I hadn’t read an issue of The Guardians of the Galaxy since I reviewed the 15th issue, so I have to admit that I likely missed quite a bit, and even beyond the case of a normal reprieve as that absence represented what had to be War of Kings material, which I can only assume had ramifications specific to the team–a team whose adventures have ranked among my favorites that Marvel has had to offer over the last couple years, perhaps eclipsed only by the wonderful Agents of Atlas. With the delay in mind, I will have to say that the often discussed relevance of the recap pages Marvel utilizes payed off for me, though admittedly in a net-conscious world I could have found out the info easily. Still, I both appreciated and benefited from it being there and on hand.
The Guardians (at least some of them) seem to be popping in and out of time (and reality) due to occurrences within War of Kings. They meet the future (and more historical) version of their own team, throw down, get an info dump, and go rumble some more before they slide elsewhere.
A look through the first few pages and I hated the issue. Unless offering an extreme experience in either emotional direction I’m generally forgiving or disattached to the visuals when in the presence of a narrative I enjoy or at least find passable. I find myself being able to appreciate interpretation and variety in styles, but something did strike me immediately, and it was off-putting.
Then came (some) understanding.
As comic fans we talk ourselves into it sometimes, but I began to feel Wesley’s Craig’s place in this issue. Indeed, this place was Wesley’s Craig’s. Depicting something that is not understood reality to a team called The Guardians of the Galaxy The Buttkickers of the Fantastic (which I’d like to think is a call back, but if not can also pass and be fully appreciated for simply being quick and amusing) has to be a chore. While I’m on record for noticing when Brad Walker is not penciling the team*, it should be noted that in the instances I’ve seen Craig’s art, he is rendering rather unusual environments or altered realities (and yes I understand that any artist inherently accepts such on a title like this—but he’s actually riffing off the riff) in contrast to the already diverse nature of the setting implied by a title like Guardians of the Galaxy. I find him to be an at least acceptable change-up, but not so much so it that doesn’t make me pleased to see Walker listed in the solicitation for the issue after next. There are certainly places I don’t and won’t mind seeing Craig take us in the future, but Walker has become my home for this team (though Pelletier was amazing I earlier issues)
I try to put my finger on what turned the issue around for me and I realize it’s not too complex. Literally. I’m a comics fan; I could have missed 50 prior issues of a run, but if you drop me in to a rumble, I understand that. Whether buttkicking the fantastic or clobberin time—you’re speaking my language. The issue starts already on the move, and it’s the only way an issue that opens with a splash page with Killraven front and center can appropriately begin.
Excluding an occasional bout with cosmic-self-consciousness, Guardians of the Galaxy never suffers from its writers getting in the way of story. If examination, reflection, and/or dissection occur, they do not reveal themselves as purpose, but as by-products. If an issue fails, it does so swinging, not in wannabe noir soliloquy–the in-tights (per)version. In these pages you find rather absurd questions:
“You don’t happen to have a time machine hidden around here somewhere”
can be (re)turned with serious reply:
“Not here, but we know where you might get your hands on one”
It almost comes off as so-bad-it’s-good, and it may very well be that, but more and more I find myself thinking that Abnett, Lanning & the Guardians of the Galaxy remind us what good really was is.
* like in Guardians of the Galaxy #11 & #12
