All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1

Marvel has grown increasingly fond of attaching the “All-New” prefix to relaunched comics, regardless of whether it’s actually justified. Can this latest incarnation of Guardians of the Galaxy truly be described as “All-New” when it features the same five characters who have headlined the franchise since 2012? Perhaps not, but a fresh creative team and terrific sense of style do serve to make this a worthwhile jumping-on point.
If anything, the Guardians become more movie-friendly than ever with this relaunch. Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder jettison all the Earth-based characters from the previous series and narrow the cast back down to Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon and Groot. This series gets bizarrely specific in its attempts to mirror the MCU, including Star-Lord’s obsession with his cassette tape player and Groot reverting to his baby form. In some ways, it feels like Marvel is playing it disappointingly safe with this relaunch. Coupled with the nostalgia-laden approach on X-Men Gold so far, this could be a bad sign for the upcoming Legacy relaunch.
At the same time, there are just enough twists and story flourishes in this first issue to suggest that the new creators have bigger, bolder things in mind. For example, there’s Drax’s unexpected evolution from Destroyer to devout pacifist. And Groot’s transformation has an intriguing back-story that’s only hinted at here. The hope is that this series will grow more daring and off-the-wall with time.
For now, it succeeds simply as a wacky space adventure that banks heavily on the team’s dysfunctional family dynamic. And that’s enough for the time being. It helps that Marvel picked such a fitting art team to revamp the series. The roster may be familiar, but Kuder gives each character a very distinctive look and feel. Between the character designs and their body language, you know pretty much everything you need about their current status quos without having to be told. Kuder also succeeds in showcasing the weird, epic side of Marvel’s cosmic sandbox much in the same way Mike Allred does on Silver Surfer. The alien designs are varied and fun, and there’s a terrific sense of scale to the Guardians’ big heist operation in this issue.

Source: www.ign.com

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1

Marvel has grown increasingly fond of attaching the All-New prefix to relaunched comics, regardless of whether its actually justified. Can this latest incarnation of Guardians of the Galaxy truly be described as All-New when it features the same five characters who have headlined the franchise since 2012? Perhaps not, but a fresh creative team and terrific sense of style do serve to make this a worthwhile jumping-on point. If anything, the Guardians become more movie-friendly than ever with this relaunch. Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder jettison all the Earth-based characters from the previous series and narrow the cast back down to Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon and Groot. This series gets bizarrely specific in its attempts to mirror the MCU, including Star-Lords obsession with his cassette tape player and Groot reverting to his baby form. In some ways, it feels like Marvel is playing it disappointingly safe with this relaunch. Coupled with the nostalgia-laden approach on X-Men Gold so far, this could be a bad sign for the upcoming Legacy relaunch. At the same time, there are just enough twists and story flourishes in this first issue to suggest that the new creators have bigger, bolder things in mind. For example, theres Draxs unexpected evolution from Destroyer to devout pacifist. And Groots transformation has an intriguing back-story thats only hinted at here. The hope is that this series will grow more daring and off-the-wall with time. For now, it succeeds simply as a wacky space adventure that banks heavily on the teams dysfunctional family dynamic. And thats enough for the time being. It helps that Marvel picked such a fitting art team to revamp the series. The roster may be familiar, but Kuder gives each character a very distinctive look and feel. Between the character designs and their body language, you know pretty much everything you need about their current status quos without having to be told. Kuder also succeeds in showcasing the weird, epic side of Marvels cosmic sandbox much in the same way Mike Allred does on Silver Surfer. The alien designs are varied and fun, and theres a terrific sense of scale to the Guardians big heist operation in this issue. Source: www.ign.com