Guardians 3000 #4

The plot moves forward at a natural pace and another play is properly introduced. The writing is good and the characters are likeable but it overall feels like a pretty standard issue.

I will punch anybody who brings up the "explosions wouldn't be firey in space"-thing.

Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Summary: Geena Drake, Charlie-27 and Yondu, accompanied by the Star-Lord of 3014 since it's space ship they're flying in, are heading towards a rendezvous with the Old Hunger. Meanwhile Vance Astro, Martinex and Starhawk confront the A-Sentience about its ultimate purpose.

My thoughts: This is one of those things that I feel like I should be enjoying more than I am. It's not that I'm not enjoying it. It's actually really good, by far Marvel's best cosmic book out at the moment and a solid team book overall.

This issue alone gives us a good insight into Vance Astro's character, introducing him properly to readers who aren't familiar with the character. We get a brief glimpse of his past as he wakes up from getting knocked out and we then see his thoughts and reactions as he deals with the immediate situation. It's simple and effective without leaning too heavily on plodding exposition. The action that occurs during this (space battle between three trained super humans and an army of robots) is bright and colorful and natural to the narrative leading up to the interrogation of the A-Sentience before shifting to the rest of the cast.

Each scene does what it is meant to do and furthers the story along. We know a bit more about the A-Sentience and we see more evidence of how the collapsing timeline is screwing over everything. Even the dramatic introduction on the final pages furthers the plot along and it generally feels like we're going somewhere, which is always good.

I have mixed feelings about the art. On the one hand the somewhat exaggerated porpotions on the character designs feel like classic super hero art and every character has a distinct look and feel to them. Like I said, it's very colorful and I do like the little lines the heroes have in close ups, giving the impression that they've really been through lots tough situations, nice detail. But there's lots of instances where a character will open their mouth or scowl and their mouth becomes freaking gigantic and we see all their teeth and it just looks creepy and weird. On the opposite end the women, just the ladies for this one, will have really tiny little mouths when they're closed. It can become a bit weird if you see both at the same time.

Other than that there's not much that I don't like about this book. But there's also nothin that really wows me about it either. It's just a well written comic book about space super heroes from the future and I would recommend it to pretty much anyone who likes a good scifi story. No more and no less.

Grade: Solid - 3