Marvel Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers ( Now)

Not content with writing the best series of X-books in some time, Brian Michael Bendis also turns his hands to the Guardians of the Galaxy in this Marvel NOW! series, which predates the first GOTG film by about a year.The hints of collaboration between the MCU and the comic writers are clear. You can hear Chris Pratt delivering Star-Lord's dialogue; Rocket is a gun-obsessed semi-sadist, Groot is a hulking force of nature (who grows back a *lot* quicker than his film counterpart), Gamora is deadly. Drax comes across somewhat differently in this book to the Dave Bautista version: he seems directionless for reasons as yet unexplained, and is less linguistically literal.Still, it's the familiar crew - joined here by Iron Man in a direct continuation of volume 1 of his solo Marvel NOW! series. Stark is yet to make a huge impression, and narratively we don't see the Guardians through his eyes; this is the Peter Quill show. His father - not Ego the Living Planet in comic Marvel continuity but King J'Son of Spartax - is playing a galactic game, assembling the leaders of other cosmic empires together to set up a new rule: nobody touches Earth. All is not as it seems, however, and Spartax's rule provokes the Badoon into attacking London and the Guardians, in turn, into defending it - playing right into J'Son's hands.As with All-New/Uncanny X-Men, Bendis is writing a long game. There is a lot of exploding, but the real meat of this first volume is in the dialogue, which continues to strive for more realism than other Marvel authors (with the exception of Jonathan Hickman when he isn't weighed down by his own plots). We get an excellent Peter Quill origin section, tense and dramatic 'galactic council' sequences, and a brilliant breakout from Badoon custody. The title rockets along (sorry), and you do find yourself turning the pages faster and faster, which is a bit of an insult to Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli on art duties.This volume also collects "Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers", which consists of short vignettes re-introducing you to each main character. These are pretty by-the-numbers except for the Rocket segment, which promises some answers for him as to his own origins and which, presumably, Bendis will pick up as part of the longer run.As noted, this title began just before the Guardians really hit the big time. The "Cosmic Avengers" title doesn't really feel right - this isn't a team assembling to take on the threats that they can't handle alone, but a bunch of misfits who might just be in over their geopolitical heads. What Bendis gave you with this title is the Guardians you've since come to know and love.

I read this before the film came out and I've got to say, I loved it!!!Made me love the film even more despite the slight changes to the story.I absolutely loved each of the characters and found the story to be very entertaining. It left me wanting more which made me sign up to get the comic on subscription.I'd recommend this to all Marvel comic fans, if you aren't a massive fan, you'll at least find it entertaining.

Really disappointed with the condition I recieved the book in. The front cover is already in really poor condition and has been bent up quite badly as can be seen in the pictures in multiple places.Quite frustrating as this was going to be a gift for someone.

just couldn't put it down!Illustration is beautiful, with the action almost jumping out of the pages. The colours used created an incredible atmosphere.Stories within the book are well written, a few spelling / grammatical errors which were disappointing for a published book but they didn't cause too much annoyance!Overall a very enjoyable read, looking forward to the next one arriving soon :)

yeah god damn right he murdered you, Rocket is magnificent and the addition of Tony to the team is great he fits perfectly into them.this book is great the writing is great the art is great and a real top quality book.