Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: andy lanning, ant man, baby groot, brian michael bendis, dan abnett, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Gerry Duggan, groot, Marcus To, Marvel Comics, marvel legacy, nova corps, Richard Rider, rocket raccoon, Scott Adsit, star-lord

Marvel Legacy Guardians Of The Galaxy #146 Review: Unexciting, But Promising

The Talons have infiltrated the fledgling new incarnation of the Nova Corps, and the Guardians of the Galaxy have been contracted to hunt down the moles.

The team splits up to work several angles on the mystery. While Star-Lord learns some startling information, Gamora and Ant-Man respond to an SOS. In doing so, they find a threat that is surprisingly familiar to Scott Lang…

Also, Scott Adsit (stand-up comedian and star of 30 Rock) is one of the leaders of the new Nova Corps. Go frigging figure. Apparently, he's friends with writer Gerry Dugan and was actually a S.H.I.E.L.D agent before this. Of course, comedian and actor Paul Scheer was the villain in an issue of Astonishing Ant-Man, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.

In any case, this was an entertaining issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. It presents a unique set-up for the team: having to pose as members of an intergalactic police force while being notorious rogues themselves. This issue primarily focuses on Gamora and Ant-Man with a little bit of spotlight on Star-Lord. My renewed interest in the Guardians of the Galaxy comic is mostly as a result of the presence of Ant-Man and Nova Richard Rider, so that was a nice surprise for me.

This issue, while not up to the legendary quality of the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning material, definitely stands among the better Brian Michael Bendis stories of Guardians of the Galaxy. Bendis' run was a bit of a quality roller coaster, jumping between quality character-driven adventures and big, empty, and gimmicky action. This leans more towards the former of those two to the comic's benefit.

There's no chemistry between Gamora and Ant-Man, though. I should have suspected that Ant-Man was going to be consistently abused in this comic, and that could be fine if it were a joke. Instead, it's just the other Guardians abusing him. It doesn't really work as a joke, and this is funny considering Scott Adsit's Pete from 30 Rock was often the butt of really funny jokes.

Maybe this will come to a head later down the line where Ant-Man really proves himself or explodes on the other Guardians. I guess we'll see about that.

Marcus To's artwork is a nice balance of detailed and light. It's heavy enough to keep the serious moments appropriately weight and cartoonish enough to support the comedic moments. Scott Adsit is drawn a little portlier than he is in real life, so that seems a bit mean. The new Nova uniforms look fairly cool, and they look nice on the Guardians too. Ian Herring's color work is balanced with lights and darks very well, and the resulting palette is visually appealing.

The Guardians of the Galaxy lands well in its Marvel Legacy sort-of, kind-of relaunch. The story is a good jumping-on point, and it seems to be a prelude to something big with the "Infinity Quest" storyline. This one gets a recommendation. Check it out.

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