That’s a lot of Guardians.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Nic Leon
What They Say:
The past isn’t what it used to be, as the Guardians are about to find out at great cost! Even with allies like Star-Lord and the last Nova at their side, can the Guardians meet their greatest challenge ever; not just guarding the galaxy, but saving the Universe? Time-twisting cosmic action and mind-blowing Sci-fi adventure!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With pretty much every series making its moves towards the upcoming Secret Wars events, some have been more noticeable than others. Guardians 3000 has been heavily tied since the get go in a roundabout kind of way simply because of the time collapse and repeats and the way we’ve seen some characters change form along the way. It’s not the Guardians 3000 series I had hoped for in a sense, because I just want a series of adventures rather than something focusing on a big event, but it’s been so splashy, energetic and kinetic along the way as it reconnected me with old characters I enjoy that it’s been relatively easy to just go along with it and have fun. And as things get closer and tighter, it’s proving to be even more fun.
With Geena and her group having made their approach in chaotic fashion to try and use the Old Hunger to travel back in time and see if they can fix things, the first part of this book focuses on that and it’s an absolute treat. Galactus in this form is rather talkative, but with him waking up and her name being on his lips, he’s intrigued in a way he has been in ages and that sets up a lot of important for Geena to come. The conversation between the two really doe boil down to him sending her back to 2015 so they can understand why it’s all coming to an end and why it can’t be stopped, but it’s the little turns that get me the most. Galactus talking about how he’s been through this before is pretty sharp, as is the fact that he has a way to survive this, which again paints him as completely separate from the universe in a sense, adding to his overall importance and place in the universe. But it’s Geena that has me all the more curious now as to what role she may play going forward, both in Secret Wars and beyond.
As intriguing as it is, and I could read a whole book about the two of them talking about the mysteries of the universe, the bulk of the book puts Geena and her group back in 2015, crash landing in New York City, and coming face to face with the Guardians of this era. Which has its own complications with characters, from Rocket’s personality to there being two Star-Lord’s that are similar but a thousand years apart, and having the same ship. The book avoids them going into a fight trope, but they talk of tropes and other things while getting to the point of why they came back. Considering all of their involvement in time travel to some degree before, it makes sense that it would go this way, and it goes in some very amusing ways with the dialogue for it. Some of it is a little forced, and reminds me why I don’t read the present day Guardians book as Rocket is more than I care for, but having them all realize what’s going on to some degree and then having more from the future show up just means we get a gaggle of Guardians. And that’s a hoot.
In Summary:
While I am admittedly a bit frustrated with the fact that this series serves the purpose of Secret Wars and nothing else at the moment, what it does bring to the table is a lot of fun. Having the team back in 2015 and seeing A-Sentience causing a lot of problems and setting the action component into motion at the end is basically a trope in itself, but it does leave you wondering where they may end up going in the future. Beyond that, the issue largely works because of the character interactions and the kind of surreal and absurd nature of how similar so many are, which is also part of the problem of the decades old Marvel Universe at this point. But as fun as it all is, it’s the opening pages that sold me on the larger experience as seeing Geena’s potential while talking with Galactus, and even her being called out as a potential herald, is hugely intriguing. Hopefully she has an interesting place in the universe post-Secret Wars.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 25th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
