[REVIEW] ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Vol. 1: Legacy

Here’s another Trade Show review from Wizard #207a (or gold…either way). This was the featured review this past month, so it’s a little lengthier.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 1:
LEGACY
MARVEL

The masters of the Marvel Cosmic Universe, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, have put together a team that’s out of this world.

Featuring fan-favorite characters from both recent Annihilation events and their other cosmic series Nova, the writing duo—with help from artist Paul Pelletier—blends the big time excitement of “Star Wars” with the hard science fiction of a good “Star Trek” episode for the perfect pitch of high-stakes intergalactic action in their new Guardians of the Galaxy.

Led by Star-Lord, the motley crew of Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Adam Warlock, Quasar and Rocket Raccoon are on a mission to keep the fragile galaxy chock-full of anomalous fissures in check, while dealing with Skrull infiltrators and the fanatical followers of the mighty Universal Church of Truth. Throw in the reappearance of some classic cosmic characters that haven’t been seen for years—such as Vance Astro and Starhawk—and the mystery about these anomalies and their connection to an ever-changing future is enough to give any Earthbound super-series a run for its money.

The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, and Abnett and Lanning deliver every bit of the gravitas such a premise deserves, while also managing to keep their team dynamic and compelling. Between Quasar and Gamora’s rivalry, Rocket Raccoon’s tender care of his injured, tree-like buddy Groot and a big twist about how the team came together, Guardians has the character-driven glue to hold this solar system-sized sci-fi epic together!

DEC 10 | $19.99

One helluva Hellboy image!

Easily the single most stunning panel I’ve seen in any comic this week, John Severin delivers an amazingly awesome shot of Hellboy in B.P.R.D.: War On Frogs #2 written by John Arcudi.

Try and tell me that isn’t breathtaking! Just try!

She-Hulk: The Coolest Chick in Comics!

So, last week’s She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision by Peter David and Mahmud A. Asrar solidified the green goddess’s position as the Coolest Chick in Comics!

First, Dan Slott’s semi-recent run with the heroine showed that She-Hulk could hold her own in the courtroom, in a brawl and in a quip-fest with villains and other heroes alike.

Then, Peter David had the jade giantess make a “Battlestar Galactica” reference in his World War Hulk prologue story with artist Gary Frank.

And this past week, ol’ Shulkie laid down a double-whammy of super coolness…

She’s upset she might be dead because that would mean she can’t use her tickets to see MY FAVORITE BAND! Awesome!

And she’s well versed in my favorite action movie franchise of all time! EVEN MORE AWESOME!

Props to PAD on those two rad references. I love when you pick up a one-shot and get great little character moments that make reading it an extremely rewarding experience!

Once more, I declare She-Hulk the Coolest Chick in Comics—and that’s it for now folks!

When Han gets hungry on Hoth…

All I can remember about this concept is that the idea popped into my head during a content planning meeting and made me laugh—hard. Just picturing Han Solo licking his tauntaun here and there as he trudged through the snow (”Damn, this tastes so good…I can’t stop!”) or him defending his love of tauntaun taste (”You’re tauntaun won’t taste good anymore by the time you reach the first marker.” “Then I’ll see you IN HELL!”)…it all just cracked me up. Anyway, the “I thought they smelled bad on the outside” bit has been done by everyone under the sun, so here’s my version!

Ohtis: it’s music!

I don’t normally transcend nerdiness on this blog, but since there’s actually a very cool tie-in here, I figured “Why not?!”

Ohtis is a little band out of Bloomington, IL and a real good listen for anyone who’s down with some poppy Folk Rock. Their most recent, self-released effort is entitled “If This Country Had A Heart, That’s Where I Was Born” (a title that really appeals to this Midwestern born-and-raised blogger) and features album art by my good buddy Seaby Bess.

Seaby, as long time Loudest Monkey readers will remember, is the man responsible for my ridiculously rad blog logo.

So ok, yeah, this post is a bit of shameless promotion for a friend (who’s now playing with Ohtis, as well) and the band (which I’ve just heard is performing at this year’s South by Southwest), but I’ve been binging on the available tracks at their MySpace music page and figured you all could use some tunes to go along with your blog reading (Also, for Ohtis bloggy goodness to accompany the tracks, head to http://ohtis.com/!).

And hey, if you like what you hear, grab the tracks over at Amazon or grab the disc at Undertow Music Collective’s site.

Ok, that’s it for now, time to get back to those comics!