Guardians of the Galaxy 46 was cover dated March 1994 and was on sale January 1994, sharing the spinner racks with The Breed #1, Excalibur #75, Legends of the World’s Finest #1, Rune #1, Under a Yellow Sun #1 and X-Factor #100.
There’s a Divinity that Shapes our Ends was written by Michael Gallagher, pencilled by Kevin West and inked by Steve Montano and opens with the Arcturian Hawkgod berating the two Starhawks and telling them that they are now physically linked for humiliating him by their behaviour. The two agree to travel back in time and undo the Time Jolt’s effects.
The Hawkgod returns to Eternity and the Living Tribunal and is told that the Approver’s arrival is imminent. As this happens, the Guardians are also transported away, this time to the Beyonder’s universe to help him with the Protege, Malevolence and Mephisto after the Protege runs him off. The Guardians arrive to face Mephisto and Malevolence, Mephisto see’s both the Beyonder’s gift of a black undershirt and the preservation spell on Vance Astro and strips the spell away, causing Vance to age and wither. As this happens, the Starhawks arrive on the Badoon homeworld of Moord and disintergrate Yondu’s dagger, thus restoring the true timeline.
Vance falls in front of Charlie-27 and Charlie watches the undershirt rip through Vance’s uniform and cover his body as a new containment suit. Freed of the pain and fear, Vance stands and blasts Malevolence and her father with a surge of power that none expected, except for the Beyonder.
The Beyonder appears, gigantic in size, but is then dwarfed by the Protege. The Beyonder tells Vance that he should have listened and not brought the Protege, but will now teach the Protege a lesson in respect. Before that can happen, they are both teleported away.
The Living Tribunal berates both the Beyonder and the Protege for their behaviour and tells them that another will bear witness. Protege asks who this other is and the Beyonder tells him, “We Stand before a Celestial”
Notes: This was a pretty fast paced issue which furthers the Protege story and ends the over long Badoon time jolt story.
Having two Starhawks does give both of them something to do, sadly it’s only really bickering.
The Beyonder having the appearance he does without Secret Wars II being in continuity is still something of an issue to me, but it’s hardly the most ridiculous story element in here and it does lead to the striking visual of Vance’s suit spreading over his entire body as another containment suit. (His 4th I believe?)
Speaking of the new suit, I doubt I’m alone in the realisation that this is a Venom-like symbiote. the black and white with appropriate logo and that Vance tells Charlie it’s alive, are a very Spider-Man Alien Costume Saga sort of thing. (By the way, Hey Kids Comics, the excellent podcast by Andy Leyland and his son Michael are covering that saga this week, http://www.twotruefreaks.com)
There’s a back up feature where fan art is used by Kevin West to showcase potential looks for Talon, who will in the near future get a new look, albeit not one of those. It’s filler, but fun nonetheless.
There’s also a sub-plot linked to Hollywood’s Doom Quest, but that’s more for another issue.
The last page reveal of a Celestial is a positive. Introduced in the Eternals series in the mid 70’s (Check http://www.dcindexes.com for more precision there), the Celestials were one of the great 70’s ideas by Jack ‘The King’ Kirby and have such a strong presence in the Marvel Universe. This may be the first appearance of a Celestial in the Guardians’ timeline, but they are a welcome addition.
Next Time: It all kicks off and there’s hell to pay.
Standing Guard 