On The Rack: Guardians of the Galaxy 19

I am not usually on board with the dozens of obligatory tie-ins to any comic event, but in the case of Original Sin, Marvel has really leveraged the event’s story line to affect the rest of the universe, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are no exception. In case you haven’t been keeping up with Original Sin, all you need to know to keep up with its tie- ins is that Uatu the Watcher has been murdered and the infinite secrets that he has learned during watch have been revealed. The Guardians tie-ins link back to the team’s 2008 title that was written by Dan Abnett, and will tie up all the loose ends that were left by the series’ ending.

I’m about to spoil parts of the 2008 run, so if you haven’t read it and are planning to, skip to the next paragraph. Dan Abnett’s 2008 Guardians story arc ends with Starlord and Nova sacrificing themselves to keep Thanos trapped in the collapsing Cancerverse. After Drax fell to Thanos, and Peter Quill and Richard Rider were lost, Gamora and the rest of the Guardians escaped the Cancerverse to safety. Of course when Brian Michael Bendis began the 2013 Guardians of the Galaxy title, the question of Peter Quill’s escape from the Cancerverse weighed heavily but was never addressed until now.

Original Sin is a perfect opportunity to reveal what happened after the events of the 2008 story and how Peter Quill could possibly return. In issue 19 Gamora has Peter bound, literally, and she wants answers. So do all the Guardians fans out there. The characterization in this book is perfect. Even when she has Quill completely at her mercy, Gamora still doesn’t believe a word of his story, and why should she? He weaves a tale that is almost too ridiculous to be believed. In typical form, she plays the straight man to Quill until the inevitable moment when he has to convince her that he is in fact being truthful and he shows that he can be truly noble. The tone of his entire story is dark, and it is filled with twists. As I was drawn in, I began to felt that Gamora spoke for me in the comic. Her questions and suppositions were the same as mine and it drew me into the story even farther (I even gasped audibly on the subway!) Bendis used both Gamora and Quill’s characters to create a dialogue between story and reader and it works really effectively not only to refresh the reader’s memory of the events that happened so many years ago, but also to introduce a new adventure and new elements of the characters to new readers.

The art serves to enhance the dynamic story. With Ed McGuinness’ pencils and Jason Keith’s colours, the look of the story is mesmerizing. Because so much of the action takes place in the Cancerverse, the implausibility of the cosmic story and the kinetic feeling of the action are well conveyed by panels that are slightly off kilter. Pay extra attention to punch and blast, the panels are slanted and often overlapping. I finished the book and immediately went back to the beginning to flip through it because the shape of the layout pulled my eye through it so quickly. I also wanted to re-examine specific images. The inky depths of space are punctuated by luminescence. The colours seem to glow and create light and shadow in the panels. The overall effect of the art was to create an experience intense enough to match the story, and it is really successful.

You really don’t have to ready Original Sin to get on board with this story; you can even skip through Bendis’ Guardians (although I highly recommend starting from the beginning, especially if you’re a fan of the movie) to issue 18. This three issue tie-in stands alone and gives enough back story to be enjoyable without having to read three other story arcs to keep up. That being said, if you did keep up with Original Sin, you are reading Bendis’ Guardians, or and especially if you’re a fan of Abnett’s 2008 run, this tie-in is not to be missed!