At Comic-Con this year, Marvel Studios wrapped their stellar lineup with a sneak peek of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film. Halfway through the preview, right about the time when “Hooked on a Feeling” began blaring through Star-Lord’s walkman, it quickly became number one on my most anticipated films list. Since then, I must say my interest in the comic book series has been officially piqued. Luckily, I have a cool wife who hooked me up with “Cosmic Avengers,” a storyarc written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Steve McNiven and Sarah Pichelli.
As someone both fairly new to the series and fairly skeptical about how a sentient raccoon could possibly be cool, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It brings the rag-tag space pirate vibe of Firefly to a universe as vast and diverse as that of Star Wars, and then throws Iron Man into the mix—which is not unlike a weird dream I had a few nights ago.
“Cosmic Avengers” finds the Guardians caught in the middle of an intergalactic political agenda that has declared Earth as an untouchable planet—which makes Peter “Star-Lord” Quill immediately suspicious, as it was delivered by his father, the king of the Spartax empire.
I was a bit unsure as to how Iron Man was involved—he was just hanging out on Quill’s ship as he recounted his tragic backstory, but I guess when you’re an obscenely wealthy genius with state-of-the-art body armor, you get tired of hanging out with A-list celebrities and start seeking out space pirates.
I think that this particular ensemble along with the intergalactic setting could be disastrous in the hands of someone else, but Brian Michael Bendis has a very Whedon-esque sense of humor regarding the universe in which he is writing. Observe one of my favorite moments:
Steve McNiven’s and Sarah Pichelli’s penciling was also fitting for the sci-fi/superhero mashup that takes place across the pages. I couldn’t help but compare the armor that Star-Lord and Gamora wear to the digs that Commander Shepard and Co. from Mass Effect, which I appreciated.
All in all, this is a series that I’d like to follow more loyally—I’m keep waiting for a reboot of Rom: Space Knight, and I don’t know how else that will happen.