Rocket and Groot: The Hunt for Star-Lord (Family Comic Friday)

A couple of years ago, writer and director James Gunn was removed from completing his Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy because of some past inappropriate posts and Halloween costumes. True, he did return after the cast and crew supported him, underwent therapy and made some apologies. However, if things had gone differently, I think I would have been able to make a great argument for who could have at least replaced Gunn as script writer for Guardians Vol. 3!

Rocket and Groot: The Hunt for Star-Lord sees the rascally duo get an alert that their cocky leader has been kidnapped and held for ransom. As Rocket and Groot follow the leads for the whereabouts of the missing Peter Quill, they reunite with their other Guardian teammates who join the search. Along the way, some iconic Guardians baddies along with a surprise villain or two will learn that nothing comes between a Guardian of the Galaxy and their search for their best friend. Except maybe for a bounty offering the promise of some much needed credits.

This 2023 chapter graphic novel from Scholastic was written by veteran comic writer Amanda Deibert. The author captured the quirks and voices of every character in this book perfectly. This story really felt like a never before told segment of the Guardians of the Galaxy cinematic trilogy. If Marvel decides to make a 4th Guardians film, this is who should write the script! And with a follow up adventure seeing Rocket and Groot trapped in with a mysterious stranger in a spooky forest, due to come out in September, I've already got a book on my Halloween to-read list!

The book is illustrated by cartoonist Cam Kendall, who is more well known for his work on board games. I liked his art style. I was also fooled by it. Kendall's style looks a lot like the work Skottie Young did on his 2014-15 Rocket Raccoon miniseries. I liked that work and I loved this one. 

The Hunt for Star-Lord is a fun-filled romp similar in many ways to the mad cap antics of Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo. There's fighting and laser weapons a plenty. A few threatening use of sharp objects. And an appearance by a Marvel UK character that in its 90s era heyday was considered 10 times more violent than Wolverine or the Punisher. COMBINED! Here, the character (of whose identity I dare not spoil), is more buffoonish than deadly. But he's still a little intimidating in appearance.

I did fear that when the Guardians arrived on planet Earth in their search for Star-Lord, that things were going to get a little preachy. Groot sees a lumberjack making timber out of his brethren and rightfully becomes incensed. That was all fine. It was the addition of the eco-protesters in the scene that could have made the scene become fodder for a bad ABC Afterschool Special. But Amanda Deibert keeps things balanced with quirky humor while also presenting a positive message of not wasting our precious resources for no reason at all.

Recommended by Amazon for readers ages 6-8. However I think those up to age 12 could really get a kick out of this graphic novel. The author and illustrator did fantastic jobs! Oh boy! How I can't wait for October to get here!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy

For those of you wanting an omnibus type collection of the earliest stories of Marvel's Star- Lord, this is the book you've been asking for. If you loved Marvel's edgier magazine publications of the 1970s, you'll delight in the first half dozen or so stories. For someone like myself who prefers their heroes to be a little more pure of heart, you will probably hate the first half of this collection. This isn't the Chris Pratt Star-Lord that fans fell in love with at the cinema in the past decade.

Early 1970s Star-Lord is a massive jerk. The chip Peter Quill bears on his shoulder to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of reptilian aliens is understandable. Thinking everyone is beneath him when he grows up to join NASA is unprofessional. The way Quill becomes Star-Lord is just unforgivable for a hero.

NASA high ups pass Quill over for the chance to become Star-Lord. Unable to accept their judgement, Quill hijacks the project, seemingly killing guards and the Star-Lord candidate. He then disappears, only to come face-to-face with the mysterious being who bestows the Star- Lord powers. It is here that Quill is given a chance to enact his revenge on the aliens that killed his mother. Whether this really happened or was a fantasy granted to Quill in order to heal emotionally is a source of great debate. But where are the repercussions for Quill's assault on the NASA base? How come the authorities never seek to punish Quill for how he came about to become this elusive hero? With many knowing that Peter Quill is Star-Lord, that lack of consequences is implausible to me.

Once Star-Lord's adventures begin to appear in traditional floppies, the tales get better. Chris Claremont and John Byrne help to restructure Star-Lord as to being more of a real hero instead of an interstellar Frank Castle devoid of any humanity. Though I swear that the Carmine Infantino penciled stories uses artwork that I have seen used in issues of Star Wars! But if you ask me, Star Lord doesn't get darn near perfect until the mid-1990s.

This collection includes a 3-issue miniseries by Timothy Zahn that reboots Star-Lord with the new character of Sinjin Quarrel. From 1996, this story sees Peter Quill as having faded into the stuff of legend, having last appeared publicly a dozen years ago. Sinjin is a type of pre-cognitive judge assigned a post on a backwater planet ruled by a greedy landowner. Quarrel's psychic abilities bring him into contact with Star Lord's famed 'Ship', which has been in suspended animation since Quill's disappearance. 

Sinjin Quarrel agrees to temporarily become the new Star Lord until Peter Quill can be located. However, Sinjin Quarrel lacks the special abilities that the original Star-Lord had. So he'll have to rely on subterfuge brought about in cooperation with Ship to become the hero he was always meant to be.

Other than that 3-issue mini, Sinjin Quarrel has never made a return to print. Yet, he's the better Star Lord. His partnership with Ship was the stuff of buddy-cop legend. It reminds me of The Greatest American Hero where an average Joe is given a super-powered suit, only to lose the instruction manual. Why didn't this version take off? The artwork by Dan Lawlis was amazing. The writing was fantastic. I can't hold my breath on this version of Starlord (the updated version lost the hyphen in their name). It's been nearly 30 years since Sinjin Quarrel's first appearance and when the Marvel Wiki database lists that story as probably not even being canon, it looks like the Peter Quill version is here to stay.

If it wasn't for the inclusion of several Marvel Premiere and Marvel Spotlight issues that I need for my collection but don't want to pay the insane asking prices for as individual issues, I would be taking this book to a used book store for trade. With their inclusion however, it looks like this collection of Star-Lord stories are also here to stay

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2: Angela (Marvel NOW!)

  I've got to get my hands on the crossover event 'Infinity.' With completing volume 2 of Guardians, that will make it 4 'Infinity' tie-ins that I have read. If there's one thing I can tell you about that storyline is that I know Thanos is involved and he has his sights set on earth. Other than that, I am at a loss as to what that series really is about.

   Marvel's done a fantastic job getting just about every one of their series to tie-in together. The bullpen of the 2010s have built upon Lee and Kirby's philosophy established during the Marvel Age of Comics in the 1960s and exceeded that vision to the Nth degree. Events in this volume relate to important storylines in the various Marvel NOW! Avengers titles as well as Iron Man. I give major kudos to the editors at the House of Ideas for keeping all of these threads straight. I know I've would've made a few knots if that was all up to me.

  In this volume, the bounds of reality have continued to crack throughout the Marvel Universe. Star-Lord is plagued by a terrible vision of all his possible realities and now he seeks out his biggest enemy for answers. Meanwhile, the rest of the Guardians attempt to exercise some R & R  but when an Asgardian princess from an alternate universe that shouldn't exist attempts to kill Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the universe, it's back to business as usual. For the Guardians, that means rescuing SWORD from the clutches of Thanos' armies and eventually saving the earth from the Mad Titan himself.

    'Angela' sees the end of Iron Man's tenure with the team. But I suspect that with the appearance of the assassin of Asgard, the Guardians are going to have a new teammate albeit probably only for a short while. Having two deadly women on one team will make for some killer moments but eventually there's only going to be room for one alpha female.

   The art is dynamic and it matches the might of this action-packed volume. The array of variant covers is stunning as well. But I must say that as an EC Comics fan, I just adore the Weird Science variant covers the most.

   Now to get my hands on that Infinity book I mentioned earlier...

  Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
 

Guardians of the Galaxy (Prelude to Annihilation Week)

Finally, I saw the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not 100% sure why it's taken me this long. It's been a weird mash of financial shortfalls, injury, and surgeries that have culminated in me putting off seeing it and putting it off, and putting it off- until now. So, what changed?

  Recently at my local library, I found the Annihilation Omnibus. Having read it and granted a free PPV rental by DISH Network, I was finally inspired to check it out. More on this later. But first let's discuss the film.

  The movie begins with a young Peter Quill being abducted by aliens in 1988 after his mother dies of what is assumed to be cancer. We then jump 26-years to find an adult Quill now calling himself Star-Lord. When Quill finds a mysterious orb, he becomes the target of the Scavengers, a ragtag bunch of aliens who abducted Quill for some reason and now have a bounty for his capture, bounty hunters Rocket Raccoon and Groot, and Gamora, daughter of Thanos and associate of the crazed Ronan.

   After the group ends up in Nova Corps prison, they meet up with Drax the Destroyer whose got a blood lust against Ronan for killing his wife and child. With this fifth member, the line-up for the Guardians of the Galaxy is complete. Together they trek across the universe seeking to sell the stolen orb to the Collector. There, the Guardians learn that the orb contains another of the Infinity Gems and has the power to destroy worlds. When Ronan steals the orb, the team must race back to the Nova homeworld of Xandar to protect it and the rest of the galaxy from being destroyed by a now power-mad Ronan.
 
   With any superhero film that begins a franchise and an origin, the film starts off a little slow. It really isn't until the group finally all meet that it became an instant classic. Many consider lovable Groot, the living tree, to be the fan favorite of the film, but I really like Drax. He's very droll, but he's given some of the funniest lines. I felt like he stole the show though Groot does give the Destroyer a run for his money.

  Another element that stole this flick was its soundtrack. Peter has an old Sony Walkman that belts out some classic 70s tunes such as Blue Suede's 'Hooked on a Feeling.' It's these catchy songs that help make this cosmic odyssey seem more familiar and more like 'home.'

    One part of this film that I thought was hit or miss was the special effects. The home world of Xandar looked like Starfleet Academy's's wet dream. It was beautiful, but many of that's planet's residents looked fake. Some characters like Yondu, the Alpha-Centurian with the musical arrow, has blue skin. However, the skin looked like an FX computer tech just painted the image of actor Michael Rooker, in facial prosthetics, navy. I swear I was ready for him to move off screen quickly and his blue hue to follow him off screen. Zoe Saldana's green Gamora looked like that was her real skin tone but the pink-hued attendant to the Collector and many other characters looked like someone was playing around with the color on their computer monitor in order to get their desired effect and it just fell flat.

    There're lots of great Easter eggs in this film. The character of Yondu was a member of the original Guardians team from the year 3,000 (maybe this was his great-grandfather?) There's several minor characters in the background and zoo of the Collector (as well as a few baddies from previous Marvel Films.) Perhaps the biggest Easter Egg is that Thanos and his army are the same mystery characters from the first Avengers film. It's just another bit of evidence that though Marvel may not be following the comic books to an exact 'T' they do have an all-encompassing plan for their films and live-action series to help create a true live-action Marvel Universe.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

(Wait a minute---- Didn't I say I was going to come back to Annihilation? About that- I was able to get my hands on a copy of the Annihilation Omnibus recently. In that massive 500-page plus tome, Star-Lord, Drax, Gamora, Thanos, Ronan, Nebula, Korath, and the Nova Corps play important roles. Since they were in that book as well as this film, I broke down and finally set aside time to watch GOG. 
    So, starting tomorrow I will begin a week-long review of the series Annihilation and its many prequels and companion pieces. 
     My friends, welcome to Annihilation Week.)