arm who always ran down the New Warriors, and the literal Nazi mad scientist) to never open the portal. None of the Earthers seem all that impressed by Star-Lord's explanation they're the Guardians of the Galaxy. Reed should at least know Mantis and have some idea who Major Victory is, right? Ben Grimm teamed up the with OG Guardians, and the future New Warrior version of Vance is Ben's buddy. Then again, Quill refers to them as the "Fabulous Four," so there's disrespect and ignorance flying all directions.

Back in Knowhere, a doctor fixed Jack's spine with space medicine, but he's got nowhere to go, seeing as he's a criminal on Earth, and hates 'cosmic stuff.' So he joins the team. And Major Victory visits the Starhawk (not one he knows) the team captured a few issues ago, who keeps speaking of an 'error' that signals the end of everything.

{5th longbox, 91st comic. Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #10, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olazaba and Livesay (inkers), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)}

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 (2023)

So, Nebula's (Karen Gillan) on the team now, while Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) alive but not on the team, because this Gamora didn't get free of Thanos until later or something related to all the time hijinks in Endgame, and Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) being a mopey, depressed drunk about her not remembering him.

Then Adam Warlock showed up, and boy, I was not feeling great about this movie, given my noted antipathy for that character. He turns out to be kind of an idiot, and Nebula stabbed him, so that was a plus. But he's working for the High Evolutionary (siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh) who created him and Rocket, among others, and wants the latter back. And since Rocket's gravely injured and they can't give him medical treatment without a passkey the Evolutionary's got, the team has to go to the bad guy.

I was actually pretty excited for the break-in at the "Orgoscope", because who doesn't love a heist movie? Except it turns into a clusterfuck because this team is a mess. One issue I have with the movie is, Gunn dragged the "comedy" bits out too long. The part in the elevator, where Star-Lord's explaining his whole deal with Gamora to their hostage? Too long. The part in the family's living room once they get to Counter-Earth? Too long. Maybe Gunn's just trying to lighten things up from the sad flashbacks to Rocket's early years in a cage on the High Evolutionary's stupid ship, but, the movie's long enough as it is, and they're supposed to be dealing with a ticking clock of Rocket dying if they can't treat him. A little less of the Guardians being dumbasses isn't going to hurt things.

Not sure how I feel about all the Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) stuff. One calling the other an idiot, or the wiping memories, or Drax constantly lying to her. It wasn't funny, so much as kind of sad. But, then there's how Mantis sticks up for him against Nebula's harsh words, although maybe she was just sick of Nebula's attitude. And Drax does actually repeat the speech she gave him to tell Star-Lord, word-for-word, was kind of nice. So, it's mutual respect, but they're both incredibly bad at expressing it?

(Also, Drax is the only member of the team that doesn't hate himself? I'd never gotten self-loathing vibes off Groot. All the others, yes, absolutely, but not Groot.)

Also not sure about the suits the security guys were wearing. Points for going a different route, and it plays into the notion of the Orgoscope as a biological station, but maybe less human airbag, more bone armor, would have helped? At least give the suits the option to sprout defensive armor or spikes or something less, Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

Good things. Cosmo! Cosmo got speaking lines! Cosmo is, a girl? OK, that's fine. Boy or girl, Cosmo is definitely a good dog! Given it kept coming up, I expected at some point one of the Guardians (probably Nebula) would order Kraglin to just tell Cosmo she's a good dog, or that stupid fin was getting shoved someplace extremely unpleasant. Was it too obvious a bit for James Gunn, or not obvious enough? We'll never know.

Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary. I thought he brought a mixture of intelligence, arrogance, and childishness to the role. The, 'you win the crying contest,' line was just incredibly cruel, A+ delivery there, and made it so much more satisfying when Rocket ripped his face up. Granted, for someone Gamora tells us is a thousand times more powerful than Star-Lord, H.E. doesn't seem particularly competent. But power and competence aren't necessarily linked. He's become so fixated on how this one particular experiment (Rocket) not only went beyond what he "should" have been capable of, but has in a sense thwarted the Evolutionary's will by continuing to survive, that he gets tunnel vision.

He's a bored kid who knocks over the tower of blocks as soon as he loses interest. Everything he creates is just an experiment. Whatever he says about pursuing "perfection", there's no meaning or significance beyond how proving how smart he is. Which helps to distinguish him from Ego, who was also ultimately trying to cover the universe in his creations, but thought of it as his biological imperative. And I guess he pretended to care about Peter, maybe even did care when he thought their goals would align. Whereas the Evolutionary might have been impressed at Rocket's insight and intuition, but his interest was never anything more than curiosity (resentment?)

That said, it was ridiculous Rocket refuses to kill the Evolutionary because, 'he's a freaking Guardian of the Galaxy.' That didn't stop you from killing all of the Evolutionary's goons while listening to the Beastie Boys. I mean, maybe the human-looking goons survived. Drax just pinned that one guy upside-down to the wall via knife in the leg, but Nebula and Star-Lord were shooting people, and I didn't see them going back to pick those guys up during the evacuation. There certainly was no pulling of punches on the "Hellbeasts", who are, at the end of the day, creations of the H.E. like Rocket.

Much like Batman not running over the Joker in Dark Knight, I will never understand this notion that it's OK to kill the goon squads, but you can't kill the monster who's actually responsible for everything. If you're not going to go lethal at all, fine. That's great. Preserve life. Offer second chances. But if you're not gonna do that, Cut. Off. The. Head.

I'm not generally a big believer in Chris Pratt when he plays anything other than "idiot man-child," but the part where he's refusing to let Rocket die and he's sobbing through chest compressions, he really sold that scene. It was nice to see Gillan get to return to playing Nebula as the angrily competent one surrounded by idiots, much like she did in the first movie. It's a little different in that she actually cares about this group of idiots, something that wasn't true of Ronan and his "burn planets to ASH!" shtick, so she's a bit like a kindergarten teacher running on zero sleep and too much caffeine.

It's been a while since I watched the second one the whole way through, but I think I liked Vol. 3 more than Vol. 2 (the first one remains the best.) Maybe because it's not so intensely focused on Star-Lord's crap? This is one offers a chance for the entire cast to try and get something. Maybe closure with a rough past, or the courage to admit what they feel, or enough stability and confidence to make a change in their lives. How successful the movie is at these things depends on which character we're looking at (Groot didn't get a lot of time), but on the whole, at least there was an effort.

Random Back Issues #138 - Guardians of the Galaxy #17

We've seen an issue prior to this and one showcasing some aftermath. The dice must be big War of Kings fans this year.

The decapitated Celestial head that's the home to Knowhere just woke up and warned everyone of a massive threat to the universe. That's good (the warning.) Too bad the Inhumans' big bomb already went off. That's bad. But Black Bolt and Vulcan died in the explosion. That's good! But it also tore a massive hole in the fabric of the universe. That's bad.

While Warlock, Gamora on his heels, seeks a solution, what's left of the team - Rocket, Groot, Drax, Major Victory, and Phyla-Vell - teleport aboard the Inhumans' big ship. In theory, they want to make sure there's no second bomb, but it's mostly the Guardians berating the Inhumans for being idiots. Fair.

This much deserved finger-pointing is interrupted by massive tentacles emerging from the Fault to reel in the city-ship. While the Inhumans and some of the Guardians try to fend off the invaders, Rocket, Crystal, and Groot stick with Maximus the Mad, to find some way. But really, it's just Maximus and Groot talking it out, while Crystal and Rocket watch. All we see Groot saying is, "I am Groot," but Maximus insists that's because of the hardened formation of Groot's larynx, and you need to listen to the 'breeze beneath it.' Rocket and Crystal agree Maximus is as crazy as a bag of spanners, which is not an insult that makes much sense, but hell, it's been a long day for everyone.

Maximus and Groot somehow unmake the creature by uncreating its reality and imposing their own. Whatever that means, that's good! The Fault is still growing and the ship lost enough velocity it's falling into the Fault. That's bad. A bunch of templeships of the Universal Church of Truth arrive! That's bad. Phyla investigates and finds Adam Warlock preparing a big spell to arrest the Fault's growth by grafting their timeline to an inert future. That's. . .good? The spell is powered by the faith generators of the Church of Truth, and the engines are powered by the belief of their followers, burning them out in the process. That's bad.

Warlock casts his spell, the Fault stops growing, Maximus looks very confused as Crystal hugs him, Adam takes a moment to appreciate his act, while aware of the dangers, and then Phyla stabs him through the chest with her sword. She made a deal with Oblivion to get Moondragon back, and it involved killing the Avatar of Life at the right moment. Gamora objects, they fight, Phyla gets stabbed in the chest. See how you like it.

Gamora rushes to Adam's side, but Warlock's not home. Instead it's the Magus, but the inert timeline Warlock used was the one where he turns purple. Gamora bemoans Warlock dooming himself to save the universe - ignoring that the universe ain't gonna be in great shape with this putz on the loose - and Magus snaps her neck and tosses her body into space. This outcome would subsequently appear to be averted - time travel shenanigans - but that would be a fakeout, too.

{5th longbox, 38th comic. Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #17, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olazaba and Scott Hanna (inkers), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #131 - Guardians of the Galaxy #21

"Cancerverse" is such inflammatory language. Call it a "Fecundiverse"; that only sounds vaguely dirty.

The last time we looked at the Guardians, they were in the process of failing miserably to convince the Inhumans and the Shi'ar to stop fighting a war that would endanger the very universe. Well, Black Bolt and Vulcan are dead now (hooray!), but not before the Inhumans set off a bomb that tore a hole in space-time continuum, dubbed the Fault.

The Luminals, an irritating band of superheroes that hang out on Knowhere and basically fuck everything up, sent some of their team into "The Fault", and came back infected. The alien tries to attack Moondragon, but she's able to create a telekinetic field to trap it.

The rest of the Guardians arrive, but so do a bunch of followers of the Universal Church of Truth, who think the many-tooth alien squid-thing is their god (due to the particular psychic emanations it produces.) All the excitement of the dumbshit fundamentalists exercising their religious freedom drives the creature nuts and it breaks loose, killing several of them, before attacking the Luminals' leader, Cynosure. The only option Moondragon has is to lure the creature into herself instead.

Now in quarantine, Moondragon's using her telepathy to keep the thing under control. But, it gives her a chance to learn some stuff. The creature comes from a universe on the far side of the Fault. A place where life has won. Star-Lord doesn't get what that means, but he'll have to parse it later. The Luminals are here to be fuck up again!

The creature killed one of their teammates, so they want to "extradite" it. How is not elaborated because Cynosure cuffs herself to Moondragon with something that'll blow them both up without the combination. The Knowhere Council want the creature off the station, but the Guardians are not about to let the Luminals handle that. And fortunately, they've got Drax to claim parental rights, which at least buys the team a few hours.

But since it's all down to whether Moondragon can get the thing under control so they can expel it from her and back into the Fault, Rocket uses the time to jab at Drax about almost sounding like he actually cares about his daughter. Which spurs Drax to go visit, only to find the church loonies kidnapping her and Cynosure. Which gives Drax a chance to do what he does best, kill people. It's going pretty well until the Church's Matriarch does a vaguely Penance Stare-like move and Drax goes into the fetal position.

{5th longbox, 42nd comic. Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #21, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy and Victor Olazaba (inkers), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Carmagna (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #124 - Guardians of the Galaxy #15

Pity we never got a proper team-up.

We're smack in the middle of War of Kings, aka the War of Stupid Assholes, and so are the Guardians. The team tried splitting up and approaching the respective rulers, Black Bolt and Vulcan, separately about ending the war before they tore apart space-time.

Vulcan's a psychopath, so that was a no-go. Worse, the Imperial Guard has a mage who tagged Adam Warlock with some sort of "witch-mark" that allows them to track him back to Knowhere. The Inhumans were no more receptive, and then Phyla-Vell took Crystal hostage when the Guardians left. And the Inhumans have a teleporting dog that allows them to follow.

Beseiged from both sides, Warlock and Cosmo's shields fall. Mantis and Star-Lord convinced Crystal the threat of universal destruction is real, but Black Bolt doesn't care. He grabs Crystal, and the Inhumans bounce like the useless jackasses they are. Which still leaves two-thirds of the Guardians hounded by the Imperial Guard.

The Guardians scatter - that is literally how Star-Lord describes his plan, "Scatter!" - unable to communicate because Oracle is somehow a stronger telepath than Cosmo, Mantis and Moondragon combined. Sounds like bullshit to me, but whatever. Star-Lord appeals to the ruling council on Knowhere, and the Luminals (essentially the Avengers of planet Xanth) for help, but is told to surrender for everyone else's benefit. Yeah, surrender to the tender mercies of people who serve Vulcan.

Mentor, the Brainiac-5 of the Imperial Guard, plans to take control of Knowhere and its ability to send forces anywhere to strike directly at the Inhumans, but the Guardians rally. Gamora and Phyla aren't down with "Scatter!" as a strategy and opt to hack their way through the Shi'ar. The mage and some other soldiers use the mark to track Warlock, but he's able to transfer it to her. When the soldiers use their enchanted weapons, they track the mark and kill her. Nifty, and all it took was Warlock's skin turning purple, which, combined with him rending the soldiers limb from limb certainly isn't concerning!

Mentor loses the Continuum Cortex when the remaining third of the Guardians - Rocket, Groot, Drax and Major Victory - 'port in. Rocket gets a little feral, clawing up Mentor's face while telling him they just reinstalled Lilandra on the throne. Even with Phyla, Gamora and Warlock joining the fray, Mentor has a good laugh as he runs with his oversized dome between his legs. Lilandra's just been assassinated (by a Raptor in Darkhawk's armor.) The bad news doesn't stop there, as Knowhere comes alive to warn Adam the fate of all existence depends on him. All existence is pretty fucked, then.

Oh, and the Starhawk the Guardians have had prisoner for several issues was able to manipulate the freshly-resurrected Moondragon into releasing her, and has vanished, taking Mantis, Cosmo, Star-Lord, Bug and Jack Flag along for the ride.

{5th longbox, 36th comic, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #15, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olizaba and Livesay (inker), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #223

 

"Variation on a Theme," in Guardians 3000 #2, by Dan Abnett (writer), Gerardo Sandoval (artist), Edgar Delgado (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer)

In 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise smash box office hit, as it turned out people like cheesy music, gun-toting raccoons and idiot man-child protagonists. Marvel did what they always do when something is unexpectedly popular: They flooded the stands with books that could be tied to the hot thing of the moment. In addition to Guardians of the Galaxy (still being written by Bendis), there was a Guardians of Knowhere mini-series, Asgardians of the Galaxy (groan), and Skottie Young's Rocket Raccoon book, there was this.

Dan Abnett sets the book in 3014, with the Guardians - Vance, Charlie, Yondu, Martinex and Starhawk - fighting the Badoon. Except these Badoon are enough of a threat to be on the verge of conquering the entire universe. And the Guardians have a new teammate, an Earthling named Geena Drake, who is the only one able to notice that the timeline keeps slipping and things keep changing.

Abnett has some fun mixing and matching concepts. Gladiator of the Sh'iar is somehow still alive. A Star-Lord, complete with Ship, is around, along with the last Nova. Abnett repurposes the Stark, and Gerardo Sandoval gives them all a giant eyeball look that reminds me of a creature from Doom. Galactus is still kicking, naturally, although now he's "The Old Hunger". Shades of that Walt Simonson FF story where Galactus keeps growing until he's like a black hole devouring the entire universe.

The story shifts to the 21st Century, so that this crew of Guardians can meet that version (which includes Venom at this point in time), and confront the threat the Guardians of the Galaxy usually face when they come back in time. I'll give you a hint: sometimes he's half machine, the other times he's a glowy pink guy with incredible power. Nico Leon draws those last three issues. I think he's better suited for the banter and confusion the two teams face when they run into each other. He has a knack for the kind of expressive art you need to carry that kind of thing, so it isn't just talking heads. 

Gerardo Sandoval drew the first five issues. His work has bit of Joe Mad-inspired look to it, especially in the musculature and whatnot. The amount of teeth and the jaws that seem able to unhinge at will. The 31st Century must have very advanced orthodontics. Those issues are spent with the team on the run and badly confused while they try to figure out what Deena is talking about, or why some of them don't remember being teammates. Everyone is tired and on edge, and Sandoval's art makes them all look kinda nuts, so it works.

The book got canceled at eight issues because of Hickman's Secret Wars, but Abnett managed to work that into the conclusion, so it could have been worse.

Sunday Splash Page #222

 

"Rocket's Heroes," in Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #8, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

It took 13 years between the end of the first run of Guardians of the Galaxy before the team name got a second chance. This volume wasn't set in the future, though, but in the present, spinning out of Annihilation: Conquest, or more accurately, the Star-Lord mini-series that preceded it (see Sunday Splash Page #35).

After the mess of first Annihilus and then then Phalanx, Star-Lord wanted to put together a team to try and not only address that, but stop problems before they became problems. That worked about as well as being proactive usually does in superhero comics. At least in this case, Abnett and Lanning play into it, as the team falls apart after some unpleasant revelations come out in the obligatory 3-issue Secret Invasion tie-in issues. While they use this as a way to split into more manageable groups what will eventually become a roster of over a dozen characters, and as a way to introduce multiple other plot threads at once, it also discombobulates the team so much they're kind of playing catch-up from then on.

Or maybe a universe is simply too large to guard proactively. Minus an Infinity Gauntlet, you can't be everywhere to catch every problem before it begins.

Secret Invasion isn't the only event the book got involved in, but at least the others were things Abnett and Lanning were also controlling, like War of Kings. That made it easier to use the events to still push forward their larger plot threads. Pity some of them still didn't come to fruition. We never really saw a payoff of a big battle to keep the Magus from overtaking every reality, nor did Jack Flag ever have his big moment saving all of reality. Blastaar never got to take his shot at revenge on Star-Lord.

Paul Pelletier drew the first 7 issues, then stepped over to draw the main War of Kings mini-series. With his departure, the title alternated between Brad Walker and Wesley Craig. Walker drew the most issues, 10 in all, plus half of another, while Craig drew 7. Which is why I went with one of Walker's splash pages. Their styles are not at all similar, with Craig favoring more of a sharply defined, squared off look. Walker feels like he's in more of a Neal Adams mode. Craig seemed to have more of a knack for the big images, or maybe that's just my impression because he had a lot more splash pages in his issues than Walker.

The book worked with this, though, by assigning each artist to different plot threads, and then focusing individual issues on one thread or the other. During War of Kings, part of the team (Mantis, Star-Lord, Cosmo, Jack Flag and Bug), get pulled into a possible future by a Starhawk. Wesley Craig draws the issues focused on them, while Walker handles the issues focused on the remainder of the team trying to stop either Vulcan or Black Bolt from tearing the fabric of the universe asunder. It helps with the tonal whiplash.

Some characters get more development than others. Drax seems to actively try to connect with his daughter Moondragon, and before that, her girlfriend, Phyla. Jack Flag is the newb, out of his depth with all this cosmic stuff. Some of it's cool, some of it's horrible and he can't decide which way he feels one minute to the next. Phyla-Vell is the one doomed to never quite measure up. Always trying, but always getting the short end of the stick. All her decisions seem to go wrong.

On the other hand, Bug never seems like more than comic relief, the butt of a lot of jokes. Gamora doesn't seem to get much development, either, unless you count her falling back in step with Adam Warlock as some comment on her character.  The idea Mantis telepathically nudged people to work with Star-Lord kind of gets dropped. Definitely not much time spent on what she felt about doing that. Adam Warlock. . . what am I, Jim Starlin? I don't give a fuck about Adam Warlock.

The book ended at 25 issues in early 2010, leading into Thanos Imperative, which was the last hurrah of the Abnett/Lanning run. In 2013, they handed Guardians of the Galaxy to Bendis, of all people. I wasn't sticking around for that mess.

Sunday Splash Page #221

 

"Interstellar Angry Birds," in Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 1) #11, by Jim Valentino (writer/penciler), Steve Montano (inker), Evelyn Stein (colorist), Ken Lopez (letter)

The original Guardians of the Galaxy premiered in 1969, which is further back than I expected. I was figuring mid-1970s. Based on a quote from Roy Thomas on Wikipedia, it sounds like they were originally Red Dawn, The Comic Book, before Arnold Drake and/or Stan Lee revamped them into a sci-fi adventure in the future. The team bounced around as guest stars in a bunch of books through the 1970s, becoming sort of a go-to destination for time-traveling Marvel heroes, and also had a brief stint with Marvel Presents as their own book.

It wasn't until 1990, however, they got an ongoing series bearing their name, with future Image co-founder Jim Valentino as writer/artist. At least until he asked his editor if he could switch to just being writer (because he was busy co-founding Image) and got the boot entirely after issue 29. From there on, Michael Gallagher wrote the book, with the Kevin West/Steve Montano art team covering almost every issue.

The Guardians succeeded in freeing Earth from the Badoon's control at some point previously, so the book took an approach focused on them roaming the galaxy and getting mixed up in different problems. Most of those problems were connected to things from the 20th Century Marvel Universe, in what was surely a remarkable coincidence. Searching for Captain America's shield, finding the world most of the mutants colonized. That would be that world getting destroyed up there. Ooops. Don't worry, the inhabitants got transported safely elsewhere.

A remarkable amount of people from the 20th Century survived to the 30th. Some made certain amounts of sense - Vision becoming a vast mainframe, Dr. Strange becoming the Ancient One for the new Sorcerer Supreme, who I think was a snakelike alien, Mephisto - others, not so much. Like Dr. Doom's spirit somehow inhabiting Wolverine's skeleton. Not his whole body, just the adamantium skeleton, walking around like a chromed-up fugitive from Army of Darkness.

I don't know enough about the earlier Guardians' stories to really compare, but Valentino seemed to ramp up the hostility between Starhawk and his wife Aleta, when he wasn't doing some weird thing where they kind of inhabited the same body and each kept trying to take control. The team also had more and more trouble accepting Starhawk's "I'm the One Who Knows," mysterious bullcrap. Vance Astro calmed down and eventually became a leader. Must be something about Captain America's shield.

The biggest problem I see with the book, based on reading maybe half of the series, is the team often feels almost incidental to the story. A team losing a lot isn't necessarily a deal-breaker; the X-Men got their asses kicked a fair amount in Claremont's run, seems like sometimes all the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans did was lose. The Guardians don't lose an unreasonable amount, but it often feels like they have as much importance to the final outcome as a piece of lawn furniture.

They fight a group of invading aliens called the Stark (who yes, based their entire culture around a starship full of Tony Stark's stuff that landed on their world) and Firelord shows up to help. The Phoenix handles things with the planet of mutants. Galactus runs afoul of a seriously amped up Silver Surfer. They keep getting thrown in the deep end without being able to actually swim. I'm not sure it ever improves much, even after Martinex forms a second team of more powerful characters like Firelord and the new Phoenix (and Wonder Man, now calling himself Hollywood. Yeesh.)

The book ran 62 issues, plus a 4-issue Galactic Guardians mini-series before being put to bed. And for over a decade, that would be it for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nobody wanted to play in the future, so they had to bring the concept to the present.

The Old "Fake Faking Your Death" Trick

At some point last month, I got a look at the first issue of the new Guardians of the Galaxy series. I was curious as to what the solicits had meant by 'who is the new Thanos'.

I'd forgotten Thanos died in that Infinity Whatever that came out last year, and stayed that way through the end of that event. In Guardians of the Galaxy, a bunch of people gather to see his video will, and it's in that recording Thanos reveals his mind has already been reborn, or transferred, something, to another body. He's out there, somewhere in the universe.

Which doesn't really seem like a "new" Thanos. He's still the same mind, and still going to behave the same way. All that's different is the external appearance. That's assuming he's telling the truth. My first thought (besides "Goddamnit, just leave him in the ground.") was, "This is a fakeout."

Thanos has pulled this move before. Back before Infinity Gauntlet, he let the Surfer believe he'd killed him (I think to throw everyone off his trail while he hunted down the Gems). Not content with that, he had gained citizenship in Dynamo City, and suckered the Surfer in with a messenger stating the Surfer was mentioned specifically in. . . the video recording of Thanos' will and testament. As it turned out, he'd set all that up just so the Surfer would be trapped powerless in that craphole city, looking for work to earn enough money to pay the exit fees.

I can see Thanos recording this just to throw the entire universe into a panic. A last joke played on everyone so happy he's dead. You thought you were free of me? I'm still out there, somewhere. Booga-booga! I could be anyone, and I'm plotting. . . things. Nefarious things. Better turn over every rock in the cosmos looking for me!

Then he can sit back in the afterlife and chuckle as everyone gets more and more desperate to find him, until they inevitably grow suspicious of each other. I mean, sooner or later, someone is going to decide they aren't finding Thanos because he's hiding inside one of them. Imagine Gladiator with a more powerful will and intellect, or Beta Ray Bill. Although I guess Thanos wouldn't be able to lift Stormbreaker*. But at that point, everything probably goes to hell.

This probably isn't what's happening, but it'd be fun. Or Thanos could be truly dead, and he's just doing this to keep everyone disorganized while he waits for Death to inevitably get tired of him hanging around and boots his purple butt back into the land of the living. So when he reappears, everyone's worn to a frazzle and pissed at each other, and he rolls over them.

* Unless Jim Starlin is writing the story. Then all bets are off.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

While visiting my friend two weekends ago, we also ended up watching the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. Apparently she's taken it upon herself to be the person who makes me watch those films, although I'd have gotten around to it eventually. I don't know when, precisely, but it was on my to-do list, after several other movies on Netflix I've been meaning to watch.

The movie's approach seems to be "more". Audiences loved dancing Groot? Let's have the entire opening sequence be a gag about dancing Groot. Let's have more of Drax being blunt and obliviously mean, with Mantis slotted into his role as the one who doesn't understand what's being said about and around her. I guess that's typical for sequels. Just do the same thing you did last time, but more of it. Wasn't that a line in that 22 Jump Street movie, that was itself an extended joke about the repetitive nature of sequels*?

Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy parts of it. The part where Rocket wages a guerilla campaign against the Ravagers. Quill getting excited about all the stupid things he could potentially create with this Celestial power. Or the part where Quill is able to fight Ego successfully because he actually embraces his emotions instead of playing Cool Guy who is just out to flirt with hot women or whatever. He's been trying to resist that development, stay in adolescence, so that was a step forward at least.

There are a lot of character threads, some work better than others. They all suffer a little from there being so many of them competing for time. There are two with Yondu, the ideas are good, but the movie is a bit heavy-handed with them, especially the parallel between him and Rocket. And I do like the scene at the end, where Star-Lord realizes Rocket sees similarities between himself and Yondu, and fears his odd family will abandon him. I don't think the movie ever wants us to think that's a real possibility, but I thought maybe it would do more to play up Rocket's growing fear about it. Things he was misinterpreting but we could understand why he was doing that.

Nebula's story did not go at all where I expected, but it was interesting. Nebula's directing anger at Gamora that should probably be going at Thanos (along with all the anger she's already directing at him), but you can at least see why she's doing that. And it plays into the film's larger deal with people dealing with old relationships, and how that goes. Gamora and Nebula's plays out one way, Yondu's with the other Ravager factions plays out another, and Ego trying to build something with Quill goes a third way. I suppose that last one isn't dealing with an old relationship so much as trying to create a new one, but Ego's his father, he was supposed to be there to form a relationship.

The idea of Yondu's group as outcasts among their own was fine, but the Stallone cameo, *shrug*. I think I was supposed to be more excited than I was, and I had actually forgotten that he was in there prior to watching the movie. The Sovereign were just ineffectual enough that I think the movie avoids the Too Many Villains Problem. It keeps brushing up against it as problems crop up, but then a threat is either revealed to be a joke, or they switch sides, or they all get killed. So there's usually not more than two immediate problems at a time.

There are so many different pieces in this movie, and my problem was that several of them either didn't interest me at all, or only interested me occasionally. I think I was only really invested in the parts that involved either Rocket or Nebula, and the rest was, not what I was there for. Also, I don't think Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana have any romantic chemistry whatsoever, so the will-they/won't-they stuff about Quill and Gamora doesn't really work. I'm sure they're trying, but it doesn't work. Gamora has to spend too much time being Team Mom, or the Responsible One. Rocket's smart, but just does whatever he wants, and the other three act like varying degrees of morons. So, Drax was right.

* This is a definite concern I have as the release date for Deadpool 2 approaches. Too much of certain elements from the first film in the sequel could make it unbearable. Great, now I'm talking myself out of being excited for the one movie coming out this year I was excited about.

A Film Can Always Use A Good Villain

I've seen a refrain that Marvel's movies lack for interesting villains. In some cases I would agree. I thought movie Malekith was a pretty dull guy compared to the gleeful, malevolent trickster I've seen in the comics, but maybe they thought there'd be too much overlap with Loki. Although I feel Malekith is not so concerned with settling scores with Thor or Odin, he's got bigger aspirations. It probably doesn't help that so many of them die at the end, though.

I'm glad they let Nebula (Karen Gillan) survive Guardians of the Galaxy, and are bringing her back for the sequel. I like the first one alright, it's not my favorite by any stretch, but her character is one of the more intriguing parts. I think what I like is she's pissed at EVERYONE. Pissed at Thanos for what he's done to her, and the fact nothing she's done for him is ever enough. Pissed at being handed off to Ronan the way you lend your neighbor your leaf blower, who also doesn't appreciate her. Pissed at Gamora for being the favorite, even after she defects, and probably pissed at her for defecting, abandoning Nebula to deal with this alone.

There's an element of unpredictability it adds to her. She's capable of throwing in with anyone if it gives her a chance to strike back at someone else she hates, unless she hates that person even more. Which is why she's not helping Gamora fight Ronan, but she'd help Ronan if he'd kill Thanos. At the same time, I don't think she has any real loyalty to anyone else, not surprising since no one has ever shown any to her. She doesn't seem to have any overarching goal. Not interested in conquest or glory, like Loki, the Red Skull, Thanos (probably). Not out to prove her strength or superiority like Ultron or the Abomination. She just hates, and what's maybe critical is she doesn't seem terribly concerned with her own well-being. The others, except maybe Zemo, all wanted to live to see tomorrow, enjoy the fruits of their hoped-for successes. I'd imagine her attitude has something to do with her body's ability to self-repair, and possibly also all the modifications Thanos did to her that brought that about.

All of which makes her sound like a mad dog, berserker type. The thing that adds a twist to it is how smart and in control she seems. She's not a bad commander at all. Ronan is all threats and intimidation, vague orders to "kill everyone" or whatever. Nebula is the one who, when the Ravagers and Guardians make their combined assault, recognizes their smoke screen for what it is and gets Ronan's forces in position to prepare for the attack. She's an effective leader, while still being extremely angry all the time. The scene when she storms out of the command room while gesturing angrily and shouting for the soldiers to follow her sticks in my memory. It's the impatient anger evident in her stalk, the "I don't have time for this," combined with a straightforward determination to get things done. She wants Ronan to kill Thanos, and he won't do that until after he destroys Xandar. So she has to get rid of these pests if she wants those things to happen, and she knows what has to be done for that to happen. It just so happens her troops aren't up to the challenge.

That all encompassing fury, plus the ability to still focus and lead minions, makes for an intriguing mixture. I wouldn't expect people to flock to her banner, if she'd even bother, but she can be a ruthless lone agent, or she has the flexibility to work for someone with the resources she needs. And there's always the possibility she can unite a bunch of people who feel alone, used and discarded, or just generally angry. Seeing plenty of that here in the U.S., and in story it would make a contrast to the Guardians. They were alone, but found a family with each other and a purpose in (mostly) helping people. Nebula is alone, but doesn't feel like forming bonds in an deeper way, and is fixated on hurting people. Then she pulls together a bunch of like-minded sorts for the same purpose. She's probably more organized and has the numbers, but the Guardians are more tightly knit and creative.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

My friend brought Guardians of the Galaxy along when she came to visit, because I still hadn't gotten around to seeing it, which has prompted incredulous responses from most of my friends. In my defense, I hadn't really had the time or opportunity back in the summer, and I was more than a little leery of a movie where a pro wrestler was one of the main characters.

It turned out alright. I still like Captain America: The Winter Soldier a lot more, but my fears were largely unfounded. I had already mentally prepared myself to not expect the characters to resemble their Abnett and Lanning-written versions, so that helped. Ronan allying with Thanos was probably the part I found the oddest, but I liked the fact the movie hints at the idea that Ronan's position as an outcast among the Kree is for show. The bit where Glenn Close asks the Kree (who had just signed a peace treaty with the Xandarians) to at least publicly condemn Ronan's murderous actions, and basically gets, "Not our problem" in return, was telling. Ronan may not be some Kree agent posing as an outcast, but the powers that be certainly have no problems with him. It was a nice bit, suggesting how old the conflict is, how not everyone was happy with the way things had been resolved, and wouldn't mind this loose cannon prompting a return of hostilities.

That was probably what I liked most about, was the feeling there was a lot of past history we were only getting parts of. The rivalry between Nebula and Gamora, egged on by Shitty Dad Thanos, Rocket and Groot's history, both alone and as a team. It's still sort of an origin story, but for the characters, it's starting in the middle. They've all lived wild, horrible, crazy lives already, this is just another (hopefully happier) chapter in it. Which was a nice touch in itself, the idea of making them a band of outcasts and misfits who help each other not be alone. Wasn't something that could really happen with The Avengers, since most of them still had someone to lean on. At that point, Thor still had his parents, Tony had Pepper, Natasha and Clint had each other. Steve and Bruce were kind of on their own, but I don't recall it really being played up as much in that movie.

I thought the facial expressions on Rocket were well done, especially his sad face. It was a little heart-wrenching when he'd look sad. I didn't laugh a lot during the movie, but there were a few parts. The "pelvic sorcery" comment, Rocket's "I need his eye" gag. The bit at the end, where the John C. Reilly explains to Rocket that no, he can't take something that belongs to someone else just because he wants it more. Though, given that his family was murdered, shouldn't Drax understand the concept of "murder" as a crime? Maybe it's the fact he was allowed to kill as many of Ronan's soldiers as he wanted, so he can't see why killing isn't always OK. I could buy that.

I would like to see more of Gamora and Nebula, which presumably we will in the sequel, since Nebula's still out there. There's an interesting relationship there, where Gamora seems to have gotten all the love (such as it is) from Thanos, but doesn't want, while Nebula wanted it real badly. So it's hard to say whether she resents Gamora more for being the favorite, or for being able to walk away from it with no regrets  So seeing where Nebula goes from here - works independently, tries to be more like Gamora to please Thanos, some other option - and what that means for her next meeting with her sister, that could be cool.

One thing I was surprised about was it was only two hours. Not a complaint, I've just grown used to all the superhero movies being 150 minutes now. Nobody seemed able to do a good job (or a bad one) in less time.

The Story I Would Have Loved To See

I mentioned when I was talking about Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, that I prefer stories where villains fight each other with the heroes caught in the middle, to the more recent trend of heroes fighting each other, while the villains make hay off the circumstances. Which reminded me of an idea I'd had years ago, that I only ever really laid out in the comments of a comics review post back in 2009. It wound up being irrelevant, because I was operating off one idea of what was going on in War of Kings, and the truth wound up being different, but whatever.

The Magus was in charge of the Universal Church of Truth and its billions of fanatical adherents, whose faith energies were ramping up his powers considerably. Star-Lord was supposed to have stopped that with the Cosmic Cube he got from Kang, but Magus outsmarted him and then kept himself in the shadows for awhile. So figure Kang shows up, either with his usual forces, or the army of Starhawks he'd compiled from across the multiverse (as the Magus' ascension was somehow going to spread to dominate all timelines), ready for war against the Magus. Maybe Kang stops to kick Star-Lord's butt for being useless and reclaim the Cube, or maybe not.

One of the end results of War of Kings was the Fault, the result of the explosion from the Inhumans' Terrigen Bomb tearing a huge hole in space, leading to a place where anything was possible. Nova and Darkhawk eventually encountered not just one Sphinx, but two, one young and one old. The old one was struggling to correct past mistakes, the young one didn't see himself as making any mistakes. And each of them had an immensely powerful Ka Stone, and if either got both, well, that would be a serious problem. So have one of the two emerge from the Fault more powerful than ever, with the Sphinx' usual plan to become a living god over all humanity. Clearly not something either of the other two would-be despots is going to tolerate.

In the middle of that, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Darkhawk, Namorita (who was brought from an earlier point in her life by the Sphinx, and then Nova kept her from vanishing when the whole place fell apart). Commenter Sean Greyson had mentioned wanting to see a Guardians of the Galaxy/Young Avengers team-up, so throw them in there. This story involves Kang, which is who Iron Lad became (and who that version of the Vision's brain patterns were based on, if we want to use him instead), so there's a reasonable justification.

I also wanted to throw in the outlaw Avengers team Justice was leading back on Earth - this was concurrent with Dark Reign, when Osborn handed over control of the Initiative school to the Hood. One wonders how that got through Congressional appointment hearings - because that would have been about as close to a New Warriors reunion as we were likely to get. Besides, even with that many heroes, they're still seriously outgunned, both in raw power and sheer numbers. Hell, find some justification for the Agents of Atlas to get involved (have Namora find out her daughter is alive and she'll charge out into space in a second).

Then factor in the Inhumans, reeling from the loss of Black Bolt, dealing with some hostility from the rest of the universe, since it was their bomb that caused the Fault, the Shi'ar having lost Emperor Vulcan and Lilandra, now a pale shadow of their old selves. Blastaar is out there as a king, looking to establish himself, get whatever he can, and settle some grudges (both Nova and Star-Lord had pissed him off recently). The sheer number of players, conflicts, uneasy alliances, the scale of the battle which could be taking place on different worlds across the universe, I would have been willing to spend so much money on something like that.

I Will Die Waiting For Closure, Won't I?

I've been thinking about Abnett and Lanning's Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy work, and I keep thinking of all the stories that were hinted at but never came up. I don't know whether they decided not to pursue them, or if the roughly annual cosmic events kept changing things too rapidly, or if the books were canceled too soon.

In Nova, we never did find out what happened to Ko-Rel's son, who she'd been separated from since sometime in Annihilation*. Considering how guilty Richard felt about her death, I was always surprised he never tried to hunt down the kid. Heck, ask Ronan to look into it, he owes Rich plenty, that would be the least he could do.

There was the surprise appearance of Garthan Saal (who had previously held all the Nova Force, gone CrazyEvil, and supposedly died) during War of Kings. He appeared before Malik tarcel, who was briefly Nova Prime after Rich was booted, but got beat down and imprisoned by Gladiator. Considering Saal's history of conflict with Rich back during Rider's New Warriors' days, that seemed ominous, but nothing ever came of it. The book brought Monark Starslayer in, and then the Sphinx, and then it was canceled.

I don't even know what happened to Tarcel. Hopefully he wasn't on one of those Shi'ar ships that was obliterated by the T-Bomb going off, but he's another character lost in the cracks.

Over in Guardians of the Galaxy, there was the brief emergence of the Badoon in the months before War of Kings started. They're apparently regarded as a second-rate power, but there were up to enough mischief what was left of the Guardians stepped in. The Badoon had been a major foe for the earlier versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy (the ones set in the future), so there was the sense something might be building there. Especially considering the Kree/Inhuman alliance was still working out the kinks, the Skrulls were basically exterminated, and the territories Annihilus' forces held were pretty torn up from the Phalanx. The Badoon had been largely unscathed, so perhaps it was their time. Again, never came up again.

The one that really surprised me was when Starhawk told Jack Flag he was fated to die saving existence, when half the team was bouncing from reality to reality. It ended up Star-Lord and Nova (probably) died saving the universe by preventing an enraged Thanos from getting back there. Jack could still end up making the ultimate sacrifice (maybe he'll show up in Heroes for Hire), but it seems that the timeline shifted enough with Thanos' reemergence it'll never come to pass.

I really do wonder what the reasons were for not pursuing those story arcs. If nothing else, I'd get a better idea of the creative process, which I'm idly curious about.

* Then she died during Conquest, which I still think was a major misstep by Lanning and Abnett. They did sort of bring her back, since her personality is the one the Worldmind assumed after its old one was too corrupted by Ego, but it's not really the same thing. She's never shown any interest in hunting him down since then, which kind of suggests the Worldmind adopts only parts of the base's personality, and ignores things which would interfere with its work.

The Secret Guardians! Ugh, That's A Terrible Name

Wednesday I was talking about where the Guardians of the Galaxy who survived the latest cosmic brouhaha might have gone. There's no reason they had to disband, though. The team held together after they thought half of them had been killed by Adam Magus (not to mention Star-Lord thinking he'd killed Adam Warlock/Magus).

Granted, Star-Lord was the one who brought them together, and he did survive the confrontation with the Magus. He's unavailable, so what would hold the team together? Well, Rocket Raccoon, naturally. The Magus fight wasn't the first big hit the roster took. The book's obligatory Secret Invasion tie-in revealed that Star-Lord had Mantis telepathically nudge some of the team members into joining (it didn't say which ones precisely). Adam Warlock stormed off in a huff, and Gamora went with him. Drax and Phyla left too. Then Star-Lord went into Kree territory on his own, got trounced by Ronan the Accuser, and thrown in the Negative Zone. The rest of the group soldiered on without him. They even put Mantis back in the field, which suggests the ones who remained didn't have trust issues with her*.

Everyone from that grouping (Rocket, Major Victory, Mantis, Groot, and Bug**) is still standing, plus Jack, Gamora, Moondragon. There's the makings of a useful team there.

I get the general point that Star-Lord and Cosmo have been making: There are enough staggering threats that things will go smoother with a team of powerhouses. Hence, the Annihilators. But there's no sense of camaraderie or teamwork with these guys, not yet, anyway. They're the Defenders as they originally appeared: Incredibly powerful, but no real interest in working together unless they absolutely have to. Which is fine, at times. The Big Problem rears its head, they form Annihilatitron and smash it into easily disposable parts. There are times brute force isn't the best response, when cunning, stealth, or simply the willingness to commit full-time can be the difference. There are going to be situations these five don't think merit there attention, that still need dealing with, so another group could come in handy.

Cosmo doesn't have to be involved (and given the strained relationship he and the raccoon have, I wouldn't be surprised if Rocky opted to keep him in the dark), but having access to Knowhere's teleportational facilities would be helpful. With the folks they have available, they could do assassinations, espionage, infiltration, defend a specific planet from some dangerous incursion. The sort of things that may not halt universe-threatening problems, but can prevent threats from reaching that scale. It's not really proactive, because the threats are still already happening, it's more catching those threats in their infancy (when they could still make a lot of people's lives miserable).

I can't think of a good name for them though. Secret Guardians is terrible, Covert Annihilators feels contradictory (and terrible). In GrimJack, the group John Gaunt worked for after leaving the Transdimensional Police was called Cadre, a group of agents dedicated to quietly trying to keep things running smoothly. 'Course, the guy running Cadre was a power-hungry sort, a more competent and less needlessly hateful Henry Gyrich. I guess they could always fall back on one of Rocket's suggestions: "Asskickers of the Fantastic."

* Whether that's because they're confident they weren't the ones she messed with, or they understood why she and Star-Lord thought it necessary, not clear.

** I just realized Bug slipped my mind as a survivor. I thought I read about him getting sucked into this Hiro-Kala, Son of Hulk stuff, a Micronauts reunion, but I could be wrong.

What Happened To The Guardians Who Survived?

One thing I was left wondering by Thanos Imperative: Devastation is what happened to the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy?

We know Cosmo's putting together the Annihilators Star-Lord dreamed of. We'll find out what Rocket Raccoon and Groot are doing once the Annihilators mini-series starts. Adam Warlock, Phyla, and Drax are all dead. Star-Lord's probably dead, or if he's alive, he's trapped in a dead universe with Nova and an extremely cross Thanos. In which case he wishes he was dead.

That leaves Moondragon, Gamora, Mantis, Jack Flag, and Major Victory unaccounted for. The easy answers are Moondragon went back to Titan to mourn her father and girlfriend, and Jack Flag probably went back to Earth. I can't imagine Steve Rogers cares about the unregistered bull that got Jack thrown in the Negative Zone Prison. Gamora's likely back to roaming the universe, looking for suitable challenges to her skill. Or she could set up a little kingdom on some world, gather some people to her. That's what she was doing when Annihilation started.

The two I'm having a harder time predicting are Mantis and Major Victory. I think it'd be kind of fun if Mantis had decided to travel with Gamora. They're disparate characters, beyond one being quiet and generally reserved, and the other being more loud and open. Gamora's been described as lacking direction or purpose. Mantis believes she has a purpose (to be the Celestial Madonna), but hard telling when (or if) that'll ever come to fruition. Putting the two of them together could be fun.

I don't imagine that's the case, though. More likely Mantis would go find some place to be alone and meditate or something. As for Major Victory, I have no clue. He's from a different universe, and from the future of that different universe. I suppose he could go to Earth with Jack, maybe pay a visit to Justice at the Avengers Academy. A team-up with a younger version of himself from a different universe who never became an astronaut and so never survived to the 30th Century*. He was at Knowhere when Thanos Imperative wrapped up, so he have gone literally anywhere in the universe.

Perhaps Rocket Raccoon will fill us in.

* I guess they could still do that with Vance. A superhero might make a good astronaut, if his powers can serve as inertial dampeners or something. It'd be strange, though, if some writer just decided, "Hey, I'm sending Justice into space so he can become Major Victory in a 1,000 years!" Maybe he'd become Major Justice instead?

A Smattering Of Thanos Imperative Related Thoughts

- It's been noted throughout Thanos Imperative that while Thanos is vital to saving the universe, he's also Thanos, and is really dangerous as well, especially since he seemingly can't die. If he can be brought down, he could be locked up, but Thanos is pretty smart, he figure out how to escape eventually. So convince Thanos to stay behind in the Cancerverse when things are done. Death will have returned to that universe (assuming Thanos succeeds in killing Mar-Vell), but it's still a universe filled to the bursting with life. It'll take time to get things back on an even keel, and an angry Avatar of Death could speed things along. Plus, the Death in that universe is different from the Death in the Marvel Universe, so it's a whole new Death for Thanos to cozy up to and impress with large amounts of killing.

- The idea that Death and Life are connected isn't a new one, nor is the idea that it could be ugly if either one grows too much stronger than the other. Still, I like how connected they've been in this cosmic struggle. For Life to win out, Mar-Vell still needs to kill someone. For Death to balance the scales, that same person has to live, whether they want to or not. Death also needs Mar-Vell to die, but it's to be expected that death would play a part in its own victory.

- Before Thanos killed him, Drax was described as an Avatar of Life. Adam Warlock was considered the same before he became the Magus, and perhaps afterward as well. He still worshiped life. First off, it makes me wonder if Phyla could have averted what's coming by killing Drax, since he's an Avatar of Life, or if it had to be Adam specifically. I'm guessing the latter, since Drax didn't have grandiose schemes of destroying Death. He's quite the practitioner of Death, after all.

- Which brings me around to the second point. Adam and Drax were both Avatars of Life, but they went about things very differently. Drax protects/serve life by destroying the Avatar of Death. Adam Warlock, at least in this incarnation, protected life by trying to seal the Marvel Universe up, so things outside the universe couldn't get in and wreak havoc they might intend. To that end, he took control of the Universal Church of Truth, so that 1) they'd stop interfering in his work, and 2) he could use their resources to do his work more effectively. Contrast that with Drax, who might work with teams, but tends to operate alone when it comes to Thanos. Drax fights Death with death, Adam was fighting life, with Life (the belief energy of his followers). Drax actively sought out his target, while Adam reacts to problems. A tear in the fabric of the universe appears, Adam and the Guardians (or the Church) go there and close it up. When Adam tried to act to avert the disaster, going after Emperor Vulcan before the War of Kings destroyed the universe, he was soundly thrashed and sent packing. Adam Warlock helped set Thanos' return in motion, because he was worried his Magus personality would emerge and need to be stopped. He set aside his personal distaste because he perceived a greater threat. When he reached Thanos during Annihilation, Drax couldn't wait two seconds until Thanos had freed Galactus to kill him, and thus jeopardized the entire universe. He was too focused on the immediate problem, and didn't think of the larger picture. I can't decide whether he'd begun to do so in Thanos Imperative or not, because Thanos is an ally at the moment, but he might be the bigger problem. It would be interesting if he adopted Adam's approach, and it got him killed.

Maybe there's something there about Drax representing the so-called lizard, brain, the basic, emotional responses, while Warlock is the more reasoned, logical portion. Both of them are a part of us, as living beings, and life comes in many different forms, so it makes a certain amount of sense there would be more than one Avatar of Life, and they'd address different problems, or have different approaches.

- These days, there only seems to be one Avatar of Death at a time. There was Thanos, and Drax killed him, so there was no one for a time. I think Moondragon becoming an actual dragon, as the Dragon of the Moon grew stronger, was a step to fill the void, but Ultron stepped in (in a sense, Ultron, unknowingly, filled Drax' role for a moment). Then Phyla took the job to get Moondragon back, until she was killed by Thanos, as he reemerged. Maelstrom's been around, but doesn't seem to have a physical presence, he's more an intangible puppet master. But Death, whatever form it takes, ends the same way. The person is dead, all the way dead (as opposed to mostly dead), and it doesn't matter whether Thanos disintegrated them, they were hit by a bus, thrown from a bridge, died of old age, whatever, end result is the same. It can take many forms, but they all wind up in the same place.

Doesn't Seem His Memory Is Coming Back To Clue Us In

What do you think happened to Major Victory? The Guardians found him on a chunk of land that just happened to be Avengers Mansion, and which just happened to be drifting between universes, and came through a rift into the 616-universe. I don't recall the Major every regaining his memories, despite his frequent visits to Starhawk to see if it jarred something loose.

I don't think he's from the version of the future Star-Lord and some of the others were brought to around GotG #16. There's a chance, since in that future Avenegrs Mansion is also floating on a small bit of real estate out in space, and a Major Victory existed there, so maybe he could have been lost in whatever there is between universes. But why would he have been the only member of the team to survive? What happened to throw Avengers Mansion out of its universe in the first place?

Thanos Always Lives To Serve Death

OK, I'm past my dour mood of yesterday. Actually, my dour mood's focused on things unrelated to comics, so I can be more engaged with the post tonight.

Thanos is coming back to life, after a bit over 3 years in the ground. I'm guessing he'll wind up being the fellow in that other cocoon the Universal Church of Truth has. It would make sense. Adam Warlock, in his current incarnation, emerged from a cocoon, and is/was described as the Avatar of Life. If you were going to describe someone as the "Avatar of Death", Thanos would be a good choice.

What's interesting is why he would be coming back. Maelstrom told Drax that when Drax killed Thanos, the balance between life and death was upset. Life became too strong, and a universe with too much life is as doomed as one with too much death. It will simply meet a different kind of horrific end. A safe bet is that Death is concerned by this turn of events, and sent Thanos back among the living to redress things*.

The other possibility is that Death is well-aware of the world Moondragon described as existing on the other side of the Fault, the one where life ran unchecked. A "cancerverse" was what she called it. The next big cosmic thing looks to be that universe trying to encroach upon the 616-reality. It's life, so it will spread if it can, and a whole new universe would provide considerable room for growth. Death knows this is coming, and is concerned by it. One universe where life won might not be an issue, since there's probably at least one universe where death won as well. This could be the start of a chain reaction, universes becoming choked with life, one after another. Which is bad, not just for Death, but for everyone.

Perceiving that, Death sends her most loyal apostle/servant/fanboy back to combat the threat. Which means Thanos would be helping to defend the 616 against that other universe. Which would make Thanos sort of a good guy. He's probably going to kill lots of people, whether it's needed or not, and he'd likely consider any allies he made expendable, but still. He'll be trying to protect a universe from a different doom than it's used.

Or he could be after Adam Magus and his followers, since they support unfettered growth of life. They'd be a more local, immediate threat, especially with the future we've seen, where the Magus ends up ruling all timelines. I'd be curious to see how Thanos would approach that challenge, considering the odds against him. If he's facing a threat from the other universe, Magus might actually throw in with him, since the enemy isn't likely to just let Magus step in and conquer. But if Thanos is after Magus himself, he's going to have to go through a lot of meat shields. Not that Thanos would care, except for the fact he'd be expending energy better spent killing Adam Magus.

Could he manipulate the Guardians of the Galaxy into helping? or would he play it (mostly) straight with them, explaining exactly why he needs to destroy Magus? Though, if he tells them Adam Magus isn't dead, the Guardians shouldn't need much encouragement to go on the offensive.

* The safest bet is Thanos observed all this, and hating to see Death marginalized, asked to be sent back, to serve her. In which case, death would send him back because he hadn't truly embraced her as it seemed he had by the end of Annihilation.

I Am Concerned

Scrolled through Marvel and DC's solicitations for May.

Worryingly, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy are absent, least as far as I can tell. This makes me think they've been canceled. I know their sales were getting close to the level where Marvel tends to kill books, but I'd hoped they were still high enough to be OK. Maybe they're both just taking the month off? Yeah, I'm sure that's all it is. Sure, that's all.

Dang, now I'm depressed. I'd be angry, tossing expletives left and right, except I'm not sure the titles are actually done. The hope keeps me from acting the fool. Well, acting the fool in that manner, anyway. Still, it's not as thought my pull list was all that large before this, and I'm not seeing much that piques my interest* to replace books that end.

Perhaps they'll try a relaunch in a couple of months, thought I can't see that having much effect. If anthologies did better, I'd suggest just going for one big monthly comic, with lots of cosmic-themed stories for 5 bucks, or whatever. Similar to those 96-pagers Marvel puts out occasionally, like Amazing Spider-Man #600, or Deadpool #900. Except those were special events, and Marvel/DC readers aren't be big fans of that format on a monthly basis.

Oh well, life as a comic fan sucks sometimes. Let's end with a happy comment. I'm happy to see the Showcase Suicide Squad trade is back again, provided DC doesn't yank it like they did last time they solicited it. That was bullcrap, got my hopes up for nothing.

Hmm, not quite as happy as I'd like.

* Marvel's not helping with the all first issues are 4 bucks policy. I have to be sure I want to buy the book ahead of time for that not to serve as a deterrent. If I'm on the fence, that's a push away.