The Guardians Of The Galaxy

From 1969 to 1996, they guarded the galaxy. During that time, they did it all, time travel, evil twins, epic losses and victories and high adventure. They travelled to the past, lived in the far future and kicked ass in both. They met everyone from Spider-Man to Adam Warlock, from Quasar to the Thing. They helped the Fantastic Four, worked with the Defenders and at one point joined the Avengers. Their enemies ranged from the Stark to the Badoon, from Dr Doom to Galactus and at one point, the devil himself. They were the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The great advantage they had, by not having their own title for much of their early years, was that they were passed around from creative team to creative team and were worked on by some of the best around.

They were written first by Arnold Drake, but were also written by Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway, Tom DeFalco, Michael Gallagher, Steve Gerber, Mark Gruenwald, Len Kaminski, Ralph Macchio, Ron Marx, David Michelinie, Jim Shooter and Jim Valentino.

Drawn first by the excellent Gene Colan, but he was followed by pencillers Jerry Bingham, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Howard Chaykin, Colleen Doran, Dale Eaglesham, Don Heck, Ron Lim, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, the legend that is George Perez, Mark Texeira, Herb Trimpe, Jim Valentino, Mike Vosburg and Kevin West.

There were from where I sit 5 distinct eras for the Guardians.

1969-1975: The guest star years, their first appearance, the war with the Badoon and adventures with the Defenders.

1976:-1977: The solo adventures, their post war years with strange adventures and a new member or two.

1977-1980: The second guest era, including both the Korvac Saga and and the point where the Guardians’ timeline diverged from the 616 timeline.

 

1990-1992: The Valentino years, where the team came into their own and had their own adventures in their own really entertaining title.

1992-1995: The post Valentino years, where Michael Gallagher and Kevin West blazed their own trail taking the series to it’s conclusion.

My favourite will always be the Jim Valentino era, he brought me into the series and it stills hold up. The other eras have their high points and all of them are worth having a look. In a time when the only Guardians of the Galaxy anyone remembers include a talking tree and a ill tempered raccoon, I wanted to fly the flag for the first team:

Captain Charlie-27: Last of the soldiers of Jupiter.

Martinex T’Naga: Last of the scientists of Pluto

Nicolette Gold: Young survivor of Mercury.

Yondu Udonta: Last warrior of Alpha Centauri

Aleta Ogord: Lady of Light

Starhawk: One who knows

Vance Astro: Survivor of the 20th Century.

These guys guarded the galaxy and they did it with style.

They guarded the galaxy. They entertained and inspired me, check them out, back issues or the recent reboot Guardians 3000.

Now, in case it wasn’t apparent, the Guardians of the Galaxy and all associated characters are  trademarks of Marvel Entertainment and all rights are reserved to them. No infringement is meant and this blog is simply my way of thanking Marvel for all the entertainment they have given me and so many others.

Before I go I want to say a thankyou to Al Sedano, who’s podcast about Adam Warlock, (which I mentioned in an earlier post about Podcasts, the link’ll be there) inspired me to start doing this. He deserves plenty of credit, or blame, maybe it’s blame. The person I have to thank most is my most excellent wife Rosie, without her support and encouragement, many things, including this blog, would not happen. She is my north star, when I see her, I always know where home is. Also a bit of shout out to my son Sam, for being awesome and the greater online fan/podcasting communities, keeping the flame alive for so many things we loved once and loved still.

New Warriors (Vol 1) 68

New Warriors 68 was cover dated February 1996 and was on sale December 1995, sharing the spinner racks with Askani’son #1, DC vs Marvel #1, Firebrand #1, Phoenix Resurrection: Genesis #1, Storm #1 and Vamps: Hollywood & Vein #1.

  

Future Shock 1: Just Yesterday was written by Evan Skolnick, pencilled by Patrick Zircher and inked by Andrew Pepoy and opens with someone falling through time in a very painful manner, landing in 1947. The scene then shifts to a wharehouse in New York in 1995, where the New Warriors are having a games night together playing risk. Team members Robbie (Speedball) Baldwin, Mickey (Turbo) Mushashi, Rina (Timeslip) Patel, Alex (Powerhouse) Power, Angelica (Firestar) Jones and Carlton (Hindsight) LaFroyge are joined by former members Mike Jeffries and Richie Rider, the former Turbo and Nova, also present is Laura Dunham, Richie’s girlfriend. Rounding off this group is Justice, the team leader, there in his civilian identity of Vance Astrovik (Wow, that’s a familiar name isn’t it?)  enjoying the game, which Carlton has taken very seriously.

Also in attendence is Helix, who the team have taken in, who is unable to speak a word of english and the team having no spanish speakers on it, are unable to determine his identity and as a result. he’s just been hanging out with the team. There is a blackout, then a flash of light and seven beings appear inside the Warriors’ headquarters.

They are Vance (Major Victory) Astro, Yondu Udonta, Aleta Ogord, Captain Charlie-27, Nicholette Gold, Martinex T’Naga and Simon (Hollywood) Williams, the Guardians of the Galaxy. They are looking for some kind of temporal anomaly that is in the room with them. Vance talks to younger Vance while the rest of the team start scanning and then everyone starts looking at Timeslip.

Convinced the anomaly is her, the Guardians try to take her out, then the readings change and we learn that the actual anomaly is Speedball. The Guardians attempt to take Speedball and that’s when things kick off.

There is a fight, with Helix joining in and the Warriors seem to be doing well against the Guardians. Timeslip feels she isn’t contributing enough and concentrates and in so doing, finds herself transported back in time, to before the Guardians arrived and only she has notice this.

She tries to tell them about what happened, but time seems somehow reset. The blackout and flash of light happens again and we expect this to be the arrival of the Guardians of the Galaxy. But it isn’t, it’s one of Nova and the New Warriors’ greatest threats, the Sphinx.

Notes:

The Guardians of the Galaxy:

This was the last appearance of the Guardians as we know them. Any future appearances were alternate versions, where Vance was called Major Victory before being freed from his protective suit and other minor variations.

For the first time is so many posts, this is not a Guardians centric story, they are guest characters in this book and actually act and are treated like the villains, until their appearance is retconned away and the Sphinx returns.

This was an action heavy issue and was quite enjoyable.

The New Warriors:

The New Warriors first appeared in The Mighty Thor #412 back in October 1989 and got their own title in May 1990: The original line up was Dwayne (Night Thrasher) Taylor, Angelica (Firestar) Jones, Vance (Marvel Boy) Astrovik, Robbie (Speedball) Baldwin and Namorita Prentiss, Night Thrasher left the team and Namorita was MIA at this point and the series by Fabian Nicieza was a decent enough series with some excellent early work by Mark Bagley and Darick Robertson.

The team and the title had several ups and downs with members including Avengers Rage and Darkhawk and even the original Scarlet Spider at one point. This was a fun title that I loved when it was coming out and if not for the Guardians getting to me first, this maybe would’ve been a New Warriors blog.

The Sphinx first appeared in The Man Called Nova #6 in November 1976 (Ironically, November 1976 is my first appearance too) and was an enemy to Nova and the Fantastic Four before settling as a New Warriors villain several times. His most recent appearance was in the 4th volume of Nova in 2010.

 

NEXT TIME: … We say goodbye to this era of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol 1) 62: Final Issue

 

 

Guardians of the Galaxy 62 was cover dated July 1995 and was on sale in May 1995, sharing the spinner racks with Aquaman Annual #1, Grifter #1, Nocturne #1, Operation Knightstrike #1, Sovereign Seven #1 and X-Men: Prime.

We have two stories here of about equal length and import, so we’ll start with Starhawk’s story.

Endgame was by the usual people with Michael Gallagher on words and Kevin West and Steve Montano on pictures and continues the previous story with Pathbreaker (now suddenly differently coloured) trying to prevent Starhawk’s descent to Vesper. That doesn’t go well, with Starhawk quickly dispatching this machine.

On Vesper he finds Kismet and convinces her to come with him to visit the grave of Wendell (Quasar) Vaughn. He tells her of his encounter in the White Room and how this occurred, with Eon’s help. Hearing Eon’s name enrages Kismet, who blames Eon for taking her baby away, crying that she never learned if it was a boy or a girl. Starhawk assures her that it was a boy and that the boy’s name, his name was Stakar. This joyous reunion is halted by Eon’s arrival. We are then told that this in actuality Era, son of Eon. Since they know of this, Era intends to destroy them.

 

The pair team up and are able to hold him off and Era decides to leave. Then up pops the Hawkgod who points out that Era is planning a war of cosmic beings, leading to some unltimate calamity. This was the reason for the quest, when Starhawk found Quasar and met with Kismet, the Hawkgod knew that this would flush Era out and force Kismet and Starhawk to join forces to stop Era’s plans.

Notes:

This brings to an end the story of Starhawk as he was in this title. Despite the ongoing threat that  Era poses, it is something of a happy ending. Stakar is reunited with his mother and avenging the mentor of his father after freeing himself of his obligation to the Hawkgod.

I was under the impression Eon was a male, not much of an issue, but last post did mention him as a male.

Era’s long term plans are a mystery and since this title was cancelled it remains one to this day.

I did enjoy this story, but ultimately had no real investment in the story of Starhawk.

Second Story

Time to Go was written by Michael Gallagher, with art by Sandy Floreau and opens with Charlie-27 and Nikki retrieving Yondu from his spiritual retreat.

Back on the Icarus, Vance Astro’s new black body-suit is being analysed by Aleta and a returning Martinex to learn everything about it. Vance and Martinex briefly butt heads over Martinex’s interference and surveillance, shortly before the rest of the crew return in shuttles. Martinex explains the absence of Yellowjacket and Talon while an unseen enemy plots.

Now gathered together again, Martinex shows the results of Vance’s scan, revealing the body-suit to be a sympathetic bio-armour and not a symbiotic being as was first thought. The increased power he has displayed since he got it is simply a side effect of his transfusion by Hollywood, who arrives in time to point that out.

 

Now that is resolved, Mainframe appears on one of the Icarus’ view screens and tells the team that they have the opportunity to prevent the war of the worlds. Considering this was  a huge event in history for the entire team, everyone is on ready to take on the mission, under the new leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Charlie-27.

The dawn of the 20th century and the martians are planning their attack on Earth, when they become aware of a massive temporal displacement.  Then they are shocked by the arrival of the Icarus, then amused by Charlie’s warning. So they open fire, despite the size and power of this unknown ship.

The Guardians fire back, cripple the flagship, to make their point. The martian overlord is not put off and orders the attack. While the Icarus’ weapons are being made ready, Charlie deploys Hollywood, who with over a thousand years worth of rage built up smashes into the martian fleet and just lays waste to ship after ship.

Charlie offers one more chance, is refused and fires a concentric energy tsunami which added to Hollywood’s kill total leaves 62% of the fleet destroyed and the rest of the martian fleet retreating back to their homeworld. As they head back to their own time, the hidden bad guy is revealed to be Wormhole, one of Loki’s Inhuman warriors who in revenge for their defeat of Loki’s plan in issue 43. He creates an escape portal before opening a much larger one in and around the Icarus.

Their passage is quite jarring, the ship rocked this way and that and then they crash land, not knowing where or when they are in a crippled ship on an unknown planet. And it’s there that this tale has come to an end.

Notes:

This is not the send off that the Guardians of the Galaxy deserved in some respects, but in others it makes a lot of sense. There has been an obvious link between the present day marvel universe and this one, with the War of the Worlds being an odd speed bump between the two, so this story tying up that story idea is sort of fitting.

Sandy Florea is a decent enough artist, but this was very much Kevin West’s book visually and his absence is felt.

Charlie-27 as team leader is such a good idea, with his military history and his good standing with the whole team most of the time makes him a more obvious choice than previous leaders like Martinex and Vance.

A better ending would’ve been a Guardians/War of the Worlds mini series and fleshed out the events that took place here, but that wasn’t to be and as result, this feels like a last minute rush of a series climax.

Wormhole being the villain who gets his revenge is kind of fun, considering the level of villains that this team has beaten, including this issue’s entire martian fleet.

There is a lovely little moment, where Charlie calls Nikki smouldylocks and she whispers “I love it when you call me that.” Just a lovely little moment between them,  just as the series ends.

NEXT TIME: One more hurrah as guest stars for the Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol 1) 61

Guardians of the Galaxy 61 was cover dated June 1995 and was on sale in  April 1995, sharing the spinner racks with Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising #1, Gunsmith Cats #1, Kill your Boyfriend #1, Loose Cannon #1, Mantra: Spear of Destiny #1 and X-Men: Omega

Father, why have you forsaken me? Was written by Michael Gallagher, pencilled by Kevin West and inked by Steve Montano and opens with Starhawk being consumed by the Abrogate. He awakens in a white room, surrounded by unfamiliar beings. This is the White Room, last stop for all the wearers of the Quantum Bands. There he encounters Quasar, his father.

He tells Quasar he is leaving and asks if there is anything Quasar wants said to anyone, including any offspring. Quasar, angry for this being brought up, tells Starhawk about his offspring.

In the dying days of the War of the Worlds, Quasar and his girlfriend Kismet are trying to save as many civilians as possible, but Kismet is fatigued. Quasar’s family is gone and all that is left is Kismet, who is pregnant. Quasar decides to get Kismet to safety on the planet Vesper. The Sisters of Mercy there welcome Kismet and agree to care for her in her pregnancy, but urge Quasar to rest, he too is fatigued. He disagrees and flies off, only to fall victim to the Abrogate. He didn’t make it back to Earth, which fell to the martians and as a result be blames himself for the millions of deaths that followed. He doesn’t want to know about his child as it would make it all worse.

Starhawk holds his tongue, instead decides to blast out of the White Room and escape. He does this, leaving the former Quantum Band wearers alone with the plant in the middle of the table. The plant grows and shows itself to be Eon, who points out that his own son’s agenda begins to concern him.

Now aware of his parentage and having met his father, Starhawk decides to go after Kismet his mother and bring this quest to an end. He arrives at Vesper, to learn Kismet’s fate and is confronted by a robot called Pathbreaker, who is there to prevent trespassers, by destroying them.

Notes:

This brings to an end the search for Quasar and it’s a bit of a damp squib of a story.

Kevin West’s art is not as great in some panels and it’s only the revelation that the Eon we met earlier was in fact the son of Eon that makes this issue of any real interest beyond the flashbacks.

This is the next to last issue and I’ll be honest, my interest has all but expired.

Back Up Feature:

The Me Nobody Knows was written by Michael Gallagher, with art by Michael Bair and opens in the planet Lem, where Talon of the Guardians of the Galaxy seeks his former mentor Krugarr, the Sorceror Supreme.

Talon is there to get the amulet Krugarr took from him, to solidify his position within the Guardians. Krugarr points out that by devaluing his mind and enhancing his body, he is no longer worthy to wield it’s power. Talon disagrees until he comes face to face with his older self. The more jovial and mystically minded Talon is quickly gutted by the newer model, who still can’t use the amulet.

Shown the futility of his quest, Talon humbles himself before Krugarr, who to further bring Talon back to his former self shows him the birth of his son to Rancor. The child Talogan is born on Haven II and Talon’s rage at this leads him to try and restore the spiritual balance he once had and earn what he feels is his. Krugarr contacts the Icarus to tell Vance Astro that Talon is  undertaking a grand and glorious journey and will be gone for quite some time.

Notes:

I’ll be honest I wasn’t a fan of the new and improved Talon and am glad to see both the end of his involvement in this title and the start of his journey towards redemption.

I found the art scratchy and a little inconsistent, but enjoyed it more when I saw it as a reflection of the state of mind of the characters.

Overall not a great issue, but it was nice to see something of a happy ending for Talon.

NEXT TIME: Time to go and Endgame. The Guardians of the Galaxy’s title comes to an end.