Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
03-24-14, 04:25 PM
#1
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Home of 2013 NFL champion Seahawks
Posts: 52,611
Received 1,015 Likes
on
839 Posts
Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
So apparently my extensive knowledge of the Bronze Age Guardians of the Galaxy that I gleaned from The Defenders and Marvel Two-in-One won't help me understand the Guardians movie. Should I assume that this tie-in volume scheduled for August 2014 would be a good place to start?
I notice there's also a Star-Lord compilation coming out in July. I was a fan of his appearance in Marvel Preview so I'll probably get this.
I just waded through the film speculation thread and will quote the relevant posts here to keep things together.
Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning: The Complete Collection Volume 1
With the fabric of the universe torn, all that stands between us and invading horrors is a team of cosmic misfits. Led by Star-Lord, the newly-minted Guardians of the Galaxy include a who's who of the mightiest -and most bizarre - protectors the stars have ever seen! Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Gamora, Adam Warlock, Mantis, the all-new Quasar, Cosmo the telepathic space dog and more take on the universe's most dangerous menaces...and have fun while doing it!
With the fabric of the universe torn, all that stands between us and invading horrors is a team of cosmic misfits. Led by Star-Lord, the newly-minted Guardians of the Galaxy include a who's who of the mightiest -and most bizarre - protectors the stars have ever seen! Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Gamora, Adam Warlock, Mantis, the all-new Quasar, Cosmo the telepathic space dog and more take on the universe's most dangerous menaces...and have fun while doing it!
I just waded through the film speculation thread and will quote the relevant posts here to keep things together.
Pretty much just Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 from 2008. To get their essence, so to speak.
To get the "backstory" on what led up to their coming together is Marvel's Annilihation: Conquest. The sequel to Annihilation. Conquest featured the GotG members. So I guess that matters too. And to get an understanding of Conquest, I guess that story matters too.
I'd just say GotG from 2008 though.
Don't read the current GotG to "get" them. The Avengers film changed marvel Comics for the worst.
To get the "backstory" on what led up to their coming together is Marvel's Annilihation: Conquest. The sequel to Annihilation. Conquest featured the GotG members. So I guess that matters too. And to get an understanding of Conquest, I guess that story matters too.
I'd just say GotG from 2008 though.
Don't read the current GotG to "get" them. The Avengers film changed marvel Comics for the worst.
Considering comic sales are in the toilet, showing off the characters in movies is probably the best chance they have to get new readers. New readers= more chance the comic has to keep being published. So Marvel/DC will make the comics more resemble the movie aspects so their new audience will likely stay with it.
Except they do a really poor job making a decent entry point for anyone who sees the movies and even has a desire to get into the comics. Though apparently the movie is at least fasttracking a big collection of the Annihilation series that the current GoG incarnation came out of, so there's that.
I would suggest the Annihilation omnibus that comes out in May, which is the precursor to the book linked above and reintroduced Star Lord, this incarnation of Drax, etc to the stage. Unfortunately you don't meet Rocket and Groot until the follow up series, Annihilation: Conquest.
03-24-14, 04:43 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
That volume is really the first time the current team formed, so it's probably a good place to start. Each character has deeper roots into the Marvel Universe (even Groot draws back to a 1960's Tales to Astonish tale), and as you already know, so does the team name (and they actually reference that in the series, as well as callbacks to Starlin's classic Warlock stuff). I still say the Annihilation stuff is good enough that it's really worth reading (as is the Starlin Warlock stuff, even if Warlock isn't in the movie), but a quick and easy intro to the team is probably the volume you mentioned.
03-24-14, 05:13 PM
#4
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Home of 2013 NFL champion Seahawks
Posts: 52,611
Received 1,015 Likes
on
839 Posts
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
I just started the recent Starlin TPB, some of which will probably be a revisit for me and some will probably be new. And is Mantis still the Vietnamese Avengers character, or someone new? Obviously I have no concept of this new team other than what I've read about the gun-toting raccoon. 
03-24-14, 06:56 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
Mantis is the same one from Avengers. The actual lineup of the Guardians is pretty eclectic. Obviously there's Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Star Lord is a character Steve Englehart created in the 70's, but most famously depicted shortly thereafter by a pre-Uncanny Claremont/Byrne/Austin team. Warlock and Gamora are from Starlin's Warlock run (though Warlock debuted much earlier). Phylla Vell is Captain Mar-vell's daughter. Moondragon is from Avengers. Drax was another Starlin creation, though drastically changed by Annihilation. Bug is from Micronauts. And there is a member or two from the classic, "future" Guardians of the Galaxy as well.
It was basically, take all these minor characters so they could do whatever they want with them deep in space, unencumbered by the big Marvel crossovers back on Earth, and then go crazy.
It was basically, take all these minor characters so they could do whatever they want with them deep in space, unencumbered by the big Marvel crossovers back on Earth, and then go crazy.
03-25-14, 01:04 PM
#7
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
The problem is that while the first Annihilation Omnibus is scheduled, I'm not sure when Conquest is coming out, and that's the one that really formed the team (though as I said before, both are worth reading, and the first one re-introduces Star Lord, Drax, and I think Gamora).
03-25-14, 02:31 PM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cleveland
Posts: 823
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
I did not read either Annihilation event, but I did buy hardcover collections of the Abnett & Lanning GOTG series. I enjoyed it, but it was rough to get through the middle of the series due to the distraction caused by the "War of Kings" crossover. Once that ends, you get into a fun time travel storyline that mixes in the classic (yet not quite what we remember) Guardians. The series ends as it leads into the "Thanos Imperative," which I would also highly recommend.
03-25-14, 05:17 PM
#9
Banned by request
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
Annihilation or the sequel, Annihilation Conquest?
The problem is that while the first Annihilation Omnibus is scheduled, I'm not sure when Conquest is coming out, and that's the one that really formed the team (though as I said before, both are worth reading, and the first one re-introduces Star Lord, Drax, and I think Gamora).
The problem is that while the first Annihilation Omnibus is scheduled, I'm not sure when Conquest is coming out, and that's the one that really formed the team (though as I said before, both are worth reading, and the first one re-introduces Star Lord, Drax, and I think Gamora).
03-26-14, 01:35 PM
#11
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Guardians of the Galaxy recommendations?
It's comics, of course they're expensive...
The Annihilation Omnibus is about 100 on Amazon, but it's very thick. The Guardians complete vol. 1 referenced in the first post is ~25 bucks. If you wait until they're released, you can probably get them cheaper at instocktrades.com.
There's also a primer that Marvel just solicited called Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude which is significantly cheaper (retails for 15) and should give a good intro.:
http://www.amazon.com/Marvels-Guardi...galaxy+prelude
The Annihilation Omnibus is about 100 on Amazon, but it's very thick. The Guardians complete vol. 1 referenced in the first post is ~25 bucks. If you wait until they're released, you can probably get them cheaper at instocktrades.com.
There's also a primer that Marvel just solicited called Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude which is significantly cheaper (retails for 15) and should give a good intro.:
http://www.amazon.com/Marvels-Guardi...galaxy+prelude
