‘All–New Guardians of the Galaxy #2’ Review

Written by Gerry Dugan | Art by Aaron Kuder | Published by Marvel Comics

All–New Guardians of the Galaxy has a lot working against it immediately. For one the ‘All New’ tagline has greatly been overused by Marvel and for that matter so have the Guardians of the Galaxy. While it is understandable they would want to cash in one on of the biggest blockbusters of all time they milked that cow a little too much with so many crossovers and solo series. Brian Michael Bendis’s run left a lot to be desire so many are automatically overlooking this series just out of spite. If you are a fan of the Guardians I implore you to pick this up because this book is better than it’s been in years.

Writer Gerry Duggan made a smart choice of breaking the narrative down to its simplest form. These two issues so far have basically been heist stories that take place in some of the most insane locals in the Marvel universe. This issue does not reach the level the first did with its spaceship shaped like Galactus, but there is still a lot of fun to be had a few key character moments.

In the issue the Guardians are attempting to steal a magic egg from The Collector’s collection. Artist Aaron Kuder continues to standout with this book as he created this vault to look like an M.C. Esher painting with stairs going in every which way. This leads to some creative uses of scale and location including a great revel of The Collector himself. Also there is an impressive spread where the Guardians are forced to face some of the inner fears.

The one big problem with this issue was the pacing of the final pages. Our main stories ends rather abruptly. What comes off as a lead in to the actual cliffhanger ends up being final page of the main arc. Instead the book shifts across the universe to an intriguing epilogue that is certainly setting up a future story. A better edit there could have lessened the confusion and allowed both sequences to feel more like cliffhangers. Instead you are left wondering if there is a page missing.

***½  3.5/5