With the release of a major Marvel movie based on the Guardians of the Galaxy, mainstream audiences and even some comics fans had just one question on their lips: “Who?”
A team called the Guardians of the Galaxy was first introduced back in 1969, billed as “Tomorrow’s Avengers” and hailing from the 31st century. They went on to receive their own series in the 1990s, before fading from the limelight somewhat. However, when we talk about the modern Guardians of the Galaxy, we’re examining a very different (and arguably far superior) beast. The characters glimpsed in the trailer and forthcoming film were introduced (as a team) in the early part of the 21st century. Here are a few of their adventures to get you going.
Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord (2007)
This is where it all began for the modern version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The 2006 Annihilation saga (see below) had brought together the disparate threads of Marvel’s cosmic universe, bringing characters like Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Nova, Silver Surfer, Super Skrull and Ronan the Accuser back to the central consciousness of Marvel readers. It has also given Peter Quill/Star-Lord a new lease on life. Reintroduced in the Thanos maxi-series (2004), he eschews the title of Star-Lord and as Peter Quill, and was instrumental in the war against villain Annihilus. Annihilation: Conquest, overseen by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, is a direct sequel to the event, with the techno Phalanx taking advantage of a war-ravaged Kree Empire.
In Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord, written by Keith Giffen with art from Timothy Green II, Peter Quill is once again the Star-Lord, although he is reluctant to embrace that legacy. Without using any technology, Quill must pull together his ragtag team of Bug, Captain Universe, Deathcry, Mantis, Groot and Rocket Raccoon to go on a suicide mission. The Dirty Dozen style plot set the tone for the Abnett/Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy series that would follow the next year. While the subsequently mono-phrased Groot may incongruously be carrying on conversations in this series, all the other elements are there. The laconic Quill, a far cry from his 1970s sci-fi spandex and silly mask, ostensibly led the team, but worked both with and against the personalities in the unit. Rocket was no longer a one-note character based on a Beatles song, Captain Universe was downright intimidating and you could rightfully fall in love with Mantis. It proved to readers and the publisher alike that a handful of B and C-list character in the right hands could be A-list material.
At the time of writing, there’s not really a handy trade that contains this that we can recommend. It was released in the Annihilation: Conquest – Volume 1 trade a few years back, but this is effectively out of print. You might still be able to pick it up at a reasonable price in various resellers. However, Marvel also reprinted this as a far less robust ‘single’ saddle-stiched issue, somewhere between a floppy format and a trade, in 2014 as Star-Lord: Annihilation – Conquest #1. This one should be fairly regularly available at most comic shops and online retailers.
We cover this in more detail on the podcast in Behind the Panels Issue 90.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 – 2010)
This is the essential Guardians of the Galaxy run. Immediately launching out of the events of Annihilation: Conquest, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (“DnA” to the fans) took the name of the team first created in 1969 and did something entirely unexpected with it. They made it fun. With an initial roster of Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Quasar, Adam Warlock, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and Groot, the Star-Lord decides to be more pro-active in protecting the cosmos against intergalactic threats. Following the advice of Nova Corp member Richard Rider, they set up shop in the giant floating space head called Knowhere, a place that has a highly intelligent Russian dog named Cosmo as its head of security. Are you sensing the tone of this book yet?
Fighting the likes of the Universal Church of Truth and Thanos himself, DnA managed to establish the mostly unknown group of characters as the backbone of the Marvel cinematic universe. More than that, they built upon the work of Jim Starlin and Keith Giffen in expanding that universe, one distinct and wholly independent from the comparatively ‘petty’ issues of the Civil War raging in the rest of the Marvel world. Yet across arcs like “War of Kings” and ultimately “The Thanos Imperative”, along with sister title Nova (also written by DnA), the duo made a parallel story that was just as much a part of the lifeblood of the Marvel universe as anything else happening at the time. Fun, irreverent and epic in every sense of the word – and it’s only 25 issues.
Marvel is wisely beginning to reprint this series from August 2014 as Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning: The Complete Collection Volume 1, with a second volume following in December. The “Realm of Kings” and “War of Kings” spin-off series are available as separate trades and hardcovers.
We cover this run in more detail on the podcast way back in Behind the Panels Issue 41.
Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy #24 (2010)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013 – )
If you want to know what the gang are up to right now, look no further than Marvel’s current Guardians of the Galaxy series. Following the end of the previous run, fans patiently waited several years to find out the fate of Star-Lord, Richard Rider and the villain Thanos. Teasing their return in the pages of Avengers Assemble, and with the announcement of the forthcoming film, Marvel put the relaunch of what is now a flagship title in the hands of superstar writer Brian Michael Bendis.
Fans of the DnA run had a shaky start with this series. Tonally different, it initially lacked the irreverent sense of humour of the previous incarnation, but soon it became evident that Bendis was playing a much longer game. Slowly hinting at the time in between series, this series keeps up the momentum with part-time member Iron Man, crossovers to Bendis’ own All-New X-Men (“The Trial of Jean Grey“) and perhaps the most controversial inclusion of them all, Neil Gaiman’s Angela, a character that was previously seen in another publisher’s books!
Re-crafting some of the origins, the series has to date seen the team serving as both guardians of the Earth and the rest of the galaxy, mostly embroiled in plots initiated or manipulated by Peter Quill’s father, J’Son the Emperor of the intergalactic Spartoi Empire. The “elevator pitch” for the series is perhaps best summed up in the title of the first hardcover/trade collection available, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers.
See also: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2: Angela and Guardians of the Galaxy/All-New X-Men: The Trial of Jean Grey.
Advanced Reading
Annihilation (2006)
For purists, we actually recommend starting here. Chronologically speaking, it comes before the first title on our list, but the massive Annihilation is no small undertaking. Bringing together the many elements of the Marvel cosmic universe for the first time in decades, it’s structured around Nova Corps member Richard Rider and the galaxy’s battle against the invading Annihilus, lord of the Negative Zone.
Across a half-dozen mini-series, several specials and a core series that ties it all together, Annihilation is the Star Wars saga of the Marvel world. (Fun fact: in one issue, the observation deck of Annihilus’ ship is the same as Emperor Palpatine’s on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi). Yet here the players are even more damaged, and unlikely heroes are found in Drax, the Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser and even the Super Skrull. Yet it’s also here that Nova really emerges as a distinct entity. Many may successfully argue that the Nova Corp have always been the poor cousins of DC’s Green Lanterns, but Richard Rider emerges every bit as strong as his counterpart in Hal Jordan.
As luck would have it, it’s also just been made available as a giant Annihilation: Omnibus edition from Marvel, clocking in at a whopping 880 pages. A sufficiently weighty tome for such an important story in the Marvel cosmic universe. It may be considered “advanced” reading for the purposes of a Guardians primer (especially given that the Guardians haven’t formed by this stage), but it is essential if you want to get the bigger picture on how this whole cosmic universe thing can fit together.
Nova (2007 – 2010)
Just as Guardians of the Galaxy formed out of Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord, the fourth volume of Nova came from (you guessed it) Abnett and Lanning’s Annihilation: Nova. As with Guardians of the Galaxy, they took an existing character and injected it with new life.
Richard Rider is now the sole keeper of the the entire Nova Corps power source, and has their entire body of knowledge (in the form of the sentient Xandarian Worldmind) rattling around inside his head. Running as a parallel sister title to DnA’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova managed to bring the cosmic universe a little closer to home. Witness Rider telling off Earth’s heroes for not responding to his call because of the events of Civil War: “Quasar died in front of my eyes. Even Thanos was killed. And you heard something… vague?”
Once you start in on Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll also realise that there are several crossover issues and events that run in with Nova. Indeed, once you get into the advanced reading world, Civil War is another one that will need to float across your radar.
Like its sibling, many of the Nova issues were available in trade paperback, but are slowly going out of print. With the presence of the Nova Corps looming large in the Guardians of the Galaxy film, it makes sense that readers will be interested in these intergalactic space cops, and the current adventures of Sam Alexander probably won’t cut it for anybody other than the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon crowd. Get these back into print, Marvel!
But wait. There’s still more…
Rocket Raccoon and Groot: The Complete Collection: This is far from essential reading, but the reaction to the film so far has seen these two non-human character get propelled into the public consciousness. Kids and adults alike will love Rocket Raccoon, the gun-happy alien with a heart of gold. Similarly, Groot may just be a tree, who only ever says “I am Groot!”, but there is more warmth in his tone than most Transformers. This collection picks up after the DnA Guardians of the Galaxy run, with Rocket taking an office job (!), and Groot returning to the planet that he is allegedly the monarch of. It’s really some off-beat humour that’s good as a diversion if nothing else. If you are getting these in single issues, you’ll find that they are part of the Annihilators saga that follows the events of The Thanos Imperative. Otherwise, this trade collects the very earliest Rocket and Groot stories through to the more recent, including Tales to Astonish (1959) 13 (Groot story ), Incredible Hulk (1968) 271, Rocket Raccoon 1-4, Marvel Preview 7 (Sword in the Star story ), Annihilators 1-4 (Rocket Raccoon & Groot stories ), Annihilators : Earthfall 1-4 (Rocket Raccoon & Groot stories )
Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers (Volumes 1 and 2): While the film and all modern incarnations of the Guardians are drawn from the 2008 team, their origins go all the way back to the 1969 issue of Marvel Super Heroes #18. These two collections introduce a team of Vance Astro, Yondu, Martinex and Charlie-27, and is set a thousand years from now. Yondu will actually turn up in the new film, and the entire team was seen in a small arc in the DnA run. With some crossovers with the Avengers, including the wonderful “Korvac Saga” (later reworked for the The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes episode “Michael Korvac”) and some early appearances of Adam Warlock, this is just pure classic Marvel fun. Plus with names like writers Arnold Drake, Steve Gerber, Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway, Scott Edleman, Roger Slifer, Len Wein, Roger Stern, Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, and Mark Gruenwald; and artists Gene Colan, Sal Buscema, Don Heck and Al Milgrom. George Perez, David Wenzel, John Byrne, Mike Vosburg, Bob McLeod, Jerry Bingham and Ron Wilson – it’s hard to ignore this one.
