CREDIT: Marvel Comics
Rating: 3/5 – Wraps up the Latest Adventure a Bit Too Neatly.
by ComicSpectrum reviewer Adam Alamo.
Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) #17 wraps up the “Guardians Disassembled” story arc, the title being a play on writer Brian Michael Bendis’s well-known “Avengers Disassembled” saga. In the latter, the Avengers were torn apart by a series of events and ultimately disbanded. It was a story with huge ramifications that is considered the first in a series of significant Marvel events. However, any similarities to the Avengers saga end solely at the title. This GotG story started out promising, but I doubt it will have any huge implications moving forward.
Throughout the story arc, which sees each Guardian at the hands of a different galactic empire, there are hints of interesting characterization and plenty of action. I would have preferred each issue tackle a single character rather than the rapid back and forth between events in each issue. With such a large cast, it would have slowed things down and allowed the reader to feel connected in a way we were not allowed to by quickly moving away from each story after one or two pages. It is this same rapid succession of storylines that made this issue fall flat for me. Each Guardian is rescued or released in mere moments so that their individual experiences seem minimized and the overall story trivialized. The only carrot left dangling is a missing team member whose story will be addressed sometime after the “Original Sin” tie-in.
The art was handled by Nick Bradshaw and Michael Oeming. Bradshaw did a nice job penciling every issue of the story arc, so I’m not sure why duties were split with this issue. I love Oeming’s unique style, but it clashed too much with Bradshaw’s style and arbitrarily took over in the middle of an action scene. This added nothing and interrupted the flow of the story for me.
Unlike “Avengers Disassembled,” the conclusion to this Guardians of the Galaxy story finds the team right back together again. It wrapped up too neatly at the end, but I believe that Bendis set up the narrative in a way that he could explore the consequences of each character’s experience in future issues. I hope he takes advantage of this because I know there is more to these characters than bar fights and explosions.
Reviewed by: Adam Alamo
(adam@comicspectrum.com)
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