Written by Robert Kirkman & Benito Cereno
Illustrated by Ransom GettyAs the VILTRUMITE WAR rages on within the pages of INVINCIBLE, the Guardians of the Globe are the last line of defense on Earth. KNOCKOUT! KID THOR! EL BRUISER! JAPANDROID! BEST TIGER! PEGASUS! CAST IRON! The Guardians ranks are swelling, but will it be enough? The Order is finally making their move; the fate of the entire globe rests in the balance.
After the lengthy delay between issue 2 and 3, I was surprised to see #4 in my buy pile so soon. As this first outing for the Guardians of the Globe inches further toward its conclusion, does it live up to the incredibly high standard of the books that preceded it in the Kirkmanverse? Click below and find out!
After three issues of building for both the Guardians and the villainous Order, the newly assembled GotG team finally received its public unveiling in the early pages of this issue, including two very familiar faces making their way over from the dearly departed Capes series: Knockout and Kid Thor! Now, I loved Capes, and seeing these two finally get their due was pretty awesome right from the get go. Although, I was a little let down to not see The Astounding Wolf-Man amongst their ranks following his all too brief appearance last issue. Following this was one final character introduction of China’s Punisher-esque Best Tiger before the Order finally ambushes the Guardians at their bases around the world.
Now, Kirkman has made a sort of a name for himself by his ultra quick but ultra important storytelling moments. An attack that took three and a half issues to formulate was over and done with in more or less three and a half pages. However, not one to waste a valid storytelling opportunity, amidst the ensuing chaos we witness first hand the disastrous effect El Chupacabra’s drinking has on the team and his place on it. We’re also given some very telling hints about some unknown parts of the character’s history that, I assume, will be revealed over the next few issues.
Following another battle, the seeds of which were planted wayyyy back in Invincible #7, and a rather abrupt death, Cecil and Donald start to realize the weight of the threat placed in front of them. While I know that by the end of the 6th issue, the Order will lie in pieces at the feet of the Guardians (and hopefully a returned Robot and Monster Girl as well), they are certainly being built to be quite a threat at this point.
On the art side, like many artists Kirkman works with, Getty’s work is showing severe improvement as the series progresses. Whereas his work at the beginning of this mini was a little scratchy, undefined in some places and hard to follow in others, this issue shows a marked improvement on what came before. His pencils are crisp, his characters are descriptive and his facial expressions are near perfection (don’t believe me? Check out Yeti’s glee or El Chupacabra’s despair.) Given a few more issues, I bet we’ll see Getty operate at the level of Ryan Ottley and Jason Howard…if not higher.
Overall, while this book was meant to be a “fill in the blanks” book for the Earth’s heroes during the Viltrumite War over in Invincible, its most certainly developed a personality of its own and one could only hope Kirkman can find the time to pen some more adventures for this team in more than a guest roll in Invincible once this story wraps up.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
