Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Legacy

I'm having a hard time putting thoughts to words. Mostly I just want to copy and paste "awesome" over and over and read this issue again on the can. I suppose I should try doing something with a little more substance.

The issue is a slow start. The team goes to a frozen asteroid in one of these space-time fissures and are examining it, trying to figure out how to get rid of the thing as it is aggravating the fissure preventing it from closing. Before to long, they're attacked by a bunch of cross dimensional monsters. They're getting their asses handed to them before...oh man, I loved this.

Spoilers!

They're getting their asses handed to them before we're introduced to a character that I haven't seen in years. See, the cover has Captain America's shield right behind Rocket Raccoon. I thought maybe they were gonna pull another time displaced Captain America out but I had completely...COMPLETELY...forgotten that Captain America isn't the only character in the Marvel U to ever hold that shield. DUH! We do get a time displaced character, but it's not Captain America. Nope, instead we're reintroduced to Major Victory from the original 90s Guardians of the Galaxy series. Oh man, cool shit! I used to love that seriss in its early run. Yeah, in hindsight, maybe it wasn't all that, but for me this is just such a cool moment that I nearly shit a brick. With Major Victory, they quickly dispatch the aliens and high tail it back to Knowhere.

Ya know, in such a fast paced book, we really get some great moments from these characters. I'm really digging Phyla-Vell. I'm wondering if something is up with Drax. Basically I love how we have this cast of really divergent personalities. What the fuck are they doing together? Abnett and Lanning really show that this is a team that really needs to learn how to work together. The leadership of the team, Peter Quill followed by Adam Warlock and Gamora, know how to problem solve and I love how the dialogue flows when they're bouncing thoughts and ideas off each other. I love how Rocket Raccoon gets so excited over finally getting a name for the team.

One thing that I do kind of have a hard time with is the narrative. The narrative is presented as brief captions of the characters being debriefed, technically making this issue (and the last) a flashback tale. It has one problem in that it disrupts the pacing a bit. Just a bit. On the other hand, it adds immensely to the overall presentation. So many books are burdened by overly intrusive narrative that doesn't often match up with the action on the page (and has that flashbacky feel anyway). This does. This works. I can see how some people can get frustrated with it, but when you come down to it it really helps the action and motivations of, say, Phyla when she starts melting the ice on the asteroid without thinking it all the way through.

Did I mention I really like Phyla in this issue?

There's this great scene of her and Cosmo walking through the Market on Knowhere when they run into Drax. She says she wants to take a stab at making mac and cheese cause she knows Drax likes that. For Phyla, it's just such an innocent little moment. She's a character that's supposed to be having trouble finding her place in the world. She's been Captain Marvel, she's Quasar and I think she's supposed to be the bastard cloned daughter of Captain Mar-Vell. Also lezzo. On one panel she just has this looks of, "look, food, nice food, pleze be fwiend?" It was cute! Even in her Annihilation mini-series, she was only so so, but Abnett and Lanning really made her a character that's worth a shit. Drax is, as always, an asshole. Yay!

If one character I'm having trouble with it's Adam Warlock. I haven't really read anything involving him since The Infinity Gauntlet. I'm still trying to figure out where this character is right now, what his powers are and the like. But that's just me.

Two issues in and I'm in love. This issue keeps the story moving forward while taking me back. Marvel has a stellar book with an amazing creative team. Kudos all around.