Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

March 3, 2013 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Written by Brian Michael Bendis. Art by Steve Mc Niven, John Dell, and Justin Ponsor.

Oh, how I should have known. For those not in-the-know, the “Point 1” initiative of Marvel is a clever way of saying “you don’t REALLY need this, but still, c’mon nerdlinger!” Given how light my load of books were this week, I bit. Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1 is a retconned (maybe?) origin for Starlord, the ‘Captain America of the Stars’ as far as I can tell for the upcoming series. Brian Michael Bendis delivers a very by-the-numbers tale. Let’s blast off kiddos. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Hot humanoid alien crashes on Earth in the middle of nowhere. More specifically, right at the doorstep of attractive, strong, independent woman. Through a montage, he repairs his ship, and comes to love the ‘Earthen’ woman. After his ship is fixed, he’s right back off to war. Luckily, he left a little surprise behind. OK, two surprises. One, his super cool space pistol. Two? His seed. Smash cut, 10 years later! A young Star Lad has a chip on his shoulder the size of a mountain cause Daddy don’t come round. Guess Mommy didn’t make up a cool “died a war hero” story. Smash cut, later! Aliens come looking to end the bloodline of Star Dad. Then, Bambi moment. Smash cut, later still! Now Starlord is all grown up, and out to prove something to the universe. Ta da!

Bendis’ script really took no swerves, chances, or risks. Given the ‘Point One’ on the cover? I’m hardly surprised. BMB is a well known king of dialogue, and for what it’s worth, our protagonist is written well. Despite his “Hal Jordan By Way Bruce Wayne” attitude, his voice does cut through some of the tropes being dragged about. The issue is predictable, but elevated enough through methodical pacing and stellar art. The fact that it’s 4 bucks though is a stretch. Maybe I’m just cranky today, but damnit, I wanted more. At the end of the day, if you’re 16? The book is golden. Any older… and you’ve read this elsewhere.

As I mentioned earlier, the artwork is top notch. Long-time collaborator Steve McNiven takes Bendis’ scripts to the stratosphere and beyond. Pun intended, and well earned. With his emotional faces, proportionate bodies (that don’t swell beyond the unimaginable), and beautifully detailed backgrounds helps carry the book from the first page to the last. Even though it reeks of “been here, done that”, the artwork on the page helps subdue the screaming crank inside me. One of the best parts of the book occurs in a two page montage, where McNiven takes a silent sequence and is able to make us believe that the spaceman truly fell for the nice Earth lady. You could practically hear the Dawson’s Creek muzak swell. But it’s a grand swell.

Suffice to say, my normal reviews clock in a bit longer… but I’m left with nothing to say. Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1 is a run-of-the-mill origin with exemplary visuals. The real meat of the series isn’t far behind (albeit the “issue 1” teaser page solicits the issue as being out on the day I picked up this Point One, so methinks it’s late already). With a major motion picture in the works, GotG is set to become the Avengers of the stars. So long as Bendis has some actual stories to tell beyond the basics? Count me in for the ride, space cowboys.