There’s so much to say about “All-New Guardians of the Galaxy” #3. Most comics can exist on their own. Not so with this one. “All-New Guardians of the Galaxy” #3 is a response to the winding road the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise has taken through our culture. It only exists because of what the Guardians were, and what they have become. Though it has its own merits, it is a comic that exists as a mission statement more than a story.
Written by Gerry DugganCover by Aaron Kuder
Illustrated by Frazer Irving
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit</b>Gamora – the most dangerous person in the galaxy and the Guardians’ resident woman of mystery – has been hiding something from her teammates. What is her secret quest, and how did it find her? Guest artist Frazer Irving joins writer Gerry Duggan to reveal the soul of Gamora’s obsession… Rated T+
So let’s address the qualities of the comic first and foremost. Gerry Duggan is an excellent Marvel writer, but he struggles to engage with Gamora, who is the focus of the issue. Duggan is used to writing fun adventure stories with a sense of humor, but his take on Gamora is rather humorless. In the final few pages when Rocket and Groot show up, you can almost hear Duggan sigh with relief.
Frazer Irving is an artist admired in many circles. His painterly style is pretty to look at, and fits the issue’s prolonged flashback well. It’s a drastic departure of the art for the regular ongoing, but the team differentiates this issue well, which does a nice job at compensating for Marvel’s constant creative team switch-ups. Unfortunately, the script moves far too quickly, and there is hardly a page with more than three panels. The issue is over in fleeting minutes.
But “All-New Guardians of the Galaxy” #3 is not supposed to be just another Gamora story. This is supposed to be the issue that re-establishes her as the prominent superhero that Marvel now thinks she is. Gamora was an obscure anti-hero until the mid 00’s Guardians of the Galaxy series, where she was a prominent supporting character, but after the release of the MCU movie, she became the only female member of the team. The comics soon followed the films, and Mantis, Phyla-Vell, Moondragon and the many other members of the Guardians vanished.
This new Gamora was humorless and ill-defined. Far from the morally gray assassin she had always been, Gamora was suddenly the ethical core of the team. This issue tries to bring her forward by looking back, but it picks and chooses the wrong details from her past to focus on. Without explaining the complicated minutia, “All-New Guardians of the Galaxy” #3 explores Gamora’s time trapped in the Soul Gem with Adam Warlock. Though she has a mission by the end of the issue, she’s still humorless, directionless, and the least interesting member of the team.
That being said, Duggan’s story is a breath of fresh air for the series. Though still restricted to the roster of the first movie, even his weakest issue of the series yet is worlds better than Bendis’ (who wrote the Guardians comics for the last few years). There is a sense of momentum, and an energy, and an interest in doing something different, that’s been absent from the Guardians adventures, which saw them fighting Thanos, crashing on Earth, and not much else. Though Duggan’s direction for Gamora doesn’t fill me with a new hope for the character, in one issue he does more with her than Bendis has done in years on the book. That’s reason enough to stay tuned.
So, “All-New Guardians of the Galaxy” #3 is the worst issue in the series so far. Even at it’s worst though, Duggan is still a solid fit for these characters. The series as a whole has a direction and momentum, but the issue fails in its mission to rehabilitate Gamora. We’ll always have Rocket and Groot I guess.
Final Verdict: 6.6 – An uncharacteristically weak issue fails to make Gamora more interesting.
