Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Marvel's sort-of LEGION: the GUARDIANS of the GALAXY

I liked the early 90s revival but it turned right into cheese casserole when Steve Valentino left to co-found IMAGE.

One of the 70s issues haunts me to this day-- the issue where Starhawk and Aleta's children Tara, Sita & John are aged to adulthood, attack Starhawk and crumble to dust before his eyes!

I liked the characters -- Yondu, Vance Astro, Martinex, Charlie-27, etc. -- but can't remember many memorable stories, aside from the DEFENDERS arc which introduced Starhawk. I remember it being a very confusing story.

I read the early '90s revival, the first 20 or so issues. But it escapes me, now.

Quite possibly the most memorable story that featured the G o/t G took place in THE AVENGERS-- THE KORVAC SAGA.

I believe it was maaaaaaaaybe issue # 177 or so when Korvac/Michael/the Enemey and his wife killed every single member of the Avengers and the Guardians except for Thor and Moondragon. That the carnage took place in a suburban house really shook me up when I was a kid. Still one of the most memorable battle-issues I've ever read....

That full-page splash showing all the dead characters in Korvac's living room was pretty haunting....

Lash, that's one of the best Avengers saga's I've ever read. The image of Dr. Don Blake hammering away at someone's chest while all the other Avengers were dead was pretty amazing too!

That's a great saga, if for no other reason than that it had pretty much every Avenger ever in it with the Guardians at the same time! This led right into the story were Gyrich tells them all but seven have to go.

Something else else I've always wondered, but am no longer sure on: What's the connection between Vance Astro and Justice of the New Warriors?

Aren't they one in the same? Or at least in an alternate universe?

Marvel Boy/Justice is indeed suppossed to be Vance Astro, Guardian of the Galaxy.

But it was revealed that the Guardians' timeline diverged from regular-Marvel earth's in some issue of Marvel Team-up starring Spidey and the G o/t Gs.

Of course, the 90s series did its best to retcon that out by featuring decendants of -- or the actual characters of-- the X-Men, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Firelord and many many MANY more...

I'm right in the middle of doing a CAPTAIN MARVEL retrospective feature for KLORDNY, and have just re-read Arnold Drake's run of 8 issues. Here's a guy who had a great talent with both sci-fi and humor, wedged into a book with a bad premise, 3rd-rate art and hopeless Marvel-style soap-opera.

So I notice, RIGHT in the middle of his CM run, Ardnold ALSO goes and creates his OWN sci-fi feature from scratch: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. This debuted in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #18 / Jan'69, with art by Gene Colan & Mike Esposito. Gene left CM just as Arnold arrived, so this may be the only time they got the chance to work together. For whatever reason, the story was NOT followed up during Stan Lee's run as editor, although the story was reprinted years later in ASTONISHING TALES #29 in 1975.

Steve Gerber & Sal Buscema deserve the credit for reviving the GUARDIANS in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #4-5 / Jul-Aug'74, when The Thing & Captain America travel to the future when the Earth is ruled by the alien lizard race, The Badoon (who originally made their debut in SILVER SURFER #2 / Oct'68).

Steve followed up on this in THE DEFENDERS, in a 5-part story that ran from GIANT-SIZE DEFENDERS #5 and DEFENDERS #26-29 / Jul-Nov'75, with art by Don Heck, Mike Esposito & Dave Hunt, and Sal Buscema, Vince Colletta, Frank Giacoia & John Tartaglione. (GIANT #5 was plotted by Gerber, Gerry Conway, Roger Slifer, Len Wein, Chris Claremont & Scott Edelman-- must have been some weekend party!)

My favorite GUARDIANS stories were when they received their own series in MARVEL PRESENTS #3-12 / Feb'76-Aug'77 (why didn't they just start with their own title and a #1???). Gerber teamed with Al Milgrom, who between this and CAPTAIN MARVEL was making a rep for himself as Marvel's "sci-fi superhero" artist. they had a different inker every issue for awhile, with Pablo Marcos, Milgrom, Howard Chaykin & Terry Austin taking a stab at it before Bob Wiacek settled in as regular inker for 6 issues running.

MP #3 introduced "Nikki", the young flame-haired girl from Mercury, who saw nothing wrong with being attracted to a "much older" man in Vance Astro. A few years later, I SWORE the character of red-haired "Niki" in SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (played by a young Molly Ringwald) was partly inspired by her!

For reasons that have never been clear to me, Gerber left after MP #9 and Roger Stern took over, though never got to make much of a mark as the series was axed after he did only 3 episodes.

A few months later they turned up in THOR ANNUAL #6 in a story featuring Korvac, who'd earlier appeared in GIANT-SIZE DEFENDERS #3. This led into the year-long epic planned by Jim Shooter & George Perez in THE AVENGERS, which unfortunately, Perez dropped out of midway due to his then-incessant problem of taking on too many projects at once and blowing deadlines on ALL of them.

Wow, THANK you for the early G o/t G history, Pro!

I loved this series Lash!!!!!

I remember getting that issue and the Legion tabloid of Lightning Lad and Saturn GIrl's wedding on the same day.

JIM Valentino, I think you mean

And apparently, he\'s going to post th...cs.com/guardiansofthegalaxy.html]website soon.

And, interestingly, he said in the thread I linked a moment ago that:

And I read those issues recently Lash, and I have to agree - it did a treble backflip with pike over the shark after he left.

MLLASH:

Close. It was MArvel Two-in-One # 69, starring the Thing and the Gs ot G.

I was quite the FF fan back then.

ah the possiabilties of a Legion/Guardians of the Galaxy crossover.....to quote Hank Hill when he found out about about the Texans football team and harbored the thought of an all texas Superbowl between the Cowboys and the Texans: "Yes,...this must happen!"
but i must addmit that Valentino's run on th book was great. the introduction of the Stark and how they twisted and perverted Tony Stark's inventions, the introduction of the universal church, that fanatical faction that spawned the Magus who turned out to be the most powerful mutant ever. think he even brought to light what happened to a number of earth's heroes in the aftermath of their War of the Worlds when martians invaded earth and conqured it. he even reserected Simon Williams aka WonderMan and the Vision, you found out that they survived the the W.O.T.W massacare and were now known as "Hollywood" and Viz gave up his android body and merged with a Supercomputer and was now known as "Mainframe". who along with the 31st century's Phoenix formed a spin-off group called the"Galactic Guardians".
also during Valention's run the Guardians went through some changes, Vance lost his containment suit, gained Caps' sheild. Yondu found out that he wasn't the last of his kind, and they gained 2 new members; a young Skrull tenager (i forgot her name.) and Talon a feral character who you found out later was a deciple of that century's Sorcerer supreme.
after Valentino left the book i still collected it because i am a fan of the group but they weren't IMO as good and when it ended i was still scratching my head. the origin of StarHawks parents still left me confused.
but all in all if anyone out there that hasn't read the series you should check it out you just might like it.

He's started posting stuff on the rebooted Image board (although it's not reached the point of where he would have gone yet) now:

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageb...tdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

And now he's reached #50.

I loved the '90s series, and y'know...it's just about time for a revival.

J

Between the fact that it's set far in the future but has been dormant for ten+ years, and the unholy mess the last series ended with (between Gallagher's plain bad writing of the whole team and throwing them into an alternate timeline at series end), the chances of a continuation are zero. Nil. Naught. Less than none.

We kinda got this in the Spidey-Boy Team-Up issue of the DC/Marvel Amalgam 2 line. Well, merged version of the characters, in both Pre- and Post-Boot flavours. Some of the characters I remember the names of were Martinex 5, Star Charlie and Vance Cosmic. Not too familiar with the GotG so it's hard to recall anymore.
Oh - I remember some more! Living Lighting Lad and Lass! (Even though Living Lightning isn't a GotG? And Multiple Maid? It seems Kesel (was he the writer?) was all over the infinitely dividing Luorno idea way before Waid ever tried it in the Rebooted Legion. )

I was always more fond of Marvel's other sort-of Legion, The Shi'ar Imperial Guard. They were actually almost cool when Jim Lee was drew them during his "X-Men" run.

Funny, i thought Lilandra's Imperial Guard was "spun off" from the Legion, you have to take a closer look of the members to spot the parallels: Phantom Girl/Astra, Shadow Lass/Midnight, etc.

Was this Dave Cockrum's payback for being taken off artwork duties for the Legion?

You gotta wonder....

I was introduced to them in the Avengers. I believe issue #181. I'm a sucker for cosmic stuff so i wanted to learn more.

I got the 90's series and I somewhat liked it. It wasn't my favorite...sort of a guilty pleasure.

GoG are no Legon however. They need someone with a strong sci-fi background to develop this universe. Less Marvel proper connection or atlest more subtle. I would love to see Ladronn do a painted mini like he did with the Inhumans years ago. Much the like the DC/Marvel differences I believe that GoG need to be much darker than the Legion.

I believe Steve Gerber's wasn't all that cheery to begin with. Part of that Marvel 70's stuff profh0011 and I are fond of. The intellectual side of Marvel.

There was a recent GoG right? I remember the art looked cool or was that the last Starjammers mini>? geez.

Check this out, from San Diego...

http://www.comicartfans.com/Gallery...866&GSub=12698&GCat=0&UCat=0


All the way on the left, Arnold Drake & Gene Colan-- the 2 guys who CREATED the Guardians of the Galaxy! (I couldn't miss that hat...)

So, there's a NEW "Guardians of the Galaxy" series coming out. Or would these be the "original" GotG since these guys are in the present day. Anyways, here's an article:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=148414

Sounds promising enough.

If it were DnA plus an artist I don't like, I'd read the first arc in the store. On one hand, I loved DnA's (and Chris Batista's) recent arc in Superman Confidential that flashed back to Superman's first encounter with the New Gods. But on the other hand, their Legion did nothing for me, and neither have the more recent Annihilation: Conquest mini or Nova ongoing (although in the case of that last one, it's because I have no interest in a Nova solo book no matter who does it.)

But since it's Paul Pelletier, whose art I love, I'll definitely buy the first arc (he was the only reason I bought the first few of the ill-fated Black Panther/Storm issues of Fantastic Four.)

I feel the just about the same, except I also liked their first Marvel-Two-in-One appearance. I'm glad that the new series is not using those characters, because I think Steve Gerber was the only one who knew how to write them. Which is why it was a shame that he left the ongoing abruptly; it feels incomplete.

And I couldn't get into the Valentino series at all (it didn't help that Valentino hated Starhawk, my favorite Guardian.)

And with Perez gone, there went any possibility that the enormous amount of guest stars had any reason to be there or that Shooter wouldn't pull his default ending of the Avengers suffering a humiliating defeat against the excessively powerful villain, only for said villain to be defeated by a plot contrivance. And Moondragon's awful speech added insult to injury (roughly, it was "Boo hoo hoo, his heart was in the right place; we were the villains and he was the hero") Puh-leeze. :rolleyes:

I read it in my early twenties, which might be why I had the opposite reaction: eye-rolling followed by disgust followed by anger at having actually spent money on the trade.

By that reasoning, the likes of Infinite Crisis and Secret Wars are "great" stories.

Me, too. That's why I do Imperial Guard fanfics, because Marvel doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with them (Emperor Vulcan, anyone?)

IMO, they were much cooler when they appeared in Operation: Galactic Storm. I don't like Jim Lee to begin with, and it bothers me that the horrible makeover he gave Oracle has somehow stuck.

Totally agree. After reading this thread and writing this post, I miss Steve Gerber more than ever now.

To be contrary, the completely self-contained nature of the Korvac story was what appealed to me. It was an 'epic' story in that it had everyone in it, without being splashed across 24 comic titles for an entire year. In and done.

I miss tight storytelling, before everything had to be an 'event.'

So was the Celestial Madonna saga. And unlike Korvac, it had a writer who understood writing technique.

Though I usually agree with you on Avengers stuff Stealth, I do like the Korvac Saga a lot. I don't rank it higher than the Celestial Madonna Saga (perhaps my favorite era), but I do see the Korvac Saga as "good traditional super-hero fun" that incorporates a lot of characters in a way that they all stayed in character and dealth with a huge problem. Kind of like a huge, Michael Bay type flashy story that was entertaining for what it was.

I know you're not a fan of that entire era, but overall I like it as the subsequent era to Englehart's Avenger's run.

I do hate Secret Wars though

I'll be looking forward to Marvel's new Guardians of the Galaxy because I've been enjoying their Annhilation series and the use of Marvel's cosmic world. Looking forward to more Star Lord, Gamora and the rest.

They had me at Adam Warlock...

Never liked the CM saga. Mantis felt like some terribly Mary-Sue who'd been shoe-horned onto the team for that one arc, and then the story turned out to be all about her, in traditional Mary-Sue fashion. 'Let's watch the Avengers play Disciples to Mantis' Jesus storyline!'

Different strokes, and all that.

Fair enough. I don't like Michael Bay, either, but I certainly respect your opinion.

Again, I respect your opinion. My main problem with the change from Englehart to Shooter (more specifically, the Shooter who was no longer a teenage prodigy on LSH guided by a hard-assed editor who was right most of the time) is what I'd compare to a gourmet restaurant getting torn down and replaced by a McDonald's. Ideally, there would be room for both (hey, I enjoy fast food sometimes), but there are, literally and metaphorically, a lot more McDonalds than gourmet restaurants in the world, and that can be frustrating.

And I have to add that I weep when I think of what an extended Englehart/Perez run would have been like. Perez was improving by leaps and bounds JUST at the moment when Englehart quit, and Perez's art on Shooter's stories, especially the Grim Reaper one, is beyond awesome.

To stretch my metaphor, Secret Wars is third-rate fast food served with an extravagant but empty presentation.

LOL This is why I love discussing comics on this forum. Even when I disagree with someone's point, the point is always well-made and witty.

Yes, indeed. Long live Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities at Legion World.

They had me at Rocket Raccoon! I'll totally be picking this up.

"And I have to add that I weep when I think of what an extended Englehart/Perez run would have been like. Perez was improving by leaps and bounds JUST at the moment when Englehart quit"

LYNCH CONWAY! LYNCH CONWAY!!!!!


"and Perez's art on Shooter's stories, especially the Grim Reaper one, is beyond awesome."

Oh, yeah-- the Grim Reaper story always stick out in my mind as the VERY issue where I suddenly realized, "Hey! George didn't make any drawing mistakes this issue!" (What ever happened to "earn while you learn?")

Speaking of the end of the Englehart run... here's something I just sent a friend in an e-mail earlier today...


Only 2 writers have ever done Moon Dragon right, to my way of thinking-- Steve Gerber (who wrote her early appearances in DAREDEVIL-- of all places) and Jim Starlin (her creator, she was supposed to debut in IRON MAN but showed up in DD instead). Both showed a sensitivity that, apparently, EVERYONE else missed. Steve Englehart, who usually did such stellar work, set her on the path toward being arrogant & conceited. After that, other, lesser writers used that as a jumping-off point, and every appearance she made she kept getting worse! It's disgraceful, and the sort of thing that happens all too often in "corporate-owned" characters. Many years later, Starlin wrote her in a graphic novel, and for the first time in 20 years, she was written "right" again. I think some characters should ONLY be written by their creators...

Well, the first issue sure LOOKS good, although it would look even better if Pelletier were matched with a more appropriate inker.

The non-stop banter really grated with me, though. I like my space opera with more gravitas. DnA should read some back issues of Dreadstar so they can see how to get the balance just right.

I agree with you about the banter. and the debrief scenes seemed to me like a parody of those reality show backstage interviews. but maybe that's the tone they were going for.

It's possible. I haven't noticed that tone in any of their previous work that I've read, though. Maybe the editors are imposing that tone on them. After all, Marvel has recently been turning back the clock to all the bad things and none of the good things about the early 90s. There was some annoying, self-consciously goofy cosmic stuff being published back then, for sure.

I'm not familiar with the characters, but I am with DnA's work. It was a fun read for me. They managed to add a little humour while introducing the cast. I'll certainly be giving this a try.

A second reading reveal a couple good points I'd overlooked:

- This is the first time since the 90s that I've read a new story with Adam Warlock in it, and I think he's MUCH better-written here than during the 90s -- back then, he was a dour bore; and even though he's still quite serious here, he's the most likable character because of that; it also helps that he's the only character who understands the seriousness of the state of the galaxy, while the rest of the team uses flippancy as blinders to hide behind.

- The out-of-control rifts to other realities that Adam Warlock talks about is a concept that has GREAT potential, and this is the first time that a Marvel comic is exploring this since, ironically enough, the early 90s -- so I was wrong, this comic has brought back at least ONE of the good things from the early 90s.

I quite enjoyed it. I liked the different narrative structure of having the characters comment on their thoughts about joining.

I was glad to see a Groot rootling growing under Mantis' tender care. And seeing the green one herself, even with an ominous comment to keep us reading.

She's called 'menat' here. Has that word been used in sci-fi trappings other than DUNE before? Or did it precede Frank Herbert?

I really like Cosmo and the bizarre setting (HQ inside a Celestial's head?!!!). I hope they manage to introduce similar weirdnesses without veering into unrestrained jokiness.

Isn't there supposed to be some upcoming connection to the 'old' G of G? Or is that what the object in ice is all about?

Maybe this galaxy has a planet of the red-crested people that Yondu comes from? And a crystallized being like Martinex... and a flame-haired chick (Frankie Raye?)... and a density-muscled dude from a heavy gravity world...

I think Starhawk's been mentioned-- too bad that's the character from the old G of G I'm interested in the least.

One of Yondu's people (Yondu was the only non-human-derived GotG member) appeared in Annihilation: Prologue as the Nova who got most screentime out of the doomed Corps (except Rich himself, obviously).

And that's what the object (and possibly the holder) in the ice is about, ja.

Really? Thanks, Reboot. That's good to know. What was that character like?

No.

Her name is Nikki.

Frankie Raye was one of the heralds of Galactus; she used the name Nova; not anymore, obviously; she's dead, I think.

Reread what ML actually wrote, Stealth. He didn't say Nikki WAS Frankie Raye. He was looking for a bunch of present-day analogues of the GotG.

I.... can't remember. It's been something like six or nine months since I read it. The only thing I remember about her offhand was a line that went "If we survive this, I'll mate with you. For life" line at Rich for suggesting they go through the middle of the thing that killed the Corps rather than try & fail to go around. A few panels before she got her head knocked off.

My mistake. As I've shared on Mission Monitor Board, I'm in a really bad mood tonight and it's affecting how I read and how I post.

Stealth...

Thank you, Pov. You're such a sweetheart.

HQ inside a Celestial's head, eh? Hmmm... I might have to get this if it isn't sold out.

This was a good, fairly dense read. Iwasn't familiar with the characters (apart from some names), but that wasn't a problem for following the story. A good mix of different personalities. The debrief log panels worked well to identify the characters - much better than the repetitive ID tags in the Legion comic - and fill in the story.

Usually, talking animal heroes are pretty corny - but I actually liked Rocket Raccoon and the ex-communist dog Cosmo.

FINALLY got and read #1 after somehow missing it when it first came out. Totally loved it. I've been praising and enjoying the two Annhilation minis and the Nova ongoing for quite awhile so I figured I'd like this, and I certainly wasn't dissapointed.

There's a lot of characters to get to and this was an introductory issue, so I'm really excited for the book to pick up speed.

I've come to really enjoy all the characters featured, particularly Gamora, StarLord and Rocket Racoon. Mantis too, and I hope she continues to appear in her own odd way. Great to see them all continue to interact and the odd relationships and histories they all have with each other.

Really glad to see Nova show up and hopefully he continues to every so often (and vica versa). I really hope Ronan the Accuser does eventually, as I really was hoping he'd be a part of this team.

Knowhere is a great new concept and great to see it a permanent part of this series. Cosmo is fun when underplayed and I like the tension with RR.

Groot just rocks beyond all belief.

Glad to see Adam Warlock back as a major character here, and I like how DnA are playing him.

BTW, the credits should basically say "special thanks to Jim Starlin!" each issue I think.

Also, the art was nothing short of spectacular.

I thought I'd re-post this here, as it seemed appropriate...


MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #18 -- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: "Earth Shall Overcome" introduces a new series by Arnold Drake & Gene Colan. A thousand years in the future, the Solar System has been colonized by Earthmen genetically evolved to suit each planet. A Jovian, "Charlie-27", is returning from a lone outpost, when he discovers his entire planet has been overrun by The Brotherhood Of The Badoon (introduced in SILVER SURFER #2). Using a matter-transmitter to get to another planet, he meets up with Martinex, a crytalline Plutonian, and together they travel to Earth, where they meet Captain Vance Astro-- a spaceman from the 20th Century who survived a thousand-year journey in suspended animation, and Yondo, a "primitive" alien who uses "yaka" arrows that obey his command whistles. Driven by rumors of a "free colony", they escape and band together, determined to create an uprising to free the entire system from Badoon tyranny.

When I first read Arnold's CAPTAIN MARVEL issues, I found myself wishing he'd been in on the creation of that series, as it might not have been so wrong-headed from the start if he had. I forgot he actually created his own sci-fi series for Marvel. Clearly, GotG is Marvel's "answer" to DC's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES-- science-fiction crossed with a team of super-heroes. And with a typical "Marvel" slant, it's a "negative"-based, or "problem"-based series. There were a LOT of those in the 60's, from THE FUGITIVE to THE INVADERS and so on. Set up a premise, an overall "problem", and you have a big ongoing "epic". The problem with too many of these kind of series is, they often don't ever reach a conclusion to their big "epic". The problem with THIS one was, after this initial episode, it took another 5 YEARS before anyone touched it again! This probably had more to do with Drake's abrupt departure from Marvel a few months down the line. At any rate, Steve Gerber was the writer who finally picked up the ball, and eventually wrote some 13 comics with the GUARDIANS, from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE to THE DEFENDERS to their own series in MARVEL PRESENTS. The "Earth under control of aliens" plot would get reused in Marvel's KILLRAVEN / WAR OF THE WORLDS in AMAZING ADVENTURES-- and that series is still left hanging, unfinished!

Mike Esposito does a fairly nice job on the inks... but compared to some of the inking Gene Colan had been getting around this time (Jack Abel, Frank Giacoia, Joe Giella, Vince Colletta, George Klein, Bill Everett, TOM PALMER) it seems 2nd-rate.

I see Cobalt's as behind as ever, since he got #1 just in time for #2 to come out...

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">GotG #2 SPOILERS</span><span class="spoiler_text">So, Major Victory then. There's at least two weird things about this even BEFORE you consider the points the team itself picked up:
1) He introduced himself as Vance Astrovik. While technically correct, has futureVance ever introduced himself as Astrovik rather than Astro? Interactions with Justice notwithstanding.
2) The timeframe. He's got the Shield. He's in his classic containment suit (confirmed by Mantis, it seems) rather than the Venom-copy or his Cap-alike costume. But he didn't take the codename "Major Victory" UNTIL he dumped the containment suit.

This is before you consider Gallagher's clusterfrak that ended GotG v1, which included Vance giving up the Shield.

If this isn't a setup, as the team themselves suggest, this doesn't seem to be the Vance Astro we're familiar with (and there is, of course, the question about whether Starhawk's upcoming appearances were a fakeout, or if it's in addition to Vance). Skrull? There IS a Secret Invasion arc coming up...

Love RR's enthusiasm for "Guardians of the Galaxy" though, even if they're not even based in *A* galaxy </span></span>

When I bought it Tuesday the guy at the CBR said "you know the second one comes out tomorrow, right?"*. So I had to read it and rush to get my review in before it did.

*This was at Midtown Comics near Grand Central Station in Manhattan (not the one in Times Square). No one at this board works there, right? Because I had a cool conversation about DnA's Legion with a kid a little younger than me, and it'd be interesting if that young lurker ended up having a conversation with the legendary Cobalt Kid.

I enjoyed #2 quite a bit. GROOT AND THE BRANCHES was one of the suggestions for the team name! Ha-ha-ha! Guess who made came up with that one.

Lord, the tree and Rocket Raccoon make me wish DNA had brought some of this fun to their stint on the Legion. These two characters scream LSH member drive to me. RR is weirded out by Cosmo! Snicker.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text"> About Vance Astrovik-- do you think Justice, the character's 'current' time, regular MU self, will appear in this title? Or will he be avoided like Celestial dandruff? The uniform, the name he uses and his general befuddlement add up to suspicion justification. Gotta admit, it's a heck of a hook, though. </span></span>

Mantis- I read somewhere that she has a normally colored 'other-self' existing somewhere else in the galaxy (Pama?) Is this correct? Just when did she turn green? The concluding chapter of the CELESTIAL MADONNA saga, the one in a miniseries a couple of years ago, featured her as green, I believe.

When did she become an out-and-out telepath and precog? Is that a new interpretation of celestial awareness?

It is a fun read, I'm liking almost all over the characters. Gamorra doesn't excite me, but seeing sweet Phyla mixed in with her makes for a good contrast.

Peter and Adam have a good relationship, I like the Kirk/Spock aspect of it all, and it's the one I like the most.

ML, you're right about RR. He's a riot. I want to see stuff blow up just so we can see more of him.

DnA interview/unlettered preview @ Marvel's site: http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.4014.Guardians_of_the_Galaxy

She became green permanently when she reformed (long story) in the Avengers: Celestial Quest mini a few years back. She was tossing energy blasts around in that as well, and I think that's where Giffen picked that up from.

Huh. I never did finish that mini... That was Englehart's return to his earlier Avengers plotpoints, right? I remember being so disappointed in that mini I stopped reading with #3, and never bothered ordering past #5...

Whatever, DnA are handling her well here... enough to make her tolerable. Her spacey "I know what's coming but can't tell anybody" could get to be annoying if overdone... sort of a reverse-Layla from X-Factor.

Based on what I've read here, I picked up GotG 1 and 2.

Liked them. I'm onboard.

Instant favorites: Rocket Raccoon and Cosmo.

While reading, I was all, "maybe Moondragon could show/join up!" then I got to the panel with her grave. Oops. I didn't follow any of the space-themed minis that begat this series so I didn't know.

The last I saw of Gamora, Drax and Warlock was in the Infinty Watch series, and I remember absolutely nothing of that book if that tells you anything. So I feel like they're all new to me here.

The Mantis I love best will always be the Vietnamese martial artist Avenger, but this green one with all her celestial madonnaesque powers seems groovy. Hmmm... might there be TOO many green-skinned members? Nah, I guess not.

Knowhere is a lot of fun.

DnA never had this much fun on THE LEGION and I wish they would have.

#3-- whoa! Gamora! That was a heroic stand if I've ever seen one. Veddy impressive.

Starhawk has possibly the best name and 'coolest' visual of the old GOTG, but he just bores me silly. I'm not so enthused at his return. This Church of the Cosmos or whatever doesn't get my blood pressure up, either. They aren't completely beyond interest, either, though.

Not as much 'funny' this issue, which I miss- but it would have been somewhat out of place.

The Church guys are interesting to me because of their power - prayer-supported belief. I'd like to see that explored more - is that what it really is, or is that just the Church's cover story? If it's just belief fueling them, couldn't anybody conceivably access that power? (There should be an encylopaedia of wacky galactic churches in comic books.)

The genetic engineering gone wrong was a chilling idea. You've got to figure there could be quite a few experimental boo-boos to clean up in the galaxy, along with the rifts.

I had to look up the Dyson Sphere thing; DnA could have been making it up, for all I knew, but it's a pre-existing idea. Sort of a reverse Planet Hell (which wasn't DnA's Legion, but that's what first came to mind).

They've struck a good balance with the dog & racoon; more scenes could be wearing.

DnA are introducing me to these characters, and they've done a fine job. I was actually worried for Gamorra in this issue (these guys did kill Wonder Man off in the 1st issue of FORCE WORKS after all.)

And Pelletier's art is some of his best yet. It's slick and full, detailed and energetic. He's a good pairing for the DnA script.

# 3 continued to be a good read.

I *do* think Mantis was taken down a bit too easily. I feel of them all she should be the one character that is nigh-invinclible. Precog abilities + super-martial artistry (now of space) = cannot be beaten.

Cosmo still rawks. I've pretty high hopes for that Groot treebranch thing too.

Groot had some pretty hysterical (and one really awesome action) scenes in the Star-Lord mini-series. He and Rocket Racoon developed an odd sort of pairing that worked really well. This was of course done by our beloved Keith Giffen.

OhmiGAW, Giff space-rawks. He and DnA need to re-team for an arc on GotG.

Agreed! They basically rebuilt Marvel's cosmic landscape these last two years! (With some further help, notably their editor, Andy Schmidt).

Groot's awesomeness may prove to be the greatest of them all in this series!

Not much of the great and awesome Groot in #4, but there's a good bit more of Mantis. 'That one', it's revealed, subtly influenced the members of GotG to sign up telepathically. At the prompting of Starlord.

I would've preferred it if she'd done that under her own initiative, as being somewhat of a troublemaker is something that's been absent from the character since her greenifying ascension.

I hope the obvious doesn't happen; i.e. having either Cosmo or Rocket Raccoon as a Skrull (heavily hinted at, I thought). The new hereditary security woman (don't remember her name) would be my bet for Skrulliness.

They all but name Drax as a Skrull, so he probably *isn't* one. Vance Astro? Starhawk? Also, a bit obvious.

Not *quite* as enjoyable an issue as the previous three, but not bad. In fact, we get to know more about Knowhere, which is a good thing.

Still enjoying as of # 4.

The first panel of the Rocket/Cosmo fued was way cute, but by the end I was worried. I don't want either character to be a skrull.... though Cosmo's continued ommision from the roll call page might be telling.

Looks like Mantis and Star-Lord are in for an ass-whupping from Drax.

Well, finally caught up and all I can add at this point is this is now tied with DD and Cap as my favorite Marvel title.

Thus far, best DnA comic ever, and one of best in entire industry.

Will they hurry up healing Gamora?!

She's WAAAY too hot to have her walking around looking like a bald scab...

<----------also a fan of green-skinned thong wearing Lady super-assassins

#5- Don't let the cover fool you... Gamora's still healing.

Did Massdriver, Brightstorm and Impact (Cynosure's Xarthian Luminals- a team of security personnel?) remind anyone else of LSH-type characters? I could imagine them at a DNA Legion tryout... something we never saw, if I recall correctly.

A one-two punch of a pair of cliffhangers... 1) Cosmo is protecting some Skrulls. Is *Cosmo* a Skrull? Or a traitor? Are those he's protecting 'good' Skrulls? 2) Drax pushes the button that's going to kill everyone onboard Knowhere...

Preceding those 'hangers- there's some interesting character interplay between Mantis and Adam, between Gamora and Phyla and between Gamora and Peter.

Vance Astro intrigues me; Starhawk so doesn't (though she's got a great look, for all that I prefer the brighter-hued blue and gold the character once wore).

Highlight of the issue? I was tempted to pick the Groot line we couldn't read, but that prompted the reply 'not with my pants on'.

But how could I resist Cosmo telling the GOTG to 'Stay' as he exited? Ha-ha-ha!

Could someone recommend some backstory issues on these characters? I saw in #4 they referenced Nova. (I won't get #5 until next week.)

Cosmo's a great character for a security chief. Who better understands obedience than a well-trained dog? I hope he's not a Skrull, but that might explain some of the antipathy between him and Rocket Racoon.

Cosmo, before this series, only appeared in Nova #8-9 (of his current series).

Rocket originated in an 80s miniseries (recently reprinted in Annihilation Classic), and had a few bit-parts before vanishing for 15-odd years until Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord & Conquest-proper.

Star-Lord vanished for even longer - he appeared in various one-shot stories (with an origin by Steve Englehart, but mostly by Chris Claremont & Doug Moench) in the 70s Marvel magazines, and then didn't appear again until Giffen's Thanos #7-12 (there was a 1997 Starlord miniseries, but with a different character in the title role), and then subsequently in Annihilation #1-6 and much of Conquest (the Prologue, his mini and the main series).

Drax got recreated in a miniseries just before Annihilation. It was TPBed, and it was also included in the first Annihilation TPB.

Phyla's basically only appeared in Captain Marvel v4, Annhilation #2-6 and then most of Conquest (including her own mediocre mini, by Christos Gage).

Groot's a 1950s monster character Giffen was trying to bring back on and off for years, and he finally stuck in the Conquest Star-Lord mini.

Vance Astro & Starhawk are both long-time Guardians of the Galaxy characters (although how much THIS Starhawk has to do with that one is less than clear).

Adam Warlock & Gamora, I'll leave to Pov; and someone else can do Mantis ;p

Mantis, created by Steve Engelhart, first appeared in the early 70s in Avengers. Over the course of about two-dozen issues, including three Giant-Sized Avengers specials, she evolved from a martial arts mistress with a seedy past into a Celestial Madonna destined to give birth to the Celestial Messiah. Due to conflicts between Englehart and Marvel, she came and went over the years with an increasing amount of baggage, including a "death." Her last appearance before Annihilation: Conquest was, as far as I know, the 12-issue maxi-series Avengers: Celestial Quest, which was the last time Englehart wrote her. Lucky girl, DnA are guiding her destiny just fine (I think GotG has improved a lot over just a few issues.)

Thanks for the input, Stealth & Reboot. I could do without the Celestial Madonna stuff; Mantis is an interesting character now, so perhaps it's best for me to not dig into her past issues. Looks like Starhawk is following the same pattern of changing. Looks like Annihilation is the easiest route into the backstory business.

Got #5. Cosmo is one of the few talking animals in comics that has a credible and important role in a story. He still acts a lot like a dog, unlike Rocket Raccoon, who is really just a human in raccoon form.

#5 was awesome. DnA is really shining here, and Pelletier's art is A++, its dark and moody and yet maintains the beauty of his style.

I love the way DnA has each character doing something interesting in every issue. It feels like this is the perfect amount of characters for them, somewhere between 7-11 heroes. Every one of them, from Warlock to Phyla to Peter to Drax is further advancing the plot while giving us character moments too.

They also continue to be the best sci-fi writers in comics each issue. This series continues to not only be one of Marvel's best but one of the industries best.

Cosmo and Warlock had the best one-liners...

Cosmo: "Stay!"

Adam: "Bad dog."

GotG interview with DnA here: http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/printthread.php?t=45776

And preview of #6: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=1186&disp=table

New DnA interview, including some preview pages for #7 (Groot's BACK!): http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18710

I just read #s 5-6 and I can't recall any 2 new issues of any series read back to back that I've enjoyed more, except maybe Walking Dead.

DnA are going with some tried and true formulas and totally pulling them off...

Love that Cosmo wasn't a traitor, love the twist with the pacifist Skrulls, love the old "breakup after dark secret revealed" and I'm sure to enjoy the "all-new all-different" apparently coming next issue (hopefully temporarily unless they totally rawk).

LOVE all the snappy one-liners. Cosmo deserves his own series.

Completely unexpectedly, GotG has entered... my personal top-5 favorites!

Lash, trust me, wait until you see DnA do Groot. I predict he'll be the breakout star of #7-12.

Have I mentioned how much I love this book? Anyone reading this and not reading Incredible Hercules, allow me to direct you to Marvel's other FREAKING AWESOME comic book.