Comic Info
Comic Name: Guardians of the Galaxy (Volume 1)/Fantastic Four (Volume 1)/Thor (Volume 1)/Silver Surfer (Volume 3)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jim Valentino/Al Milgrom/Ron Marz/Tom DeFalco/Len Kaminski
Artist: Jim Valentino/Al Milgro/Ron Lim/Ron Frenz/Alex Trimpe/Herb Trimpe
# of Issues: 11
Release Date: 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy (1) #2
Reprints Guardians of the Galaxy (1) #1-7 and Annual #1, Fantastic Four (1) Annual #24, Thor (1) Annual #16, and Silver Surfer (3) Annual #4 (June 1990-July 1991). The Guardians of the Galaxy are on a quest to find Captain America’s legendary shield. Finding themselves in battle with a race called the Stark and facing a threat from a group called the Force, they will face challenges that could change them to the core. Plus, the return of Michael Korvac means a time-traveling trip for the Guardians that has the potential of ending in disaster!
Written by Jim Valentino (with additional writing by Al Milgrom, Ron Marz, Tom DeFalco, and Len Kaminski), Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino—Volume 1 is a Marvel Comics space fantasy. The collection features art from Valentino, Al Milgro, Ron Lim, Ron Frenz, Alex Trimpe, and Herb Trimpe and also contains the four annual crossover story “The Korvac Quest” from the annuals of Fantastic Four, Thor, and Silver Surfer. Issues in this collection were also collected as part of Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Omnibus and Guardians of the Galaxy: Quest for the Shield.
Guardians of the Galaxy was my comic in the early ’90s. I had a lull in collecting for a while but comics like Guardians of the Galaxy, New Warriors, and Excalibur brought me back by having characters I always liked in their own series. Rereading Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino—Volume 1 brings back fun memories of soap-opera style comic books that have the fun that I feel I’m missing from modern comics.
Guardians of the Galaxy (1) #7
The story is very, very traditional comic book. Valentino isn’t reinventing the wheel with Guardians of the Galaxy, but what he does is bring a lot of different characters together that have worked together like a family for years. Other than their run in Marvel Presents, we didn’t have much insight into the Guardians, and Valentino’s comic begins to flesh out the characters.
In addition to expanding on the Guardians of the Galaxy’s origins, the “future” allows for a ton of fun characters. We revisit immortal characters like Firelord and the Vision in this collection and see how characters like Tony Stark influenced the future through the Stark. You get descendants of current characters as well as demonstrated with Malevolence (aka the daughter of Mephisto)…Valentino continues this as well as introducing new characters to the Guardians in later issues which change the dynamics of the team.
Guardians of the Galaxy is just a fun title. I coveted each issue when it was released and stuck with the title far beyond when it began to faulter. This collection (and most of the Valentino issues) represent one of the fun little runs of a sudsy-soapy sci-fi series…Guardians Assemble! Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino—Volume 1 is followed by Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino—Volume 2.
