Guardians of the Galaxy #3 Review
Writer: Al Ewing
Pencils: Nina Vakueva, Chris Sprouse, Belén Ortega & Juann Cabal
Inks: Nina Vakueva, Karl Story, Belén Ortega & Juann Cabal
Colours: Federico Blee
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Following on from Quill’s sacrifice at the end of the last issue Rocket has to return to the rest of the Guardians and break the bad news. Al Ewing uses an incredibly clever narrative technique, similar to TV where there is no sound as bad news is broken, only the actors reactions. Without going into any details it’s a stroke of storytelling genius, it lets the art team tell the story, and it makes an already emotional scene even more hard hitting.
The majority of this issue deals with the fallout from the last issue. We also get a chance to spend some time with Drax. He’s going through a bit of an existential crisis due to the nature of his resurrection. Is he drax? Is he Arthur Douglas? Is he both or neither? It means that Ewing has a bit of freedom with what he does with the character, while he can pay tribute to who Drax was before and the things he’s done, he also has the freedom to take his character in new directions.
It still feels very early in the series to know where Ewing is going to take these characters. Everytime a new writer takes on the Guardians of the Galaxy the line-up tends to change a little. We no longer have Star-Lord, and now there’s a rift between two separate smaller teams of Guardians. Where he’ll take them next is anyones guess but it makes for entertaining reading, and it appears there is going to be a confrontation between the two teams in the near future. One thing is for sure, it’s bound to be good fun.
Another nice touch is Ewing is bringing back some characters from Rockets past. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of their relationships though, the characters give you enough information so the reader knows enough.
This issue has series regular Juann Cabal being joined by a whole host of other artists. It makes it hard to know where to assign credit so I’m going to talk about the art in general terms rather than specifically discussing each artists work.
The art is good in this issue. There are no big space battles or combat of any kind in this issue. It focuses on the characters dealing with their grief. We can see their emotion written all over their face. And thanks to Ewing’s narrative trick early on in the story it also means that the art gets a chance to shine and tell the story. Which it does brilliantly.
The rest of the story has a number of flashbacks to previous moments in the Guardians history. Whether it’s Drax trying to figure out who this newly resurrected version of himself is, or Gamora looking back at her relationship with Quill over the years, it gives the art team a chance to show off their skills.
Federico Blee’s colours are on point as always. He manages to capture the different era’s of the Guardians in a way that makes you feel nostalgic for different times in their history.
A slower issue than the first two, we get a chance to see the Guardians dealing with their grief. An extensive art team help tell the story better than Ewings words, which is a deliberate and effective ploy on his part. I’m looking forward to seeing whose still standing in this team once the dust settles.
Pencils: Nina Vakueva, Chris Sprouse, Belén Ortega & Juann Cabal
Inks: Nina Vakueva, Karl Story, Belén Ortega & Juann Cabal
Colours: Federico Blee
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Following on from Quill’s sacrifice at the end of the last issue Rocket has to return to the rest of the Guardians and break the bad news. Al Ewing uses an incredibly clever narrative technique, similar to TV where there is no sound as bad news is broken, only the actors reactions. Without going into any details it’s a stroke of storytelling genius, it lets the art team tell the story, and it makes an already emotional scene even more hard hitting.
The majority of this issue deals with the fallout from the last issue. We also get a chance to spend some time with Drax. He’s going through a bit of an existential crisis due to the nature of his resurrection. Is he drax? Is he Arthur Douglas? Is he both or neither? It means that Ewing has a bit of freedom with what he does with the character, while he can pay tribute to who Drax was before and the things he’s done, he also has the freedom to take his character in new directions.
It still feels very early in the series to know where Ewing is going to take these characters. Everytime a new writer takes on the Guardians of the Galaxy the line-up tends to change a little. We no longer have Star-Lord, and now there’s a rift between two separate smaller teams of Guardians. Where he’ll take them next is anyones guess but it makes for entertaining reading, and it appears there is going to be a confrontation between the two teams in the near future. One thing is for sure, it’s bound to be good fun.
Another nice touch is Ewing is bringing back some characters from Rockets past. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of their relationships though, the characters give you enough information so the reader knows enough.
This issue has series regular Juann Cabal being joined by a whole host of other artists. It makes it hard to know where to assign credit so I’m going to talk about the art in general terms rather than specifically discussing each artists work.
The art is good in this issue. There are no big space battles or combat of any kind in this issue. It focuses on the characters dealing with their grief. We can see their emotion written all over their face. And thanks to Ewing’s narrative trick early on in the story it also means that the art gets a chance to shine and tell the story. Which it does brilliantly.
The rest of the story has a number of flashbacks to previous moments in the Guardians history. Whether it’s Drax trying to figure out who this newly resurrected version of himself is, or Gamora looking back at her relationship with Quill over the years, it gives the art team a chance to show off their skills.
Federico Blee’s colours are on point as always. He manages to capture the different era’s of the Guardians in a way that makes you feel nostalgic for different times in their history.
A slower issue than the first two, we get a chance to see the Guardians dealing with their grief. An extensive art team help tell the story better than Ewings words, which is a deliberate and effective ploy on his part. I’m looking forward to seeing whose still standing in this team once the dust settles.
A Look Inside
