Reviews
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1: The Final Gauntlet, by David Marquez, Geoff Shaw, Donny Cates
carochacord's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
samanthaa32's review
3.0
I was so excited for this but it just felt a little lackluster. The roster had so much potential :/
hypops's review
3.0
A few of Marvel’s ongoing books are hard to divorce from their equivalents in the MCU, and none more so than Guardians of the Galaxy.
Writer-du-jour Donny Cates’s take on Guardians of the Galaxy is the most MCU-like of his many MCU-like books. Whether you see this as a good thing or a bad thing will likely have to do with how much you like the MCU. For me, I find the films enjoyable (a few more than others), but my biggest problem with the movies is that the tone and style is too consistent across multiple different properties. The same can be said for the current crop of high profile books at Marvel, and Cates (much like Bendis before him) is a master of consistency.
This is all to say that his Guardians book could just as easily be Dr. Strange or The Avengers or Captain Marvel or Thor or whatever. It’s all perfectly fine and perfectly consistent work, but there’s nothing unique in his take on the Guardians. Similarly, Geoff Shaw’s art is a master-class in legible action set-pieces. But as with Cates’s work, Shaw’s art is also too consistent and doesn’t bring any specific personality to the book.
As the Guardians have moved to the front of the Marvel roster (thanks to the films), so too has their distinct flavor and quirkiness been shaved away. This is a perfectly enjoyable book (and I’ll keep reading it), but it isn’t anything memorable or exceptional.
(Read in single issues)
Writer-du-jour Donny Cates’s take on Guardians of the Galaxy is the most MCU-like of his many MCU-like books. Whether you see this as a good thing or a bad thing will likely have to do with how much you like the MCU. For me, I find the films enjoyable (a few more than others), but my biggest problem with the movies is that the tone and style is too consistent across multiple different properties. The same can be said for the current crop of high profile books at Marvel, and Cates (much like Bendis before him) is a master of consistency.
This is all to say that his Guardians book could just as easily be Dr. Strange or The Avengers or Captain Marvel or Thor or whatever. It’s all perfectly fine and perfectly consistent work, but there’s nothing unique in his take on the Guardians. Similarly, Geoff Shaw’s art is a master-class in legible action set-pieces. But as with Cates’s work, Shaw’s art is also too consistent and doesn’t bring any specific personality to the book.
As the Guardians have moved to the front of the Marvel roster (thanks to the films), so too has their distinct flavor and quirkiness been shaved away. This is a perfectly enjoyable book (and I’ll keep reading it), but it isn’t anything memorable or exceptional.
(Read in single issues)
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