Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Gerardo Sandoval
Publisher: Marvel
What were once the original Guardians of the Galaxy are now the “other” Guardians of the Galaxy. But they have their own book now. And guess what? It’s awesome.
Guardians 3000 could easily be looked on with the cynic’s eye as being a lazy attempt to pump out another Guardians book and cash in on the sky high stock last summer’s movie brought. But to do so would write off what is in actuality a hugely entertaining book, and, to my mind, the best out of the current crop of Guardians/general cosmic Marvel offerings out there. Dan Abnett was part of the team, along with Andy Lanning, that took the resurgent cosmic part of the Marvel universe after Annihilation and built it into several of the most dependably excellent books on the shelves for several years. With Guardians 3000, he’s finally back writing Marvel’s space stuff again, and is doing so with aplomb.
Unlike Bendis’ main Guardians team, whose book can sometimes be plodding, Abnett is racing along with the breakneck speed of a man who has a story to tell and is not sure how much time he’ll have to do it in. The issue begins with Major Victory, the team lead and the closest thing the book has to a protagonist, getting a well-deserved character-developing breather before the action ratchets up again. Abnett has always been able to craft an excellent action scene, as anyone whose read his Warhammer 40,000 fiction can attest to. Coupled with Gerardo Sandoval’s art, the fight scenes are punchy. While the characters can sometimes verge on cartoonish, it fits the tone and pace so well that it hardly matters.
One of the best qualities this book has is that, due to the murky status of the original Guardians in regards to continuity (Alternate timeline? Different universe? Is that basically the same thing these days?), Abnett can basically do what he feels like with impunity, both when it comes to the plot and the setting itself. Aspects of pre-existing Marvel cosmic tropes are there, ranging from the obscure (references to “The Old Hunger”) to the overt, with the current Star-Lord, inheritor of the Quill legacy, and the Last Nova both being introduced in the last couple of issues. On top of that, the main adversary this issue is the ongoing battle the Guardians are having with “The Stark”, an AI hivemind. No guesses where that originated from. You know enough about each to be able to enjoy this fresh iteration, and the feeling of narrative freedom that goes along with them is very refreshing. Also, with a plot that, as with earlier Abnett Guardians work, revolves around time and reality breaking down, even more possibilities open up. And, unlike some time travel stories, this one does not feel hackneyed or clichéd. That may change, but for now, it’s an enjoyable ride.
If you haven’t picked this up yet, and are in any way a fan of space adventures, science fiction, or hey, just fun comics, grab it.
