Guardians of the Galaxy 2: War of Kings—Book 1

Comic Info

Guardians of the Galaxy (2) #10

Reprints Guardians of the Galaxy (2) #7-12 (January 2009-May 2009).  The Guardians of the Galaxy have broken up after learning that Star-Lord had Mantis manipulate the team to stay together.  Now they are all on separate missions as more war is breaking out in the Galaxy.  As Mantis, Groot, Bug, Major Victory, and Rocket Raccoon battle the Badoon, Warlock and Gamora go to the Universal Church of Truth on a mission.  Drax and Phyla search for Cammi, but learn there is a chance that Moondragon could be alive.  Star-Lord discovers himself in a middle of an uprising in the Negative Zone and battling Blastaar with Jack Flag…plus the opportunity to save the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning step into the War of Kings (which they also write) with the first of two books that tie the Guardians of the Galaxy into the saga and is a follow-up to Guardians of the Galaxy 1:  Legacy.  Back up by the art of Paul Pelletier, Brad Walker, Carlos Magno, and Wes Craig, Abnett and Lanning’s story works as a stand-alone but also add to the War of Kings limited series.  The issues in this volume have also been collected in Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning—Volume 1.

It is the ability to write comics that can stand alone or add to the series that put Abnett and Lanning above writers like Brian Michael Bendis whose massive crossovers force readers to read all the comics or none of them make sense individually.  It is a marketing ploy, but with so many comics on the market and high prices, it becomes difficult for readers to read all the stories so it is nice to get a comic that can be followed issue to issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2) #12

I find the Guardians of Galaxy to just be a really enjoyable team with a lot of fun characters (possibly too many).  Despite having a lot of characters, Abnett and Lanning do a nice job balancing the characters.  In this book, Jack Flag and Micronauts’ favorite Bug are added to the team.  Both are good adds to the team…Bug is fun and Flag is a skeptic of all things cosmic.  This series mostly breaks down into the battle for the Negative Zone and Drax and Quasar’s quest to save Moondragon.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2:  The War of Kings—Book 1 is a nice follow up to the first Guardians of the Galaxy book Legacy.  The comic book series is still solid, both with great art and great storytelling.  A lot of people might have overlooked the Guardians of the Galaxy as just a simple space epic, but the series should be given a chance.  What other series could they work a talking dog, bug, raccoon, and tree into a series that makes sense?  Guardians of the Galaxy 2:  War of Kings—Book 1 is followed by Guardians of the Galaxy 3:  War of Kings—Book 2.

Related Links:

Guardians of the Galaxy 1:  Legacy 

Guardians of the Galaxy 3:  War of Kings—Book 2

Guardians of the Galaxy 4:  Realm of Kings

Guardians of the Galaxy 1:  Cosmic Avengers

Guardians of the Galaxy 2:  Angela

War of Kings