Guardians of the Galaxy #14-still my fave comic on the market

I purchased Guardians of the Galaxy #1 on a whim last year on Free Comic Book Day.  If I’m getting all of these free comics, I might as well try a couple new comics just to see how they are I thought.  That was a great move because Guardians of the Galaxy has been the best comic that I’ve been reading this past year.  Issue #14 just came out, it’s a great issue and an excellent jumping off point for folks wondering what all the fuss is about.

The film Guardians of the Galaxy comes out at the end of the summer.  The comic is awesome, the trailer for the movie is very good, intriguing and is going to be tied to the much bigger Avengers storyline.  Some people might be skeptical because of Green Lantern, he was  the most recent superhero that came from space who didn’t have great name recognition.  That movie and character bell flopped, A. the movie was horrible and B. the comic didn’t capitalize on the momentum.  It’s doubtful that will happen to Guardians for several reasons.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are weird and different.  They’re certainly superheros, but they’re physically different, some aren’t even human and they each have distinct stories, powers and are entirely relatable.

In issue 14 the Guardians are still on the run from various forces in space.  Peter Quill is on the run from his father.   Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy is being hunted by a bounty hunter.  And Drax the Destroyer is about to be taken prisoner by some aliens in a very large ship.

The team is in shambles.  Normally they’re together, but this issue has more than half of the team captured, leaving Rocket Racoon and Groot on a badly damaged ship.  Venom is on loan to the team and traveling with Drax when he’s taken prisoner leaving our black symbiote alone on an alien world.  The first story ends with Captain Marvel flying down to possibly break Star Lord out of prison.

There’s more action than usual and the story moves at a brisk, fun pace.  Even if you know nothing about the Guardians story the fact that they’re separated now, with some in prison-and Venom and Captain Marvel joining in gives readers a perfect opportunity to get in during  chapter break as it were.

This is the 101rst appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy in comic books.  Because of that the issue is double sized, with one of the other stories being as great as the main one.   Groot is a big tree, protector thing.  He just says “I Am Groot”, that’s it.

Groot’s Tale is about his homeworld and how he came to be on his own.  How can a population that only says three words evoke any emotional depth in a story?   It’s the art and writing.  Groot is happy and peaceful, but some other Groots take it upon themselves to pick on a much smaller raccoon.

Groot protects the raccoon and in the process breaks some of the other Groots into splinters.  The elder Groots step in and the next thing we know Groot is on a transport ship off of the planet.  It’s a short story that has more emotion than many full length comic book stories.

It may be odd for some readers to jump into a book when it’s not the first issue.    Grrrr….it shouldn’t be, newsflash, the first issue of any comic nowadays won’t be worth thousands of dollars in the future.  Come, enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy for what it is, one of the best comic books on the market today.

Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t an all-ages comic per se, but there’s nothing too objectionable either.  There is lots of fighting and action, which may be too much for younger readers.  Gamora has some implied sexual tension around her and Star Lord, that plus she hooked up with Tony Stark early in the series…Guardians is a great series for ages 12 and up, maybe even younger if mom or dad help read it with them.