Guardians of the Galaxy # 1 (2020) Review

Here are my thoughts on this week’s Guardians of the Galaxy # 1 by Al Ewing and Juann Cabal.

Unlike the previous volume of Gotg with Donny Cates running the show, Al Ewing’s run on the book has a more serious tone to it. Yeah its got the whole “not a team but a family” concept running and uses the expanded roster of the team as well but this one has more heart.

Everybody in this team has gone through hell and back and we see the members actually acting like a family. Even Rocket has gone through some changes and he’s “matured” enough to not be the annoying runt of the litter. I can even appreciate that he’s wearing a suit now and he takes offense when they call him out for his suit.

Peter Quill’s not the same too as he’s also damaged and recovering. He does have Gamora who everybody seems to have forgiven for being the “Requiem” character from Infinity WarS. They have a nice conversation very similar to what Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had in Avengers: Endgame about not getting sleep over helping out.

I liked the scene where they gather this new team that Richard Rider aka Nova has assembled to take on the new threat for this volume (we’ll get to that in a minute). I like how Nova breaks down after all he’s gone thru and his reasons for not calling the Guardians of the Galaxy back after their reunion. Him sitting down and just near exhaustion is putting him through character development. It has been awhile seeing a good guy like this; just near hopeless but still braving through it.

Guardians of the Galaxy # 1’s main villains are also introduced and they are very familiar. It’s the Greek gods who have been away for awhile now. I recall them dying during that awesome Incredible Hercules run years ago and just bopping in and out of the Marvel U. This is a full-blown return and they return in the book with a huge spread, that sadly doesn’t make any impact. I swear they could have done better with the reveal.

It also seems like Ewing wants to experiment with new characters as it looks like Alternate Universe Kree Marvel Boy will be joining the Guardians as well as a surprise character from the Avengers books making his way to the GoTG.

Verdict:

I’m intrigued by the book. Not going gaga yet but its got story beats and character developments that veers away from the MCU version. They went back to the time when they were underpowered team of misfits rather than overpowered team of cosmic heroes from Cates’ run which could be a tonal shift.

4/5